The Everyday Epicurean

Today is the beginning of National Picnic Week over in the UK, and to celebrate, they are encouraging people to grab their baskets and head outside.

Fewer things can be more encouraging than the chance to sit at and eat a full-sized chocolate picnic table that’s completely edible.

The chocolate picnic table, which appeared at Cotswold Wildlife Park in Oxfordshire, was made of 400 chocolate bars and weighed more than 130 pounds. The table was made by Cadbury, best known for its chocolate eggs here in the US, as a marketing ploy and to publicize National Picnic Week.

According to The Huffington Post, the table is fully edible, even though glaze that protects the chocolate from the elements was applied.

This table looks amazing and quite delicious, but I can’t imagine it’s very comfortable, even if it can seat a family of four. Let’s hope it didn’t melt while anyone was sitting on it or eaten by ants. Still it was a great creation to publicize National Picnic Week.

Although the US doesn’t have a week to celebrate picnicking, the month of July is National Picnic Month.

Image by Odan Jaeger

All your picnic gear sitting by the door. You’ve packed the remaining picnic jars into your basket. You check the thermometer and it says a nice 80 degrees Fahrenheit, but when you open the door and step outside, it feels like you just put on a soaking wet Snuggie that someone put in the microwave.

Even though the temperature may be amenable, humidity is the ultimate nuisance. New York City has been generally pleasant these past fews days, except for the humidity hovering around 68%. That’s nothing compared to some of the percentages found in places like New Orleans.

Still, high humidity shouldn’t deter you from your picnic, especially if you’ve planned a special picnic months in advance. Here are some ways you can still have a pleasant picnic on a humid day.

Pick a strategic picnic spot in the shade and in the path of a breeze

It’s common sense to set up your picnic in the shade on a hot day, but when it’s humid, it’s equally important to look for a place that’s not sheltered from potential breezes. A breeze on a humid day is like water during a drought; it may be difficult to find but it will cure what ails you. Shade is great, but it doesn’t allow you to escape the humidity, which is why the breeze is so coveted. Take a moment to walk around or determine where the wind travels and set up the picnic there.

Wear light, flowing clothing

When it’s humid, clothes stuck to you like white on rice. Thick, heavy clothing that rests against your skin makes it almost unbearable to be outside. Light cotton and silk clothing will give your skin room to breathe.

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We’ve all had picnics go awry at some point in our lives. One of my picnics was overcome by a gust of wind that turned every plate upside down and caused a comical chase of napkins down a hill. Another time, ants overran the picnic before I deployed some useful anti-ant techniques.

But when four American tourists tried to have a calm picnic in East Iceland, they were treated to one of the most original and harrowing picnic-gone-awry experiences in recent memory.

After they had set up their picnic with four chairs and a table, the small section of ice they were sitting on broke off and drifted away into the freezing waters of the Fjallsárlón glacial lagoon.

Fortunately, one of the four was able to jump off the floe in time to go call for help (and presumably snap the image above).

It’s hard to tell whether the image shows a calm group of picnickers carrying about as if nothing were wrong or a pack of tourists so frightened about falling into the icy waters that they didn’t dare move an inch.

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Image via Flickr

The stereotypical picnic meal is packed away in Tupperware, but not everyone wants to conform to the standard perception of the picnic.

Enter Mason jars.

The Mason jar is a glass jar with a screw-on lid that was commonly used in canning preserved food like jam. They date back to the mid-19th century, but they’ve also become big for antique collectors. Now they’ve gained popularity in a new area: picnicking.

Why jars? Well, why not? They have a classic look and vintage feel. They open and close easily. They’re reusable, and you don’t have to worry about any harmful plastics associated with other food storage containers. Plus, they’re fun.

Packing your meals in jars gives you the opportunity to make new foods with different presentations. Instead of making a traditional salad served on a plate, you could make a Mason Jar salad with a variety of layers. If you don’t get the appeal of something like a salad in a jar, Tammy over at Skinny Mom’s Kitchen expressed the same doubt before she realized how easy it is to make the salads. They also stay fresh for longer periods of time.

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When you think of picnics, you probably have the classic image of a red and white checkered blanket, a willow basket and a delicious sandwich with a salad on the side.

Needless to say, this isn’t what the upper class citizens of the United Kingdom have in mind.

Pippa Middleton, the famous sister of the Duchess of Cambridge, wrote her latest column for UK grocery store Waitrose about what the perfect romantic picnic would entail, and it’s getting a lot of criticism for being overly ornate and outrageously expensive.

The picnic, which includes such dishes as Fig and Goat’s Cheese Fougasse and Smoke Chicken and Melon Salad, comes out to £99 (about $150) for the ingredients alone. She also recommends getting quilted rugs, tea towels with French stripes and enamel plates, not to mention traveling to France.

Here’s her perfect picnic:

Here’s my vision of the perfect picnic. I’m in Provence, in a field just off the beaten track, where we’ve parked the car and thrown a quilted rug across the dry, parched grasses. The hazy sky is cobalt blue, cicadas hum around us and it’s hot, very hot. But not too hot for a picnic. Around us are plump peaches, figs and strawberries, oozing ripe cheeses and crunchy baguettes, torn and ready to mop up every last morsel.

While this would definitely be the perfect romantic picnic for two (who wouldn’t want to lounge with their loved one in Provence while eating strawberry and lavender cheesecake?), the meal takes more than two hours to prepare and costs a good amount of money.

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Picnic season is here in full force. The weather is warming, the landscape is growing greener and the need to get outside is at its peak. If you’re a picnicker at heart, we don’t have to tell you that part of the spirit of picnicking is reconnecting with the outdoors and embracing nature.

And nothing shows a greater love and appreciation for nature than having an environmentally friendly picnic. So the next time you’re planning on picnicking, here are some things you should keep in mind when trying to have a green picnic.

Walk to your picnic

Even though some of the best picnic spots might be a short drive away, jumping into your Hummer to get there is not an environmentally responsible thing to do. Instead, stay local. There are likely several hidden gems within walking or biking distance of your home, so head over to the local park with your picnic basket and enjoy your neighborhood.

Bring reusable plates and silverware and cloth napkins

It’s undeniably convenient to bring along plastic utensils and paper plates, but it’s one of the least environmentally friendly ways to eat because all the trash just goes and sits in a landfill. There are biodegradable alternatives, but the best way to have a green picnic is to bring things that are reusable, which means you should also take along cloth napkins you can wash with the laundry.

Clean your picnic site when you’re done

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I’m not scared to move to New York. I’m just a little confused. Compared to anywhere else I have lived, New York is breathtakingly, mind-numbingly massive. It’s like watching a newborn child for a few hours compared to interacting with Shaq. The newborn sleeps peacefully, blissfully, until it’s time to be fed; and then, you feed it. All the tyke needs is a good swaddle to be happy again. But then you have Shaq. While I’ve never played host to him, I feel like his very presence would make me feel uncomfortable, like I have to be doing something at all times to make this large creature happy. It’s not that a newborn is better than a giant basketball player; it’s that the idea of one is much less confusing.

Every time I find an apartment listing that is within my price range, I get the urge to tape the dimensions onto the floor of my current apartment. As someone who might not have a bedroom in a few months – rather, a bed located closely to the stove, I need to rework my introverted reaction to problems that end in me retreating to my bed.

I’m not the only one who will have to make confusing adjustments, so I’ve been considering breaking Sophie, my cat, in for the move by buying her a leash and harness. Bringing a leash trained cat to New York seems slightly more humane than forcing her to spend the next two years using a small window as her only access to the outdoors. When Sophie gets upset, she stares angrily while slowly twisting her head nearly halfway around and meowing; she looks like she could star in the cat version of The Exorcist. I can only imagine what two years inside would make her do. Continue reading →