“Signor Renzo’s lodge (Let’s have a picnic!) stood on a grassy knoll near the crest of the hill. It was a modest place, just a low stone hut, before which stretched a woven ceiling of vines. My dinner was cooked on an open fire by the table. This was no banquet, but what the cook called a pique-nique, a meal for hunters to take outdoors. After Renzo had chosen two fat ducklings from his larder, he spit them over the fire. Then he made a dish of buttery rice crowned with speckled discs of truffle that tasted powerfully of God’s own earth.
‘Come sit with me,’ I begged, for I did not like him to wait on me. So together we sat beneath the vines as I savored each morsel and guessed at the subtle flavorings. ‘Wild garlic?’ I asked, and he lifted his brows in surprise as he ate. ‘And a herb,’ I added, ‘sage?’
‘For a woman, you have excellent taste.’
For a woman, indeed! I made a play of stabbing him with my knife.
It was most pleasant to eat our pique-unique and drink the red wine, which they make so strong in that region that they call it black or Nero. I asked him to speak of himself, and between a trial of little dishes of wild leaves, chestnut fritters, and raisin cake, Signor Renzo told me he was born in the city and had worked at a pastry’s cookshop as a boy, where he soon discovered that good foods mixed with ingenious hands made people happy and free with their purses.”
― Martine Bailey, An Appetite for Violets
The summers are here and the rainy clouds are beginning to make a presence. It is a perfect time for a picnic! However, the impact of Covid19 can dampen the happy mood. So what can be done in this case?
Here are a few and fun ways to keep the picnic or camping mood on despite being at home.
- Plan for the day and date with the time duration to make it similar to picnic experience
- Make a list of to-do things and the things you need for the picnic hamper
- Set group
- Create an atmosphere. Tents can be made from bedsheets or household items.
- Have fairy lights for impact of light settings
- Have the table set up or the floor done with table spread
- Keep it young and colorful and yet cosy
- Keep the picnic hamper containing food, beverages and cutlery prepared
- Ensure that all those who are part of the picnic experience are not distracted by mobiles or electronic stuff
- Keep the mood really engrossing with chats, games and fun
How does picnics help us?
- Fosters a bonding time with family
- Gives one the opportunity to have fun
- Helps kids learn to plan event or get together
- Deals with bettering the organizational skills
- Enables one to indulge in some chit-chats, music and games with family members
- Helps in creative development
So next time if you are bored or your kids are missing a picnic, you can definitely have it all up within your home and get a spot of fun too!