Root veggie meets opera
posted Tuesday, 8 April 2008
Funny how I am so completely enamored by this city, and this country, yet I remain nostalgic for all things “Canadiana” : CBC, pancakes, CanLit and Canadian bands.
This weekend we made sushi and drank mojitos served in a salad bowl. I cheaped out on soda water and as a result our first batch tasted as though we had dumped baking soda into the mix. At one point we considered experimenting with vinegar and creating “Volcanic Mojitos.” We later decided that was probably a bad idea.
It is next to impossible to find ice in this town and freezers are too small to store ice. Turns out can can call a place and have ice delivered. We thought of putting in a request at the fish market but just like volcanic mojitos, we quickly decided against it: fishy mojito may have been worse than sodium-bicarbonate ones.
We danced until the lights were turned on, and then kept on going. We meandered home, made our way up the 4 (but really 5) flights of stairs, taking care to make as little noise as possible in the noisiest way- SHHHHHHH. Some stayed up, slouched in chairs until the 5h30 metro opening, but the rest found spaces to sleep. After a short and restless two hours, we collectively set about making a breakfast of hash browns, mushrooms and pancakes. It was delicious.
Tonight I am off to see an opera by Jaques Offenbach, 19th century French composer and an originator of the “operetta.” The opera is “Le Roi Carotte.” At first I was dubious but I think the fact someone was able to find an activity that combines my interest in food and politics/revolution with my love of opera can only be a good sign.
In this opera:
The main character, the disolute monarch Frivolinus, stands for Emperor Napoleon III. He is deposed and succeeded by a carrot-become-human and its plebeian followers beet-root. Here the roots (radix) are symbols for radicals (haha.. loving it?). The exiled prince travels through space and time, visits Pompeii before it was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, and learns from the ants the meaning of hard work. Meanwhile Carrot's regime has proven to be worse than his predecessor's. After another revolution, the prince regains his throne and Carrot and his vegetables are swallowed by the earth.
Review to follow.