Archive for March, 2017
Posted by terrepruitt on March 31, 2017
This was taken early last year, it was not yet spring. I was so surprised at how pretty this bush was that I took a picture. I don’t go into that yard much — actually ever, it seems. I mean, I actually don’t think I have been in it since I took this picture. Seriously. Ok, so I just went to the yard and looked at it. Because I really hadn’t since last February. The plant/bush is still there, in fact it looks larger, but it does not have any blooms at this time. I am glad I caught it in full bloom. It really is lovely.
Look at that, two “springey” looking pictures in a row for my Friday Photo. Even though this one was technically from winter and it was last year. I still like it. I hope you enjoy it, too!
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: bush blooming, flowering plants, Friday Photo, odd yard, side yard, Spring photos, Winter Photos | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 29, 2017
When I participated in yoga training one of the things we did before we started with the training was to come up with what we thought was a list of “Yoga Etiquette.” This was a great idea because everyone piped up with what they thought was proper etiquette for a yoga class. And then, of course, we were to use the list and apply it to our yoga training and the classes we were to be participating in throughout the training. Most studios will post a list of yoga etiquette on their website or in the studio. It is helpful to know the different ideas of etiquette for each studio. Some studios lock the doors so that the class, once it has begun, is not interrupted. Since not all studios lock the door it is really good to know so you know that if you are 10 minutes late (or whatever their stated time is) you will not be allowed to enter. That is just an example. Here is the list that me and my fellow trainees came up with:
I would say that most of these are fairly common rules of etiquette, but I will also say that even though they are common they are not commonly practiced.
Some of these might have you questioning the reason, or perhaps wanting more of an explanation. If so, ask away. One I will address because I often hear people ask what “appropriate clothing” is and why that matters. I mean, many people feel that people should be allowed to wear what they want. Especially now-a-days where clothing and what people wear is such a topic for debate. But this is a pretty important one especially for teachers. While someone might feel absolutely comfortable with a low cut top or bottom, when they bend over and all that the other participants in the class can see is either breasts or butt, it is somewhat off-putting and distracting. Even if the wearer is comfortable exposing his or her chest or bum, yoga class is really not the place to let it all hang out. Also really tight fitting clothing is not appropriate if it keeps you from moving. I would say jeans whether loose or tight are not appropriate yoga wear. The clothing should allow you to move and be comfortable, yet fit properly. I also think for many yoga classes, layers are a good thing. When the class first starts it might seem chilly, but then the body warms up. At the end, shavasana, it could be the time to cover up again. While the yoga studios that I have seen have not dictated what people wear, the do usually provide guidelines.
Do you agree with all of these rules? Do you have any to add? Do you have any you would like to see followed?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: appropriate clothing, don't step on others' mats, personal hygiene, shavasana, Yoga class, yoga etiquette, yoga studio, yoga training | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 27, 2017
As you may know – because I talk about it a lot – we get a box of organic produce delivered twice a month. The service we have might be different from ones you have heard of because it is not the type of Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) that is or used to be the norm. The CSAs that I knew of were ones where you purchased them for months and you got what they shipped (or what you picked up). But this one allows me to pick what is in the box – kinda of defeating the purpose of why I joined in the first place, but in the end proving to be best and less wasteful. Sometimes those fruits or vegetables that I didn’t know what to do with would just go to waste. So now I can decide. But, like many CSAs you can choose to ADD things to the delivery . . . like flowers or farm fresh eggs or honey. Well, I never do that. But recently I decided to order a quiche.
I ordered the quiche thinking I could pop it in the oven and have a yummy meal. The description said it was the perfect base for adding fresh herbs or sautéed veggies. I bought some mushrooms in anticipation of added them atop the quiche. When I saw the box with the quiche in it I was somewhat annoyed because it did not look like it could feed 4 to 6 people. It was very small and not even close to be the size of an average pie. Then I picked up the box and noticed it said DIY Quiche Kit.
SNAP! I have to make the thing?!?!? If I would have know that I would not have ordered it. To me the price included it being made. Anyway, I was stuck with it. So what was I going to do but make the damn thing.
The produce box that week included fennel – and you know I love fennel. So I sautéed the fennel and put it in the quiche.
One of the reasons I did not want to have to make the quiche myself is because I am no good with dough. As you can see it did not matter that the dough was already made and all I had to do was roll it out. Even rolling dough out proves to be a challenge for me. The dough, however, was super-duper yummy! I think they sell that dough local enough that we can get some. It was so good.
So, I made the quiche. And now that I have made a quiche, I do plan to make more. I have been thinking I will even make my own crust. I mean the recipes for crust I have seen seem easy enough (but, ya think rolling out dough would have been easy). And the recipe for quiche is really easy, I mean, cheese, eggs, and half and half. How easy is that? Adding whatever veggies I want doesn’t make it that much more difficult. So, that is the plan. I am going to make quiche . . . .eventually, I have other stuff I am trying to deal with now first.
This one completely filled the dish. I thought it was going to overflow. Then it started getting too cooked on the edges but was not cooking in the middle. So I put it in a foil wrap. I didn’t want the bottom crust or the side crust to burn. I ended up having to cook it much longer than instructed, about 20 minutes longer.
Here is the recipe and a bunch of pictures of the one I made.
Do you like quiche? Do you MAKE quiche?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: CSA, easy quiche, fennel, food delivery, organic produce, pie dough, quiche, quiche crust, simple quiche | 9 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 24, 2017
We ended up getting a good amount of rain over the last few months. And here it is Spring. This is the tree in our front yard. I took this last week. Today it is not bright and blue. The driveway looks like it has snowed a little bit with all of the fallen petals. The yard smells great. Big large balls of blossoms.
Blossoming tree for this week’s Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: bright blue day, cherry blossoms, Friday Photo, snow ball blossoms, Spring blossoms | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 22, 2017
Recently we received Brussels sprouts in our box. I didn’t remember if I had ever had Brussels sprouts besides at a restaurant that roasted them with bacon. I am not sure if I had cooked them before. I vaguely remember doing so and my husband saying he liked them. I must not have NOT liked them if I cooked them and didn’t remember them. If you have read any of my vegetable posts then you know how I cook my veggies. In fact the Brussels sprouts pictured here are not the ones that we received in our box. I had cooked those thinking I wouldn’t post about them because I always post about roasting veggies because that is basically all I do with them. I thought you all would not be interested in that because you had read it before. But then I realized that it is more likely that some of you reading had probably not seen all my previous roasted veggies post, so I thought I would post about the Brussels sprouts when I bought more to cook. Since my husband enjoyed the ones I roasted that we got in the box, I thought I would buy more and do it again. They are pretty easy to cook. But I feel that way with roasting in general, that is why I roast my veggies. I can wash ’em, cut ’em, put ’em on a pan, throw ’em in the oven and let them cook without having to think about it.
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Roasted Brussels Sprouts
about 1 pound of Brussels sprouts
olive oil
garlic salt
garlic powder
pepper
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Wash the Brussels sprouts. Cut the end off of each Brussels sprout, the end where the sprout was growing from the stalk. Then cut the Brussels sprouts in half. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the Brussels sprouts on the pan, spreading them out a bit. Drizzle some olive oil on the Brussels sprouts. Sprinkle with garlic salt, salt, and pepper if you’d like. (I didn’t use pepper.) Then put them in the oven for about 15 minutes. After 15 minutes take them out and flip them over, moving them around. If they seem a bit dry you can always put more olive oil on. Sprinkling on more seasoning if you would like. Then put them back in the oven for 15 minutes. Take them out after the 15 minutes has passed and move them around again, flipping them over, if they are browned to your liking then serve them. Or you can put them in for a few more minutes like I did. I like them browned.
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We just ate them like that. I didn’t add any bacon or cheese or sauce. We rather enjoyed them. I do remember having been afraid of Brussels sprouts because I had always heard how awful they were. Well, they are not. They are pretty good. Some even have a little sweetness to them. They are super easy to make — and I love that.
Are you a fan of the Brussels sprout? How do you cook them?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: brussels sprouts, easy side dish, oven cooking, parchment paper uses, roasted vegetables | 8 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 20, 2017
Ahhh, I don’t think I talked about Friday FreeDance. In November of last year we there were four Fridays. Two of those Fridays were holidays for SJCity Fit. So out of the four Fridays in November we were only going to have a Nia class for two of them. So I had decided that we could do Friday FreeDance. Now for some people who sounds totally awesome, but for some people it sounds totally scary or icky, as in not fun. Not everyone is a fan of FreeDance. I understand that. Not everyone is comfortable dancing on their own especially in a dance exercise class. Many people go to exercise classes to be told what to do. A majority of the students that attend my Nia classes have been dancing Nia for years now, so I knew they would be able to FreeDance for an entire hour. We did it, and I received some interesting feedback and information.
First of all, I do want to explain that it wasn’t an ENTIRE hour of strictly FreeDance. I think for both Fridays I started with a choreographed first song. And I ended with instructions in the last song. Then the rest of the songs were mainly GUIDED FreeDance. So there were some suggestions on what to do, but it was left up to the participants to do it in their own body’s way. And in some case in their own mind’s way. They might have had to think of what some of the suggestions would be moving like.
I might have suggested that they move as if they are skiing. With that one usually has to think about it and then do it. The fun part is, of course, that everyone does it different. With no clarification as to what type of skiing there is so much room for interpretation. Someone could be water skiing, some people down hill skiing. Some people might be cross-country skiing. And then of course, even with those qualifications it could look wildly different. That is the fun of FreeDance.
I was very happy that most people liked it. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think they would like it and they could do it. It took me four and half years to feel confident enough in the students love of Nia and FreeDance to do it. And most people liked it. I am thinking they liked it as a Friday thing . . . I mean, they still like the choreography so they wouldn’t want to do FreeDance for the hour all the time.
There are a few people who wear pedometers in class and the majority of them reported that they got over 1,000 MORE steps in with FreeDance. One student said she averages about 4500 steps in regular Nia class, but in the FreeDance class she was at 5700. There definitely is the possibility to get in more steps. But if you are one who needs instructions more than just a guide you would probably get less steps in during FreeDance.
I thought I had posted about this because I was really happy and excited that I finally did it AND that the class really enjoyed it. And I was also really excited and happy that many people got more steps in. I couldn’t find the post I thought I did. So here. And if this is a repeat, oh well.
I have been putting in more FreeDance into our routines because people do really enjoy it. I think I will be doing a Friday FreeDance once a month. I love how Nia brings joy through dance.
So how would you feel about Friday FreeDance?
Posted in FreeDance, Nia | Tagged: City of San Jose Exercise Class, FreeDance Fridays, Friday FreeDance, Nia choreography, Nia class, Nia students, Nia with the City of San Jose, November 2016, pedometers, San Jose City Community Centers, SJCity Fit | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 17, 2017
Ahh, these are two teas that I love. I have been drinking more tea than coffee lately. I am not a morning person so on days I teach Nia I usually just get up in time enough to play with the cats for a bit, figure out what I am teaching in Nia (if I haven’t done it the night before), and get ready and go. I don’t get up early enough to sit have breakfast and a cup of coffee. Since on most days I either teach yoga or stretch right after Nia, I don’t get home until after noon. And if I have errands to run it is even later in the day. For me drinking coffee that late is just not good – it doesn’t allow me to get to bed in the same day that I got up. So I drink decaffeinated tea. There are two of my favorites. I cannot say whether they actually help with my immune system or stress, but I like them. Although, my dad had a lot of tea so recently I have actually been drinking some of the ones he had. One is a Chai, which has caffeine. And the other is Ginger, which is decaffeinated, and rather nice. These are still two of my favs.
Tea for my Friday Photo. Do you have a favorite tea? What is it?
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: chai tea, decaffeinated tea, Echinacea tea, Friday Photo, ginger tea, lavender tea, Nia class, tea, teach yoga, Yoga class, Yogi tea | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 15, 2017
‘Tis the season, if you live in California it is citrus season. Everywhere you go someone is giving away oranges and/or lemons. I recently brought a bag of lemons to my Nia class to give to my students. One of my students asked me what kind of lemons they were and I said they were Meyer Lemons. Then she said, “Oh, I thought they (Meyers) had thin skin and tasted less lemony and more citrusy.” We talked a bit more because she had had lemons from my tree before so she was saying that they were not like Meyer Lemons she knew. She said that Meyers tasted more citrusy, like an orange. And I said, that Meyer lemons were a cross between and orange and lemon so that makes sense. She said our lemons didn’t taste like that. So, then I told her I didn’t know what they were. I had always thought they were Meyer lemons, but if she said Meyer lemons were different from these then they were not Meyers. But I did not know. So . . . . I had to come home and look it up. I think our lemons are Eureka Lemons.
Meyer lemons tend to be less acidic and sour, they are sweeter than a regular lemon. Meyer lemons are generally smaller than eureka lemons. They have thin skin and not a large mesocarp or pith. And according to an article on SFGate, the trees are not even classified as true lemon trees. The Meyer lemons are a cross between a lemon and an orange. Either an orange or a tangerine. They originated in China. According to Wiki, in the mid-1940’s after the lemons were commonly grown in California it was discovered that most of the trees had a virus. Since this virus had been responsible for killing and leaving citrus trees all over the world unable to produce fruit, the trees in the United States were destroyed. A new generation of Meyer lemon trees were release in the 1950’s.
Our lemons have a very thick pith, sometimes about a fourth of an inch. Some of the lemons are really big. Some of them are so large that one of my friends asked me if they were pomellos. I didn’t know what a pomello was so I had to look that up. Not all of the lemons are as large as pomellos and they do not taste sweet nor like grapefruit. Our lemons DO taste pretty lemony, as in they are pretty sour.
Both eureka lemons and Meyer lemons can be used in food and products interchangeable, but with the eureka lemon you will get a more sour taste than with the more sweet flavored Meyer lemon. So you would use them accordingly, depending on what you wanted.
Which is your favorite lemon?
Posted in Food, Fruit | Tagged: big lemons, Californai lemons, China lemons, eureka lemon, meyer lemon, Nia, Nia class, Nia students, pomello, small lemons, sour lemons, sweet lemons | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 13, 2017
This is kinda old, but also kinda cute. Purrfect Match: Love in the Cat Cafe. I tweeted it when I first saw it, but I am doing some computer clean up and I ran across it again. Have you seen it? It is a little video series about people adopting a cat from a cat cafe. They are kind of likening the series to one of those reality dating shows. The videos are about two minutes long so it is a quick thing to watch. It is cute.
The first episode is called “The Cat-Chelors” and it is 1 minute and 59 seconds long. Ha, ha, ha. Already they are being clever. The “cat-chelors” are Love, Tommy, Stevie, and Misty. At the time of the filming they were residence at Meow Parlour in New York. The video documents Erica Williams and John Stevens’ quest for a cat.
Purrfect Match: Love in the Cat Cafe, Part 2 is 2 minutes and 35 seconds and it is called “One-on-One Dates.” In this one you can see Erica, the self-proclaimed cat whisperer, get closer to her pick. We got to see a little bit of Love. Then Tommy was doing his cute thing. He seemed very interested.
In Purrfect Match: Love in the Cat Cafe, Part 3 ”Playing the Field,” which is 1 minute and 43 second long, we get to see a bit of Stevie. He is white and part Siamese. Not sure, but he looks like he might be a trouble-maker. We also see the fun couple meet Misty. But we don’t see much from Misty. She seems really tired. But according to Erica, she is like touching a cloud.
Purrfect Match: Love in the Cat Cafe, Part 4 “Kitty + Us” we get to see which cat makes the two newly engaged couple a threesome. Erica likes girls cats and that Misty was super cute and soft. But they had a good visit with Tommy. You’ll have to watch a see. You’ll find out before the 2 minute video is done.
I think this is a super cute way to highlight cat cafes. So many people have not heard about them and this is a fun way to get the word out. I think they could do it in two five minute videos or even one seven to ten minute video. I would prefer that over the four separate videos. But it is still cute. And I did watch them all.
What do you think? Don’t you think this is really cute?
Posted in Cats | Tagged: adopt a cat, cat adoption video series, cat cafe, Catchelors and Catchelorettes, Meow Parlour, One-on-One Dates, Purrfect Match, reality adoption show, reality dating show | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 10, 2017
Have you ever been out to eat and they put flowers on your food? Well, these are from that. But I don’t remember where we were. I just remember loving the orchids and wanting to keep ’em. So I put them in this bowl so that we could enjoy them for a little longer. This picture is actually from August 2015. As I said, I started this feature because sometimes I have pictures that I want to post and they could be old ones.
So here are some orchids in a bowl from 2015 for this Friday’s Friday Photo.
Posted in Friday Photo | Tagged: floating flowers, flowers in a bowl, flowers on food, Friday Photo, Orchids | 12 Comments »
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