watermelon salad and the summer of love

My golden rule for cookbook buying these days is that I have to actually cook from it in the first week or two of ownership. Otherwise after that initial flick through it tends to be cast aside, relegated to mere food porn. I guess like the real thing, being a spectator’s one thing but it’s a heck of a lot more fun to participate.

In New Zealand I made an impulse purchase of Heidi Swanson’s lovely new cookbook. The current generous exchange rate always makes me feel so rich whenever I go home and was happy to spend some it in a local, independent bookstore.

As a longtime fan of 101 Cookbooks I knew it wouldn’t be hard to find something to cook within the critical timeframe. With eat.drink.picnic promising a stellar 30c day, the watermelon salad was a no brainer.

Did I take photos? No, in the rush to head off to the gardens I forgot. But it’s a simple dish – watermelon balls (note to self: must improve balling technique), toasted pistachios, slivered dates, a squeeze of lime and a dash of rosewater. Next time round I’ll throw caution to the wind and add more lime and roses and toss in some fresh mint.

The picnic was one of the best I’ve been to for ages. Perfect weather, a great mix of people (old and new acquaintances, all delightful), pétanque, vegan desserts (oh how I love to be able to eat a dairy-free dessert) and a delightful location. With the annual Village event next door providing some enjoyable music, by 5 pm our little pocket of Edinburgh Gardens was covered with so many blissed out park goers that it looked like The Summer of Love.

Thanks so much to everyone who turned up (and sorry if any shy souls arrived and couldn’t find us, like a blind date I should have been wearing a pink carnation in my lapel). I really want to make Michael’s vegan caeser with Black Ruby’s stunning GF bread, Carla’s I can’t believe it’s not pate and Johanna’s vegan nutella fudge*. The Significant Eater is determined to buy me an ice cream maker to recreate Kristy’s balsamic strawberry ice cream.

Notable mention also goes to Claire’s wonderful prawns and Ed’s proseco. Not that I’m picking favourites, just two days after a 5 hour feast this is the best my mind could muster. Surely a good sign that it was an excellent day,




P.S. Some random thoughts while writing this post

Independent stores – books, locally made clothes, food…are awesome. If you have to buy things for Christmas, it’s nice to support the little guys.

We must have more picnics! There’s talk of a bloggers end of year “break up” at Barefoot Bowls. (Though Christmas may be loosely translated to early in the New Year).

We need to make all food related gatherings, whether it be friends, family or food lovers, as inclusive as possible. That doesn’t mean 100% gleegan but it’d be nice is half of it is. Everything was delicious.

Summer of Love? Yes please.

I really don’t watch porn (or not in the past two decades at least!)