Eating El Fresco

Some of us are blessed with a photographic memory, patience, and a small butt. Me? I was blessed with cellulite, thankfully a sense of humour, and the picnic gene.

Ever since I can remember whenever summer hit my mom packed up salmon sandwiches, milk, and some fruit for a picnic dinner. As soon as my dad got home from work we were loaded into the car and off for an evening by the sea wall at Stanley Park. My mom, bless her culinary deficiencies, made the same old boring salmon sandwiches for every single picnic dinner I ever ate. As a little kid eating those sandwiches on a blanket, throwing rocks into the ocean and the odd bit of sandwich plus watching the sunset was fun, when I hit thirteen, not so much.

With tutelage from my mom and many years of experience under my belt not only do I make a mean salmon sandwich I also have some tips to help you become an el fresco fanatic.

What to pack in the cute wicker basket you got as a gift:

First and foremost - it' s not for the food.

It may look cute and romantic but unless you want to spend the next day in the ER doing the dysentery dance only pack the stuff you don' t eat into the wicker basket. This includes:
 
-- Non breakable dishes, plates, cups, etc. Glass breaks. It may look glamorous in a magazine, but there' s nothing like that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach at the sound of tinkling dinner plates smashing as you trip over a log

-- Cutlery - go with the real stuff, makes up for the not so elegant non breakable dishes

-- Serviettes - paper for family, cloth for a romantic picnic

-- Hand wipes - remember your mom always said to wash your hands before you eat? She was right. And if my son ever reads this, " Listen to your mother"

-- First Aid Kit - as a mom and a klutz I' m never too far away from a Band-aid and non stinging antiseptic wash

-- Benadryl - great after that face plant into the poison ivy

-- Roll of toilet paper - You could make a veritable fortune selling the stuff in the women' s bathrooms around 6:00 pm on a Saturday

-- Some kind of bug spray - I hate the idea of spraying stuff on my skin but I' d rather not come down with West Nile. FYI - bug repellent reduces the affect of sunscreen so you might want to go higher on the SPF or wear a huge hat

-- Speaking of  sun screen - apply at least 20 minutes before sun exposure

-- Plastic bags for garbage pick up - if you' ve ever walked through a public park on a Monday morning before the ground crews arrive you' re well aware that many people don' t have a clue what environmentally friendly really means. Pack up your garbage, separate the recyclables and if need be bring them home and recycle them yourself

-- Can of tuna with a self opening lid, the best bug distracter I know of. Open it when we' re going to eat and leave it about 20-30 feet away from your picnic. The bugs usually are attracted to the strong tuna smell and will leave you alone, unless unfortunately you' re eating tuna sandwiches, then you might as well go sit beside the can and pray

-- Tablecloth if you like to sit at a table or a picnic blanket for you earthy types. I have several picnic blankets but my official one is an old quilt that I bought at a garage sale, holes and all. I keep it in the trunk of my car in case the picnic mood overtakes me on the way home from work

-- Keep your wicker basket restocked all summer long so all you' ll have to do is pack the food, grab the basket, and you are out the door


What to keep in the car:

-- If your picnic includes kids pack a soccer ball, baseball, Frisbee, horseshoes, badminton rackets, water guns, stuff to have fun with, a book and some Valium for you

-- Umbrella for shade


What goes in the insulated cooler:

-- Packing for a picnic really is all about the food. It can be as simple as my mom' s salmon sandwiches or as elegant as gourmet cheeses and an antipasto platter. Regardless of what you pack, in the heat of summer, food safety is still the number one issue. The rule of thumb is to keep cold foods cold and hot foods hot
 
-- You can pack whatever you want as a cold source. Both freezer packs and ice work but both are heavy, take up space and when the ice melts you' ll end up playing bobbing for the sandwiches. My trick is to pack two sets of drinks. The first set of drinks is 100% juice or milk that are packaged in Tetra Pak packaging and then frozen. They become my cold source. They keep my picnic cold and then thaw out by mid picnic to be used as a cold drink in the late afternoon. The non frozen drinks are what we drink first
 
-- Bottle of ice water: good for cooling off, squirting at unsuspecting passer-by' s, as well as for drinking

-- Put all the food into a cooler, and then place your cold source on top. Cold air falls keeping the food on the bottom as cool as the stuff on the top
 
-- Any food that does go into the cooler should be cold. Cooked roast beef, chicken, even sandwiches should be prepared the night before, and then put in the fridge overnight. The next day the food is cold going into the cooler. Warm food will raise the temperature in the cooler preventing optimal coldness. Which means buying a bucket of chicken and letting it sit in a cooler or worse in the sun is a really bad idea. Two words - bowel buster

-- Pack enough drinks so that each person will be drinking 1 cup/250 mL per hour. That may sound like a lot, but in the summer heat drinking 1 cup/250 mL per hour is easy. Freeze at least half of the drinks to keep the picnic cold. Most picnics are all day affairs, so pack at least 4 drinks per person

-- For added thirst quenchers pack cut up watermelon

-- Never leave the cooler in the car. It gets mighty hot in there and it wouldn' t matter if the whole picnic was frozen before hand, that much heat will melt anything. My rule of thumb - never leave kids, pets, your mother-in-law or the cooler in the car

-- I try to pack all of the food in plastic containers. There is nothing worse than arriving at your picnic to discover the pickle jar broke and the brownies are soaking up the vinegar

-- Place the cooler either in the shade, under an umbrella, or under a blanket to keep everything as cold as possible

-- Don' t pack extras unless you' re independently wealthy and you don' t mind being wasteful. Taking the extra potato salad home for tomorrow night' s dinner? Here comes the old Pooh Pooh Train

-- And finally wash out the cooler when you do get home with soapy water and store with the lid open till the next picnic attack hits you