Mom Deserves a Picnic

Here's a little something I forgot to post back in May. Enjoy!
Have you ever tried smoked oysters? Probably not.
Apparently, someone has been buying them all these years because the grocery store always has them in a small can right next to the anchovies. Unless, of course, it is the exact same can that’s been sitting there all along.
My affection for smoked oysters began as a small child. Somehow they always made it into my mom’s picnic basket.
As a kid, I just assumed that everyone had smoked oysters in their picnic baskets.
Mom grew up in a meat and potatoes kind of family. My dad introduced her to a world of exotic foods. She always mentions shrimp as one of the other particularly delightful surprise bonuses of their fifty-plus love affair.
With Mom’s Day around the corner, I’m advocating picnics instead of presents this year.
Here’s my philosophy of picnicking:
- Food always tastes better outdoors, whether you serve it on the back patio at mom’s house or at a park.
-Bring a cooler if you must, but put the nonperishables in an appealing basket. Baskets add to the mystique.
-Pack something unexpected, like a jar of marinated artichokes instead of pickles. Or a can of smoked oysters.
-Make food everyone loves but make it differently, like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into cookie-cutter hearts.
-Quiche is a big winner for picnics because it can be served hot, cold, or in between.
-Pack something salty because the kids may be working up a sweat, passing around the Frisbee you also just happened to pack.
-Fruit salad because it tends to leak. Instead, toss in a few apples or pears, a paring knife, and a small cutting board. Then, let one of the kids slice fruit and sharp cheddar cheese together and pass them around.
-Remember to pack the deviled eggs in the cooler, not the basket. Not that anyone but me would be confused about this.
-For desert, pack something like a pound cake or lemon shortbread cookies. As tempting as it is at home, chocolate tends to melt.
-Invite people you love. Then, add someone new to your list just for fun.
Later this month, I will deliver a full picnic basket to a reception for the bride and groom to take away with them because no one ever eats at their own reception. I wonder if they will like the smoked oysters!
Maybe I should add a note explaining that you eat smoked oysters on crackers and it takes almost a whole childhood to get used to them.
Cathy Primer Krafve, aka Checklist Charlie, lives and writes with a Texas accent. Comments are invited at http://checklistcharlie.blogspot.co. or cathykrafve@gmail.com.