Korova cookies and chocolate cupcake with chocolate icing

We realised that the both of us missed having a picnic and the last time we went was last February. This time, we baked orange yoghurt cake, korova cookies(!!)and chocolate cupcakes over the weekend which will serve as sweets for our picnic.

Gruyere cheese with ham and tomato

On Monday itself, we simply prepared the buffalo mozerrella salad and the baked baby potatoes. Not before we prepared for breakfast. Breakfast was a nicely grilled sandwich made with my brand new griddle pan as well as a poached egg. We bought Gruyere cheese (A type of semi-hard cow's cheese made in Switzerland) as well as premium shank ham, and thickly-sliced bread from Four Leaves.

Simply place these ingredients on top on the buttered bread in a griddle pan of melted butter for a couple of minutes and there you will get a perfect sandwich. To complete the meal, we made simple poached eggs.

Grilled sandwich with poached egg

After a hearty breakfast, we started preparing for our picnic later in the afternoon. Simple and fuzz free preparation- baking the potatoes with garlic, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and topping that with grated parmesan cheese.

Baked baby potatoes

Next we washed our argula leaves, cherry tomatoes and sliced the soft buffalo mozzarella before putting them together. We kept the olive oil and balsamic dressing separate so as not to make the salad soggy.

Argula salad with buffalo mozerrella

We also made a cheese spread from our leftover mascarpone cheese with freshly plucked basil leaves from my garden, flavour it with some salt and pepper and there you have a light cheese spread that went really well with whole-wheat crackers that we got.

Mascapone basil cheese spread on whole wheat cracker

Just before we headed to the gardens for our picnic, we stopped by Culina to pick up our prosciutto (parma ham) but they did not have it so we bought it from Jones the grocer instead. Prosciutto goes perfectly with our sweet, just-ripe musk melon. That’s sure heaven on its own.

Parma ham with musk melon

So we spent 2 hours at Botantical gardens, having our picnic food, drinking our pinot grigio- a very light bouquet with delicate citrus flavours that was a perfect match with our picnic food. A pity that the wine got warm after being in the hot weather.

Picnic food with pinot grigio

With that, we ended our picnic by lying on our picnic mat totally engrossed in the origins and usage of spices. We promised that we will be back again. Soon enough I hope. )