Haydn, Bartok and Beethoven

Monday is my Friday, weird right? Well that’s what happens when you work weekends. I work Fridays through Mondays and generally by Monday evening I am stupid tired. I usually don’t do anything more active than going home, making something to eat, watching tv and zoning out until bedtime on Mondays but every now and then my social life intervenes with my laziness and I end up out there in the world, being social.

This past Monday I met up with a friend for dinner and an outing to the Orpheum Theatre to enjoy the musical talents of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Fyi, they are awesome! 🙂

My friend KL had a gift card for The Keg so that’s where we went for dinner. I had a first experience on Monday, I ordered a steak for dinner and omg why have I not been eating steak all this time? Oh so good!

I know nothing about steak so the poor waiter had to educate me on what exactly I was choosing, lucky for me he was patient. 🙂 Basically all I took away from it was that a sirloin is full of flavour but not as tender and a fillet will have less flavour but be more tender. I wanted tender more than I wanted flavour so I ordered a Manhattan cut New York steak with shrimp, scallops, asparagus and Bearnaise sauce. Technically I combined two different steaks. The Manhattan cut New York usually comes with caramelized mushrooms, onions and peppers and is served with a demi-glace but I liked the sound of the toppings that came with the Sirloin Oscar so I swapped out the toppings that I was supposed to get with yummier sounding ones. Gotta love tailoring your meal to what you prefer! 😀

Manhattan cut New York with shrimp, scallops, asparagus and bearnaise sauce

As you can see I chose the baked potato as my side and the restaurant automatically puts the sauce on the side, which I appreciate. It may not be proper etiquette to dip food but I’d rather dip the cut pieces of steak in to the sauce than pour the sauce on to my dinner. My friend poured the sauce she got with her dinner and used the whole thing, by dipping I used about half of what I was served and while it may be ridiculous to be trying to save some calories when eating a meal like this it’s habit by now to dip rather than pour, shrug.

I was impressed by how many shrimp and scallops were on the plate, I envisioned getting fewer and feeling slightly ripped off lol

I asked for help from the waiter with deciding how the meat should be cooked, I knew I didn’t want lots of blood, ick, but I wanted it to be tender, definitely not chewy! The waiter suggested the steak be cooked to medium, he thought medium rare might be a little too red for me and well done would be too chewy. So medium it was!

what the inside of a medium steak looks like

Because we were splurging we split an appetizer and a dessert, so much food! Mmm!

The appetizer was Baked Brie with basil pesto and red pepper jelly, served with crostini. That dish alone is worth going to The Keg, so so so yummy!

baked brie with basil pesto and red pepper jelly, served with crostini

The above picture isn’t mine, I forgot to take a picture when the appetizer came and once we started eating it no way was I going to pause so I could photograph it lol

Then dessert, my favourite food group! I left it up to KL to choose what to order, we were torn between the cheesecake and the fudge brownie. She chose the cheesecake which made me a happy camper because that was what I wanted lol It was a generous size, extremely creamy and thankfully not overwhelmed in sauce, they let the flavour of the cheesecake stand out, Mmm!

cheesecake, super delish cheesecake

I got more than my fair share of the cheesecake because KL wasn’t feeling very well and she only wanted a couple of bites. I felt badly about eating more than my half but no way could I stand leaving any on the plate. I know it makes me a glutton but it was so good, to leave any of it uneaten would have been a crime against taste buds everywhere!

After the most scrumptious meal we walked to the Orpheum Theatre, a beautiful place. I only got a couple of pictures from inside when waiting for the show to start, and they aren’t great pictures…

The performance consisted of:

Haydn Symphony No. 99 in E-flat Major

I. Adagio – Vivace assai

II. Adagio

III. Menuetto e Trio: Allegretto

IV: Finale: Vivace

Bartok Violin Concerto No. 1

I. Andante sostenuto

II. Allegro giocoso

Beethoven Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 36

I. Adagio molto – Allegro con brio

II. Larghetto

III. Scherzo: Allegro

IV. Allegro molto

Now Beethoven I am familiar with, I listen to his work often but I was unfamiliar with Haydn and Bartok. There was a violin piece by Bartok that has quickly become a favourite piece, it is beautiful. The emotion felt when listening to the music, the story the notes tell, I don’t have the words to properly describe it, I only know it resonates within me, which I feel is what music is meant to do.

Here is the Andante sostenuto…

I could listen to violin music all day, if ever there was an instrument I wish I could play it is the violin, sadly, I have no musical ability, so instead I just listen and appreciate the talent others have. 🙂

All in all, an awesome Monday evening. I wish KL had been feeling better, she enjoyed the music but got sicker as the night continued and by the end felt horrible. Hopefully we can go again and she’ll be better able to enjoy the experience.

Tags: a night out, baked brie, Bartok, Beethoven, cheesecake, classical music, food, Haydn, Orpheum Theatre, social life, steak dinner, The Keg, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, violin music, VSO