April 23, National Picnic Day

Peggy Knickerbocher, "Sandwich Subculture: Bread is your bowl when the picnic's in a loaf"

"I am reminded of the Sunday picnics we went on as a family when I was young. ... We knew something was up when my mother asked us to pick up a few loaves of French bread and some hard rolls on our way home from church. ... My mother took the warm loaves of bread from us, sliced off the tops, and pulled out the spongy centers. Into the largest loaf she stuffed chicken that she had cut into pieces and cooked with port and orange zest, a recipe inspired by Alice B. Toklas. She then replaced the top of the loaf and wrapped it tightly in linen tea towels to retain the moisture and warmth. Depending upon her mood, she filled the other loaves and rolls with all sorts of concoctions. In one she stuffed olives coated in chopped parsley; in another she stuffed sliced cherry tomatoes, feta, and red onions tossed with olive oil; in a third she added red and green peppers cooked with olive oil, garlic, anchovies, and oregano. And there was always at least one roll filled with caramelized onions. Offering to help, we cooked some Italian fennel sausages to fill a baguette.

"We drove ... to one of our secret picnic spots under a grove of eucalyptus trees. There we spread out the red blanket and unwrapped the towels covering the bread. Using the towels as napkins, we each got a fork to dip into the various salads and savories my mother had prepared. We ate the chicken with our fingers, and as the pieces disappeared, we were left with the tasty remains of the bread. Our parents often brought a fully stocked wicker picnic basket into which my father stashed a shaker of martinis. My brother and I usually settled for some slightly warm ginger ale. For dessert, we ate some of my famous lemon squares or a box of gingersnaps, perfect with the Maxwell House coffee my mother brought in an old navy metal thermos.

"If the air got chilly or it started to rain, the meal was lots of fun to eat in a deserted barn, or we would park the car on a country road and pass the stuffed rolls around, licking our fingers a lot in the process. Whether we ate inside or out ultimately didn't matter ... . And with every last crust of bread eaten, there were never any dirty dishes to worry about."

A Japanese spring picnic (I can't seem to stop watching these sorts of vlogs where people are cleaning or cooking or walking around or just at home doing nothing -- there are so many all of a sudden -- with descriptions of quiet, slow, relaxed, cozy, countryside, simple, peaceful life and so on. Kind of annoying but somehow soothing.)