A Valentine's Day Picnic

Anyone who has ever stopped at Mary's of Home is Where the Boat Is, knows that her blog should come with a caution sign, something like:  WARNING:  INSPIRATION AHEAD.  POSSIBLE ADDICTION AND FEELINGS OF INADEQUACY.  ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY OF FALLING IN LOVE!

So, when I was looking for inspiration for my Valentine's Day celebration, I discovered this gem among many, many of her Valentine's Day posts.  She calls it The Love Boat.

Doesn't that look amazing?  I immediately knew this was it.  So what if there were some minor difficulties?  I mean, I don't own a pontoon, it's the middle of winter here in the Midwest, and there's no possibility of getting out on a lake right now . . .  But!  I have some plaid and a picnic basket.  How hard could it be?  Well, it turns out that there’s so much more than meets the eye! Mary’s seemingly effortless stylings actually require quite a bit of planning, and a natural flair.

First, Mary used these darling white napkins with a rickrack trim.  I remember seeing them at Pier 1, and walked right past them as though they didn't exist.  I am not a good browser.  I usually go to the stores with a single purpose, and my brain shuts down to other possibilities.  Now they are no longer available, but I've had these other napkins for the last 10 years, and I figured they would do.  You can also find them in here, in another blog post.  They are not exactly the kind that I would take to a picnic, but this is, after all, Valentine’s Day.

Mary also used red napkins in a tiny gingham pattern, which I have in brown, green, pink, yellow and lavender, but not red.  But the larger gingham pattern is close enough.  Oh, and it so happens that I already owned the same exact cutting board from Kohl's.  Score!

As for the picnic basket, I have an old Longaberger basket from the 90's.  Do you remember those days when so many of us thought we'd perish unless we owned at least one Longaberger basket?  This one was one of the exclusive ones that only show hostesses could buy.  Lucky for me, I had a consultant that had a very practical streak, and once she became convinced that I was not party material (at least, NOT this kind of party) she let me buy the hostess specials at retail, swearing me to secrecy over her breaking the rules.  What made it exclusive was the narrower size of the slats.

JE T'AIME!  Isn't that romantic?  I headed off to World Market to see if I could find it.  

No luck.  However, I did find this other beautiful bottle, and, after all, isn't that how we should always choose our wine, by the look of the bottle?

I do not own any of those beautiful Skyler dishes that Mary used, but these pretty ones might work.

It’s called Pink Toile by Churchill, and depicts several idealized scenes from the English countryside.  The scene below shows a gentleman is getting ready to jump a fence with his horse, if you look to the right, his hound seems to be hiding among the bushes.

Further to the right a young man is holding a fishing rod, a swan swims nearby, and in the center of the plate, cows graze in a bucolic setting.  Yes, indeed, perfect for a picnic.

I found some heart-shaped crackers at World Market, too!

So here's my basket . . .

Now for the cheese tray.  Crackers, cheese and fruit . . . check!

My Nantucket dish by Wedgwood is even similar to Mary's . . .  I served some of our favorite cheeses:  Provolone, Port Salut and Wensleydale with Cranberry.

Because Valentine's Day fell on a Friday -  a work day for me, we had our picnic at night, and because it was dinner time, we needed something a bit more substantial, so I prepared some chicken salad and placed it on a bed of radicchio . . .

It came together very quickly by using a rotisserie chicken and adding onion, celery, roasted red peppers, cranberries, salt, pepper, a little mayo, and lemon juice.  It's one of our go-to dishes when we are busy, and my husband never seems to get tired of it!

Well, we sat on the floor by our fireplace and had our own Winter Picnic for two, while the fire crackled and some love songs played in the background . . .

We opened the champagne, which was delicious!

I pulled out our Waterford Millenium Flutes with the Heart Design . . .

I couldn't resist getting two different kinds of the Chocolove Chocolate Bars, my favorite flavors . . .

They were both excellent, but I must confess, I loooved the Orange Peel. 

And both of them came with poems printed on the inside of the wrapper!

Our "Love Boat" Picnic was wonderfully romantic, and, on a day when the wind was howling outside, we cuddled by the fireplace and celebrated our 36th Valentine's Day together.  Thank you, Mary, for helping me plan it!  Hoping that your day was filled with love.

Getting back on the horse: Blogging again.

But the horse never bucked me!  The problem is life.  A demanding job.  A longer commute. Facebook.  Too many things happening!  I've missed blogging dreadfully, and I have so much to share that I'm making a promise to myself not to be gone so long in the future.

Since food is fun, comforting, and emotionally easy to address, I'll start with that:

Here was last night's dinner - Chicken Tortilla Soup.  It was truly delicious.  I followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe, more or less.  I've been turning up the heat in my kitchen a bit more for the last couple of years after reading of all the many health benefits chili peppers offer.  I know, I'm late to the party.  In addition to Vitamin C, carotenoids, and antioxidants, they are great to help regulate insulin in the body, and even helps break up gallstones!

Can you tell I'm getting older?  Now food not only has to taste delicious, but it has to have some redeeming healthy quality, if only to justify it to myself.  My heat tolerance is still low, compared to that of most of my friends, but it's definitely improving.  If you attempt to make this recipe, take it nice and slow with the hot spices, until you find the level of heat with which you are comfortable - and be sure to have some sour cream on hand to cool things down in a hurry!

Our interest in Mexican food was rekindled recently during a visit to Rick Bayless' "Topolobampo" restaurant here in Chicago.  We waited for our table next door at "Frontera Grill" sipping sangría (we are not into margaritas), admiring their alebrije - a Mexican folk art sculpture of a fantastical creature. 

. . . and enjoying the most unusual, but delicious Chef's Choice Guacamole, made with mashed avocado, infused with morita chile, grilled onions, oregano, chorizo and queso fresco.  It was fabulous!

And that was only the beginning because the 5-course meal that followed at Topolo's (as the name is frequently shortened) was inspired.  The courses were described elaborately and presented with flare, but when it came down to it, the food was of the utmost freshness and simplicity.  It took us three and a half hours to finish the meal.  I felt like I was in Europe, in one of those delightful suppers that never seem to end, and in which the conversation flows like good wine.  If you have the opportunity to visit one of Rick Bayless' restaurants, don't miss it!  It's definitely worth it!

Martha Stewart posted the beautiful picture above of  her Leftover Salade Niçoise, and it spoke to me because it reminded me a bit of my grandmother's salad  - Carmela's Salad, of which I have previously written.  I felt like Martha was challenging me to take it up a few notches, so, of course, I had to try making it . . .

. . . even down to making up a batch of my own Roasted Red Peppers.

Voilà!  I omitted the anchovies, because neither my husband nor I will eat them (although I don't mind them in a Caesar Salad Dressing, where their fuzzy texture is obliterated by the blender, another day, perhaps). Everything was Martha-worthy - organic, locally grown, grass-fed, antibiotic-free, pesticide-free, and wild-caught.  We feasted on it for two days.  Challenge met, Martha!

North Carolina Pulled Pork was another new entrée to feature at our table in a recent weekend dinner.  I convinced myself that because it was dressed with apple cider vinegar and honey, it had to be healthy. The pork came out very tender, but we decided we really missed the barbecue sauce, so I'm not sure if I'll be making this one again.

My attempts at healthier eating aren't always successful, but sometimes they are.  Dr. Hyman's Green Breakfast Smoothie, which he touts as probably "the healthiest smoothie in the whole world" has been part of my breakfast for the last few months, and I'm enjoying it! It is actually very tasty, and easy to make with the help of a good Vitamix blender, and my wonderful husband, who prepares the veggies for me.

Since our recent trip to Hawai’i we've welcomed papayas back into our lives.  I don't know why we've ignored this delicious fruit in the past.  My mother was very fond of it.  In Cuba it is generally known as "Fruta Bomba" - Bomb Fruit.  In Havana, especially, the sophisticated town mice would never utter the name "papaya" which in Cuban slang represents the female genitalia.  This article will help explain this Cuban idiosyncrasy.  I guess it's better that it look like a bomb than a part of the female anatomy.  We humans are so sexually repressed!  Ha!  In any case, they've been exceptionally good this year, and we have indulged.  Go buy a papaya before the season runs out!

Ah!  Food!  We can't avoid dealing with it daily.  And what joy it brings when we do it right!

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” —Virginia Woolf

I'm back!