"The sun, with all those planets Revolving around it and dependent upon it, Can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it has nothing else in the universe to do". - Galileo Galilei
It’s been a minute. Let’s play some catchup, shall we?
Picnic - ing.
A dear, dear friend recently gifted us the most thoughtful, and quintessential sweetheart picnic basket as a wedding gift. Within it, contained a hand embroidered tablecloth of our wedding venue.
For inspiration, I googled “best picnic food”. When I landed on a list of “50 recipes for a picnic”, my brain went bonkers. I was overwhelmed with the possibilities & figured I’d just free form this exercise in my own brain, because, well… it’s my picnic party.
For the sake of my own future picnic-ing, here’s what’s-what in this world:
Homemade herbed goat cheese…Thinking dill, chives, parsley, cilantro, etc. whatever is fresh - oh, kind of loving as an idea celery leaves & edible flowers.
Homemade sourdough crackers. Yes, still on repeat (see Ep. 1)
& olives. like, the really good ones from the special place that has the bar of olives with the really good seasoning that you only go to for special occasions, such as picnics.
Oh, also - not pictured but shelled, unsalted pistachios for snacking.
Tea sandwiches. Cucumber-sliced thinly, za’atar seasoning & goat or cream cheese, possibly an avocado or radish slice situation…
I could go egg salad here, but that’s very much weather depending.
Would totally settle on some kind of veggie chickpea mash - cream cheese spread, carrots, cucumber, sprouts, avocado, multi-grain situation.
Um, Caprese?? Si. I don’t default to this because I’m picky about my mozzarella, I really don’t want to settle. However, this could be potentially an excellent situation + crowd pleasing. I’ll take a garlic rubbed bread, tomato, mozz, fresh basil + few caper berries with a pesto/balsamic drizzle moment.
Dessert: Just give me a few really good, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies. I might even get a lil wacky here and pop in a few m&m’s in those bad boys.
Fresh fruit feels like a must. Melon & berries, por favor.
Menu:
Greek Salad
Yeah, I know - so simple but you know what? I can’t say that I’ve actually ever made a Greek Salad at home before.
I've had plenty (some good, some great, some radically lack luster), I figured this was a good place to start and make the recipe to the letter to make sure I get all the nuances correctly. I really didn't think the dressing would be enough, but it was totally just right. I hadn't accounted for additional tomatoes juices I think. I did try out a vegan feta for this one. It worked.
This was delicious, simple and so fresh while also filling. Will definitely have this on repeat over the summer. I have a very happy oregano plant & can't wait for tomato season. Totally throwing in pepperoncini next round.
Genius moment: When this started to lose it’s luster in the fridge, I 100% added to the blender with a few more tomatoes and made a bomb gazpacho. I truly felt like I won my own version of Chopped with my basket ingredient.
Muhammara - Roasted Red Pepper Dip
I got this recipe from NYT Cooking (I’m on here a lot), but you can find any basic version of this dish and achieve the same results. Oh gosh. Can’t. Stop. Eating. It’s. So. Good. Used jarred red peppers vs. roasting my own (I’m good for the moment with the jared, don’t stress about roasting your own, but you do you). Been eating with crackers, pretty much every afternoon.
It calls for pomegranate molasses, which I happen to have left over from a Bon Appetit Brussels sprout recipe from thanksgiving like 2 years ago (maybe 3) so any excuse to use this is great.
+ Breadcrumbs - I was out of... so I made from a loaf saved in the freezer which I thawed out in the oven for a bit. I will say, being out of breadcrumbs was actually a win for this bc it was a really good leftover sourdough loaf. Will definitely continue this style crumb for future. Made it much more rustic and flavorful.
Sourdough Crust Pizza Night
This has been on the menu making a somewhat regular debut because of all the sourdough I’ve been growing. It’s actually a sour dough pizza crust discard recipe from King Arthur Baking, which [love] is fun to eat sourdough something, other than just bread.
I’ve also tried this for calzone recipe & can recommend 10/10.
This.
Buffalo Cauliflower Dip
This, is a NYT Cooking Buffalo Cauliflower Dip, that has been waiting in the wings to swoop into my life with the full fury of a lifetime of unfulfilled buffalo dip experiences.
Let me tell you. As a life-long, born & raised vegetarian I missed out on all the buffalo experiences. Buffalo wings, buffalo sauce, buffalo dip, buffalo pizza, buffalo things with ranch sides… all of it. There was just no point really. Until I learned.
1st time I made this was for a pot luck Super Bowl Party in which I didn’t want to be ‘the girl eating all her own dip she brought to the party’ so I made again, just for my own enjoyment. 2nd round I utilized some personal variances to the recipe, which I’ll share shortly - but holy moly gosh. Thank you Ali Slagle for creating this.
& also - thank you to all the continuous NYT Cooking recipe commentators for your continual joy of… all things. Including, lack of reading recipes and making your own dish and saying it sucks…. I’m literally laughing thinking about it.
Listened to [via audible]:
“The Indifferent Stars Above”, by Daniel James Brown
I don’t know about you but I’m purely fascinated & completely baffled by the early 1900’s homesteaders. Also, equally insatiably curious and appalled by the story of the Donner party. You know, the ones who were crossing the Sierra Nevada Mountains and got stuck in the winter and became cannibals? Yeah, that story.
I couldn’t wrap my brain around it. It’s not that simple, it’s not like they mutinied on each other and started pulling straws or anything (actually, they kind of did), but I couldn’t help knowing the facts of the story.
I haven’t looked too hard, but Daniel James Brown does an excellent, honest and raw job of telling the tale of Sarah Graves, a new bride of one of the Donner’s. I’m not sure if I would be equally as appalled if I had read the book in print vs. listening to it, but quite honestly - it was really jaw-dropping some points. What I did appreciated about listening to the book, was when I could - I was able to look up on the map reference points and really get an immersed sense of the scenery (thank you Google).
Anyway, I can’t get some parts of it out of my head, but at least now I know. 7/10 would recommend for a real-life thriller.
Reading [via the library on ebook]:
Still on this one.
“Wanderlust“ by Reid Mitenbuler
It’s enchanting, extremely informative and a joy to enter the explorer’s world, if only from the page. I’m probably about half way with this one, but I’m not in a rush. It’s one of those, really can’t stop reading books when your in it though.
Um, also - genius points to the universe that this appeared in my life. There’s an “Adventure Reading” playlist on Spotify that makes reading this book come to life in a really fun way if you’re into that kind of thing.
Till next time.
Cheers,
Justine