Sunny-Side Up Niçoise Salad

A good recipe combines easy to obtain ingredients in unusual fashion, plays up the strengths of individual contributions, and results in something greater than a mere sum of its parts.  Sweet and sour, soft and crunchy, hot and cold; each flavor, texture, and temperature should play a role of contrasting, balancing, or enhancing the overall result. What follows, hopefully, is a good step-by-step recipe for a memorable rendezvous.

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Step 1. Acquire a good car.

The mode of transportation should convey your adventurous spirit without sacrificing your occasional (or frequent) need-for-speed outlet. The vehicle needs to be comfortable, sporty, roomy, and fast. The 2010 Mitsubishi Lancer Sportback seems to fit the bill quite nicely, especially in the Ralliart version. The optional Recaro seats are comfortably  supportive but can make for some un-graceful moments when getting in or out and over the generously sized bottom bolsters, especially when a skirt is involved. The turbo inline-four engine has plenty of grunt and the dual-clutch transmission shifts crisply most of the time. It is possible, however, to hear and feel some disconcerting clunks and jerks while crawling along inch after precious inch during rush-hour traffic jams. I would have preferred a good ol’ manual, but I’m old-school and there is no use fighting it, the regular transmission is making the way of the Dodo.

Step 2. Find the right girl.

The girl should, preferably, look better than the car, have trust in your driving abilities, and enjoy dining al fresco. Luckily my companion had nothing to worry about because it would have be impossible for her to be upstaged by a car. Unlike my companion, the Sportback is not the most pleasing to the eye, especially in the rear quarters.

Redeemingly my date was rightfully impressed by Mitsu’s FAST-key which unlocks the doors and  starts the car without ever a need to fumble for car keys as you approach the vehicle. While she had complete trust in my driving abilities, I was reassured to have All-Wheel-Control full-time all-wheel drive system (AWCFTAWDSWTF),  4 wheel disc brakes with ABS, and if it came down to the unthinkable, seven airbags surrounding us.

Step 3. Plan a delicious menu and if you’re up for it, cook it yourselves.

Starting with a bunch of healthy recipes, we selected, shopped for, and prepared a three course meal. Featuring marinated mushrooms (Porcini and Baby Portabella) as the appettizer, a hardy salmon-asparagus-orzo pasta salad as the main dish, and fresh berries (rasp, black, and blue) smothered in simple syrup (we may have erred on the un-healthy side with the addition of the syrup) for dessert. A good cheap wine (not an oxymoron here in California, your results may vary) was selected as the libation of choice.

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Step 4. Gather needed accoutrements.

Ideally, all that’s needed is a filled picnic basket and a blanket. However, recommended extras  include: pillows to sit on, a camera to capture and retain memories for when old age catches up to both of you, a good sense of humor, and comfortable walking shoes (especially important for the girl)

The Mitsubishi Sportback, like Jonah-and-the-Whale, swallowed all the supplies and provisions without making a dent in it’s 13.8 cubic feet of cargo space. If more volume was needed, the remote rear seat releases were extremely easy to use and with the seats folded available space expanded to 46.6 cubic feet. This car was clearly under-tasked for our small adventure, it can handle much more, I’m sure.

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Step 5. Locate a righteous spot.

Picnic or “Pique-nique” is typically characterized as a leisure excursion at which a meal is consumed outdoors, often taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a meadow, on a river bank, or a park with an interesting view. The locale should be as secluded as possible while relishing the romantic companionship of the girl from Step 2. These spots are not easy to come by in the overly-developed LA basin, especially if you start by the beach essentially taking away one cardinal direction. Unless, of course, Step 1 involved a boat.

I didn’t have a specific place in mind but I was confident that I could find one on the Palos Verdes peninsula, conveniently neighboring my residence. The meandering, twisting tarmac glistened in the perpetual SoCal sunlight like a giant snake lazily making it’s way to a warm spot to sunbathe in, beckoning us to explore the adhesion limits of the (non-stock) BF Goodrich KDW tires. Ok, so in reality there is only one section of a certain road on PV that resembles the awesome canyons of Malibu and beyond (for which the above description is a better metaphor for), but time is a cruel mistress and worked against us limiting our exploration to within a fairly small field of action.

By a happy navigational error (yes, I am too old-school to rely on the car’s navigation system) we ended up at an unexpected junction and a few more turns later we were led to a hillside park. It overlooked the Port of Los Angeles and Long Beach City to the East and downtown LA to the north, with the San Bernardino and Los Angeles Mountains framing the vista. The distant shipping cranes, however, made the landscape seem a bit too industrial for a fully romantic spot, but the view was captivating nevertheless, and the best part was that we had the whole picnic area to ourselves.

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Step 6. Combine all ingredients.

Take a responsive chassis with all-wheel-drive, 237hp turbo engine, supportive seats, awesome steering wheel, rocking 710 watt stereo (if a bit boomy for my taste) inside a hatchback/wagon body. Add a beautiful woman in a scenic location, good food and wine, interesting conversation, sprinkle in some good weather and a carefully chosen playlist, throw in a dash of sex-appeal. Let all these ingredients simmer together to make a healthy, delicious and nutritious memory.

We took our time preparing the meal, meandering through Palos Verdes, eating our home-made meal while soaking in the view, telling stories, laughing at jokes, and making goofy comments. We capped the trip with a stop at the cliffs watching the sun go down and enjoying each-other’s company and warmth. Photographs won’t be needed to recall these moments anytime soon, but we’re glad to have them for the distant future.