While we have attended some pretty wonderful Opera Ball's here in
Washington, Friday night's truly took the prize. For those of you that
know about "Opera Balls" they are the major fundraiser for a company
and can often bring in MILLIONS of dollars. Here in DC there are the
Embassy suppers that precede the actual ball, and we were invited to
the Residence of the Argentine Ambassador for a wonderful meal with
about 20 or so folks.
Our meal was superb and included GAZPACHO, a Baked VEGETABLE SALAD
with Sunflower Seeds and Pine Nuts with the most beautiful tomatoes to
boot. The white wine was Catena Chardonnay, but the amazing reds were
actually made by the Amabassador's wife, Anabelle Sielecki, who owns a
winery in Mendoza. She named the winery MENDEL after her grandfather
and the two superb wines we drank were MENDEL MALBEC 2007 and MENDEL
UNUS MALBED 2006 (a blend adding 30% Cabernet).
The main course was a tender tasty MONKFISH in CHAMPAGNE SAUCE and a
light Mango sorbet followed as we had the Grand Dessert Buffet coming
at the big ball....
Afterwards we all headed to the Russian Embassy which was truly a
"winter wonderland."
We were greeted by dozens of supers dressed as Boris Godunov (when he
introduced himself, I said I was Natasha and my partner was
Bullwinkle :-))!), princesses, tsars, boyars and more. The courtyard
of the embassy was the scene of a light snowfall saluting the SOCHI
Winter Olympics of 2014 and a ZORB (large hollow bouncing ball) was
bouncing dozens of feet in the air in the snow with a gymnast or
dancer in it!
Upstairs (I think for the first time ever) a concert hall was
dedicated to a showcase performance by the "rising stars of the
Bolshoi Opera" who were flown in for the event. We heard some arias,
and I enjoyed some of the novelties:
Swan Princess Aria from "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" sung wonderfully by
Venera Gimadieva. She also performed Shemakhan Tasritsa's aria (Queen
of Shemakha) from "The Golden Cockerees"(?). Perhaps it should have
read the Golden "Cockerel?"
Less impressive musically was tenor Pavel Kolgatin in Levko's song
from "A May Night."
"Tolstoy's Library" just outside the concert hall featured a Champagne
& Cordial Bar serving up Dom Perignon, Veuve Cliquot and Perrier
Jouet, while the "Tea Room" featurted a pianist
and in the Golden Ballroom replicas of Faberge eggs were being sliced
and served (they were yummy chocolate cakes!).
Our favorite stop was the Blue Room or Ice Palace with 8 foot high ice
sculptures of the Kremlin, the Russian double eagle seal and more. In
the center was a sevruga caviar bar, oysters, lobster cocktails and
yummy iced pepper vodka. Actually, there were different vodkas
everywhere, not to mention quality wines and spirits. This definitely
was a splurge all event and we all really did feel like Cinderellas &
Cinderfellas at the Ball!
ALAN SAVADA of Washington, DC
