Picnics

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csalt

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What food(s) would you choose to take on a picnic ( either with family or friends?)
 
a basket of my family's "secret recipe" cookies
a thermos of hot cocoa (marshmallows in another bag)

crackers with an assortment of good cheeses, diced up
a bowl of all different veggies, cut up in pretty shapes
deviled eggs
fresh black plums


how 'bout you, csalt?
 
baguette,
veggies (e.g.radishes, carrots, red pepper),
fruits (e.g.berries, cut up melon, apples, pears),
cheeses (I love all cheese),
meats (e.g.prosciutto, salami, ham)
wine (I prefer reds)

things that we can eat with out having to use forks ;)
 
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Well for family...probably the old Southern stand-by of Fried Chicken, cold potato salad, deviled eggs, pimento & cheese sandwiches, pickles and olives etc. etc. etc.

For friend...Wine, cheese(s), crusty bread, fresh fruit as in peaches, strawberries or nice juicy plums...
 
One of my favorite "picnics" was an impromptu one Buck and I had one day when we were in our nearest big city for a day out.

There's an awesome 100-year-old bakery in the town. They also sold cheeses at the time we were there, so we bought a beautiful baguette and some cheese.

We'd already purchased a bottle of wine somewhere else, so we took our nummies down to the river - the Ohio - which runs alongside the downtown portion of where we were and found a picnic table under a tree. We spent a leisurely hour or so enjoying our bread, cheese and wine and watching the river and the people around us.

I think the meal could have been Velveeta, Wonder bread and Ripple and it would've been just as memorable. It was an absolutely beautiful day that we spent together.

Otherwise, my favorite picnic is quite similar to what Uncle Bob posted. 'Cept I'd add a huge batch of brownies and chocolate chip cookies for dessert and, if possible, some hand-cranked strawberry ice cream.
 
Katie E said:
One of my favorite "picnics" was an impromptu one Buck and I had one day when we were in our nearest big city for a day out.

There's an awesome 100-year-old bakery in the town. They also sold cheeses at the time we were there, so we bought a beautiful baguette and some cheese.

We'd already purchased a bottle of wine somewhere else, so we took our nummies down to the river - the Ohio - which runs alongside the downtown portion of where we were and found a picnic table under a tree. We spent a leisurely hour or so enjoying our bread, cheese and wine and watching the river and the people around us.

I think the meal could have been Velveeta, Wonder bread and Ripple and it would've been just as memorable. It was an absolutely beautiful day that we spent together.

Otherwise, my favorite picnic is quite similar to what Uncle Bob posted. 'Cept I'd add a huge batch of brownies and chocolate chip cookies for dessert and, if possible, some hand-cranked strawberry ice cream.

Heart warming story Miss Katie. Now! How could I have left the brownies at home??

(I'm thinking Sat. will be short-rib day in the outdoor kitchen)
 
Fresh French bread, different cheeses, veggies, mac salad,
water with lemon slices and some homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert.
 
We do about 12 'picnics" per year--equals a tailgate for every home game for our NFL team. So we do a LOT of different things. Sometimes a grill, sometimes not. Can be hot weather and a close to noon kickoff, so it might even be a brunchy menu. Or a 4PM game andmoderately cold.
 
I am a salad girl potato salad seafood salad chicken salad... the list goes on...
cole slaw is nice too...
 
There seems to be a trend here.

Our last picnic was at Point Judith on the RI coast. We had stopped at a gourmet shop and bought a baguette, some French Muenster, a piece of dry sauasage, a bottle of wine and fresh fruit.
 
Lou and I picnic down the shore almost every weekend in the summer. Typical picnic fare usually involves a light wrap of some kind. A favourite last summer was lime marinated shrimp with a mango salsa in a whole wheat wrap. I served a cold tortellini salad with that, chocolate chip strawberry shortcakes and sangria.

I'd kill to be doing that right now!!!
 
We picnic a lot, a lot of our summer socialising is picnic based (open air concerts, equestrian things, friend's lunches in London parks, sometimes corporate things too).

99% of our picnics are adult only affairs, and I almost always try to be as imaginative as I would be for a dinner party, particularly work things: I am becoming a competitive corporate wife!)

But, pick the venue carefully, the vodka watermelon was inspired and popular, and we manages to keep it cold, but lugging it right to the centre of Hampstead Heath with the two traditional wicker picnic baskets was NOT so fun!

A standbye for casual lunches is an oversized sausage roll, whcih I stuff with a pork/apricot mixture and plait rather than roll. Its messy, but that is part of the fun at casual picnics. My favourite chicken salad is like wise good fun: roast chicken, cashews, pineapple, celery mayo: but not right for fancier picnics, where individual things become a lot easier: goat's cheese/tomato tarts, mushroom tarts, fruity/flowery cupcakes.

I love miniture wine and champagne bottles because they are so fun: but pricey, but with a straw they are more practical than carting crystal for fancy things and while I am under 35 I plead fun trumps crystal!

Quails eggs are cliched but lovely, always. Chocolate, or its derivitives are sadly out: it always melts, or stains something: but fruity and bubblegum colours summer things are in! Beautiful breads are of course, necessary! Smoked meats are good, and at casual things flavoured drumsticks.

Crudite of some sort all ways makes it because whether smarming with the boss's wife, or playing cricket on the Heath, in the heat I always want raw fruit and veg.

My absolute favourite thing is bread, cheese, fruit and honey, sometimes with a prosciutto crudo. Figs and goats cheese always get me smiling, or brie or similar with grapes or apples.

Carrot and peanut salad works well if it has not stayed ice cool too.
 
Who am I to buck the crowd?

Gimme an Italian deli and a place to get a bottle of wine, or at least a decent supermarket, and we are all set.

Call it a picnic, call it an antipasto on the go, that is the perfect picnic.
 
You guys are killing me! I'm already longing for summer without a thread about picnics! :LOL:

Usually when we have a picnic, it is in the middle of a hike. So we carry all our food in a backpack. Usually we have:
Fancy sandwiches, whatever we have in the house.
Cookies or somekind of baked good
We usually take chips but more often than not, they are gone before we get to the hike.
Cheese & crackers
If it's cold, we take a thermos of hot tea

Here is one of our picnic spots (I'm sorry, I just can't help myself). Those kids will fall asleep just about anywhere. :)
 

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maybe cold sliced frittata.
Fresh brown bread or rolls with different cheeses.
Coronation chicken
potato salad
hard boiled eggs
etc etc!!


fruit jelly
yoghurt
fruit cake
date and walnut cake
fruit scone
baked apple

all with the assistance of a good cool box to keep what we are taking chilled.

One of our favourite places, on top of the cliffs overlooking the sea has a little cafè there too so we don't take a picnic. Let others do it for us!!:ohmy:
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Cafè is back from the cliff top! out of sight.:)
 
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I'm with Uncle Bob and Katie on the fried chicken, potato salad, deviled eggs and brownies.
That would be my favorite. But an impromptu picnic can be an awful lot of fun, too. My mother was big on those. My dad worked second shift, 6 days a week, the whole time I was growing up, and sometimes, when the weather was especially nice, she and I would take off on a picnic after he left for work. We'd gather whatever we had available...even a PBJ...and find a pretty spot in the country. She always knew the neatest places...a spot where there were outcroppings of sandstone where we hunted arrowheads...a bluff overlooking a creek and little valley full of bluebells...a pond by a deserted farmhouse...I never knew where we were going to end up. Sometimes, I suspect, neither did she.
 
Constance, aren't those great memories - ok, Lets you and I, Uncle Bob and Katie go on a picnic together, since we all agree on the food !! :clap:
 
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