Spring is here, with summer approaching quickly. (Technically, spring arrived on March 20, and summer comes on June 21. Really, though, we get spring in Arizona in mid-February, and summer starts on Memorial Day.) With spring/summer the picnic season begins.

Pic•nic comes from the French, pique-nique, meaning who knows what, per Google. In modern parlance, though, the noun means “an outing or occasion that involves taking a packed meal to be eaten outdoors.” Obviously, the definition can be broader—maybe the meal gets prepared outdoors, for example—but I’m not going to spend any more words on a word you already know.

I’ve mentioned my older partner who starts many a sentence with “I have a question.” Well, for the question is, “why do people want to eat outside amongst the falling leaves, pollen, flying and crawling insects, et cetera, et cetera?” Truthfully, I don’t get it, really. Why do we have kitchens and dining rooms if we’re going to eat outside?

Alas, powers greater than me have decided tomorrow is company picnic day. The day will include food, of course. (The emails have not mentioned beer, and a permit is required. Call me concerned!) There will be a piñata contest, races, an obstacle course competition, and something called an egg toss. Could be sticky!

In addition to the foregoing activities, the committee has mentioned a “homemade” dessert contest. (Had I noticed the quotation marks I could have used the Nestlé’s cookie dough in a tub which I keep around for emergencies.)

Anyway, I baked. First up are cherry-chocolate chunk bars. I make bars because spreading the dough onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet takes less time, one baking round, and uniform cookies. I haven’t tasted them yet, but they smelled marvelous.

My other entry is a vanilla pound cake with a rye-lime icing. The iced cake mimics the cake one of my partners asked about three times, after I served it at my secretary’s 25th partner. The partner’s name appears in our firm name, so that ought to count 10x when the voting starts.

Truth be told, picnics provide an opportunity for people to share time together. With or without food, that’s a good thing! And a better thing if someone remembered to get the beer permit.

P.S. Picnic is a great movie.

P.P.S. You thought, maybe, I wouldn’t show you a cut version of the bars/cake?