Picnic food

"Home alone" for a few days without the 'rents, I naturally raided the fridge. In this case, for an airplane picnic for an overnight flight. The outcome: a beautiful picnic that will look almost as good on a plastic tray as it would on a blanket spread over grass.

German potato salad (no mayonnaise!):

• fingerling potatoes
• grainy mustard
• 1 lemon (or any type of vinegar)
• olive oil
• chopped parsley or other herb
• ground black pepper

Steam the potatoes (washed but not peeled) over boiling water or in the microwave until a fork pierces them easily but they are not mushy. Cool and then slice into quarters.

Mix together mustard, lemon juice, olive oil, chopped parsley, and black pepper -- adding ingredients to taste. Toss with the potatoes and serve warm or cold.

The other components of my picnic: chopped watermelon, a peach, cold noodles with sesame oil and soy sauce, and homemade trail mix (one dried nectarine chopped into pieces, dark chocolate chunks, toasted almonds). I definitely went overboard but I've got almost two days of traveling ahead.