As always, we had so much wonderful food to share! Baklava, challah, quiches, tabouli, runzas (a cabbage and meat-filled yeast dough - pictured below, middle), salads galore, enchiladas, warm chocolate gravy for biscuits, banana bread, a delicious custard-filled pastry, and too much more to name. I think of the end-of-semester potluck as a wonderful celebration for accomplishing all that we learned for the past 10 weeks. AND inspiration for returning for another 10 weeks!
Barb earned so many extra credit bonus points last night! Though we often end our 10-week semester with a potluck, sharing dishes from the countries of the dances we learned, and often dancers will write out a little placard identifying the country, name of the dish, ingredients, etc., I've NEVER had a dancer integrate the potluck with a craft project! Pictured above is the Czech flag accompanying Barb's dish knedliky y zeli (the knedliky was warming in the oven while the zeli posed beside the flag for this picture). As always, we had so much wonderful food to share! Baklava, challah, quiches, tabouli, runzas (a cabbage and meat-filled yeast dough - pictured below, middle), salads galore, enchiladas, warm chocolate gravy for biscuits, banana bread, a delicious custard-filled pastry, and too much more to name. I think of the end-of-semester potluck as a wonderful celebration for accomplishing all that we learned for the past 10 weeks. AND inspiration for returning for another 10 weeks!
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I love dancing at Liberty Pub. There's something about the combination of good food & drink, the fine company of friendly dancers, and dancing to lively music that fills my heart with so much joy.
This week, dancers in my class teamed up with two dancers from the Florence international folk dance group and the local band Cultural Ecology to present a demonstration of dances from around the world. We presented the following dances: Hora Mare Bucovineana - Romania Tzadik Katamar - Israel Dashing White Sergeants - Scotland Godecki Cacek - Bulgaria Miserlou - Greek American Chilili - Bolivia Then we invited people from the audience to join us. I didn't know the dance floor at Liberty Pub could accommodate up to 20 dancers! We had LOTS of audience members come up and learn these beginning level dances: Savila Se Bela Losa - Serbia Zemer Atik - Israel Sasha - Russia Hora pe Gheata La Bastringue - French Canadian Waves - Hong Kong The audience members were great sports! They were willing to step out of their comfort zone and try a new kind of dancing. The dancers in my class were fabulous - they introduced the demonstration dances, they welcomed the audience members and really took great care of them. The evening was a fund raiser for South Coast Folk Week, a week-long celebration of traditional music, song and dance set for October 4-10, 2015 in Coos Bay. I don't think I can move my class to the pub on a regular basis, but I can't wait until the next time we dance in the pub! I'm excited to be involved in a wonderful upcoming event. Ian, one of the elementary school students from our "Dance Around the World" program, is planning a dinner to raise funds for his church's world hunger program and the local food cupboard. Sharon Magnuson, Associate Director of ECLA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in American) World Hunger and Disaster Appeal will make an educational presentation about hunger in various countries around the world. Our dinner will be food from those countries. And Ian has invited me to teach a dance from each of the countries. The dances we'll do are: Moons and Stars Circle - United States Zemer Atik - Israel Syp Simeon - Russia Chilili - Boliva Bele Kawe - west Africa Waves - Hong Kong I'm honored to be part of this event that will raise awareness and funds to help with hunger at home and elsewhere. I'm impressed with Ian for developing this idea and event; looking forward to helping dance away hunger. Friday, July 18 at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church 1290 Thompson Road Coos Bay, OR. Dinner is at 5:30 - education and dance at 6:30. And WHAT a party it was! There was dancing! There was singing! There was playing music! And there was fabulous food. I know I'm not supposed to have favorite dancers, but I think it's okay to have favorite dishes. Here are a few. Estella made Assyrian potato chop... with elk meat. It was like a scrumptious potato latke. I'm SO glad we learned Sheikhani this semester! Representing Charleston, Oregon, US, Kay made a rice and green salad. Susan made a tray of Borekas - best new thing ever, in honor of learning Hashual and Turkish Kiss! An Dro Retourne - the lemon tarts of your people! Thank you, Judy! (And the smoked salmon was fantastic.) I shared a spectacular meal with dancers and musicians tonight. How could I not be blissed out?
Next week will be the "end of winter 2014 semester" class party. Emphasis on party! And what's a party without good food?! All of the dancers in my class are encouraged to bring a dish from one of the countries of the dances we learned that semester. So we research recipes... it's shockingly easy to find free recipes on the Internet for all sorts of cuisine - Greek, Macedonian, Russian - you name it. Among other dances, we learned Cylch y Cymry, a couple mixer from Wales. I can only hope someone makes Welsh rarebit for the potluck! Perhaps in honor of learning Sheikhani, an Assyrian dance, someone will make the Assyrian chicken and potatoes with yellow rice as found on food.com. I'm very fond of tumeric and cumin...
The food at our end of semester potlucks is always great. There is always an abundance of interesting dishes to try. But it's the joy of participation, the effort, and the investment of time that always touches me. We had a high school exchange student from China. Kiki made an authentic dish of food from her country! What a treat. And I'll never forget the semester when Scott first retired from his job... with all that newly-found time, he cooked a dish from EACH country - he brought at least 9 dishes! I'll show up with my standard lamb and rice dish in hand, ready for a fabulous meal featuring at least two different recipes of baklava for dessert! Pictures to follow. |
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