By Cara of Big Girls, Small Kitchen
EVENT: Grizzly Bear at Governor’s Island
WEATHER: Rain
PARTY SIZE: 2
TYPE: Stealth Picnic
MENU: Egg Salad, Arugula & Bacon Wraps; Mustardy String Beans with Pickled Shallots; British Biscuits
Whenever I go on vacation, my mom gives me a strict warning. “Be careful,” she says. “Really.” Her words may not be dissimilar from those of most parents’, but her worries are more targeted. While out of town, I have a tendency to believe that rules are not for me. I cut in line, cross caution tape, and disobey every museum guard in sight, and I guess my mom hopes I won’t wind up in a Moroccan prison.
Apparently a trip to Governor’s Island was considered enough of a getaway for me to put away my law-abiding New York self and hand over the rule to my criminal side. Alex and I went, in August, to the performance of Grizzly Bear on Governor’s Island. You have to take a ferry there, and since the concert started early, I decided to pack dinner. I figured it would be thriftier and more delicious than anything they might have at the concert–if they sold food there at all. But as we waited in line for the ferry to take us there, guards swarmed around us. “No food!” they shouted. “No drinks!” Ahead of us, I could see the bag searchers confiscating granola bars and jelly beans.
Alex looked at the paper shopping bag I was carrying, packed with egg salad wraps, and motioned to me to get out of line. “We can’t bring those,” he mouthed. I stood right where I was.
I didn’t mean to be so delinquent. When I checked the website (in between checking the weather, which again and again confirmed rain), it said nothing about food. Nothing at all. And once I’d made my beautiful sandwiches, there was no way we were giving them up. Nor was I about to allow us to scarf them down outside the ferry terminal in the drizzle.
I shouldn’t be announcing this publicly, but when it was my turn at the bag search, I simply put my messenger bag on the table. I didn’t volunteer the dinner bag. Cool as a cucumber, I walked in between the gates onto the boat.
Once on, I too panicked. What if they kicked us out of the concert over a few little egg salad sandwiches? The whole ferry ride I clutched the bag of wraps to my chest. On shore, I continued to worry. It wasn’t until we got down to the “beach,” planted with lighted “palm trees” that we could blend in.
Stands were selling food, people were drinking and eating, and no one would deduce that our picnic was a stealth one. Alex and I sat down in the shade of a palm, where the ground wasn’t too wet, and we slowly enjoyed my labor of love, cooking, and law breaking.
From my kitchen, where there’s no rule against eating, to yours,
Cara, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOK
**Recipe**
Egg Salad, Arugula & Bacon Wraps
Makes 4 wraps
This egg salad is awesome, and it makes great sandwiches even if you don’t use the bacon.
Ingredients
6 hardboiled eggs
1/4 cup mayo
1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
freshly ground pepper
2 stalks celery, very finely diced
2 tablespoons finely diced red onion
4 slices bacon
1 cup arugula
4 wraps
Directions
1. Cook the bacon using your favorite method. I like to fry it in a pan with the tiniest bit of olive oil over medium-high heat, flipping once, until it’s crispy. Set aside on paper towels to drain.
2. Smash the eggs with a fork. Mix in the mayo, mustard, salt, tarragon, pepper, celery, and red onion, and stir well.
3. Warm the wraps slightly in the microwave, under a damp paper towel for about 30 seconds. Put a small handful of arugula in the center of each, and top it with one quarter of the egg salad. Top with a slice of bacon.
4. Wrap by folding in either end and rolling the wrap away from you. Pack in a container with the seam side of each wrap facing down.
