Since quarantine started, many of us have been suffocated at home. Turning to TikTok, we found entertainment in trends such as whipped coffee and cloud bread which had taken over our “For You” pages. When the two of us saw the picnic trend, we had to try it. 

Though preparing a meal  for our four-person picnic looked easy, it was not. Our friends’ love and hate for different foods led to many complications; for one, while our friend Tony Guo loves fruit, Martin Xu basically hates them. After a few days of deliberation, we ended up with a menu everyone could agree on: sushi, focaccia, chocolate-covered strawberries, pink lemonade, cake and a charcuterie board, which seemed to be a staple in most TikTok clips. 

At the grocery store, however, we changed the menu. 

Originally, we planned on buying all our picnic dishes, but no one told us how costly it would end up being. The chocolate-covered strawberries and the charcuterie board were more than half our budget of $60. Since we still needed to buy other foods, we turned to homemade chocolate-covered strawberries and our own version of a charcuterie board instead. 

After getting to Azule Park, a place easily accessible to anyone living in or near Saratoga, we found a shady spot under a tree and started setting up. After setting our picnic blanket, a plastic tarp found at the last minute, we attempted to arrange the food in an appealing way. 

Of course, following the trend, we had to try splitting our cake with wine glasses. As simple as the idea seems, it made a huge mess. We wouldn't recommend it. 

While the original point of the wine glasses was to make it easier to scoop out the cake, cutting through the layers was much more difficult than it looked. Scooping out cake spread frosting and crumbs everywhere, and the wine glasses ended up covered in frosting and were impossible to clean with the paper napkins we brought during the picnic. 

It was also slightly frustrating to eat the cake out of the glasses, since the layers were mushed together and it looked pretty unappetizing.  

Despite the disappointing result, the cake and rest of the food still tasted great, and we talked and played a few rounds of makeshift badminton on the grass. We recommend bringing a board game or some badminton rackets so you can still stay socially distant while spending time with friends. 

As much work as the whole process was, we recommend giving it a try, although maybe without the wine glasses.