i'm hopelessly in love with the picnic. there's just something so romantic and earthy about dining outdoors. they can be elaborate affairs or simple spontaneous events that end up making a weekend amazing. after my lovely nap in the meadow sun two weeks ago, i promised myself that i would have more picnics in my life. i gave myself a number to achieve, ignoring the whisper in my head that said having a goal in mind for the number of picnics to achieve may possibly sound a little crazy. sixteen. sixteen picnics over the next few months to stretch my imagination, get out of the house, get out of the summer-weekend-routine, get out of my own head and spend time with people i love en plein air.
sunday's picnic was simple: at a local park on a lawn of blooming clover dotted with brilliant yellow buttercups and wish-evoking dandelions. for lunch: roast beef on baguette with goat cheese, tomato and arugula, fresh market strawberries and spicy asian noodle salad. i'm working on my food photography, but i'm here to tell you that you will not see a photo of the sandwich and noodles on my lovely new picnic plates because it looked not-so-great in the photo. but it was yummy in real life, followed by the best dessert of all: strawberry cupcakes...
we never got around to reading the next few chapters of east of eden (the official picnic book of the summer) due to a sudden wind storm and a ground bee offensive. so it was a tiny picnic. but it was good. did i mention the buttercups?
shortly after i plucked these beauties from the ground, i realized i may have committed a crime (or is that just a california thing? picking wildflowers gets you a record?). but since it was a picnic and my mood was light and i was already totally not stressing about the gale-force winds and the weird earth-dwelling bees, i decided that being a yellow wildflower bandit was kind of cool.
happy monday buttercups!
p.s. on one of the computers i use, my blog images seem really, really pixelated since i embiggened. i apologize if this is what you are experiencing. i'll check into the issue later today and hope to have it remedied soon.
