Lunch al fresco. How to have a spontaneous picnic in one of Charlotte’s many parks.

When I have time off from my day job, I always try to get together with friends. This week, I thought, “it’s so flipping nice outside, why do we always pick an air conditioned restaurant?” Sure air conditioning is lovely, but why don’t we do something different?

I wanted to get out of my lunch routine rut.

So, on a Tuesday I texted (because who calls nowadays) my friend Mary and asked if she wanted to have a lunch picnic in the park. I knew she would say yes, because we think a lot alike (why we’re friends).

The hardest part was choosing the park location – there are so many good parks in Charlotte. I narrowed it down to three: Freedom, Romare Bearden and Independence.

She lives in the Plaza Midwood/Elizabeth area, so we decided to do the most walkable one, which happened to be Independence. Independence Park is usually pretty low key during the week and has some prime shady spots, benches and picnic tables.

To keep things in walking distance, we sourced our food and drink for our picnic at the glorious Earl’s Grocery. I love this place. It’s like a culinary mecca for every foodie in Charlotte. We wandered around a bit not knowing exactly our plan of attack.

First things first we decided that cheese needed to be a part of our lunch al fresco.

I talked with the cheesemonger on duty for a long time and after tasting probably six kinds of cheese, I was wondering if I even needed a cheese plate anymore. But honestly, can there ever be too much cheese? Don’t answer that.

So I got three types of cheese, crackers, fig jam, pecans, gherkins, etc. for about $16. Not bad. Not that I needed it, but I wish I could have had a warm, crust batard instead of the crackers. Maybe not having that available was the universe trying to tell me something!

While we were waiting for our cheese plate, we ordered a turkey sandwich to split, drinks, a salad and a little something sweet. Just to be clear, there were only TWO of us lunching. This is what happens when you put two people who have a passion for food in the same place together. Plus we were starving.

There’s a reason people tell you not to go grocery shopping hungry.

With our loot in hand, we walked a couple blocks to Independence Park and scouted out a prime spot for our picnic. All of the tables were occupied by one or two people at each, which by the way, was kind of annoying. So we decided to sit by the picturesque little waterfall on some rocks instead…so rustic and romantic.

We unpacked our goodies and ate nearly everything. We killed the turkey sandwich, which had even more cheese on it (smoked Gouda to be exact). The cheese plate didn’t even stand a chance. The Brussels sprouts salad was crunchy, tangy and delicious. My mini German chocolate cake was divine. Pair that feast with good company, and I’ll take this any day of some air conditioning.

So do yourself a favor and get outside and enjoy what Charlotte has to offer! It’s a really great place to be…