This year, with gasoline prices and other costs quickly rising, many of us are rumored to be taking "staycations," a term that's already made it into the Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) and been reported upon by the Associated Press, CNN and Forbes magazine.

If we are spending our vacations at home, we are often advised to catch up on our reading, gardening, and see local sites we may have missed. No one much, though, has talked about food, which is one of the other treats of time on the road, and how we might enjoy such fruits at home.

If they did add their two cents, unintentional party poopers might say to stock up on stacks of international cookbooks or food-influenced travel memoirs, such as the recent lively reads "Serve the People: A Stir-Fried Journey Through China" by Jen Lin-Liu (Harcourt, $24), "Mediterranean Summer: A Season on France's Cote d' Azur and Italy's Costa Bella" by David Shalleck (Broadway, $23.95) or "Chocolate and Zucchini: Daily Adventures in a Parisian Kitchen" by Clotilde Dusoulier (Broadway, $18.95). I say why torture yourself. You're not going to be prancing around Europe or Asia rediscovering romance while also becoming a wine and gustatory expert. Save the worthy gourmet global titles for another time.

No, when it comes to the kind of fun, indulgent fare we can easily imitate at home, just a few words pop to mind: room service and mini bar. Doesn't that waiter-pushed table stacked with treats, while you wait in a plush robe and fluffy slippers, bring a mile-wide grin? And who hasn't ransacked a hotel mini bar — even when they've promised themselves they wouldn't — and ended up with a melted chocolate moustache, crumbs of gourmet chips peppering their shirt and empty bottles of fizzy sodas and exotic cocktails strewn around the room?

Why not recreate sinful snacks at home? Here are some ideas:

— Aim for the moon when planning your theme. Sure, room service breakfasts are nice, but late-night sophisticated snacks are much more fun. Tiny tins of caviar, gourmet chocolates and champagne served on a silver tray will probably make you forget you didn't fly off to some exotic locale. Break out the sophisticated recipes you're usually too harried at work to even think about, like gorgeous — yet easy — White Truffle Rice-Stuffed Mushroom appetizers that event organizer Tracy Stern created for her top clients.

— Stock a staycation section of your refrigerator as mini bar territory. Fill it with gourmet snacks, cocktail ingredients and special sodas that would never be there during busy workdays and school weeks. Don't forget the little extras that we often find on the road, but barely ever at home, such as maraschino cherries, cocktail olives and cocktail onions.

— Create personalized welcome baskets and leave them in the bedrooms of your esteemed spouse and kids. If junior loves baseball, then baseball card gum is part of his stash. If your wife only indulges in mango, papaya or kiwi when vacationing, then fill her basket with those.

— For fun, turn down beds each night and leave favorite wrapped candy on their pillows. Anything from a mini Milky Way bar to pure Godiva goes.

STRAWBERRY SHIRLEY COCKTAIL

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons grenadine

8 to 10 ripe strawberries

Ice, to taste

2/3 cup 7UP soda

Maraschino cherry, for garnish

Yields 1 serving.

In blender, mix lemon juice, sugar, grenadine and strawberries until fairly smooth.

Pour into glass that has ice in it. Top with 7UP; stir. Garnish with maraschino cherry.

—"The Backyard Bartender: 55 Cool Summer Cocktails" by Nicole Aloni (Clarkson Potter, $16.95).

WHITE TRUFFLE RICE-STUFFED MUSHROOMS

20 medium white mushrooms

Salt, to taste

White pepper, to taste

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups cooked white rice

2 teaspoons white truffle oil

Yields 8 to 10 appetizer servings.

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray large, shallow baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

Pull stems from mushroom caps. Finely chop stems; set aside. Season mushroom caps with salt and pepper; place them, rounded side up, in prepared pan. Bake until mushrooms are tender and start to release liquid, about 10 minutes; carefully remove from oven.

Meanwhile, melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat for a minute or two, until foam goes down. Add chopped mushroom stems; saute, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add onion and salt and pepper; saute, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden, about 5 more minutes. Stir mushroom mixture into rice along with truffle oil. Season with salt and pepper.

Carefully turn mushroom caps over; spoon rice filling into mushroom caps, pressing gently (there may be some filling left over). Bake until mushrooms are tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool for 5 minutes, then arrange on tray and serve hot.

Note: You can make filling ahead and refrigerate in airtight container for up to one day. Stuff and bake mushrooms just before serving.

—"Tea Party" by Tracy Stern with Christie Matheson (Clarkson Potter, $27.50).

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.

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