A gourmet experience is more than a fancy candle lit restaurant, and a view of the city lights. I remember a few years ago a friend started seeing a new man.  She mentioned he was taking her out that evening. Next day, like a good friend I call up to get the gossip.

He had turned up with a picnic blanket, a bottle of wine and a newspaper roll of hot chips.  They had a moonlight picnic on the beach with champagne and chips. How romantic! Now I realise this is more romantic than gourmet, but the lines always blur for me.

Collecting a few ready made items and heading to a quiet location makes the ultimate, simple, gourmet getaway.

Keeping with the feeling of simple is best, I decided to prepare nothing except a container of greens and herbs from the garden.

The remainder of my picnic “supplies” will be purchased from the local IGA at the Jetty Coffs Harbour and K’Pane Bakery just next door.  Both of these stores have the most wonderful selection of gourmet produce, ideal for a lazy picnic.

At K’Pane Bakery, after much deliberation I chose a sourdough Ciabatta, and some Rosetta rolls. I deliberately refrained from looking at the sweets cabinet.

The Jetty IGA is locally owned and prides itself on having a great deli department.  If you are looking for difficult to source ingredients, or gourmet sauces and condiments they have a great range to choose from.

As usual I over catered, but with so much yummy food who can blame me.

We commenced our picnic with some imported Brie, crackers and dolmades.  I chose a huge wedge of a French Brie that I bought previously. My comment to Mr GG is that we just don’t make cheese like the French. The brie was liquid straight from the fridge, and the taste was a delicious, creamy, pungent liquid bliss. I was in heaven, hubby and I inhaled a $16 wedge in no time.

I had brought along a Wild Oats Semillon Blanc Sauvignon to enjoy with our picnic and found the slightly fruity white wine a perfect match with the cheese.  It cut through the creaminess perfectly.  We drank our wine, and watched the waves from our seats in the shade, and wondered if life gets any better than this.

Man can not live by cheese alone (…so I believe anyway) soon enough it was time to prepare some antipasto and salad rolls on the lovely fresh Rosetta rolls. I can’t really claim to have been hungry, but my delicious “supplies” were calling, and I was looking forward to consuming them, with hubbies help of course.

I used a roasted vegetable pesto as a spread for the rolls and made a delicious salad sandwich of salami, sun dried tomato, Jarlsburg Cheese, Asian Greens from the garden, and coleslaw of fennel and hazelnut, basil and coriander (from the garden).

A perfectly delicious way to spend the day! As we lazed on the beach with our full bellies, the tide turned and started to rise, which chased the others off the beach. We were able to enjoy the beach in virtual solitude.

What is a meal with out dessert? As I was leaving the IGA I noticed some Turkish Delight and thought they would make the perfect sweet ending to our picnic. They were lovely and soft and sticky, a perfect mix of sweet and floral.

In all we spent a huge six hours lazing around at the beach. We had consumed so many luscious tid bits of delicious food. What a great way to spend a Sunday, I am relaxed and recharged ready to start another week.  

Jetty IGA & K'Pane Bakery are both located in the Jetty Village Shopping Centre, 361 Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour.

My question to all is, what do you find is the best way to relax on a Sunday afternoon?