I’ll admit it.  I hid the chocolate. It’s not like I needed to because there were also two pieces of lemon cake right on top of the gourmet picnic basket I carried to our blanket on the lawn at the Opera Hits concert with the Utah Symphony.  I just wanted the chocolate raspberry truffle tartlets all to myself.

You can come right out and say that’s selfish and I must be an awful person. It is all true – I can’t deny it.  But I have to say if you’d seen the desserts in the Deer Valley gourmet picnic basket, you would have done the same thing or at least thought about it.  I simply couldn’t help myself.

Food is important especially when you are enjoying an outdoor venue. I remember a few years ago, I went camping by the beach in Bodega Bay, California with my brother and sister-in-law. They invited their neighbor who brought two cans of tuna as her culinary contribution to our weekend.  I am dead serious. By the way, she also sat in my chair the entire time and I had to sit on the ice chest (but I am not the least bit bitter.)  When enjoying the outdoors, you don’t want the ordinary. You want something special.

On the lawn listening to the operatic voices of angels – the sopranos, the tenors and the opera choir backed by the full symphony orchestra, we had that something special. My husband and I lingered and enjoyed the bottle of Pinot Noir with our Brie, apples, grapes, crusty baguettes, and antipasto before feasting on a salmon steak and filet as well as the amazing lemon cake.  What a great night.

Later when we got home, he dug through the basket, found the chocolate tartlets and said, “Look, I found these for you.  You can have them both.”

“Chocolate raspberry tarts? Oh I love them. Thank you, Honey.  That is so sweet of you,” was my shy reply. He obviously didn’t know someone had hidden them in the bottom and he clearly is a better person than me.

Come on though. Wouldn’t you have done the same thing?