Music, Grub & Liquor; Not a Bad Combo!

I received two free tickets (a nice perk) from Heike for a Brevard Symphony Orchestra Wine and Beer Tasting with culinary samples from over 30 restaurants.
Being that I can't get Tiger out of the house for any cultural events I invited my neighbor who had previously taken me to see "Forever Dead"... I mean "Forever Plaid". She was more than pleased to accompany me. We dressed up and left about 4:30 since it started at 5pm.
When we got to the King Center for the Performing Arts, where all the big shows are held in Melbourne, we were immediately given a complimentary glass of champagne in a beautiful keepsake wine glass to use for the wine tasting. We then hunted down these great plastic engraved appetizer dishes which they were selling for $5. Since Brevard Live is a sponsor we got them for free. Another nice perk.
They ushered us to a line with a table with 4 different kinds of cheese spreads, crackers and pinwheels. I was like "where's the food?" since there was supposed to be over 30 restaurants giving samples. We made small plates, caught up with Heike and her friends and went into the theater for the concert.
They Played:
•Slavonic Dance No. 8
•Waltz of the Flowers from The Nutcracker
•Thunder and Lighting Polka
•A Hollywood Salute (over 30 different Hollywood film themes-really cool)
•The Syncopated Clock
•Raider's March (from Raiders of the Lost Ark)
•The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons.

I do love a good show. Aside from the Rolling Stones, the Brevard Symphony Orchestra is one of my favorite concerts! Minus Mick Jagger, they are just as entertaining. Ok, whatever. I DO, however, love to check out each and every person. You can see and feel the passion of music in their performances. I have seen them several times. I love the harpist and the little drummer guy was a cutie. By the time they got to the jetsons, you could tell everyone was ready to eat and all their wine glasses were empty!

IT WAS FINALLY TIME TO EAT!!
It was very crowded as everyone stood in line to get into the Rotunda where the food and wine vendors were. When we finally got in it seemed like there was a line at every table and the only thing that was easy to get to was what else, but the wine!
I really like white, sweet wines so I tried a nice Pinot Grigio. Trouble is, they only give you about 4 (big) sips so you have to keep refilling rather nonchalantly but there are several tables so you can circle around.
After 2 or 3 glasses of wine, we were finally able to make it to a food table. Too bad it was desserts. We would visit later for sure! I saw mini cheesecakes.
Anyway, at least we had some food on our cute little plates, it wasn't so bad waiting in the lines that way. We finally got moving and here are of the foods I tried;
Mini gyros, various pasta dishes, baked ham, sweet and sour meatballs, goulash (very good), kraut and sausage, mini burritos, wonderful crab cakes, moussaka, baked brie, tuna sashimi, marinated shrimp skewers and pulled pork and my favorites; (which I went back for 2nds on) pear & cheese stuffed pasta w/ mornay sauce and escargot stuffed mushroom crowns w/ boursin cheese sauce. What better to stuff a fungus with than a snail and curdled milkfat!

I was pretty full with "dinner" items but they also had fresh mozzarella, beef carpaccio, veal Ossobucca (marinated pork shank), quiche, chicken bordelaise, steak mojito, citron honey salmon w/ mango salsa, gazpacho, mole', jambalaya, lots of breads (which I stayed away from), and much more!

We made our way to several other drink stations and I tried some mango wine and some cedar beer. The wine was much much better. I am definitely prefer wine over beer! And did I say I prefer sweet to dry?

Luckily we happen to save just enough room to sample some of their many desserts. They had tons of strawberries with every kind of chocolate dip including fondue. We did a few of those and then each of us had a chocolate cup w/ swiss chocolate mousse and a blueberry and a couple of those mini cheesecakes.

On our way out we grabbed a cup of coffee that came from a machine that made 20 different items with fresh ground coffee beans. I had a machiatto but it also made french vanilla cappuccinos, expresso, lattes, tai teas and several other things. Very cool.

We decided to leave and made it home full-tummied by 8pm.