There are very few operas where the title role is written for a bass. You have the Russian Boris Godunov and Khovanschina but that's about all I can come up with, except for the 19th-century Italian operas Mefistofole by Boito and Attila by Verdi. The latter two roles have been owned for about the last 30 years by Samuel Ramey, who sang them in productions all over the world. Ramey's old now and his voice has a major wobble, but when he came out for a cameo as Pope Leo at the end of Act 1 of Attila this evening, he gave the San Francisco Opera/La Scala co-production a dose of superstar energy that was most welcome.
The direction by the Italian, Gabriele Lavia, was borderline awful like his miserable Don Giovanni with all the monster mirrors of last year, but it didn't really matter. The conducting by music director Nicola Luisotti was fun and thoroughly oom-pah-pah, and the principal singers were all good, though none of them conveyed the charisma of Ramey in his wobbly five-minute cameo. The best thing about the performance was the San Francisco Opera Chorus who sounded like one of the great musical ensembles of the world.
The American Girl Cafe is located on the second floor of the American Girl Place in LA's The Grove Shopping Center. The dining room is decorated in pink, black and white; it's pretty, fun, and whimsical; just walking in and knowing you're going to have lunch there makes you feel girly and special -- a bit too girly for 3Po and Jammy, who opted out of the meal ("There's no way I'm eating lunch at American Girl!!"), leaving just The Pea and I. Men were definitely in the minority -- there were several families, and one father having lunch with his little girl (adorable!), but for the most part the place was filled with moms, aunts and grandmothers having lunch with their girls. 
The two lucky American Girl dolls chosen to accompany us were Marie-Grace and McKenna. They were given their own doll booster chairs, and we were seated on the veranda. It was fun to watch the shoppers wander around outside The Grove!
Our first course was mini cinnamon buns that melt in your mouth. I managed to get a photo of one of them, but The Pea had already stuffed hers in her mouth. While munching on the rolls, we ordered our entrees from the menu (which also had a story about the inspiration behind American Girl Place -- a night on the town with a fancy dinner and show that Pleasant Rowland, founder of the American Girl Company, enjoyed with her mother). By the way, the napkin holders are actually hair ties that The Pea got to take home. 
Our appetizer plate had veggies and ranch dip, fruit-and-cheese-kabobs, and pretzels with honey mustard dip. We also ordered pink lemonade to drink throughout our meal.
Our dishes arrived at a fast and furious pace (frankly, I would have preferred more time between courses to stretch out our time at the Cafe), but we kept ourselves amused between bites of food with the box of Conversation Starters on the table. Each little slip of paper had a question we could ask each other, like What is your favorite book?, What would you bring to a dessert island?, or If you could have 100 pounds of anything except cash, what would you ask for? (my answer was airline tickets).
For my main course, I chose a grilled vegetable sandwich with sweet potato fries. It was sooo good! I simply must learn how to make sweet potato fries at home.
The Pea had a grilled salmon fillet with roasted vegetables and potatoes. I'm so glad she's past the usual chicken tenders/buttered pasta/burger kiddie fare!
Dessert was chocolate mousse in a flowerpot (The Pea got to keep the daisy), a flower-shaped cake and a star-shaped cookie. So pretty!
Our server asked if anyone was celebrating a birthday, and since technically this was my birthday celebration, she put a candle on my flower cake and sang Happy Birthday To You. I had the best time with The Pea; it was the perfect end to the perfect meal, and the perfect end to the perfect trip!
The sheaf toss was harder than it looked; the bale of hay kept falling off the pitchfork before the kids could toss it, but 3Po managed to hit the target and win a prize (a Merida wig!).
The archery was by far the most popular station. Even grownups wanted to try it! An archery expert was on hand to fit participants with bows and arrows and give them a crash course in archery. Everyone had 3 attempts to hit the bullseye in order to win a prize (a Merida wig). Merida must have been watching over us, because Jammy shot the bullseye on his third try, and Alfie did it twice!
Everyone who completed all four activities received their choice of a set of Brave postcards, or a Brave paper fan. To add to the festivities, there were performances by a group of young Scottish Highland dancers, accompanied by a live bagpipe. It was a fun way to spend a few hours and a great way to get everyone excited about the upcoming Brave movie (as if we aren't excited enough already!).