The mysterious picnic post

I've tried to post about my recent picnic dinner experience countless times now and each time something has caused my blogging software to crash. This wouldnt be such a drag except I am posting from my phone so blogging is rather time intensive.
Boo!




So I decided the other day to have a picnic dinner for my family. My parents are moving to New Hampshire this week and I wanted to have a get-together before they left. I'm pretty sure they weren't expecting to eat out-of-doors when I invited them, but, as mosquito netting is my new favorite toy, I figured we'd give it a whirl.
For dinner we had chicken from my good friends' farm. I talked them into raising some meat birds in with their layers for me this spring and this is the result:


I am not a big meat cooker but this chicken was super easy! I simply rubbed it with salt, paprika, pepper, Rosemary and thyme and stuffed it with lemon wedges.
In addition to the chicken I also made salad from local greens, beans from my garden, homemade goat cheese and local bread, summer squash muffins (also homegrown), and a fantastic dessert of cherry tortes.



These purple beans are so sweet and tender. They cook up green so they're a bit less festive when steamed, but so much tastier than their green buddies. I will have to see if I still have the seed packet from them so I can plant them again next year. I guess if all else fails I'll just collect and dry the seeds from one of the plants this fall. I know it's an heirloom...


I forgot to photograph my finished goat cheese! This was a huge hit with everyone except my brother (he's not a cheese fan- blows my mind)... This was a beautiful little log of lemon cheese, sprinkled with dill. We had it on local French bread and it was perfect! I will definitely be making more. Seems this would make an awesome holiday gift...