Recipe for the Perfect Picnic

Probably the best way to spend a Sunday morning is on a boat. I think. And that is exactly what we did yesterday. As weather goes for Florida in February, this has not been your ideal winter. The past few weeks have been blustery, cloudy and unseasonably cool - average daytime temperature in the 60's opposed to the 80's. Not that I am complaining! I am more than happy for an average day in February to be in the 60's, but when your expectations are for 80, it's a tad disheartening. Yesterday was the first day in a while that we awoke to humidity in the air and that feeling of a pleasant day sneaking in.

By the time we launched the boat around 10am, we were smiling at sunshine and 75. Our unnamed craft, a 15 ft Boston Whaler, sometimes simply referred to as "Little Boat," was as anxious to explore the back bays as we were. I can't imagine being cooped up in a garage with the garbage cans and overflow of storage, just another one of the fixtures. Each day the garage door opens, she peeks her bow out, wondering if her humans will find the weather exceptional enough to take her for a jaunt.

Dave threw a left fielded comment at me the other night. As we sat at the dinner table over empty plates, pleasantly full, he abruptly announced that he wanted to go on a picnic. What? Dave is not really your picnic type. He has entirely too much energy to sit and have a picnic. It was probably one of the most off the wall comments I have ever heard come out of his mouth. The previous evening, I had told him about a wonderful excerpt from Encore Provence by Peter Mayle, about his wife planning him a surprise picnic for his birthday. The picnic included all of his best friends and the venue was the Provincial countryside. Choice meats, cheeses, olives and of course local wines were all stars of the menu. Maybe that's what sparked his sudden, bazaar desire for a picnic. Anyhoo, we decide to incorporate a picnic with our boat ride.

The makings of a perfect picnic is an equation with two equally important variables; the venue and the ingredients. I didn't make a run to the grocery store before our picnic. We were anxious to get out on the water, and with the boat launch at the end of our road, it was silly to go an extra 2 miles out of the way to the store. I rummaged the cupboards and refrigerator for some tasty picnic pleasers. I was able to scrounge up bakery bread, prosciutto, mozzarella, a can of anchovies and two Reed's Extra Ginger Beer. If you have never tried Reed's Ginger Beer, then add it to your culinary bucket list. On the West Coast you can find it in most grocery stores next to the Hansen's soda. Here in the South I have to go to Whole Foods or a health food store. It's all natural and not too sweet, made with real ginger. My choice ginger beer for Dark 'N Stormy's - dark rum, ginger beer and lime, a Bermuda specialty.

Apparently everyone else had the same idea yesterday and so, when we pulled our little boat up on what we thought was a secluded beach, we were joined within the hour by 5 other boaters. I felt like I missed the memo about party island's location at our exact spot, where all the college kids take their boats to some far removed place, get Girls Gone Wild drunk, and listen to Tool and Rage Against the Machine all day (do I sound old?). Luckily we had already enjoyed our picnic by that point and were ready to get back on the water.

As we enjoyed the peacefulness before the ruckus arrived, I thought about what else I may have included for our perfect picnic. This also works well as an antipasti for an afternoon get together. Many of the ingredients can be found in the bakery/deli/specialty are of your grocery store. I usually go nuts with the roasted red pepper feta blends and stuffed olives. Of course they never list price per pound, so I can end up racking up a large bill if I'm not careful. So here is a list to refer to for your next picnic - I hope I'm not forgetting anything important!

Recipe for the Perfect Picnic

Cured meats - prosciutto, pancetta, hard salami

Fresh baked bread

Water crackers - I like Caar's

Bunch of green grapes, pears, apple slices

Greek olive mix or stuffed olives - garlic, almond, blue cheese

Olive tapenade

Cheese- hunk of Parmesan, Brie, smoked Gouda, Gruyere, Roquefort etc. Some grocery stores will let you sample the cheeses (Whole Foods, Top Foods, Haggen)

Whole grain mustard or white wine mustard - Grey Poupon

Anchovies -I LOVE anchovies, if you don't love anchovies try canned smoked oysters or smoked clams, smoked salmon or lox

Toothpicks

Plates, napkins, cheese knife, mustard knife

Cooler

Favorite book

Sunshine

Wine selection:

Depending on what you like, there is a fairly wide spectrum that would go with a picnic lunch. Here are a few

Dry Riesling - Chateau Ste Michelle Riesling $7 - low acidity, round, refreshing, passion fruit

Rose - Falesco Vitiano $8 - medium bodied, floral, strawberry and plum

Sparkling Wine - Dom Ste Michelle Blanc de Blanc $10 - dry to medium, pear and pineapple

Amber to red Grenache and Port, generally French or Italian, give a nice sweet complimentary flavor to mild cheeses and desserts.

Champange and sparkling wines go well with most any picnic menu

Beer:

Lindemans Raspberry Framboise $6-$7 - fruity acidity, sparkling clean taste

Young's Double Chocolate Stout $4-5 - smooth mouthfeel, not overly chocolate

Alaskan Brewing Smoked Porter $6 - perfect with smoked oysters, dark, robust smoky flavor

Don't forget wine/beer glasses and a bottle opener!

One of the best picnics Dave and I have ever had was a celebration of our arrival into the Bahamas. It took us several weeks of sitting in Miami Harbor, waiting for the right weather window to cross over the Gulf Stream to Bimini. It was a ten hour overnight trip and nerve wracking as hell. But that arrival into Bimini was the most exhilarating feeling ever. The sun started lighting the sky an hour or so before we reached land. As we crossed from the 10,000 ft deep, dark blue Gulf Stream and onto the Bahama Bank, the water turned to a crystalline electric teal color, like no color I had ever seen before. I looked down from the bow of our sailboat at a depth of 30 ft and could see the sandy bottom like it was only inches away. We were wired from a night of OD-ing on coffee and the adrenaline of our biggest accomplishment on our sailboat. From our marina on the sheltered east side of the island, it was a short walk across to the beach on the Gulf side. We packed a bag full of gourmet goodies that my mom had mailed to us in Miami prior to our departure. Our most prized picnic item being our bottle of Banyuls wine that traveled with us from Banyuls sur Mer, France to the Bahamas. Farther from home than I imagine this little bottle of wine would have ever thought possible. I sent this picture back to Guy who ran Cave St Jacques, the wine shop in Banyuls.