Pack Your Picnic Baskets
Dinner Party Series: March Edition
Back again for this months themed get together as part of my Dinner Party Series, albeit this dinner party is more of a lunch instead of a dinner, and more of a hangout instead of a party. I honestly had no idea what I had wanted to challenge myself with this month, there is such an overwhelming number of things I want to do and take inspiration from that my Pinterest is beginning to rip at its digital seams. Since spring is in full swing down here in Tampa, Florida I really wanted to take advantage of the beautiful weather before it gets to hot to do anything outside for more than 5 minutes. With that as a major decision factor, the first idea that had come to mind was a picnic. And why not make elevate it? Zhuzh it up a bit.
It also made setting up and planning out decor 10x easier. I was able to reuse a lot of the items I have used in past dinner parties and didn't have to worry about setting up a whole room. My creation was solely presented on a singular picnic table. The picnic was hosted on Davis Island, which if you’re a Tampa local you know how stunning and peaceful the picnic area can be. I didn’t want to take away from the backdrop of sailboats, kites, and the gorgeous bay - so the table was draped with a white cloth and then a lace over-lay was placed on top to make it a bit more whimsical. I was also able to serve my food on the same dishes I used for last month's dinner, so silver plates, white plates and bowls were set out. But there were two new additions that will be added into the dinner party rotation - a white striped pitcher and white stemless wine glasses that can be reused for future gatherings. I hit the TJ Maxx jackpot with those and spent a total of $16 for them combined.
The menu presented a new challenge for me which I was equally excited/stressed for. I had to curate foods that I could easily transfer from my house to the park, and also create foods that didn’t have a need to be served hot or cold. I also learned from last time that I don’t have to cook as much food as I think I do, because last month I was left with an abundance of left overs and practically shoved my friends out the door with to-go boxes, I'm sure they just hated that. With it being spring I wanted to keep an aperitif pretty light so I had decided on a crudite platter with honey whipped butter. Can I PUH-LEASE get a virtual applause because I made the butter all by myself. And if you’ve spoken to me this past year you know how much I've been wanting to do this, now that I’ve done it once and have experienced how easy it is, I will be purchasing a cute mold. Possibly a little pig? For the main and side I settled on a variation of turkey sandwiches and a pasta salad. As mentioned previously I wanted to take common picnic foods, but elevate them slightly. So for the turkey sandwich I focused on all the fixings inside which I think require a good paragraph to delve into.
Starting with the bread, we had ciabatta rolls (dare I say the best type) that I had toasted in the previously mentioned honey butter. They were laid out and the first “layer” of goods was the arugula - it was dressed in lemon juice, zest, pomegranate balsamic, and salt/pepper. Every sandwich needs greens, and if it doesn’t have it, is it really a sandwich? The next layer was roasted red bell peppers that had been resting in garlic olive oil for 24 hours. I then added the honey roasted turkey which I picked up from the Boar’s Head section of deli meats. I will say, I wish I added more meat to the sandwiches but was nervous to over do it. Following the turkey I turned my sights to the top portion of the bread and smeared a black peppercorn feta cheese and hot honey drizzled on top. It was then the two breads collided and became one beautiful dish. The pasta salad was a copy of Ina Gartens Spring Pasta salad, it was chosen because I thought it would bring a bright vibrancy to the table with all of the greens inside of it. It was prepared using fusilli pasta, and then mixed with pesto (I opted for store bought this time), spinach, peas, and parmesan.
To be served alongside the foods I also brought along a refreshing white peach sangria. Yall, it was so dang good and it looked even prettier in my newly purchased pitcher. I most definitely will be serving this pretty lady to guests all summer long. And it got you the right amount of tipsy, like a mimosa on a patio with friends would.
For dessert I served lemon possets, and I am truly in love with these sweet treats. They are absolutely best served cold, which I unfortunately realized once they had been sitting out in the sun for almost an hour, but luckily their flavor profile did not change. If you’ve had a lemon bar before you know how delightful the lemon filling is, and there isn’t much of a difference between the lemon posset filling and a lemon bar filling. What is absolutely so cute about this dessert is that you serve it inside of the lemon rinds, shes definitely the star of the show.
An honorable mention to the prepared food is what my friends Shelbi and Amber brought. Shebi shared pretzels and everything hummus with Publix pink lemonade, and Amber stopped by La Segunda bakery and shared SO MANY pastries with us to indulge in.
If you’ve read my other articles you may have noticed that I also provide some form of entertainment or activity for my friends and I to do. This time we painted planters, and they came with soil and seeds too. I thought that this would be a perfect addition to matching the “spring” theme.
I truly couldn’t have asked for it to be any better, I really enjoyed the calmness of the environment, the weather was perfect, the food was excellent, my friends are exceptional, and I just know it’s only going to get better.
As always I appreciate whomever takes the time out of their day to read my posts, and if you have any thoughts or ideas that you think I should try I would love to hear!
Love you and see ya next time! Lulu
