Antipasto Under the Trees

Saturday 9 June
The weather has been unusually springlike this week, making us feel like we ought to have a picnic before Cincinnati's usual heat, humidity, and mosquitoes make it impossible. Fortuitously, this is also the time that the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company does its Plays in the Parks. There is no author we like more than Shakespeare, and no play we like more than Much Ado about Nothing - and that was what was to be performed at Saturday's locale, Eden Park.
Since we would be sitting on benches rather than laying out dishes on a blanket, we prepared an elegant antipasto that could be eaten from plates on the lap. There was genoa salami and provolone on HoltParkerHouse rolls baked that day, plus a variety of olives and marinated artichoke hearts. There were also to be roasted asparagus spears rolled up in prosciutto, but unfortunately the asparagus got left behind in the fridge, so that had to wait for another day. It all went well with Lindemans Bin 65 Chardonnay, discreetly sipped from a thermos - we didn't want to run afoul of any Dogberries of the law.
The evening was soft and cool, and the Seasongood Pavilion, among the trees in Eden Park, was nicely populated but not crowded. The performance, like Hero, was too low for a high praise…everyone mugged and giggled and shouted, and one actress's voice could be used to strip paint. But in the end, Shakespeare always wins out, and we all had a lovely time.