Making summer picnic memories
I can still tell you exactly where my mom stored our family’s round wicker picnic basket. I can still see my dad packing ice into our green Coleman cooler.
If I close my eyes, I see watermelon chilling in creeks, my grandmother relaxing in a folding lawn chair, Keds-clad feet stretched out in front of her.
Picnics, quite simply, make for glorious memories. And when the days and summer stretch on and on, we are duty-bound to get out there and make some new memories, along with our most cherished side salads and treats.
I have picnicked in the company of hungry bears, persistent bees and annoying flies. But I’m convinced I’ve never had a truly bad meal so long as I was outdoors somewhere, happy and relaxed with family and friends.
This week, Plates regular Linda Sue Liu is contributing to our next happy picnic with a pair of recipes. Both recipes come together so easily there’s no excuse to stay indoors. Liu’s peanut butter rice cereal bars include an irresistible caramel-y topping.
Her cranberry walnut coleslaw offers a mayo-free take on the traditional picnic side dish. Liu dresses her slaw with honey mustard and honey. I do like the mayo-and-yogurt dressing I use on coleslaw, but I might adapt it with the honey mustard and honey to try a different flavor profile.
Happy picnicking. Let me know if you make a special picnic memory or dish this summer.
Second helpings
The Nut Tree potato salad that ran in this column dishes up a traditional take on this comfort food. If you want to
zip it up a bit, Pat Bergman of San Jose offers her take. “I use curry powder instead of mustard powder in my egg and potato salads,” Bergman says. “Different, tasty, a bit of Dash and maybe a bit of healthy turmeric in it.”
Bergman is proof we can be infinitely creative when it comes to satisfying our taste buds. “Something I like but most people can’t imagine eating is blue cheese on ginger snaps. Absolutely yummy!” Colt says.
I can’t even begin to imagine the circumstances that would lead to that collision of flavors, but I spent far too much time pondering other potential combos. If you’ve discovered a recipe or just a snack that snaps your taste buds to attention, please share.
Request line
Sometimes, Virginia Preston says, it is indeed about the articles. “My husband discovered a good chili recipe in a Playboy magazine,” Preston says. “He made it numerous times over the years, but then we somehow lost the recipe. We think it was in an early-to-mid 1990s issue of the magazine.”
The chili included ground beef and pork but no beans, Preston says. “Supposedly it was the first President Bush’s favorite chili and might have originally come from a Los Angeles restaurant.”
A recent request for an Asian salad dressing recipe prompted J.A. Colt to wonder if readers can help with another Asian salad dressing. Colt loves the dressing at Chow in Lafayette. “Not available on the menu but offered in the refrigerated to-go case, this salad is great,” Colt says. “They also offer the dressing in tubs, but I would like to make it myself.”