ARIA SERIOUS?

The wonderful Opera Tattler, who runs her own blog and paints opera inspired paintings with all the people replaced with cupcakes, has a small show of her artwork up in the Bay Area. Readers to the North can stop by Squat and Gobble on Lower Haight to see her collection of cupcake inspired opera paintings. (Or is that opera inspired cupcake paintings?) Whatever it is, I don't think any real cupcakes are involved and that's a shame. But Squat and Gobble is a delicious place for breakfast and one of my favorite places in the Bay Area, second only to Crepes on Cole, and, well, the Toronado. But we have a Toronado here now , and without the dirty hippies out front trying to sell me weed. Bonus! Squat and Gobble is 237 Fillmore, between Haight and Waller. - Edward

The lovely AriaGirl sent this over to me, knowing it covers two of my favorite things in life: opera and food. So, a little amuse bouche to tide you over until Tosca opens tomorrow. -- Edward

Almost as good as beer and opera; opera and cupcakes... The Opera Tattler keeps on hitting it out of the park with a new painting she just completed called "Cupcake Boccanegra" which consists of cupcakes acting out a scene from Simon Boccanegra . Check it out here . This of course means those of us here at 'Aria Serious?' will be putting on our baking caps tonight in an attempt to create some real cupcakes to stage in our favorite operas provided we don't eat all the batter first. Speaking of opera and yummy things, one cannot overlook opera cakes. For a tasty look at this incredible creation, click here but be sure to wipe the drool off the screen . OK, off to go eat my opera celery sticks now... - Edward

It is lunch time and I'm hungry. This of course leads to thoughts of food. Since this is an opera blog my thoughts are drifting to Peche Melba , that classic dessert of peaches and raspberries combined with ice-cream that was named after Australian singer Dame Nellie Melba . It was even presented to her in a ice-sculpture of a swan, inspired by a performance of Lohengrin Escoffier had seen. Nellie sure got around, also having toast named after her. I like to think you haven't truly made it in the world until you have a dish named after you. I also think it might be fun to have a dinner comprised entirely of opera inspired dishes. So below you will find a list of dishes inspired by the world of opera with recipes on the links where I can find them. Buon appetito! Eggs in a Mold Bizet - the Carmen composer had this dish named after him which consisted of eggs cooked in molds lined with minced pickled tongue, served on artichoke hearts. He also had a consomme named after him w...