Picnic food

Shanghai fried wontons in London

What’s the appropriate food for a quick picnic in Holland Park before the opera? As I’d been experimenting all day in the kitchen, I took a Chinese first course: garland chrysanthemum leaves with roasted pine kernels (松仁蒿菜)and Shanghainese pot-sticker wontons (干煎馄饨) filled with minced pork and spinach (spinach as a substitute for the traditional shepherd’s purse greens 荠菜) served with a dip of Chinkiang vinegar with a little soy sauce. The wontons, wrapped in foil and stored in a plastic box, were still warm when we ate them. And then we had strawberries and cream.

2 Responses to “Picnic food”

  1. blue

    The food looks delicious & although I’d not thought of it before, I’ll try to include dumplings & wontons in my “travel food” in future. Being a Yank, I had to look up the locations you wrote about. Holland Park seems a special, beautiful place. It seems appropriate (& amusing) to picnic in a history-laden London park that includes a Japanese Garden & pigs working to reclaim nature while dining on Chinese delicacies before attending an Italian opera. Life is good.

  2. Katriina

    Fantastic! We have been looking for great food ideas for school canteen this Friday (our turn)… I love this idea, and what kid doesn’t love a pot-sticker!

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