Whitney was here at K-State!! She and I "phased" together before ballet yesterday and then she participated in the class. We started with a variation of Judith's walking, combining soft wing arms with feathers - gently brushing others as we passed.
So fun to see MF friends here. Working with Courtney as she explores and brings her beautiful sensitivity to her project working with actors in a community theatre.
Master class today with Whitney and Courtney -- the recognition and joy on some faces when they realized they had taken class with Jane here last spring.... slowly but surely the concepts and practices of Movement Fundamentals are coming into being in KS!!
Friday, August 29, 2014
Saturday, August 23, 2014
coffee making issues
Did mention that the other day when I made the coffee I had another "coffee adventure"? Sort of like a bad dream:
I rinse out the carafe, fill it with water and put it on the burner, get the filter and coffee in the right places, plug in the machine and turn it on. I hear a steam-pop sound and a quick loud gurgling as I'm cleaning up the counter. I realize that I don't hear the drip-drip-drip of the coffee filling the pot.
When I look over I see that the machine steaming but the coffee carafe is sitting on the burner full of plain, clear water. YIKES!
I rush over turn off the machine take the carafe off the burner and put a coffee cup on the burner to catch any coffee that drips through while I'm trying to fix this. The water isn't hot, so I know I'll be able to put it in the machine. I'm hoping to get all the parts in the right places before my husband comes into the kitchen and see that I tried to burn up his coffee maker, again.
Of course, he walks in, sees me holding the full pot of water and the coffee cup on the burner and says, "What's going on here?"
I'm busted - so I tell him and he just laughs (he knows as soon as I start back to work he'll be in charge of making the coffee!) and asks why I put the cup on the burner. As I start to explain I realize that the coffee maker has a little spring in it under the basket that holds the grounds. The lid of the carafe pushes this spring up and that is what allows the liquid to flow out of the basket into the carafe. Totally busted myself since if I'd remembered this before I put the cup there he wouldn't have noticed anything wrong.
I open the lid and after a steam burst I'm able to add the water and start the machine so we can have coffee on the back patio as we watch birds catch bugs in the grass. All ended well but until I started this project with Whitney, I had no idea that I had so many coffee making issues. It's really a simple machine with just a few steps... but so many different orders in which to put those steps together!
I rinse out the carafe, fill it with water and put it on the burner, get the filter and coffee in the right places, plug in the machine and turn it on. I hear a steam-pop sound and a quick loud gurgling as I'm cleaning up the counter. I realize that I don't hear the drip-drip-drip of the coffee filling the pot.
When I look over I see that the machine steaming but the coffee carafe is sitting on the burner full of plain, clear water. YIKES!
I rush over turn off the machine take the carafe off the burner and put a coffee cup on the burner to catch any coffee that drips through while I'm trying to fix this. The water isn't hot, so I know I'll be able to put it in the machine. I'm hoping to get all the parts in the right places before my husband comes into the kitchen and see that I tried to burn up his coffee maker, again.
Of course, he walks in, sees me holding the full pot of water and the coffee cup on the burner and says, "What's going on here?"
I'm busted - so I tell him and he just laughs (he knows as soon as I start back to work he'll be in charge of making the coffee!) and asks why I put the cup on the burner. As I start to explain I realize that the coffee maker has a little spring in it under the basket that holds the grounds. The lid of the carafe pushes this spring up and that is what allows the liquid to flow out of the basket into the carafe. Totally busted myself since if I'd remembered this before I put the cup there he wouldn't have noticed anything wrong.
I open the lid and after a steam burst I'm able to add the water and start the machine so we can have coffee on the back patio as we watch birds catch bugs in the grass. All ended well but until I started this project with Whitney, I had no idea that I had so many coffee making issues. It's really a simple machine with just a few steps... but so many different orders in which to put those steps together!
Friday, August 15, 2014
Sumac Tea
Thinking of Lara and her nettle tea as I made for the first time what is called sumac lemonade or sumac-ade. A more accurate name would be sumac tea, unless you put sugar in it to sweeten it like lemonade. It is sharp and tangy - tastes better than water with lemon squeezed in it but is similar to that taste but not as sour. It is refreshing and thirst quenching drunk cold on a hot day.
(the recipe I used is from this guy and he calls sumac the "wild lemonade berry" http://www.countrysidemag.com/87-4/sam_thayer/)
Alignment/Function: The sumac plants grow in the woods behind our yard. The berries are full of vitamin C (which is what gives it the astringent, lemony flavor).
Range/Efficiency: The berries are best picked while bright red - they taste sour if you bite them and if it rains heavily on them the red washes out and they don't have much taste anymore. Berries are ripe and tastiest end of July into mid August. The plants grow wild all over Kansas (and other places, too.)
To make the tea you just pour cold water over the berries, squeeze them and let it sit for a few hours. If you let it sit in the cold refrigerator, it is ready to drink after straining.
Not so efficient is that my tea jug leaks :(
Vocabulary/Intention: Eating healthy, tasty food from my backyard! Vocab: Sumac Tea!
Very fun to discover that this plant I've seen by the roadside my whole life can provide a delicious summer drink. (Sam says you can dry the berries to make it in the winter but our two plants just produced enough for two jugs this year.) We are looking at zoning our yard, taking out grass and making sections that are wilder, native plants or garden perennials so that there would be more food and less mowing. Sumac plants would make a nice hedge in the summer - they are kind of raggedy looking in the winter but in the fall the leaves turn bright red and golden yellow!
(the recipe I used is from this guy and he calls sumac the "wild lemonade berry" http://www.countrysidemag.com/87-4/sam_thayer/)
Alignment/Function: The sumac plants grow in the woods behind our yard. The berries are full of vitamin C (which is what gives it the astringent, lemony flavor).
Range/Efficiency: The berries are best picked while bright red - they taste sour if you bite them and if it rains heavily on them the red washes out and they don't have much taste anymore. Berries are ripe and tastiest end of July into mid August. The plants grow wild all over Kansas (and other places, too.)
To make the tea you just pour cold water over the berries, squeeze them and let it sit for a few hours. If you let it sit in the cold refrigerator, it is ready to drink after straining.
Not so efficient is that my tea jug leaks :(
Vocabulary/Intention: Eating healthy, tasty food from my backyard! Vocab: Sumac Tea!
Very fun to discover that this plant I've seen by the roadside my whole life can provide a delicious summer drink. (Sam says you can dry the berries to make it in the winter but our two plants just produced enough for two jugs this year.) We are looking at zoning our yard, taking out grass and making sections that are wilder, native plants or garden perennials so that there would be more food and less mowing. Sumac plants would make a nice hedge in the summer - they are kind of raggedy looking in the winter but in the fall the leaves turn bright red and golden yellow!
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
More coffee stories
Second week back and figuring out how to do a few routine things with my new self...
Coffee is still a challenge. Today went well but one day last week I decided plug in the coffee pot after I had put the grounds into the basket (which I had already lined with the brown filter).
This is cool but the "habit" is to turn the machine on right after I plug it in, which is what I did. Then I hear this nasty hissing sound.... I look over and there's no pot on the burner!! It's sitting over on the side of the sink all full of nice filtered water.
At least I didn't put the water in the machine and not put the pot on the burner. R says I did that once a couple of years ago but I don't remember flooding the counter with coffee and wasting all that good caffeine. I think he did that and has transferred the memory to me.
Coffee is still a challenge. Today went well but one day last week I decided plug in the coffee pot after I had put the grounds into the basket (which I had already lined with the brown filter).
This is cool but the "habit" is to turn the machine on right after I plug it in, which is what I did. Then I hear this nasty hissing sound.... I look over and there's no pot on the burner!! It's sitting over on the side of the sink all full of nice filtered water.
At least I didn't put the water in the machine and not put the pot on the burner. R says I did that once a couple of years ago but I don't remember flooding the counter with coffee and wasting all that good caffeine. I think he did that and has transferred the memory to me.
Friday, August 1, 2014
sweetness
When Jane and Sarah were here last April Jane taught 3 master classes in a row to the K-State dance students. At one point we had a 45 min. break between classes and Sarah ran to the union to get (can you guess?) Coffee!! for us.
When she came back she brought us each a delicious carmel. One day last week I was having coffee and bought myself one - thinking, I need just a little more sweetness in my life today - like the sweetness of sharing at the Confluence.
When she came back she brought us each a delicious carmel. One day last week I was having coffee and bought myself one - thinking, I need just a little more sweetness in my life today - like the sweetness of sharing at the Confluence.
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