Belated Happy Dads’ Day to all the fathers, single parents, and guardians out there!
To celebrate my hubby’s second year as a Papa to our babycat, I pulled off a surprise breakfast picnic for him on our roofdeck. We are both such fans of picnics for its (seemingly) carefree vibe and (seemingly) easy prep and setup.
Now how did I execute this surprise? Two things.
1. Send hubby off on an errand the night before (despite his grumblings and protestations) so you can prep.
2. Wake up earlier than everyone else to set up (and pray to the gods that it doesn’t rain and no one wakes up while you’re still setting up.)
Yeah, that was basically it. But for the past two weeks, I had been planning the whole surprise in my head, typing down notes in my phone and listing down whatever I needed to buy at the grocery for it.
I made sure that our menu was satisfying but very easy to prepare.
Omelette in a cup
Smoked salmon and cream cheese skewers
Ham and cheese skewers
Peach halves
Breakfast rolls
Orange riesling mimosas
Freshly brewed coffee
The night before, while hubby was on a forced errand, I chopped up some ham bits, spring onions, and tomatoes for the omelettes. I also skewered the smoked salmon and ham already, and kept them in the refrigerator on our roofdeck (it pays to have a ref on the 4th floor when the kitchen is on the ground floor). I also chilled the dry riesling, peach halves, milk, and orange juice overnight as well. I then brought up everything I would need—plates, French press, cups, pitcher, utensils, linen, table napkins, eucalyptus stems for my centerpiece—to set up as quickly and as quietly as possible the next morning. The only thing left for me to do for the morning was to nuke the omelettes in the microwave and set the table.
Enough with the lengthy descriptions, on to the photos!
I inherited a teakwood picnic table and benches from my parents (although my mom would say it’s just on loan…) (hi mom!), so I just covered it with my (favorite) toile tablecloth.
The eucalyptus stems are faux from Dapitan, and I covered the vase with black kitchen towels. I didn’t want to make my setup too feminine and colorful (so no flowers), because I was setting it up for the hubby. Plus he loves black.
For the omelettes, all I did was brush a bit of oil on the insides of the cups, cracked two eggs into each, beat them with milk, then zapped them in the microwave for two minutes (your microwave has different features than mine, so just check if the egg is semi-cooked and still a bit runny). Then, I just dumped into the cup all the chopped ham, spring onions, and tomatoes (sprinkled with a bit of truffle salt to taste), and nuked them again for a couple or so minutes more. DONE. And it was GOOD.
What made the preps so easy is that I included dishes in the menu that would enable me to just serve straight from the packaging—ergo, smoked salmon, cooked ham (make sure it says ‘COOKED’ on the packaging!), cheese, cream cheese, and peach halves.
And now, for the requisite iPhone pics—!
After breakfast, playtime ensued. I brought up babycat’s rolly crate of select toys and musical instruments, and laid out the hubby’s exercise mats.
All in all, it was a pretty good Father’s Day morning! No need to have an occasion to eat out under the sun. We can make this a Sunday morning tradition.
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Then again, I’d rather sleep in on Sundays, so, Father’s Day picnics it is.
I love it 😉 Will do your omelette cups ;p NAX!
It’s the Omelette Ni Ate Let, Camyl Version 😉
So the only thing I don’t like about blogs is I can’t really comment after each photo or post… I hope I remember everything that was going through my head… Here goes…
(1) Your wedding anniversary was in 2010???
(2) You forgot to mention that you love picnics so much that you actual wedding reception was picnic-themed! (ehem, ehem… insert shameless plug here)
(3) You ‘inherited’ the teak wood picnic set much to me (and ate’s) silent objections!!!! #favorite 😉
(4) Omelettes look great! Next time, think of inviting us over, ok? 😉
(5) BRAVO for your successful picnic and successful blog!!!! Here’s to future collaborations?? 😉 CHEERS!!!!!
And one more thing, you can’t edit replies on blogs! Arrggggh….
*YOUR actual wedding reception
*much to MY (and ate’s) silent objections
LOLLL you’re too funny!
Those omelettes are making me hungry right now!
Haha! Thanks! That’s a compliment, coming from you 😉 Oh, but these omelettes are PEANUTS compared to what YOU do! 🙂