Romantic French Style Picnic

• Make Orange-Glazed Rosemary-Cranberry Cutouts (do not frost) and Orange Madeleines; wrap and freeze.
• Shop for additional menu items without recipes—champagne, French or French-style summer wines or nonalcoholic sparkling beverages, crackers or crispy baguette slices for Olive Tapenade and French roast coffee.

The Day Before

• Make Orange-Glazed Rosemary-Cranberry Cutouts (and frost them) and Orange Madeleines if not already made. (Defrost if already made and frozen; frost the cutouts.)

The Morning Of

• Chill the champagne.
• Rinse and dry strawberries for Brown Sugar Strawberries.
• Make Olive Tapenade; cover and refrigerate.
• Pack picnic basket with tableware and items not needing refrigeration or last-minute prep.

Last-Minute Prep

• Finish Brown Sugar Strawberries, by placing yogurt and brown sugar in 2 separate covered containers.
• Make Chicken-Almond Baguette.
• Make coffee; place in thermos container.
• Pack remaining food and beverages in picnic basket or insulated cooler. Keep refrigerated items well-chilled. Check our Food Safety How Tos.

• Add romantic French music selections to your iPod; check online for best selections.
• Take a walk together through the flower gardens in the park or at an arboretum. Spread your picnic where you can smell the roses.
• Read poetry you love to each other.
• Plan a trip to Paris or the French countryside. Now, that’s romantic.

French Food Presentation

• Use crisp white serving dishes. Or let the colors of Provence—blues, yellows, green, red—guide your picnic ware choices.
• Look for Provençal or toile designs for tablecloths and napkins when shopping or at tag sales and flea markets. Use French-style kitchen towels for picnic napkins!
• Buy French-patterned oilcloth to spread for picnic or use an old pieced quilt.
• Wire picnic and condiment baskets give French flair and travel well! Olive wood serving pieces are another typical serveware choice.
• Tie a small hand-arranged flower bouquet with ribbon and tuck it in picnic basket.