Weekend Update, March 4, 2013

It's the picnic principle. Things taste better outdoors. 

Franny Billingsly

There are three types of meals I'm especially fond of-

Those served on a formal table

Those served on a casual table

and those served on no table at all.

The tiny people that I'm lucky enough to be playing with this week are big fans of the latter,so we've been picnicking and enjoying one movable feast after another.
                                                                                                                                                                                 

There was the "Hey! It's actually really warm today!" puzzle picnic...






the  "Hey! It's really snowing!!!" indoor picnic

                                       

 The "Hey! It's Pink Ladybug's birthday!" party picnic....

And the "Hey! the geese would like a picnic!" picnic.

And in between al fresco dining events, a few forays into pink food land. 

Specifically, a meal of poached salmon, pink noodles, and strawberries:

umm.... this is one of those ideas that looked alot better on
paper than it did on the plate.

There was nothing exactly wrong with the fish- in fact, this is my new favorite way to cook salmon. It was fantastically tender, moist and flavory. A good recipe gone wrong because of it's side-dish companions.

 In addition to the pink cauliflower and pink noodle fail,  the department of I-really-thought-they'd-eat-this also brings you: homemade heart-shaped pink crust pizza:

Interested in making it? yes. Interested in eating it? no.
Even little people seem to prefer pizza that looks like pizza.
go figure.

The pizza crust and a few other things this week necessitated the use of olive oil, and using it set me thinking about sunlit fields, Puccini, the blue of the Mediterranean, pasta, fresh bread.....sigh.... wonderful stuff, olive oil-

You too, could be this happy and  um...healthy.
If only you had access to an Italian olive grove.

It also set me to wondering about something I'd heard long ago: that the darker the olive oil, the stronger the taste. You've probably heard that too, though you may not have gone to the shop and purchased four different shades of olive oil to see if it's true....

But I did.

And guess what?! It's true! The darker the oil, the stronger the taste (and usually the higher the price).  The darkest one on the left I've drizzled onto salads and whisked into dressings; the lightest one on the right is light enough to use in baking. Except I've used the dark one in baking breads. And sometimes the light one in salads. I'm thinking that maybe there aren't any hard and fast rules here; as long as the oil you use gives you the flavor you hoped for, you're doing it right. 

I'm hoping that tomorrow finds me picnicking on the sunny banks of a nearby creek,

and I hope it finds you adventuring too.

Even if it's just a little.

Even if it's only taking something familiar and enjoying it in a new way, in a new place.

I hope you feel the sun this week sinking through your skin into your winter-weary soul

 until you know in your bones that immense wealth of the gifts that you posses- those things with which you can nurture and feed the hungry ones around you- 

you absolutely, positively can 

take it with you.