Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Bagels in the Park with Opera



Sunday 9 June
The Cincinnati Opera was kicking off its summer season with a free outdoor concert, and though there had been a couple of drenching rains in the afternoon, we decided to brave the elements and bring our folding chairs and a picnic dinner to Washington Park.  We arrived 45 minutes early, and were able to snap up two choice parking spots: one for the car on the corner, and another for our chairs in front of the bandshell.
It had been announced that food trucks would gather in front of Music Hall, but Cincinnati is not enough of a food truck town for us to depend on them.  Instead we brought a pic-a-nic basket: a pair of halved sesame bagels from Brueggers, our own smoked whitefish salad (flake the fish, mix with a mite of minced red onion, a big squeeze of lemon juice, and a dollop of mayonnaise), and to top that, 4 oz. of sliced smoked salmon.  
To slake our thirst, we had bottled water, a thermos of grape juice (the kind that's fermented - we didn't want to advertise we were drinking in a public park), and a dessert of bunches of red grapes.
It was a fine experience to sit outdoors and sip our grape juice while lovely music was sung (Lucas Meachem was an especially sly and ingratiating Don Giovanni), children cartwheeled, and the cloudy sky sparkled without raining.

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