It’s maybe not quite the time of year yet for a picnic, but it’s definitely the time to start planning and getting inspiration for some epic summer outdoor eating. Recently I’ve been cooing over Hans Blomquist‘s beautiful, whimsical interior design. He’s most famous for doing a lot of styling for Ikea – but really, he’s especially good at picnics.
Hans seems to agree with me that picnics should always be, aesthetically, a clutter of pretty indoor things stumbling over a beautiful outdoor setting on a summer afternoon. And OK, most of us probably wouldn’t lug a gramophone and several paper lampshades out on a picnic with us, but doesn’t it look pretty?
Decor aside, I have quite strict food rules for my own picnicking. The ideal British picnic should include a selection of the following: pork pie, oatcakes, variety of interesting cheeses (including crumbly and blue, and some goat’s) cold meats, crusty bread, butter, grapes, strawberries, raspberries, apples, homemade flapjacks, treacle tart, cupcakes, bottled real ale or cider, ginger beer, homemade lemonade.
Winter picnics are a whole different matter – they require an army of soup-filled flasks and cornish pasties tucked into insulated packs. I’m also keen to expand a picnicking repertoire to include French and Italian themes, but the weather would probably have to be quite a bit warmer than Scotland can provide for that.
