Hollywood Bowl

Last night was my friend Fuzzy and I’s annual Hollywood Bowl trek to enjoy John Williams.  For the past five years+, we have gone to see him, and every year he provides a very enjoyable show conducting the L.A. Philharmonic.  Of course, he never can get away without playing his Star Wars theme.

And no trip to the Bowl would be complete without a picnic to enjoy while waiting for the show to start.  I always prepare a meal and pack it up to bring with us.  In years past, I have made chicken pesto sandwiches, roast beef braised in thai spices and coconut milk, cupcakes and lemon ricotta cookies for dessert.  This year I decided to make sandwiches made with prosciutto, salami and capocolla.  I used French baguettes, drizzled with citrus olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and smeared with Aoulette spreadable garlic-herb cheese. 

As an appetizer, I made my first attempt at a tapenade.  It was good, but the flavors were stronger than they should have been.  I used a little too much anchovy paste, fresh garlic and lime.  No vampires were going to bother us!  At least now I know how to dial it down and make is less……potent!  It is mellowing now that it has sat for a day, and will continue to mellow (I made a big batch).  Once I perfect my recipe, I will share it here.

For dessert, we bought from the Marketplace at the Bowl this time and had a rocky road brownie with a white chocolate sauce, and a lemon tart with strawberry sauce.  The brownie was okay, but didn’t wow us.  The lemon tart however was very delicious (and lived us to the name tart).  The strawberry sauce was a throw-away and we didn’t use it.  It didn’t seem to work with the tart…..raspberry would have been better.

We also enjoyed a bottle of Cabernet Franc that I had brought back from the Okanagan Valley in British Columbia, which had aged very well.  It was a 2007 vintage from Hillside Estate. 

Aside from the wonderful food, the concert was wonderful.  The first half, James Taylor did a reading from the novel “Revers” about a kid growing up in Mississippi back in the early part of the 20^th century.  The music backing it up was wonderfully complimentary.  It was a unique way to do a concert which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The second half was a mixture of scores from westerns and other classic films, and some of Williams’ own classics.    And for his closing number of course, he played Star Wars.  And the bowl was filled with light sabers of many different colors – more than we had ever seen before.

His encore included the Imperial March from Star Wars and the theme from E.T.  I can’t wait to see what he does next year!