Salmon and strings

Last Monday evening we went to the Grand Master's homecoming at East Gate Lodge up in Takoma Park. A huge contingent of Grand Lodge officers showed up to join the members and guests. They started with dinner for everyone, featuring tasty slabs of baked salmon, wild and brown rice, roasted new potatoes, grilled asparagus, and a melange of sauteed squashes and onions, plus big tossed salads with diced marinated chicken breast and shredded parmesan cheese with a balsamic vinaigrette. Some kind of nice looking chicken dish was an alternative to the salmon, but Miroslav and I both had salmon, so I wasn't sure what the chicken was. They had cheese and water crackers before the meal. I'm not sure if the meal was provided by a caterer or by in-house cooks, since they were actually using the kitchen there.

The Casablanca String Quartet from "The President's Own" Marine Chamber Orchestra (the people who play for state dinners and such) provided classical background music during the meal, and played as the featured entertainers later in the evening during the formal program. These four Marine sergeants all have interesting training and experience, including degrees from places like the Juilliard School and the New England Conservatory. I've often wondered if military band and orchestra members get any kind of perks or salary supplements, since they all seem to have college degrees and would presumably be eligible for commissions as officers. Does anybody know?

During the formal program, the string quartet played all four movements of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusick, which was kind of fun. Svet was about to go crazy because his boss was sitting a couple of chairs to our right and was singing along with the music, and Svet wanted to shush him but didn't dare say that to the boss!

We escaped at the end of the public portion of the program before the lodge had their formal business meeting, so we missed whatever dessert they were having after the session.