Always Be Picnicking
People tell me I’m a real pro at picnicking. I love high-low (potato chips with champagne, kobe beef hot dogs), I am a cheap snob, and I have celiac disease which means I’ve been following a gluten-free diet since before it was a thing. Celiac can make it hard to grab food on the run, so packing delish gf snacks is a good idea. It’s always fun to eat with a view, too.
EMERGENCY PICNIC KIT
Set yourself up for success, keep a plastic shoebox storage container in your car stocked with the following:
tiny cutting board
plastic forks and spoons
corkscrew
paper towels napkins
binder clips to close open bags of chips
couple ziplock bags to contain stuff you want to keep fresh and eat later
plastic vegtable bags from the grocery store produce section to hold garbage
Extra Credit = travel size Maldon sea salt, gluten-free tamari soy sauce packets, tiny sriracha, mini Tajin
It’s nice to have something to sit on (I use an Army blanket) and 2 cups to drink out of (I have some BAER logo insulated stemless wine glasses). Hopefully you already have hand sanitizer in your car door.
In the car picnic scenario, the provisions come straight from the grocery store or farmers market. You'll enjoy the picnic from inside the car because you are out in the vineyard or on a road trip stopped at a pretty lookout and or you’re in Seattle and big surprise, it’s raining.
CAR PICNIC MENU BREAKFAST SERVED ALL DAY
yogurt
cookies
banana
hot tea or coffee
CAR PICNIC MENU SNACKTIME
dried fruit, nuts, crackers, bagged popcorn
If you want to level up, get some sparkling water from the refrigerated case while you're at the store or grab another wild non-alc fun drink because car picnic means you are driving.
The concept is to minimize the mess, minimize condiments, but it’s more civilized than eating cheetos while driving (ask me how I know).
TOTEBAG PICNIC
The totebag picnic requires more prep, more intention than the spontaneous car picnic but there are big payoffs. You probably won't have a table, so any foods that require real chopping or slicing should be chopped or sliced at home / at the deli. It’s nice to bring a dishtowel to set up camp and you’ve got to be discreet about the wine drinking in public. Screwcap bottles are a plus in this regard. Great locations for a totebag picnic include Leschi T-dock, dahlia garden at Volunteer Park, Log Boom Park, St. Ed’s, bridges of Paris, castle gardens of the Loire.
TOTEBAG PICNIC MENU
awesome sliced jamon or prosciutto from the deli
olives
hummus
cut up veg like carrots, bell peppers
crackers or tortilla chips
wine
Mason jars to drink wine out of
THE HAPPY HOUR PICNIC
A friend was telling me about this beachside bar in Hawaii where you can “have happy hour on the sand". I’m thinkin - we do that already, dude, for free. Discretion is critical but it is the best way to watch the sunset in my opinion.
VACATION HAPPY HOUR PICNIC MENU
salty snacks of the region (macadamia nuts, cacahuetes con chile y limon, high end potato chips, salt and pepper pistachios from Costco)
chilled rosé, you could bring a ziplock bag of ice to keep it cold on the beach
plastic glasses from your hotel room/Airbnb
How do you guys like to picnic?
