What to do; what to do. It was our first Memorial Day together in Seattle and we, like everyone, wanted to be outside enjoying the day. I had saved an article from the Seattle Times that listed the best picnic spots in Seattle and we threw a dart and picked Carkeek Park on Puget Sound. Look at the view of the Olympic Mountains!
I'm going to tell you my new favorite way to pack a picnic - directly from the grocery store! It may sound simplistic, but it has worked like a charm for us lately, so I'm going to tell you how we do it.
We load our car with an ice-packed empty cooler, a picnic basket (loaded with a picnic cloth, paper toweling, a few empty Ziploc bags, antibacterial wipes, cute napkins and a few little travel salt & peppers) and 2 camping chairs.
We take our large thermos into the grocery store, head to the Starbucks inside and order 2 Venti lattes to go. The barista usually pours the drinks right into our thermos for us. Also order 2 Venti ice waters for the car ride.
Dan loves sandwiches, so he'll chose a pre-made sandwich from the deli area. I like the $6 deli combo, so from the case I order sliced turkey, cold beet & orange salad and potato salad. I also order a small side of cold peas & peanut salad for Dan. We buy a 7-layer bean dip, a bag of tortilla chips, some cold pop and we were ready! Don't forget the disposable utensils and napkins offered at the deli counter.
In the parking lot, we move the food into our ice-filled cooler and started driving toward the park.
On this particular day, we found an empty picnic table at Carkeek Park, spread out our wipe-able picnic cloth and settled in. The park has grills for the public to use and everything smelled so good! It really felt like the start of summer. We stayed about 2 hours, eating and watching the sailboats on Puget Sound.
The problem with my wonderful life is that I have built food traditions around holidays and seasons and that is my playbook for life. Now that I am starting to live in Seattle, I can't do what I always used to do and it feels weird.
Every Memorial Weekend for as long as I can remember, I spent time at the family cottage with my mom, dad and Dan. We would tromp around the property checking things out, looking for signs of spring and getting out rakes and shovels to start waking up the garden. Northern Michigan is slow to come out of winter and a pot of my asparagus soup always tasted good on a cool day.
Later in the weekend, we would have the Indy 500 car race on in the background and I would find myself making a hot rhubarb crisp from the rhubarb we found in the garden, often supplemented by the bounty at the local grocery store. I have done this every year for the last forever.
So how did I adjust? I made a pan of rhubarb crisp this weekend and afterwards I scooped a portion into 4 jam jars and screwed on the lid. My intent was to eat them in a park as park of a picnic, but in the end we ate them at home after a long day out in the fresh air.
The bonus? Since we were at home, we could have a scoop of ice cream on top. This Memorial Day didn't feel like Memorial Day, but we had a nice time just the same.
The famous "Here Comes The Sun" Party on Memorial Day at The Cove in Leland, Michigan could be heard for blocks. The live music and shoulder-to-shoulder crowd proves that this party tradition is here to stay. Mild mannered me was heading into the local grocery store (The Merc!) when I heard the commotion and was reminded of the annual fun. I walked out on the bridge over the waterfall in Fishtown to take some pictures and admire the fun.
If I'd had a Diet Coke with me, I would have leaned on the bridge and stayed awhile to enjoy the music. The walkway was full of onlookers and it felt so good to stand in the sun enjoying the view. Here comes the sun, indeed.
The Cove restaurant is such a favorite of chef Mario Batali, that he has it named it (along with loving the Traverse City area in general) in his top 10 Foodie Destinations in-the-world. Imagine!
Sending you
wishes for
a lovely
Memorial Day.
On Memorial Weekend, I always make rhubarb crisp with rhubarb from the garden. I must say, it is hard to make crisp look beautiful in a photo, although I'd like points for serving in a pretty bowl with a red rim. But for whatever it lacked visually, it made up for in taste. Yum! Have you ever made rhubarb crisp? Every year I tweak the online recipe from Martha Stewart . This year I left out the vanilla and tried it with Splenda's brown & white sugar-blends. Delicious!
