If you haven't joined Facebook yet, I encourage you to do it, if not to catch up with old friends and make new ones then at the least for the recipes and party ideas!

Like the millions who are taking the plunge each year into the fastest-growing social networking site, I recently did so and found myself knee-deep — so to speak — in a progressive pool party and a big barrel of fine sparkling wine. Out of only about 10 friends so far whose "walls" and "profiles" I've examined, I hit the mother lode for recipes, exotic culinary vacation ideas and unique party inspirations.

All this from boys — now men decades older — who heretofore I knew only as a wisecracking, warm-hearted high-school football player and an aspiring competitive bicyclist thrilled to have an original poster from the Dennis Quaid cycling film classic "Breaking Away" to hang on his freshman dorm wall.

Who knew Fred, of football fame, would turn into an expert wine aficionado in later years, doing his post-baccalaureate studies after his accounting degree in the viticulture and enology department of Napa Valley College. He is now serving as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Schramsberg Vineyards. It's one of Northern California's most acclaimed vineyards that's been operating since 1862.

When I scoured his company website, soon I was face-to-face with a recipe for Eggs Schramsberg, a French bread filled egg-fennel, sausage-spinach-creme fraiche dream that I felt the need to prepare virtually immediately. The recipe was so good that it instantly erased my boredom with the genre, even after having developed scores of stuffed bread recipes for my own cookbook on the subject.

Even more exhilarating was learning at the website (www.schramsberg.com) about Camp Schramsberg, currently held twice a year. A blend of professionals and thirsty tourists converge for three days in the Napa Valley to help harvest grapes in the fall and learn to blend in the spring. Deserved gourmet fuel breaks are powered by top Napa restaurant chefs right in the vineyards' caves and outdoors amid the vines by masters from the famed Culinary Institute of America's Napa Greystone campus.

After joyfully contemplating that tipsy trek, I didn't expect more than seeing photos of a few gorgeous pools constructed by my long-ago prom date when I checked out AvantiPoolsAndSpas.com, the website of the Los Angeles company he co-owns and serves as president.

The lovely gallery was there, as well as edification on pools that clean themselves with a patented system. What especially caught my eye, however is Bernard's dedication to also letting us know how to let loose and fully enjoy our pools.

Among the FAQs and construction information, the site contained two sections provided by a national pool wholesaler for a bevy of pool games and parties. Underwater racing, water balloon tosses, frozen tag and penny hunts all sounded like fun supervised diversions, as did candlelit dinner parties for Valentine's Day and a soiree based on Rick Nelson's 1970s hit song "Garden Party" — fitting to me since my reacquainted Facebook pal and I had met as two pre-teens awarded public speaking plaques by the Optimist Club in the mid-1970s.

Since I'm always looking for inspired new ideas, however, what especially drew me into the water was the notion for a progressive pool party. For an enjoyable end-of-summer blowout, consider mimicking a familiar progressive dinner party, but instead making every stop a friend's pool. I thought, let's model different bathing suits and cover-ups at each locale while toting along easy backyard fare: chips 'n' dips at site one; varied meat, poultry, seafood or vegetables for grilling at site two; and, finally, cool summer desserts for site three.

For toasts to both old and new friends, feature — with designated drivers on standby, of course — at every pool frosty warm-weather cocktails, especially worthy of filling the cup holders in a colorful parade of floats. Serve them along with laminated take-home recipe cards, and culminate with a prize for best beverage at the last watery stop of the night.

BAREFOOT IN BALI TROPICAL COCKTAIL

2 tablespoons mashed bananas

1/2 ounce Kahlua

1 ounce cream of coconut (like Coco Lopez)

1 ounce light rum

1/4 cup diced papaya or strawberries

1/2 ounce creme de banane

1/2 cup ice

1 strawberry, for garnish

Yields 1 cocktail.

Mix mashed banana, Kahlua, cream of coconut, rum, papaya, creme de banane and ice in blender until smooth. Pour into chilled goblet or tall glass. Garnish with strawberry.

— "The Backyard Bartender" by Nicole Aloni (Clarkson Potter).

EGGS SCHRAMSBERG

2 packages frozen spinach, thawed

1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream

1 round loaf French bread

3 1/2 tablespoons butter

4 Italian (preferably fennel) sausages

6 scallions, chopped

1/2 cup green bell peppers, chopped

10 to 12 eggs

3 tablespoons water

Yields 4 to 6 servings.

Preheat oven to 250 F.

Cook thawed spinach in small amount of water about 2 minutes. Drain, cool and carefully squeeze out as much water as possible.

Mix spinach with creme fraiche or sour cream and set aside in small saucepan over very low heat, gently stirring occasionally.

Cut top off bread. Pinch out inside making 2-inch shell. (Discard inside or save for another use.) Spread shell with 2 tablespoons of the butter. Replace top and set aside. Shortly before serving, place in oven briefly to crisp and warm.

In large skillet, brown sausages until fully heated and cooked and reserve on plate. Carefully remove fat from skillet. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons butter; saute scallions and peppers about 1 minute.

In large bowl, beat eggs with fork to break up; add the 3 tablespoons water and gently whisk. Add to skillet; slowly and gently scramble. Cut sausages in diagonal slices; add to eggs. Continue cooking until softly set.

To serve: Spoon 1/2 egg mixture into bread and cover with spinach. Top with remaining eggs and bread top. Cut in wedges. Schramsberg recommends its Cremant sparkling wine as an accompaniment.

— Adapted from "Serve with Champagne" by Hilde Gabriel Lee (Ten Speed Press).

Lisa Messinger is a first-place winner in food writing from the Association of Food Journalists and the author of seven food books, including "Mrs. Cubbison's Best Stuffing Cookbook" and "The Sourdough Bread Bowl Cookbook." She also writes the Creators News Service "Cooks' Books" column. To find out more about Lisa Messinger and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.