Posts Tagged ‘Nia’
Posted by terrepruitt on June 8, 2013
In Nia we often say while dancing, “Everybody sense your . . . ” (For more see: Nia White Belt Principle #13 Teaching What You Sense.) This is to help bring attention to specific body parts. It could be because we are doing a specific move and we want to have the student’s attention on that body part. It could be that we feel a body part just needs attention. It could be that we want the students to move in a different way. Sensing a body part though does not require movement of that part. If I were to say right now, “Everybody sense your hand.” I wouldn’t necessarily mean for you to move your hand. I mean for you to sense it. Recently on Facebook I posted, “EveryBODY sense your trachea!!!!!! Breathe . . . . . . . .” and one of my friends asked HOW? Fabulous question. How do you sense your trachea? No, really how do YOU sense your trachea? How do you sense any of your body parts?
As I said, sensing a body part does not necessarily mean moving it. It could, if that is how YOU bring attention to a part and if that is how YOU sense it. It could mean you LOOK at it. Maybe looking at it helps you sense it. It could mean you touch it because you want to cause it sensation so that you can sense it. There are many ways to sense a body part and we all have different ways of doing it. Some might start with closing their eyes and picturing it in their head. Some might just think of it and be able to sense it right away. Part of the practice is the discovery of how we sense different body parts.
For sensing your trachea I thought that one way an individual could do it was by breathing. That might help you sense your trachea. Sensing your breath coming in and out might help. Maybe coughing would help? Maybe meditating on it? Maybe touching it? There really are so many ways to do it and it is up to the individual. Sensing body parts could even take practice. Maybe each body part is different. Perhaps you can easily sense your hand without looking at it, moving it, or touching it, but since you might not often “sense your trachea” it could take a little bit of thought and practice. Again . . . . the wonderful journey that is Nia and sensing your body.
Often times we don’t even give a second thought to a body part, unless it is in pain. Unless it SCREAMS at us for attention we might never stop to listen to it. We might never stop to sense it. There are so many reasons to sense your body . . . I have already stated just a few that might come up while in a Nia Class. I am sure you can think of many others.
This is one of the things we do in Nia that can be carried out into life and as we like to call it as we “dance through life”. This is one of the things you can do that makes Nia “practice”. You can practice sensing your body parts throughout the day. Back to the “pain” part of attention . . . say you have pain in your knee, you are going to want to sense it as you move throughout your day so that you can move in a way as to not cause more pain. Another example if you’re wanting to straighten up your posture a little bit you might want to practice sensing your spine or your shoulders during your day. As I said, many reason to play with and practice sensing your body parts. And it really is an individual thing. You do it in your own way.
Starting with body parts you can see and touch might be a good place to start if you are needing a suggested starting point. That way looking or touching can be the beginning of the sensing journey. Either way, if you let yourself be open to it, I am sure you will find a way.
So how do YOU sense your trachea?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Dancing, everyBODY, Facebook, Nia, Nia class, Nia Dance, Nia Practice, Nia students, Nia White Belt, Principle #13, Sense your, trachea | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 25, 2013
So I am not always a big fan of salsa. I am not always feeling the love for tomatoes and I am NEVER feeling the love for the hot spicy of most salsa. Most of the time I will just “wet” my chip in the salsa. Since tomatoes aren’t something I really like I don’t usually like Pico De Gallo. Recently I saw a pico de gallo recipe with cucumbers in it. Yes, I know there are a lot of different types of salsa and chunky “salsas”. You can make what people call salsa out of anything now a days, just like you can make “aioli” out of anything even though aioli is “traditional sauce made of garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and egg yolks” and salsa and pico de gallo are traditionally made with tomatoes. This was a tomato pico de gallo but it has cucumbers in it. I thought that would be cool. I saved the recipe with a plan to make it later.
Then one day, the day I was detoured by that little produce store on my way home from Nia Class in San Jose, where I bought my broccoli, I bought some tomatoes too. I was thinking I would make that pico de gallo. I knew I had cucumber and cilantro. Well, as sometimes happens, I didn’t get around to making it right away. I ended up using the cucumber I had for salads.
Of course, by the time I got some cucumber and decided to make the pico de gallo my cilantro was a bag of mush. That stuff goes fast and it was the bottom shelf so I hadn’t seen how bad off it was. So I ended up not having cilantro. But I had fennel. I thought I could try a “pico de gallo” with fennel tops. Not a traditional pico de gallo anyway because it has cucumbers in it.
Since it was not going to have any cilantro and fennel is not very strong I put in a lot of onions! A LOT. For me . . . too many. I think it made it too hot. But my husband liked it. The original recipe can be found here.
I made it like this:
________________________________________________
Pico de Gallo/Salsa Fresca
2 Roma tomatoes, finely chopped
1/4 medium onion, finely chopped
4 T finely chopped cucumber
2 T fresh fennel tops
2 garlic cloves
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Squeeze of 1/2 fresh lemon
I pressed the garlic in a garlic press, then combined all the ingredients. I let it chill for a few hours.
________________________________________________
My husband liked it. But he is really easy to cook for because he likes pretty much everything. But he said it was good. I think the onions carried it. I am not sure the fennel was strong enough to add that much of a flavor. But I know it was very different than pico de gallo with cilantro.
The next day there was some left over and I added avocados to it. I didn’t even taste it because I don’t like guacamole, but my hubby enjoyed it.
I might actually try this again with the actual fennel BULB! I really like fennel! And I LOVE the idea of cucumbers in pico de gallo!
***(Added June 19, 2013) According to Wiki: “In Mexican cuisine, pico de gallo (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpiko ðe ˈɣaʎo], literally rooster’s beak), also called salsa fresca”***
What do you put in you pico de gallo? Do you make chunky salsa?
Posted in "Recipes", Food | Tagged: broccoli, chips and salsa, chunky salsa, cilantro, Cucumbers And Fennel, fennel bulb, garlic, Nia, Nia class, Nia San Jose, pico de gallo, Rooster's Beak, Salsa, San Jose Nia, Tomatoes | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 18, 2013
The other day we were out of vegetables. OH MY! On my way home from Nia in Willow Glen I was going to go to the store to get some. For some reason there’s a street in Willow Glen that has been closed for quite some time now so I was unable to take that street home. So the detour had me going past a different store than I was planning on going to. It is a produce store. Maybe kind of more like a small market because they have dry goods also. The produce there is not that great so I decided not to get lettuce and salad fixings. I thought I could just grab a veggie for that night’s dinner since I was going to be going to the store the very next day after my Nia class at the community center. All I bought was broccoli. When I got home I decided to have a sandwich. I like lettuce on my sandwiches or cucumbers or bell peppers something like that. I usually put at least one of those vegetables, sometimes all three, or a combination on my sandwich. But I didn’t have any because I didn’t buy any salad ingredients. Argh! I had only the broccoli I had bought. I started thinking. I’ve had shaved broccoli on pizza before and it was good but I didn’t think the shaved broccoli would go that well on my sandwich. I remember having posted something about broccoli before and people saying that you could use the stocks or stems so I thought, “Can I do that?” So I peeled a stock of broccoli and sliced it thinly and put on the sandwich was pretty good. I was happy I had a vegetable on my sandwich.
I guess I could do that all the time. In the comments of the post where I spoke about broccoli the one in which people told me to use the stems I said I would start and I haven’t. I have left more of the stem on when using broccoli but haven’t necessarily used the stocks. I suppose I could begin making my sandwiches with broccoli stocks in them. It is a good way to get additional vegetables and use broccoli stocks.
We used to have a dog that ate broccoli stocks. She loved them. She loved salad too!
Speaking of salads . . . . I didn’t use all the stocks in my sandwich. So the next night when I did get around to making a salad I decided to add some of the stocks to our salads. To me the stocks are a bit fibrous and stringy so I chopped them up pretty small. I tossed it on the salads as an added veggie. I think that worked out well. My hubby didn’t say, “Ewww. What is this? A broccoli stock on my salad???” So it must have been ok. I liked it.
At first I was not happy that I didn’t buy any produce that I would normally put on my sandwich. But now I am glad that I didn’t. I caused me to think of using the stems. And since my friend had shared that she eats the stems it encouraged me to try something new. Lovely. It has only taken me three years from when I originally posted! 🙂
What about you? Do you like produce on your sandwich? What do you prefer? Do you make use of broccoli stocks?
Posted in Food, Vegetables | Tagged: broccoli, broccoli stocks, Community Center Nia classes, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia in Willow Glen, salad fixings, sandwich fixings, sandwich produce, Vegetables, veggieless, Willow Glen Nia | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 9, 2013
I teach Nia. I actually like to say I lead Nia because to me teaching a dance is more instructive. What I think of as teaching is the type of class where the instructor demonstrates a step or two then the students do the steps a few times, then the instructor demonstrates more steps and the students practice them. Eventually the steps are strung together in a dance. But in my Nia cardio classes it is just lead follow. I do – you follow. I give verbal instructions and/or verbal guides but it is not the type of instructional class where I show you, then you do, then we practice and then we string all the steps together. So I guess it is not an “instructional” or “instructed” dance class. But I do teach by example. You follow my lead. In order to be a Nia teacher I had to take the Nia White Belt Intensive. I have talked about this before, but to review the White Belt is the first level of Nia. The White Belt Intensive is over 50 hours of instruction and is open to anyone. Individuals do not have to have the intent to teach. The Nia White Belt Intensive is about the body so anyone is welcome to join and learn. In order to be a Nia teacher there is an additional licensing fee. The fee is due annually and it includes four routines that we, as teachers, agree to learn per year. I was just looking at my DVDs. I have two routines that I have not learned. I have 19 that I have learned. I have been teaching almost four and half years so I am keeping up with the four per year schedule.
Now, I want to clarify that I have learned 19 routines. That means that I basically did the bars and have shared 19 routines with my students. That means I roughly know those 19 routines. I could stand up right now and lead you through some of them, but some of them I would have to look at my bars, and some of them I would have to study my bars. But I also feel I am better at just doing. While I want to do the routine as per the choreography, I am not as afraid as I once was to just DO the routine.
When I am preparing to do a different routine for my class sometimes I have a chance to practice and sometimes I don’t. I will look at my bars for each song. Sometimes I look at the first few lines and think, “Oh yeah, I know this one.” Then when I am leading it my body and my mind don’t remember it as well as I thought and I just dance through it, but then when I get home I look more closely at my bars or re-watch the DVD. It really is about moving and having fun. As long as we are moving and we are doing it close enough then it is good. Then, like I said, I come home to get the choreography better established in my head and body!
The routines I have learned are:
Alive – Carlos AyaRosas
Amethyst – Debbie Rosas
Aya – Carlos Rosas
Beyond – Debbie Rosas and Ann Christiansen
Birth – Debbie Rosas and Collaborators
Canta – Carlos Rosas
Clarity – Carlos Rosas
White Belt Dream Walker – Carlos Rosas
Earthsong – Carlos Rosas
Global Unity
Humanity – Carlos AyaRosas
Miracle – Carlos Rosas
Opal – Debbie Rosas
Passion – Debbie Rosas and Carlos Rosas
Sanjana – Debbie Rosas
San Medusa – Helen Terry
Sexi – Carlos Rosas
Velvet – Debbie Rosas
Vibe – Debbie Rosas
The names of the routines that I have on my shelf that I need to learn are Butterfly and Oshun. I just renewed so I have four routines that I need to pick out as my new routines. Picking routines is always a challenge because everyone has such different tastes. Some people LOVE, LOVE, LOVE some of the routines I have and I don’t love them. So for me it is a difficult decision. I try to pick routines that I think my students will like, but then that is just a guess. I know which ones they like out of the ones I teach because they request them often.
If you were just picking a routine from the name which one would you pick? As a Nia student which one out of this list is your favorite? What about Nia teachers, which is your favorite out of this list?
Posted in Nia | Tagged: Ann Christiansen, Canta, cardio class, cardio dance exercise, Carlos AyaRosas, Carlos Rosas, dance exercise, dance instructor, dance teacher, Debbie Rosas, Dream Walker, Earthsong, Global Unity, Nia, Nia bars, Nia choreography, Nia Dance, Nia DVDs, Nia licensing, Nia Practice, Nia routines, Nia stuents, Nia Teacher, Nia White Belt, Nia White Belt Intensive, Opal, Sanjana, Sexi | 10 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 4, 2013
The Sun Salutation is a sequence of asanas. I have not yet included it in any of my Nia classes, but I am thinking about doing so. In general modern day usage “asana” is what people call a yoga pose. So the Sun Salutation is a sequence of yoga poses. Now, if you look up Sun Salutation on the internet you will find a lot of variations. There are certain asanas that you will consistently find in all of them, but then not all of the Sun Salutations will include the same EXACT ones. I’ve seen anywhere from 9 to 13 poses in a single salutation. Since yoga is considered a practice associated with religion, a meditation, a prayer, a movement form, and/or a straight out exercise it makes sense that there are so many difference ways to do the Sun Salutation. If you are chosing to do the movement as a form of worship it might have different movements than if you are doing it to get a specific physical benefit. Most of the instructions on how to do it agree that the movements are based on breath. Inhale here, exhale there. I have decided on a combination of what I have been trained with, what I have practiced in classes, what I practice at home, several applications, and things I have learned along the way. I have decided on thirteen movements. I move using the right leg through 11 asanas, then through them again using the left leg. Two of the poses making the sequence 13 are only used only in very beginning and the end.
I start in Anjali mudra then go to the
Mountain Pose, then arms move out and up into an
Upward Salute, then I swan dive into a
Forward Bend, up into a
Standing Half Forward Bend, then I place the left leg back into a
lunge then the right leg back into a
plank then I move down onto knees into
knees, chest, chin/Ashtanga Namaskara or chaturanga up into
cobra, then I push back into
downward dog, I stay here longer than any other pose. I breath. Then I bring my right leg forward, so I am in a
lunge, then I bring my left leg forward then I
forward bend, then I come up a little into
Standing Half Forward Bend then lift my arms out and up as I rise into an
Upward Salute which I consider the start of the right sun salutation. I go through the sequences again this time place my right leg back into the lunge. When it is time to lunge again, I bring my left leg forward.
I find that as I move through the salutation, I like to change my Upward Salutes into more of a little back bend. Only bending back as I warm up and it feels good.
Since this is my Sun Salutation, and I am not worshiping the sun . . . in fact I don’t even think of the sun at all, I just do it my way. I do it in the way I feel like doing it that day. Sometimes I time it with my breath inhaling on this move and exhaling on that move, sometimes I stay in each pose longer and while I am aware of my breath my movements are not dictated by it. I do somewhat feel that is WAAAAAY contrary to the way it is “supposed” to be done, but then again it is MY movement. It is MY practice. It is MY meditation. So I do it the way MY body feels like doing it that day. I don’t usually decide how I am going to do it when I begin, I just begin and however I seem to move is how I do it that day at that time. Sometimes I even time it to the music I am listening too. Sometimes, unfortunately, I am in a hurry and I just want to get a few in so I do them. It all depends. That is why I think it is nice because YOU can do it how you want to do it to match the reason you are doing it. After doing at least six, I end with the Mountain Post and the Anjali mudra.
Do you do a version of the Sun Salutation? What asanas do you include in your salute?
Posted in Yoga/PiYo/Pilates | Tagged: asanas, chaturanga, chest, chin, cobra, downward dog, Forward bend, knees, lunge, Mountain pose, Nia, Nia Classes, plank, sequence of yoga pose, Standing half foward bend, Sun Salutation, Upward Salute, Yoga, Yoga Pose | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on May 3, 2013
It’s Friday. That means a lot of things, huh? One think it means over here on Terre Pruitt’s Blog is Goodie Jar check in! Are you filling up that jar with all the good things going on in your life? Believe me, I know that some times there are things that are not good and we can let them take over our outlook, our attitudes, our lives OR we can find the good things. I really cannot deny the good even where there are not good things. Even if I have to turn to my friends to celebrate their good things . . . . there are good things!
But . . . that is my belief and how I feel about things. I think there is ALWAYS something at least one good thing about . . . so I choose to focus on that/them. And since they are good I am writing them down and putting them in a jar! I actually put at least three good things in my jar this week and only one of them was Nia related. LOL!
How are you doing? Do you have the “good thing” attitude?
Posted in Good Things in the Goodie Jar | Tagged: believe in good things, celebrate life, good attitude, good outlook, good things, good things jar, Goodie Jar, Nia | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 28, 2013
Wow. I just noticed that there are only three days (if you include today) left of the multiple planks. Three planks a day every day for 30 days. I missed three days. Well, I have three days left to make sure I get all three in.
This morning I took a yoga class at the studio where I teach Nia twice a week. This week is Bay Area Dance Week and so the class I took was free. It was nice to get my mat out and do some poses. I don’t use my mat at home, I just do it on the carpet.
There are a lot of free classes this week so you might want to check it out. You can see a schedule of free classes in my post, Free Nia, Zumba, Belly Dance, Yoga, and More.
So I am going to go do my three planks. Have you done yours yet?
Posted in Planking | Tagged: Bay Area Dance Week, dance studio, Free Belly Dance, Free classes, Free Nia, Free Zumba, Multiple planks in a day challenge, Nia, Nia San Jose, planking, planks, San Jose Nia, Yoga, Zumba | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 27, 2013
You might have gathered from my posts that I am not a fan of beans. Beans are great for fiber and protein, but I just don’t like them all that much. I was sometimes ok with garbanzo beans/chickpeas, but that was it. I didn’t like any other type of bean, but I went to a friend’s house and she had this yummy two bean salad. So I decided that I am ok with red kidney beans and garbanzo beans in this salad. Then I came across a recipe that had kidney beans it in and I decided to use half kidney beans and half garbanzo beans. This recipe is one of my husband’s and mine favorites. I also like roasted garbanzo beans. Recently I was in the area – after teaching a Nia class as a sub in south San Jose – of a store that I have been hearing a lot about. It is called Sprouts. The name is “Sprouts Farmers Market: Healthy, Natural & Organic Grocery Stores”, which I don’t really understand, as it is NOT a farmer’s market and not everything is natural nor organic. They have the produce section kind of set up like you might imagine a market on an actual farm in that nothing is in nice neat rows and it seems kinda hodgey-podgely put together . . . but that is it. Their organic section of fruits and vegetables was no larger than the one at my “regular” grocery store. But whatever, I digress (WHAT? ME? NO!) . . . my post is actually about that fact that I bought some dried garbanzo beans.
When I first discovered the Red Beans and Rice recipe my friend and I were talking about dried beans and we wondered if we could buy dried garbanzo beans. Later she reported back that she had seen some in the store. I had asked my chef friend about them and she gave me some advice on how to process them. And of course I forgot what she said. But anyway . . . I finally was in a store that had them when I remembered to look. So I bought some.
When you look up how to process dried beans on the internet you will probably come across two different methods. There is the long soak and then the quick soak. My idea was to do both and then report the results on my blog in one post. But funny as it sounds, I have not had time — more accurately, I have not made time — to do the quick soak method. I know, you would think that would be the easiest and fastest one to do. But to me it was much easier to throw the beans in a bowl and let them soak for 13 hours and 45 minutes. I’ve read they should soak for at least 4 hours. Mine just turned into 13 hours plus.
Since I have not yet gotten around to doing the quick soak method I will report on what I found with the long soak method and then when I do the other one I will post about that.
The “long soak” method has no cooking involved. I was interested in not cooking the beans. Everything I read said that they double in size. I don’t recall that happening. NOTHING I read told me they would pop! I kept hearing this odd sound and wondering what it was. If you have a pet you might do as I do and the first thing I do when I hear something unfamiliar is I blame my pet and find her first to see if she was responsible. But when I heard the pop she was right next to me. So, I kept thinking it was coming from outside. Finally it dawned on me that it might be the beans and I stood by the bowl until I heard one!
I had decided to split the bag in between the two methods. So I got a huge bowl and put half of my beans in it. Then I filled it with water. I did this at 11:00 am on a Friday. I changed the water twice. I rinsed the beans both times. My report is that beans themselves have gas. My kitchen smelled gassy the whole time the beans were soaking. I kept lighting a candle. I drained the beans at 12:45 pm on Saturday. I decided I was going to roast them. So I drained them to let them start to dry out.
I roasted them. They were gorgeous. I like them because they seem less “mushy” than the canned beans. And for me “mushy” is part of the reason I don’t like beans. So I really liked this dried/soaking method. I left the beans in the oven a tad bit too long. I was doing too many things at once and when I took them out to check them I forgot to put the timer on when I put them back in. I realized my error when I smelled burning beans. So . . . . they are ok, but not as I would have liked them.
The verdict in regards to soaking beans is good. I am going to do that. I have a feeling that soaking them will turn out to be easier than the quick soak method. We will see.
The questions I have been thinking about though is . . . . the canned beans I buy say “Organic” whereas the dried ones I bought did not. So really which are better? I will look for organic dried beans, but I am not sure where to find them. I know I didn’t see them at the “Farmers Market” that claims to have healthy, natural, and organic food. 🙂 Well, at least I didn’t see a sign that claimed the dried beans were organic.
Do you used canned beans or dried?
Posted in Food | Tagged: bean salad, chickpeas, dried beans, exercise classes, farmers markets, Garbanzo beans, healthy, Natural & organic grocery store, Nia, Nia San Jose, quick soak beans, Red Beans and Rice, red kidney beans, San Jose Nia, soaking beans, South San Jose, Sprouts | 3 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 25, 2013
Every year the studio in San Jose where I teach Nia Class on Monday mornings and Wednesday mornings participates in the celebration of National Dance week. This year the “week” is actually ten days, from Friday, April 26, 2013 through Sunday, May 5, 2013. This is the 15th year of Bay Area Dance Week, and the 32nd year in which there has been a National Dance Week coalition. BayAreaDance.org states:
“National Dance Week was founded in 1981 to increase awareness of dance and its contributions to our national culture. The first Bay Area Dance Week (BADW) festival grew out of a public dialogue in 1998, when dance artists, administrators, and organizations came together to explore how best to spotlight Bay Area dance during National Dance Week.”
The studio I rent from rents to different instructors who teach a variety of fitness classes and dances. Each instructor can choose to participate in Bay Area Dance Week, by offering free classes.
Bay Area Dance Week at the studio in San Jose starts Saturday, April 27th.
Saturday, April 27, 2013:
12:00 noon – 1:15 pm: Bellydance Essentials – Courtney
Sunday, April 28, 2013:
9:00 am – 10:15 am: Morning Flow Yoga – Eme
Monday, April 29, 2013:
9:00 am – 10:00 am: Nia – Terre (free to NEW Students)
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Zumba – Lili
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Egyptian Bellydance. All Levels – Hala
8:00 pm – 9:00 pm: Egyptian Bellydance Technique. Int/Adv – Hala
Tuesday, April 30, 2013:
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm: Drills & Performance Skills – Michelle
6:30 pm – 7:30 pm: Bellydance Level 1 (4.27.13 changed) Fan Veil Choreography – Natika
7:30 pm – 8:30 pm: Tribal Fusion Technique & Choreography – Natika
8:30 pm – 9:30 pm: Turkish Bellydance – Natika
Wednesday, May 1, 2013:
9:00 am – 10:00 am: Nia – Terre (free to NEW Students)
6:00 pm – 7:00 pm: Bellydance – Setareh
7:00 pm – 8:30 pm: Hala Dance Company Rehearsal – Hala
Friday, May 3, 2013:
8:00 pm – 9:15 pm: Bellydance Cardio and Combos – Jill
Saturday, May 4, 2013:
9:30 am – 10:30 am: Bellydance Basics – Amanda
10:30 am – 12 noon: Bellydance and Beyond – Amanda
12 noon – 1:15 pm: Bellydance Essentials – Courtney
Sunday, May 5, 2013:
10:30 am – 11:30 am: The Art of Bellydance – Jizan
In regards to classes at the studio, classes not listed are not open to free drop-ins.
This is the schedule at the time of the writing. Sometimes things change so it is always good to check with the studio and/or instructor to verify class times and participation.
Remember it is National Dance Week so there are free classes all over the United States. I bet there is a class that you have always wanted to take, but have not yet got around to it. So check with the instructor of that class or call the venue to see if they are offering free classes.
The San Francisco Bay Area is beginning the week with a celebration dance on Friday in Union Square Park in San Francisco at noon. The closing event is a Planetary Dance led by Anna Halprin on Sunday, May 5th at 2:00 in Yerba Buena Gardens in San Francisco. You can check for free classes in the Bay Area at BayAreaDance.org. But even if it is not listed on the site check in with the person teaching it or the place it is being taught. They might be participating but maybe didn’t get on the site. So don’t be shy get out and dance.
What classes, in ADDITION to Nia, are you going to take?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: Anna Halprin, BADW, Bay Area Dance Week, BayAreaDance.org, Belly Dance, Bellydance, dance classes, Egyptian Bellydance, Fan Veil Choreography, fitness classes, Free classes, Free San Jose Classes, Hala Dance Company, National Dance Week, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia San Jose, Planetary Dance, San Francisco, San Francisco Bay Area Nia, San Jose Nia, San Jose Zumba, SF Bay Nia, Studio in San Jose, Tribal Fusion, Turkish Bellydance, Yoga, Zumba | Leave a Comment »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 18, 2013
When I go grocery shopping I like to have a list otherwise, I spend too much! Too much time walking up and down the aisles and too much money. What happens is I see something and get an idea then have to run around the store to get all the ingredients. With the running around the store I end up seeing other things and it just snowballs into way too much! Yet having a list equates to not always seeing the new products that come out. And there are ALWAYS new things coming out. One day after my Tuesday morning Nia class, I was in the store and I was looking for a spice so I was on the spice aisle and I saw these packages. These could not be new to the market but they are new to me! I really think this is a cool idea! These packages contain all the spices you need for a particular recipe and yes, of course, the recipe is on the back.
I showed my husband the picture and he said it was all a marketing ploy. Well, DUH! Of course! These packages are probably really expensive if you were to use them all the time to make the same recipe over and over. But they are BRILLIANT. I love this idea. I mean, sometimes I want to make something but I don’t want to invest in an entire bottle of the spice I don’t have that I need to make the recipe. And this is the perfect way to try it out. I can buy the package and then if I like the recipe then I can buy all the spices that I actually need to have on hand when I want to make the recipe again. And, of course, you can make any changes to the recipe after you try the original recipe.
It is difficult to tell, but you may have noticed in the background of the photos, there are several different packages for different recipes.
As I said, I know food manufacturers come up with new stuff all the time, but I thought this was really cool. I think it can be really helpful to people. There are so many reasons. You could just be in a rush and you don’t want to have to measure out all the spices or as I said before you don’t have that ONE spice you need to complete the recipe. Maybe you are a new cook and just need a little help.
Plus the recipes look really easy.
I imagine there are many of you making faces and saying, “Oh, I would just use FRESH garlic, onions, oregano, and cilantro.” I get that. But again, there are a lot of reasons a lot of people could benefit from this nifty little package.
I know a lot of people who could just use this as a starting point. They often share that they want to learn how to cook . . . this is a great start.
Ok, I am not often impressed by our food industry, but this I like. It is not like a package of all the spices mixed together. I think of this more as an educational tool, a starting point, a little push to get people started cooking and making their own food.
What do you think? Have you seen these spice/recipe packages?
Posted in Food | Tagged: educational tool, grocery shopping list, marketing ploy, Nia, Nia class, pre-measured spices, quick recipes, recipe card, recipe packages, recipes, spice packages, spices, Tuesday morning Nia | Leave a Comment »
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