In Search of the Perfect Picnic: Anniversary

Matthew and I just celebrated 11 years of sweet marriage - usually sweet, sometimes hard, always worth it kinda marriage. Historically (10 years of history, that is), we've gone out to dinner at a fancy shmancy restaurant to celebrate - usually of the French variety. French is my favorite type of food, followed closely by Indian.

This year we did something a little different. Our baby girl is super clingy and at that toddling stage where being buckled down is not always an option, so I knew a fancy restaurant wouldn't work out so great. As you may already know, we are big fans of picnic-ing, so I put together an anniversary picnic for us to enjoy after the kids went down for the night. We put them down early to enjoy some of the daylight and cool weather out on our deck.



Matthew provided the blooms. 😊

The only thing I really made for this picnic were some lovely chocolate covered blackberries. I adore these sweet and fresh little treats. I make them for special occasions or to decorate cakes sometimes. They are quite romantic, wouldn't you say? And a nice change from chocolate dipped strawberries.

These pretty morsels are very easy to make. The blackberries get dipped in dark chocolate and then drizzled with white chocolate. I melt my chocolate in the microwave. Ina Garten has a great trick to temper chocolate without a double boiler and thermometer. She melts a portion of her chocolate in the microwave, then stirs in the rest to melt it in. Very easy.



I had leftover melted chocolate, so I decided to make a few freehand decorations on a sheet of wax paper. They added a cute touch to our dessert plate.

A bottle of our favorite champagne and a cheese tray with our favorite noshing items are all we really needed to make this a splendid anniversary. Also, candles are a must at this type of picnic.

Here's my sweetheart putting up with more picture taking.

Blue cheese, Irish Cheddar, toasted nuts, marinated olives, and sweet baby gerkins are some of our favs.

Putting together a cheese board is easy peasy and a lot fun - if you like cheese, that is. Pick a few of your favorite cheeses, crackers or bread or crostinis, something pickled or briny or both, fruit spread/preserves or dried fruit for a little sweetness, fancy mustard or pesto or tapanade, cured meat is good, and nuts are a nice touch too. I always toast my nuts for added depth of flavor. You can also add fresh fruit or roasted vegetables. Grapes, berries, cherries, sliced apple or pear, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers and roasted beets are real winners. It's really all about what you like. There is no wrong way to do this thing. Beer drinkers can add pretzels, mustards, black pepper encrusted salami or beef jerky even, a variety of cheddars, maybe some horseradish, pickles, or even fried pickles. Just go crazy with it.

I, personally, like to slice my cheese. A wedge of cheese and a pretty cheese knife is nice to look at on your board, but I don't like slicing over and over as I nosh - especially if your tray is for a cocktail party type of affair where guests will be standing around with drinks in their hands. I also usually opt for a smaller tray and pile things high, close to each other, and even on top of each other for a bountiful look.

Check out my Pinterest board on food trays, boards, and platters for more inspiration.

What would you put on your dream cheese board?

Chocolate Dipped Blackberries

INGREDIENTS
1 pint blackberries, rinsed and dried
1 cup chopped dark or semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped white chocolate or white chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Line a sheet pan with wax paper.
2. Place about 3/4 of the dark chocolate in a small microwave safe bowl and melt in 15 second increments, stirring each time, until melted.
3. Add the rest of the dark chocolate and stir until all melted.
4. Using a fork, dip each berry into the chocolate and lift out with fork letting any excess chocolate drip off. Place on wax paper.
5. When all berries are dipped, place sheet pan in the fridge to set - about 20 minutes or so.
6. Place about 3/4 of the white chocolate in another small microwave safe bowl and melt in 15 second increments, stirring each time, until melted.
7. Add in the rest of the white chocolate and stir until melted. (White chocolate is a little more difficult to work with. If it doesn't fully melt, put the bowl back in the microwave for 15 seconds at a time, stirring each time, to completely melt the chocolate.)
8. Pour white chocolate into a Ziplock freezer bag. Snip off a very small piece of the corner so you can pipe the chocolate onto your berries in a drizzle type of pattern.
9. Place berries back in the fridge to set again.
10. I keep mine in the fridge until I'm ready to use them.

* This recipe works best with large firm blackberries.
* Chopped baking chocolate works best as chips tend to have added ingredients that affect melting, but I've happily used both.

The Dinner Table

Have you ever envied one of those pretty dinner tables in a magazine or home boutique or on your favorite show where everything looks just beautiful? The table is set with gorgeous dinnerware and brand new linens, shiny serving spoons, and spot free glasses. The food is bright and colorful and fresh. The family is smiling and wearing clean shirts, and their hair looks nice. I like that. That's nice.

That's not my dinner table. My little boys sit down with dirty hands, dirty shirts, and hair set in all kinds of sweaty directions. My hubby is usually still wearing his work uniform with stress all over his face. Me? A mama whose hair looks like a whole bunch of matted carpet trying to keep baby girl from throwing her food overboard. Our table is set with mismatched dishes on a surface that's half covered with school stuff. Paper napkins are balled up in the middle of the table from the last time one of the kids grabbed a napkin and got too many and put them back in a kid kinda way (sigh).

Sometimes all I can get on the table is a brown colored casserole of some sort sans a veggie, side dish, or any other accompaniments. At least it's usually delish and easy for all of us to shovel into our mouths while catching up on each other's tough days.

Ezra set the table on this particular day. He insists on pulling out the candles every time he does.

There we are. That's us. I sit there exhausted with my exhausted husband and my hyper kids that can't stay in their seats and my over-tired baby girl who missed her afternoon nap... again. Those cute dirty faces staring back at the tired ones barking orders at them. The little faces that won't be little for very long. My husband's gentle hand on my back as I voice my frustrations about which kid did what that day. "Me and you," he says. "Me and you," I say back. One of the boys asking for more casserole and complimenting his mama. "This is good. You make the best casseroles Mom." The knowledge that we'll all be back at that table again, God willing, the next evening - still dirty, still tired and stressed, hungry all over again. Dirty faces and tired faces all there together at the dinner table. I like that. That's nice.

Chore Chart

I recently put together a formal chore chart for the boys. For the past year they've been cleaning up their own room and picking up the living room floor every evening, but I thought it was time to up the ante.


We started the boys off with simple chores like wiping down counter tops. The boys put a checkmark on their chart after morning chores, and another after evening chores. We're providing an incentive at the end of each week to help the training process move smoothly (interpretation: without kicking and screaming). At the end of the week they get to pick out a toy and a snack at the dollar store if they've done all their chores. Sometimes we offer them the choice of getting frozen yogurt with Dad instead. Their reward is the incentive, but that they get to choose their reward for themselves is also an important part of our training process.

Mateo working on his morning chores.

Matthew and I have always planned on increasing their freedom alongside their responsibility as the kids grow older. One of our parenting goals is to help our kids gradually and naturally walk into adulthood by increasing their responsibility and their freedom as their maturity increases. We don't want them to continue to live like adolescents when they leave the nest. We also don't want them to wake up one day and be expected to live like adults without guiding them through that process. That's setting them up for failure. Before they're out of the house we want them to know how to do things like clean a house, do the laundry, cook a meal, balance a checkbook, fill out an application, check their car oil, yelp a good mechanic, etc. But we also want them to be confident decision makers. We want them to enjoy making fun decisions and to know that they have what it takes to make the tough ones.

We want our kids to take pride in getting older, taking on more responsibility, and moving closer to being a grown up. We want them to look forward to the freedom, independence, responsibility, authority, and influence that adulthood brings. I read a great Washington Post article by Judy Mollen Walters about how many children and teenagers are not looking forward to adulthood. Instead they think that being an adult is too hard and not something to look forward to, much less work towards. We want our kids to have a positive outlook on growing up instead of being afraid of it. We want them to embrace it instead of putting it off. Their chore chart is just one small step in their process.

As the boys' responsibilities increase the ante goes up for Matthew and I as well. One of the things that's challenging for us is the additional oversight that it takes to get the chores done right or to even get them done at all. The boys are ages 7 and 5 right now. They have a long way to go before they can do their jobs as well as Mommy and Daddy, especially without our reminding them. It also takes more oversight to lead them in the freedom and decision making process that will gradually increase as they grow. We've got a big job to do. Maybe Matthew and I should make ourselves a chart. Hee, hee.