SF Opera

I went to opening night at the San Francisco Opera the other week. It was one thing I always wanted to do, so now I can check it off that list of Life's Goals. I went with my dad. It was A Masked Ball, which was only OK, but I went for the party anyway! I wore a black velvet dress with ivory satin that drapes in a scoop neck and a low back. It was beautiful (Thank you Ginny for letting me borrow Rachel's dress). My dad wore a tux of course. My hair took forever, but we finally got it right (twisted low in the back with orchids). That made us late to the cocktail party, so my mom snapped a few pictures and then we dashed off.

We arrived at the Valet, in front of the red carpet. Out of the car in front of us came this fragile woman in her 50's in this brick red dress with tufts of feathers coming out everywhere! Even her shoes had a tufts of feathers on top! It was rather rediculous! The papparazzi of course wanted to shoot her picture and completely ignored me, which was fine, I walked right past anyway. As soon as you got behind a hedge of bushes, there were tables to check in, but all they asked was our table number. I said 3, and they let me right through! Amazing. Then, just past the tables were waiters with trays of wine and Cosmopolitans! I took a Cosmo and we continued up the carpet. There were more paparrazzi which bumped me out of the way and spilled my drink in order to eagerly shoot another woman in front of me! =( Ugh. Inside the tent was a TON of people. My dad said that it looked like a sea of penguins with flowers in between... So, we ate (my dad some caviar, and I some delicious pork appetizers). We didn't know anyone, so we just sat and watched the dresses walk by. Some were nice, most were over-the-top or ugly, or looked like they paid too much for something very so-so... ALL of them looked very expensive! But, I think mine was one of the best - classic and looked great on! I got lots of compliments, and gave out just as many. Then it was time for the opera to start, so we hiked up a gazillion stairs to the top balcony. I can gaurantee no one else from the party was up there (they were all in the bottom seats), but that doesn't matter because no one knows where one sits. And we got to sit in the middle, right in the first row, which means I could lean over the railing!

After the opera, we all shuffled back to the tent where the cocktail party was, which was now transformed into dinner tables and a dancefloor. Again, the only thing they asked was our table number, 3. Then, when looking for our names at table 3, we discovered we were table 5!!! So, basically anyone could go into the party by just saying some bogus table number!! Weird. We thought table 5 meant a good table, front and center, but really it was 5 of like 70 tables, so we were at one end of the whole thing, shoved in a corner! Oh well, it was still fun! They gave us champagne at the door and on each seat there was a gift bag with a Burberry scarf in it! For every person attending! Jeez. I got a red tartan and my dad a black one, which we promptly traded.

We sat next to a couple who was on a blind date. Who takes a blind date to the opera?! And she talked through most of dinner about her ex husband, which is a big no-no.. Oh well. Dinner was a series of small courses. Here is the complete menu:

Duo of Carrot essence - Carrot and Cream soup, and carrot and ginger soup

Smoked Trout Nicoise Salad, Spiced Poached Apple with Prociutto, Baby Beet and Micro-green Salad with Humbolt Fog - When they say micro, they MEAN micro. I gave the piece of trout to my dad. We couldn't figure out what the poached apple was. Someone said potato, someone said mango... It was good, though

Poached Maine Lobster on roasted Butternut Squash with fresh corn polenta Cardinale Sauce - I don't care for lobster. I like crab, but NO other seafood AT ALL. So, I choked this down.

Dessert was Marquise au Chocolat with Porfiteroles and Autumn Berries - VERY rich and excellent presentation on ALL dishes

Then there was dancing, but by the time we finished dinner it was midnight, so I was tired and we just went home... That was my night at the opera!

No pictures because my mom said they all came out black! I don't understand how this happens with a digital camera. The whole point of a digital camera is that you can check to make sure you are getting good photographs!!! Oh well. Good thing I have an excellent memory...