(no subject)

[ewt]

Yesterday I saw a perfect picnic basket in a charity shop. I didn't buy it because I didn't want to carry it home; also, knowing I could carry it empty is not the same as knowing I could carry it when full of food and it was rather large. But it was rather lovely.

I got to thinking about what is required for a picnic and which things it would be possible to keep on hand in a sort of picnic kit. I already have a miniature version of this in my backpack much of the time: spork, perhaps my travel mug (I am going to start using this when I get tea at Trinty instead of the paper mugs they provide), some sort of cloth to sit on, multi-tool for opening things and slicing cheese... but at home I could do a bit better than that, really. I have various picnic-friendly dishes scattered throughout my things and it wouldn't be too hard to pack them all in one place, and when the picnic blanket stops living in the laundry pile it really ought to go to the same place. Bottles of elderflower champagne really need to be kept refrigerated until ready to drink and I don't have the space for that, but I could keep some home-made squash and a couple of bottles of sparkling water, or a bottle of sloe gin and some tonic water, at room temperature quite happily for some time. Cheese and bread and veg would have to be bought or made on the day but there are plenty of non-perishable crackers I could pack, and some olives and perhaps things like salsa-in-a-jar or preserved artichoke hearts would be easy to tuck away; some nuts and seeds would work well too and maybe some dried fruit (though fresh is always nicer); when I next make jam or jelly I could make some rather small jars and keep one or two of those in an instant-picnic box. This is starting to sound like a rather posh picnic but what's the point of sitting in beautiful surroundings and then eating crap?

What goes in your picnic basket? What would you take on the perfect picnic?

Comments

[hairyears.livejournal.com]

Chilled wine, Champagne, cider, Pimms, water, fruit juices, ice.

Good bread - several types - a selection of cheeses, hummous, cooked sausages, salamis and meat including chicken drumsticks, cold tongue, salted beef and smoked salmon.

Chopped veg and green stuff as finger-food and for dipping.


The perfect picnic needs good company, but I think we can sort that out between us.

[doseybat.livejournal.com]

Can I come? :P

What would you take on a perfect picnic?

[ruthi.livejournal.com]

Somewhere near picnic basket: sunscreen.

Grapes.
Salads.
vegetables.
Hard-boiled eggs.
Bread.
tehina, hoummous.
Aubergine - roast, mixed with lots of garlic.
shnitzelim.

elderflower juice, wine, champagne, liqueur. Wine.

Cheeses.

napkins.

knives.
bread.
butter
pickled cucumbers or cornichons.

Water.

Shade.
Blanket to sit on.

Someone else to carry at least some of this.

[siderea]

Huh. I don't store any foods in my (now defunct) picnic basket. I think of picnics as entirely ad hoc affairs. Also, I don't have a mental class of picnic foods as separate from regular foods. To me "picnic" is a way of dining, as opposed to a kind of dinner.

So, a picnic I arranged: In 1990, I announced to my then bf that I wanted to observe Christmas Day with a picnic. Yes, in New England. Yes, out of doors.

He said something about "we could pick up chips and some subs" and I cut that off at the knees. I assigned him the responsibilities of (1) getting two thermos bottles, and on the day-of, getting one filled with hot black tea, the other with hot clam chowder, (2) a bottle of good white wine, and (3) a full tank of gas for the car. And to dress warm. I packed our wooden plates and bowls, our ceramic goblets and mugs, our bone and wood and steel utensils (and a bottle opener. :) I packed cucumber sandwiches on Portuguese sweet bread, and boiled eggs and similar finger foods. I packed a blanket.

I dressed all in white (w/ a layer of long underware!), with a big white skirt, and over all a long pale grey winter coat.

Christmas was sunny. We drove up to NH where there was an old ruined fort, now a park, that I knew of, right on the river. We spread out our blanket on the stone wall and our lovely archaic dishes, and there dined on hot chowder and icy wine, warm tea and cool cucumbers, and generally had a fine party. Wow, said the bf, This is really nice.

We fled as the sun got low and it got really cold.

[redcountess]

I don't have a picnic basket, but when I go to picnics I've found the essentials are picnic blanket, knife, bottle opener and bottled water. Foods I like to have include cold barbecued chicken already cut into pieces, cherry tomatoes, potato salad, Turkish bread, hommus, assorted cheeses and crackers and cup cakes. To drink, fizzy lemonade or cola and sparkling white wine or champagne (with the bottled water to keep hydrated)

[karen2205]

I think of a picnic basket as a place to keep the non-food items, so for me it would contain plastic plates/bowls/cups, cutlery, utensils (corkscrew, bottle opener, sharp knife or two), kitchen roll, something to sit on/spread food out on, rubbish bag.

Food for my ideal picnic would be stuff that's easy to eat sitting on the ground and a bit unusual, so people can try stuff they wouldn't normally eat, while still getting enough food to eat that they're not hungry. I'm feeling a bit devoid of imagination for specifics about food though.

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

Decent company (this does not fit into the basket unless it's very big and then it's probably a different sort of picnic)

Food:
Bread (more then one type)
Butter, unsalted
Other spread for people who don't like the above
Various cheeses (brie is non negotiable)
Fruit (my choices might include cherry tomatoes, black berries and other berries depending on time of year, apricots, sharp apples, grapes, and other stuff, depending on people's preferences)
Chocolate things that are nice
Drinks (juice (eg apple, elderflower) is a good starter)
Water
Method for making hot water or water/tea in a thermos flask
Some form of salad
Olives and/or picked cucumbers or the like
Dried nibbles and nuts
Assuming meat/fish is okay, decent herring roll mops, cooked chicken cut in handy bits, good ham or sausage.
Cake and/or other sweet things (in addition to the already mentioned chocolate)
Optional: alcohol people like

Stuff:
picnic blanket for foods
picnic blanket for people
knives for spreading and for cutting
sporks
cutting board
glasses (polycarbonate is good)
mugs (unbreakable insulated ones are probably best)
napkins
wet wipes
rubbish bag
plates that aren't too floppy or breeakable

Stuff that doesn't go into the picnic basket
Decent weather
Green surroundings
Shade (although this could go into a picnic basket if it was a fold up umbrella or some other thing that makes shade)

[edit: Read over the list and realised I forgot plates!]

More Picnic Baskets!

[(Anonymous)]

I'd not only take good food, I'd use some of the recipes and snag a picnic basket from http://the-picnic-shop.com.