concert night

Conrad
and I have been making more of an effort lately to actually take advantage of living in a big city. We get complacent, we know. We like holing up at home with a nice bit of wine and our lake/urban views from the balcony. Oh yes, pity us.

But we have been making efforts. I just renewed my membership to the Art Institute, and we make it there at least a few times a year now. I've been to a couple of concerts, big and small, this year and dragged Conrad to one. We've tried restaurants outside of our neighbourhood (with Nightwood being the most noteworthy). And last night, after too many years since our last go-round, we headed on down to Grant Park with a picnic in tow, taking in a concert and dining on the lawn on a summer evening.

We really need to do that more often.

First off, let me not hide my light under a bushel. I made some good food for us, specifically a torta rustica.
We'll be enjoying that big pie for days, but it really is an excellent dish. Swap out the chicken breast slices in it for some sort of roasted vegetable and you can have a delightfully satisfying vegetarian dish. We opted for the chicken, however. I had lightly cooked some asparagus, chilled it, and then dressed it with a simple vinaigrette when I plated it. We had cherries, chocolate, and nuts to snack on. Fizzy water. Wine. Ah, Felton Road - a snotty person running your wine room when we visited, but delicious wine, undeniably.

The music? I can't comment too intelligently on it. I rather liked the opening piece, a Mexican composition and a Mexican conductor. The rest? It was lovely background as I began re-reading The Rebel Angels (every few years I return to The Cornish Trilogy and The Deptford Trilogy). The skies darkened, and the skyline lit up.



It was a lovely evening, and we even caught a cab home without difficulty! As Conrad and I remarked to each other, we've had a very urban weekend, and one that we've enjoyed immensely!

picnic at Ravinia

I woke up this morning still feeling very full, rather tired from a long evening. A full night for a Sunday night - we went with CG to Ravinia.

It's been about 6 years since my only previous visit to Ravinia, some summers back with Bradley. A fun evening, and I'd long thought it would be nice to return. But we just never did. No particular reason.

CG e-mailed a bunch of us a while back, though, and asked who would like to go with her to see Seu Jorge and Cesaria Evora. I actually have a couple of Evora's CDs, so I was up for it, as was Conrad. In the end, it was just the three of us, but we made a good go of it.

We had lawn tickets, nicer I think. I care less about seeing the performers than listening. I like being to set out a picnic, stretch out, relax. I like being able to sit on the grass, beneath the trees. I like seeing and hearing the other parties around us, smelling their food. It's a terrific escape on a summer evening.

CG was dressed for a fine night out, a lovely print dress that was light enough for the sultry evening.
We picked her up and headed north, arriving just after 5. Having secured a place under the trees, we opened up our too too gay picnic hamper.

Our menu:

Spiced nuts to munch on along with a bottle of a Sumac Ridge Merlot CG had bought in Vancouver.

Cold rotisserie chicken (store bought from Whole Foods, sorry), a tortellini salad with roasted peppers that CG had put together and scented with some of her own fresh herbs, roasted asparagus that I'd tossed together and chilled. We had a bottle of Spy Valley unoaked Chardonnay with that.

Goat milk Gouda, wedges of a walnut Breton cake I'd baked that day, walnuts, cherries, and a super-yummy ginger spread. The cake, cheese, and spread were marvellous together. I ate rather a lot of that.

CG has a California Malbec for us to finish with, and we also had some sparkling water. A bit of dark chocolate studded with candied ginger was our other, last bit of food. Actually, we had some other chocolate and some sparkling pomegranate juice, but neither did we get to.

The music was quite nice. We relaxed with magazines and cards, chatted or just lay back.
Night drew in, the temperature was so fine. And though it was 10:45 on a school night when Conrad and I got home, it was well worth it. It just makes me think what I can cobble together for a picnic in the future!