Last night Kathy had a Miche order to deliver to some great folks in Vernon. She had to work, so it was to be an evening run. Dinner would be something along the way.

Now, the road between Kamloops and Vernon is a beautiful drive, but there really isn’t much as far as dinner choices along the way. There are a couple of small joints, not outside of consideration, but I decided I wanted to do something a bit different.

Along the route is pretty little body of water, a place called Monte Lake. There are a few roadside pull outs along the lake, and being it was a gorgeous day, it struck me that it would be a neat spot to stop for dinner.  And with that thought, a plan began to take shape. In the morning I had made some cornbread muffins to test the recipe for the site, so they would become part of the meal. I just needed something suitable for a roadside dinner entre on a warm summer’s night.

After thinking about it a bit, I settled upon the Shrimp Cocktail Entre as it was a one plate meal, could be prep’d ahead, assembled easily roadside, and fit in the picnic backpack without issue. Then a couple of Ginger Spice cookies from a small vendor at the Farmers Market for desert, a bottle of chilled wine (a de-alcoholized Shiraz Rose – which was quite nice actually), and some browned butter spread for the muffins and we were good to go.

When Kathy got home from work, she could smell the garlic, onions and bacon, but when she came into the kitchen there was nothing to be seen. Before she could ask any questions, I got her in the car and on the road for Vernon. She had no idea that I had squirrelled away the picnic dinner and folding chairs in the trunk of the car.

As we were passing along Monte Lake, I pulled off into one of the pull outs. Kathy looked at me and asked why we were stopping, ‘was it for a roadside pee break?’ I responded that no, it was dinner time. She got a quizzical smile on her face, as she started to realize that I was up to something. She followed me to the back of the car, and when I reached in and handed her a folding chair, she beamed at me with a huge smile, and just said “Really?!?!”.

I proceeded to turn the hood of my car into a picnic kitchen. I unpacked the containers with the food, dressed the salad greens, plated them and topped with the bacon and prawns. I spread a bit of butter on some cornbread muffins and poured the wuss-wine. We sat our chairs at the top of the bank above the lake, basking in the sunlight glittering of the water, the car shielding us from the roadway behind. It was silly, romantic and one of the most special dinners we have had in recent memory. The smile on Kathy’s face made all the work and scheming worthwhile, the sun glowing off of her face as she enjoyed my little surprise was really cool.

After a really fun and relaxing dinner, it was time to pack up the picnic and get back on the road. We shared the cookie dessert as we drove, and just enjoyed the glow from our romantic roadside dinner.

I share this just to share how a bit of creativity and planning can result in a really special experience. If you don’t have a picnic basket/bag/kit, it really is worth getting one or making up one for yourself. It lets you take your dining experiences to new and unique locations, where special memories can be made.

Here are a few tips for things to add on to your picnic supplies list:

• Heavy Duty paper towels, one or two dry for each person, and one or two wet in a zip lock
• Disposable gloves to wear while putting your food together
• A bag for garbage
• A bag or two for dirty dishes
• Salt and Pepper just in case you didn’t nail the seasoning during cooking

I really encourage you to try out your own romantic picnic for two sometime. It can be a fun and memorable experience. Think of a special place you both would like, then put on your sneeky hat and pull off a special surprise. I find the planning and scheming the surprise to be a lot of fun for me, and the reward of the look on Kathy’s face is really cool.

Happy Picnic’ing!!