Dreaming of Picnics in Washington State

I am ready to get out of town and recreate this photograph! It was a beautiful June day last year and we had taken a driving trip (via ferry too) to get from Seattle to Sequim, WA to visit a peony farm. It has been a rainy Jan/Feb/March and I am ready for some spring road trips!

I am finally living a life where picnics are likely. In Michigan, we always had the cottage as our home base, so lunch-on-the-go wasn't necessary. In Seattle, you can drive an hour or 2 in any direction and find an area to explore for the day. That kind of spontaneity is fun and having a nice meal with us makes for a better trip. 

While this photo looks like a magazine shoot, I can assure you that it took very little effort to put together. This image is all about the angles. The lunch and silverware draw your eye to the right, following the checks, while the white of the mugs in the picnic basket draw your eye up to the left to see the mountains. The image is full of color and texture and it would make a beautiful puzzle, don't you think?

The picnic basket was a wedding gift to us 25 years ago! It came stocked with sturdy plastic plates and mugs that snapped into the lid with leather straps. It also came with a plastic tablecloth, perfect to cover a well worn picnic table. It had been gathering dust in our basement for years, but now that I'm here in Washington we are pulling it out every chance we get.

I added plastic silverware, 2 plastic wine glasses, and 2 meals-to-go from the grocery deli. 

The location? We pulled into Salsbury Point County Park and arranged our lunch on a picnic table facing the Hood Canal Floating Bridge. Look at the snow-capped mountains in the background! It was glorious and I didn't want to leave.

There are loads of parks on the Kitsap Peninsula and I know that we will be exploring many more in the years to come.

#washingtonstate #weekenddrive #picnicarea #roadtrip

A Picnic with "Family" at Fort Worden on Olympic Peninsula

We had heard that the Lavender Festival in Sequim, WA was very popular and decided that we would bring a picnic lunch with us, so that we didn't have to rely on a hot dog vendor for lunch. When a town is inundated with tourists, it is hard for the vendors and restaurants to keep up with demand. Our plan was to find a park on the water and eat a nice lunch. 

Our new favorite way to picnic is buy a combo (main dish and 2 sides for $7) at the grocery deli and pack it in my new cold food traveler from Crate and Barrel. We put the grilled chicken breast and cold turkey in a Tupperware container and the rest of the sides (potato salad, pasta salad, brussel sprout salad and beet/orange salad) in the food traveler with ice in the center. Perfect! 

I also brought along tiny oil & balsamic vinegar bottles and a packet of spiced Love olives that I bought at Cost Plus World Market. These items are picnic ready.

We were lucky to find a picnic table in a great spot looking at the water at Fort Worden. A grouping of picnic tables were just outside of a kitchen pavilion. As we were setting up, a women came out to introduce herself and let us know that she had rented the pavilion for a family reunion. We immediately offered to pack up and move when she said, "No, no, I just wanted you to know that more people are coming and that you should play along as a cousin." She was so very nice and ended up giving us maps to the area and encouraged us to return to Fort Worden to explore when we had more time. She works at the park and expounded on all the things there were to explore. There is a marine science center, a gift shop (!) and visitor center. I would love to go back.

As we were finishing lunch, the clouds broke up and we could see the beginnings of some blue sky. A day that was not too hot; just right for an outdoor festival. We packed up and as we left the picnic area, our new relatives waved goodbye and wished us well. We felt like part of the family.

We were expecting to have a long day and looking back now, I can tell you that we left our apartment at 10 am and didn't return until 11 pm - now that's a day trip! A healthy lunch in a peaceful place (and a brand new restroom across the lawn) was just what we needed before we headed into the busy festival traffic. I'll tell you about the lavender festival next.

Make an Easy Picnic: Memorial Day in Seattle's Carkeek Park

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.

Leelanau Peninsula: Idyll Farms: A Lucky Find

There is nothing like stumbling upon a new culinary delight a few hours before you need to bring something to a picnic!

I was finally able to visit the Sara Hardy Farmers Market in Traverse City last Saturday.  Traverse City is becoming quite a mecca for foodies and I knew that I would be able to find the best-of-the-best from local growers and purveyors. 

My favorite find was this simple but delicious combination of fresh lemon curd topped with spreadable goat cheese from Idyll Farms.  Yum!  It has a sweetness from the lemon curd and a cool tang from the goat cheese that was perfect for a picnic.  I simply opened the container and put it on a bamboo plate with nasturtiums and crackers. 

It was a perfect light and fresh start to the annual Bar-B-Cruise picnic held by the Leland Yacht Club.  Every year members decorate their boats in a theme and parade past the judges for points and a chance at winning the Mermaid flag.  At night, 700+ people come together for a casual picnic dinner of ribs, meat, corn on the cob and more meat all cooked on site.  This is summer fun.

Irresistible Fruit Dip

When I make a dish for a crowd, I like to come up with something that is irresistible.  You know a dish is just that when you watch people taking turns to dip their skewered banana, strawberry or pineapple chunk into a bowl of orange pudding dip.  This cold fruit dip was introduced to the family by my grandmother more than forty years ago.  

This dip is best served in a separate bowl next to fruit-filled pineapple halves.  Guests are to spear a piece of fruit (pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe, banana) with a toothpick and dip it in the orange pudding and then eat it.  The dip goes fast and my family stands around the bowl, spearing-dipping-eating until the beloved dip is gone. 

This year I added green grapes to the fruit salad and most of them were still left in the pineapple shell when the last dollop of dip was gone.  We were laughing that the grapes probably weren't popular because, in terms of fruit real estate, they would hold the least amount of dip when dunked.    

The recipe isn't scientific.  Add and subtract amounts to suit you, but remember that the goal is to make a dip that will cling to the fruit.  The dip will thicken a little more in the refrigerator.

Irresistible Orange Fruit Dip

2 boxes (5.1 oz) box Jell-O INSTANT vanilla pudding (*1 box is a backup, but lately I've added all of it to make really thick dip)
1 cup cold orange juice
1 cup cold milk (2% preferred)
1 cup sour cream

With an electric mixer, beat 1 box of instant pudding mix with orange juice, milk and sour cream until thick.  If the mixture seems too thin, sprinkle in more pudding from the second "reserve" box of pudding to help restore the thickness.  Chill in refrigerator until cold and thick, at least an hour.  Serve with fresh fruit and toothpicks.  And stand back.      

Northern Michigan Girl

If you are a northern Michigan girl in the summer, this is the scene you long to see after a long winter in the suburbs.  A sandy cut in the landscape that leads to a public beach.  Ahead lies swimming, sunbathing, picnics, beach walks, Petoskey stone searches and ever-changing sunsets.  This is where we northern Michigan girls live in the summertime...on the shores of Lake Michigan.

My favorite sandwich to take on a picnic?
Crusty French bread spread with softened cream cheese.  Press chopped green olives into the cream cheese.  Layer thin sliced turkey, slices of tomato and fresh spinach onto bread.  Wrap in Saran Wrap/cling wrap and take to the beach (or outdoor concert!)

Whaleback

This weekend we rented a slip in the harbor and kept our boat on Lake Michigan all weekend! Normally, our area of Lake Michigan is quite choppy and a bit more challenging to boat on, but this weekend the water was like glass and we were able to cruise the shoreline each day and relax relax relax.

Remember when I first showed you Whaleback? This is it up close! I have never seen it from this vantage point and loved photographing the sandy shore and rugged pines that grow right down to the water. And look at the water - clear as a bell. We drifted here for a while and ate a picnic lunch of sandwiches and pop. What a glorious September day.

Picnic Salad in Glass Jars

Want a great picnic idea? Nothing is more fun than sitting on a blanket and enjoying a layered salad in a glass jar. I got this idea years ago from Southern Living magazine and it is my "go to" item for picnic dinners.

Simply fill glass jars with:

• lettuce
• tomatoes
• diced orange bell pepper
• chick peas
• black olives
• cucumber chunks
• steamed green beans
• cooked bacon pieces
• and slivers of Parmesan cheese

Take along a few salad dressings and when the time comes, let your guests add their choice of dressing and shake! It is a delicious dinner every time. I also served marinated grilled chicken breasts and crusty French bread. Clean-up is a breeze...simply snap the lids shut and tuck the jars away in the picnic basket. Voila!

Lawn Tickets

I love when the Detroit Symphony Orchestra performs their summer concert series outdoors. I pack a picnic dinner and spend the evening listening to Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and Glinka. It is a lovely way to spend an evening outdoors. A favorite recipe for picnics is a layered salad in individual wide mouth jam jars - so pretty and easy to transport. I saw the recipe in Southern Living magazine - see link above.