Oh Cultural Day

Family and I went up to San Francisco today to see Swan Lake at the War Memorial Opera House. We had pretty good seats in the Grand Tier (which is the second layer of dress circle up, the first layer consisting entirely of boxes). The stage seemed a fair way away, though it must have looked tiny to the people upstairs in the balcony. The good side was that we could see all the pretty patterns that the swan chorus made. Nice costumes, minimalist but appropriate sets. Not too hammy. Good quality dancing. Surprisingly, I think Hubby and I enjoyed it more than the gruesome twosome. Deep Thought announced that she "quite enjoyed the music" while Little Starlet (for whose benefit the outing was originally arranged) pronounced it "boring" and "when can we go to see Mr Shakespeare again?"

Sitting in a theater for three hours doesn't burn many calories, but neither does it provide many eating opportunities. We did, it is true, partake of a cup of filter coffee and the cookie plate at the first intermission, but my section of the cookie plate consisted of two bite sized morsels, and the coffee was unsweetened, so I figure that wasn't bad. At least the sugar and caffeine injection helped keep my eyes open for the whole performance.

After ballet we went to Max's Opera Cafe on Van Ness for dinner. Deep Thought was desperate to have the blue cheese bacon burger but, alas, it was no longer on the menu. I had the shrimp louie salad - that's lots and lots of lettuce with cauliflower, carrots and red pepper, garnished with shrimps and avocado - with about a quarter of the dressing; then Deep Thought and I shared a half-portion of the chocolate cake. Even a half portion was enormous, so a quarter portion was just right. We scraped off the extra frosting on the top and felt very virtuous indeed.