Every summer for at least a decade, Norma Dattels and three of her friends make the two-hour trip to the Stratford Festival to take in a play and have lunch on the banks of the Avon River.
"Betsy always drives, so it's her job to bring the wine," says Dattels, who lives in a big old house in Caledon, Ont., about an hour's drive northwest of Toronto. "Binks makes a cold soup, vichyssoise or something like that. I make a chicken salad and Doris brings the fruit and cheese."
Weather permitting, the four merry widows unpack their lunch and lay it out on a picnic table on the same cloth that Binks provides every year; they discreetly decant their wine into a vacuum bottle and, with the swans floating downstream and the willows waving in the breeze, enjoy their meal.
This year, the foursome saw a production of The Scarlet Pimpernel at the Avon Theatre, "which was fine," Dattels says.
But it's obvious that this outing is more about the camaraderie and the food than it is about culture. The ladies like to make it special, with wine glasses and cloth napkins, real plates and cutlery. "Occasionally, one of us springs for a bouquet of flowers," Dattels says.
Ever since I can remember, a pre-theatre picnic in one of Stratford's riverside parks has been part of the Festival experience. When I was eight years old, I accompanied my Aunt Sybil and her boyfriend Ernie to a production of HMS Pinafore. The Gilbert and Sullivan was good fun, but it was the drive there in Ernie's convertible and the pre-performance smoked oysters washed down with an illicit sip of champagne that have really stayed with me all these years.
It's an outing that never loses its romantic appeal. When I was 16, my high-school boyfriend and I prefaced Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra with a picnic of roast chicken and potato salad. The performances of Zoe Caldwell and Christopher Plummer in the title roles have faded, but I will never forget the the way the sun played on the surface of the slow-moving river as we lounged on a blanket and drank a bottle of wine we had smuggled out of my father's cellar.
"I find that people come here to enjoy the atmosphere too," says Paula Stock, owner of Bistro To Go in Stratford. "We have a lot of parks and two of the theatres are right by the river."
Stock and other restaurateurs and B & B operators in the city cater to the popular picnic practice. If you call ahead, she will help you design your own menu, making it as elaborate as you like: from poached salmon to tandoori chicken to a simple sandwich and salad lunch.
"We pack it up in a shopping bag with everything you need," Stock says. And for the really romantic, Bistro To Go sells fully equipped old-fashioned wicker picnic baskets. According to Stock, some of her clients will bring in their own baskets beforehand for her to pack with their lunch.
Susie Palach, co-owner of York Street Kitchens, takes a more casual approach. She and her staff have been making picnic lunches for Stratford theatre-goers for about 15 years. Some days, they will prepare as many as 100 of their signature brown bag lunches in the half-hour before noon. "We've been doing this for a long time," Palach says. "We've got it down to an art."
York Street offers what she calls "build your own sandwiches," but it also sell specials such as The Othello (goat cheese, roasted red peppers, black olives, lettuce and pesto on sourdough) or The Mikado (tuna salad, cucumbers, tomatoes and sprouts on multigrain).
The Green Room restaurant at the Festival Theatre will make up light pre-performance lunches that theatre-goers can pick up when they get their tickets and take down to the river or eat on the terrace. "Picnicking is very big around here," says Green Room manager Josey Olaveson.
And it can be as formal or as casual as you like. "Some people will even pick up a bucket of KFC or McDonald's and eat it in the park," she says.
One big advantage to a picnic in the park is that it means you can arrive early, find a parking space (always difficult in downtown Stratford) and walk to the theatre -- a good idea anyway after all that wine.
Which raises the issue of drinking in public parks. Most of the restaurant owners I talked to confirmed that it is indeed illegal. However, the Stratford authorities tend to close their eyes to the practice. It's a pretty high-end clientele, KFC notwithstanding. And, as Norma Dattels points out: "After all, you're not likely to get rolling drunk before you go to a play." Midsummer dream lunch If you're making your own picnic, and travelling any distance, leave the pretty wicker baskets at home and pack your lunch in a sturdy cooler with lots of freezer packs. Make sure the food is well chilled before it goes in. Coolers should be tightly packed; use wads of newspaper to fill empty spaces. Keep the cooler out of direct sunlight and try not to open it until you're ready to eat.
CHERRY SOUP
Cold soup makes a perfect picnic starter. This recipe is from Alice Water's new cookbook Chez Panisse: Fruit (HarperCollins).
1 pound ripe, sweet, dark red cherries
1 quart chicken or veal stock
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar,
1 to 2 tablespoons kirsch
Salt and freshly ground black pepper Pit about 1½ cups of the cherries, saving the pits. Put the pitted cherries in a food processor and process to a coarse purée. Crush the reserved pits with a sturdy mortar and pestle, or wrap them in cheesecloth and crush with a hammer on a cutting board. Bring stock to a boil in a saucepan. Stir in the puréed cherries and crushed pits. Immediately remove from heat, cover and let steep for 10 minutes. Pit the remaining cherries, discarding the pits. Strain the soup through a fine strainer. Rinse the saucepan and pour the strained soup back into it. Add the pitted cherries and a teaspoon of sugar, and warm over low heat for 2 minutes. Do not allow the soup to come to a simmer. Add the kirsch and season with salt, pepper and more sugar if needed. Serve hot or cold.Serves 4.
NORMA'S GINGERED CHICKEN SALAD
Norma Dattels of Caledon, Ont., has been lunching on the banks of the Avon for more than a decade. Here is one of her variations on the quintessential picnic food.
4 boneless chicken breasts
1 medium onion
1 stalk celery with leaves
4½ cups water or stock
1¼ cup snow peas
2 teaspoons fresh ginger, grated
1 cup mayonnaise
3 green onion bulbs chopped (tops reserved)
½ cup celery, sliced
½ cup toasted pecans
½ cup sour cream
Salt and freshly ground pepper Place chicken breasts in a large pot with onion and celery. Cover with water and poach until just cooked -- about 10 minutes. Cut chicken into strips and set aside. Blanch snow peas in boiling water for one minute. Cool. Fold ginger into mayonnaise. Mix chicken, celery, green onions, snow peas, pecans, ginger mayo and sour cream. Garnish with julienned onion tops. Serves 6.
LEMON BARS
A simple dessert of fruit and cheese is lovely, but if you're feeling a little more ambitious, make a batch of these from Barefoot Contessa Parties!, by Ina Garten (Potter).
Crust:
½ pound unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
Filling:
6 extra-large eggs at room temperature
3 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup all-purpose flour
Confectioner's sugar for dusting Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream butter and sugar until light. Combine the flour and salt and add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board, gather into a ball and press into a 9-by-13-inch pan, building up a ½-inch edge all around. Chill. Bake crust for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30 to 35 minutes until filling is set. Let cool. Dust with confectioner's sugar and cut into triangles.