Plan B Picnic...

One of the myriad of silent auctions we attend resulted in the opportunity to enjoy a “Gourmet” picnic before one of the River Concerts at St. Mary’s College. Comparison of schedules with the friends we invited resulted in last Friday being the only time all four of us were free, which pretty much locked in that date. We coordinated with the gracious people who donated it and Plan A was to dine under the arbor over in Historic St. Mary’s City instead of trying to spread out a lovely meal on the grass amongst the commoners at the concert site.

Well as the day approached, the weather forecasts became more disconcerting, and the probability of storms (“some may be severe”) increased. By the time we had to depart for the picnic, radar revealed blobs of red and yellow and they were “headed this way”. So just before we left our purveyor of the meal called and offered a Plan B.

Well, it turned out that Plan B was ever so much better than A, not only because we needed shelter from the storm, it provided us a lovely view of St. Mary’s River.



When we arrived, the table was set and ready for us to sit down and enjoy some appetizers along with a bottle of bubbly our friends graciously supplied



We proceeded to have a lovely meal, starting off with a tomato, leek, and feta tart and also some nice prosciutto and little mozzarella and melon balls.



This was followed by grilled shrimp and sliced London Broil with a side of orecchiette dressed with pesto. We had a very nice bottle of Sauvignon Blanc (Groth) which came with the meal. After enjoying that, we had the Caesar salad before finishing with some lemon squares and local blackberries.



What took just a couple of minutes to describe actually stretched out over a period of an hour and a half. And, during that time, Plan B was justified because waves of rain came across the river, and we had to move a couple of times to avoid getting more than just refreshingly damp. It actually was more fun with the storms since we were protected and had something to sip. I think the rain canceled the River Concert for the evening, but at this point we didn’t care.

Besides the meal we also observed some of the local population skirting the water while droplets of rain dimpled the surface.



And there were other colorful things to see





And finally the skies cleared as we were relaxing treating us to a nice sunset



So despite the inclement weather we had a very enjoyable evening with things that mean a lot: Friends, Food, and Beverages..

Oh, did I mention that Plan B turned out to be the upstairs back porch of the controversial, much maligned, and criticized boat house at St. Mary’s College? Think what you want, it is a lovely spot with which to enjoy the FF&B.

And we were

DFP(icnic)