how i make my husband love me more

please excuse the awful cell phone pictures. i'm bad at cameras. mine still take film, and i'm too lazy to get it developed on the reg.

this week's indoor picnic fare.

this one's easy. sometimes i feel insufficient, unattractive, unsophisticated, otherwise gross or downright dastardly, and i think my husband might not like me that much.
usually, all it takes is a picnic.
it's been face-meltingly hot lately too, so we had one inside in the air conditioning in the middle of the living room floor. usually i basically pile anything yummy together on a big tray and pour us each a giant glass of wine. then i put the baby in her high chair with some cheerios or a puzzle or something and we enjoy 5 minutes of quiet happy parent time.
i've been having a love affair with the local farmer's markets lately, especially the one in upstate new york we went to over the weekend. because i can't help but spend all of my money there like lickety-split, we ended up with some gorgeous cheeses and apples and some really nice breads that somehow i ended up losing on the ride home (which was heartbreaking but not serious enough to keep me up at night). so anyway, the other day i sliced up some bread and cheese along with some apples, popped open a jar or scrumptious fig preserves, sliced a cucumber and drizzled it in balsamic vinegar, and spread a blanket on the floor, and we had an awesome picnic. it was super-romantic and insanely easy and i suspect somewhat european, and i plan to do it at least once a week or so. try it when you are feeling lazy or wanted to make something else but ran out of an ingredient that's super vital (like spaghetti and meatballs, but i forgot to pick up the spaghetti and only have lasagna noodles in the cabinet).

if you have wood floors, put out a blanket and maybe some pillows. it's WAY more comfortable that way.

anyway, a picnic can include just about anything you've got laying around the house. some suggestions include:

• any yummy bread
• pesto
• pita/pita chips
• hummus
• cheese (which is a must for us...if there's no cheese, there's no picnic)
  
• fruit, like pears or apples or something else if you're feeling adventurous
  
• dips or spreads
• sliced veggies
• figs
• dates
• WINE!
  
• whatever else your little heart desires

one day i fully intend to plan for an outdoor picnic, like not just on the deck or the bed of the truck but in a real place with plants and trees and whatnot, and it should also be a place that we aren't already at. my husband shouldn't be the only romantic one (though he usually is. i am decidedly un-romantic). usually, when we go to the cabin in NY, we wait for everyone to leave and have a mini-picnic with whatever's left over and enjoy the river and the solitude and the LAWN, which is amazing because we don't have one. but either way is good. i'm not picky. i'll take a picnic any day. i do suspect my teddy thinks i put more though into it than i do, and if he keeps enjoying them and thinking i'm being spontaneous and romantic, who am i to stop?