More About Picnics!

So yesterday I mentioned The Battle Proms at Highclere Castle which we took our parents to last year and I planned a really special picnic for, all from recipes on the Internet...

Roast Chicken with Cous Cous & Pinenut Stuffing (Everyone liked this)
Crunch Chicken Strips
Roast Duck Plum Puffs (Hubby's favourite)
Smoked Salmon & Potato Tortilla
Prawn & Pancetta Spears
Coleslaw with Mustard Seed Dressing
Elderflower & Passionfruit Smoothie

But the real discovery was Malteasers Rocky Road Bars. They are so quick and easy to make but really delicious and everyone loves them. I have made them many times since and given my mum and mother in law the recipe! We now have to co ordinate when we're all going somewhere that a food contribution is required to make sure that we don't all take Rocky Road!

The concert itself was fabulous and we were very lucky with the weather as it had been drizzling all day! I can thoroughly recommend going, especially if you go with a bigger group. We'd probably be going again ourselves this year if it weren't for a diddy dot baby. Oh well, another time!

Perfect Picnic

The picnic was perfect. We sat in a field near Combe, but the pram top under the tree (bambino decided to nap eventually!) and watched para gliders trying to avoid the trees!

I'd like to pretend that our 'simple' picnic food is down to the fact that I have a baby to look after now but actually I don't normally put much of an effort in with picnics. There's so much fabulous food, prepared and ready to go, available from the supermarkets. On this occasion we just had some nice bread, pate, cheese, olives and crisps.

Last year when we took our parents to the Battle Proms at Highclere Castle as a "Thank you for helping with our wedding present" I did make quite an effort but there were six of us and it was a special occasion. I shall add a post about that another time.

Yesterday also gave us the opportunity to try out Bambino's new travel playmat, which I made for her. It's mainly black and white because these two contrasting colours are those that a baby can see most easily. The other side is red for when she's a bit older. It's just two circles (one is four quarters sewn together) with a thick piece of wadding between and then I added a 'rim' around the edge to keep toys inside. The rim was only two layers thick but it was too tall and too flimsy so I folded it over and tacked it down at various points to make it thicker. Next time (ha, if I make another) I might insert a thicker piece of material in between two layers. Anyway, it seems to do the trick and I made a drawstring bag for it big enough to add a couple of toys too.