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Back to belly dance…

Image from Pinterest.

Last night, I taught my first belly dance class of 2022, and it was awesome! Last Wednesday, I missed the first dance class of the year because I had a terrible headache and a sore throat. I took a negative covid test, but I was too under the weather to dance. 

The last time I danced was in mid-December, so I was looking forward to dancing all week. I found out the night before class that I would have a new beginner student joining us.

Image from Pinterest.

Typically, we have new students show up to class as part of their New Years’ resolutions, 98% don’t stay long. Trish, one of our core students, is part of the 2% who stick it out. She came to the first class of the year six years ago. 

I teach a 20-minute warm-up and strength-building class before our level 1 class begins. In this class, I make a different music playlist every week with all sorts of music from swing to Latino and everything in between.

I repetitively use many of our dance moves, along with exercises for our lats, shoulders, biceps, and triceps. We dance group improv style, so this class is as well. There is no routine for our students to learn; they follow along. For me, it’s the most fun 20 minutes I have all week.

I noticed a young man and woman come into the dance studio during the workout class. We weren’t expecting anyone besides a new woman who emailed us the day before, who had already joined us. Kathleen went over to talk to them while I continued.

The good news was, they were there to take belly dance lessons. Wow! Because of the pandemic, we haven’t had new students join us in two years. They saw a flyer in the Cambridge Co-op and decided to come. The couple was looking for something new to do together and decided to go to our class. Yip! 

This was the first male belly dance student I have ever taught. Our dance troupe has always been open to anyone 16+, including men. No dance or musical experience is necessary.  

The couple had some previous dance experience, and the male student brought his own zills (finger cymbals), which was a great surprise. He could play zill correctly after a few minutes while I was teaching the new group zills. 

I love teaching belly dance just as much as I love dancing and performing. I am a good teacher and try always to make new students feel welcome, at ease, and laugh. I have them dancing before the hour class is up and leave them with a preview of what to expect the following week. 

This group of three new students learned quickly, and we covered more ground than usual. I think they had fun and enjoyed themselves. I have felt this many times before; those students never showed up again. I thanked the three of them for joining us and hope to see them next week. Fingers crossed. 🤞🏼 

After the newbies left, I joined the rest of the group for the level three class. We had Maria and Kat, who couldn’t make it in person to class, join us earlier with zoom. They can follow us just like they are in person, which is pretty phenomenal to me. 

During level three, we drilled moves and corrected techniques. Maria, who stayed for the advanced class, followed along with the drills. I was able to watch her and the in-person students and help her with her technique as well. 

When the classes were over, my cheeks hurt from smiling so much. Dance is my happy place. It’s my joy and the one thing I do just for myself.  Teaching dance not only helps students learn, but more importantly, it makes me continue to learn. 

This quote from Sensi Mochizuki Minoru couldn’t be more accurate, “A teacher is a student who teaches to continue his study.” 

It finally feels like a new year and fantastic to do what I love. 💗 

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Baby, it’s cold outside…

Yup, it’s that time of the year—the time when temps dip down into the negatives here in the Northeast. When I got up this morning, it was -1 degrees, but it felt like it was in the negative teens with the wind chill. The kind of morning when you step outdoors and the inside of your nose freezes instantly.

Artwork titled Moonlight in Vermont by Medana Gabbard. I love this, especially since Moonlight in Vermont was the last song played at our wedding.

As I walked the 38 steps outside to work in the production kitchen, I noticed most of the houses in my neighborhood had little puffs of smoke coming out of their chimneys. When we moved to Vermont from NJ over 32 years ago, I thought this was the quaintest thing I ever saw. I felt like I was living in a Currier and Ives painting.

It really does look like this here in Vermont! Image courtesy of Pastor Tom 3.

Where I grew up in NJ, the only smoke I ever saw billowing out of chimney pipes were from all of the refineries and plants nearby. I never remember seeing little puffs of smoke coming out of people’s chimneys.

It wasn’t that I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings because I always did. When I used to walk to and from school or to a friend’s house, I would try to identify who was watching tv. I am guessing I could hear a high pitch sound of tv tuners. Then I tried to imagine what I thought they would be watching. This was long before cable tv, so all the programs were pretty clean-cut, all American tv shows except soap operas, perhaps.

My sense of smell would kick into gear whenever I was walking too. I could smell cigarette and pipe smoke coming out from people’s windows. Car fumes. Good smells coming from the bakery or Chinese take-out place. In the mornings, I smelled bacon some days. I could smell meats being grilled in the evenings, and I could always smell whenever some had a big pot of sauce on.

Most Italian families I know saved their pots of sauce for the weekends, but Wednesdays were Prince spaghetti days. I remember the commercial from when I was a kid. An Italian lady yelled out of the apartment window, “Anthony!” She said it like this, “An-the-nee!” Next, they showed Anthony running his cubby little ass off home for Prince spaghetti day. Good marketing when you can remember something 40 years later.

I also remember sounds. Kids playing ball in the street yelling, “Car!” Babies and younger kids crying or shrieking, and dogs barking. The thing that stopped me in my tracks and gave me a stomachache half a block from my house was my mother yelling. I hated when I heard her yelling at my father or the other child they adopted. I knew when I got home, I would get yelled at too.

It was so embarrassing knowing that if I could hear my mother yelling, the rest of the block could too. I knew other kids got yelled at; it didn’t matter because I still remember my cheeks getting red from embarrassment and the dread of the rest of the walk home.

Back to puffy little smoke clouds coming from chimneys. I don’t want this blog post to turn into a nasty memory piece; it’s supposed to be about looking for beauty we can find in our surroundings, whether you are in NJ, NY, Vermont, or anywhere else in the world.

I always make my family stop and look at beautiful sunrises or sunsets: rainbows, the moon, and the stars. I have them stop and listen to a particular bird or other sounds. I saw rabbit footprints in the snow this morning on my way to work. If it weren’t below zero, I would have walked to see where the bunny came from. Just looking up, you can see a whole different world around you and it can change your entire day. A world where everyone is on their fucking phones. Look up, dammit!

I feel fortunate to live in such a picturesque place. We chose to take the plunge and move here to live a simpler life, a place where we raised our boys in a more peaceful and safer environment. Marty and I chose to start our business, The Vermont Spätzle Company, here as well. This isn’t the place to make a lot of money, wear dressy clothes or shoes, or have convenient things around, that’s for sure.

I remember reading an article about when you start your day, it can be a good day or a bad day; it all depends on your attitude and what you see outside your little bubble. It’s for you to decide every single day. This is very hard to remember especially during these difficult times; noticing the small things in life helps to remind me of this, but not always. Some days I am bitchy, depressed, or miserable.

Good news! We are pretty close to completing the kitchen project! Yesterday, we did the tiling on the wall behind the stove, and it came out fantastic! Coming up with the pattern made my head hurt, but it looks good. Tomorrow, the tile can be grouted. I can’t wait to be able to cook normally again. Tonight, I am attempting French Onion Soup in Sam’s Instant pot, I am honestly not sure how it will turn out, but it smells good!

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Kitchen project update…

Before I begin, this blog post was supposed to be published yesterday; however, our Comcast was out from about 4 pm until 1 am.

Besides not being able to work on my blog we had a different issue. We have a smart home that needs the internet for things to go on and off. I didn’t realize how much we rely on the internet, but the smart home is fantastic when it works.

We’ve been working hard all week on our kitchen project. Each step of the project relies on the one before it.

I have a lot of kitchen gear and a well-stocked pantry bursting at the seams, making it frustrating every time I needed or wanted something.

A couple of days ago, I showed you the successful equipment pantry we built in the back room of the home in an unused loft area. I added the raclette machine we used on Christmas Eve and more serving platters and dishes to the pantry this morning. Funny note, every time I try to write the word raclette, it changes to racketeering. 😂

One of our goals of the kitchen project is to free up more counter space and give the kitchen an updated look. Yes, we had a lovely kitchen with red as a strong accent color, but 15 years later, we want a change.

Last week, we did some demo in the area near my stove. Back in November, when I thought my six-burner stove shit the bed, we realized that the vent hood located over the high BTU stove wasn’t strong or high enough.

Since Marty could fix the stove, saving us thousands of dollars, we decided to remove the upper cabinets and replace the vent hood with an appropriate one. One that doesn’t overheat and goes into panic mode. I have this stove to cook on; I don’t want to worry about not using all of the burners at once; that’s what it’s for.

A couple of months ago, Marty found the exact European vent hood from Italy that we were looking at on Facebook Marketplace. All of our spätzle business’ commercial kitchen equipment, furniture, and other miscellaneous things have come from Facebook Marketplace. I’ve mentioned before Marty is a master wheeler and dealer at buying and selling.

The vent hood was still brand new in the unopened box for half the price; the person we bought it from shipped it to us for a reasonable fee. They purchased the fan; then, they decided to go with a copper fan instead. Obviously, money wasn’t an issue if they could afford a copper vent hood and let our new vent hood go for a bargain. A huge score for us!

Since we removed the upper cabinets to make room for the new vent hood, we got to pick out new European tiles for the wall behind the stove. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted until we got to the store.

We went to a tile store in Albany, NY, with a certain look in mind, but then we saw all the options, different patterns, and materials the tiles were made from. We also had to consider the size of the tiles for a small area. Holy shit! I was overwhelmed, and my head was spinning. I had too hot of a sweater on and was sweating my ass off while in sensory overload.

I finally sucked it up, and we asked one of the designers, who are free of charge, to help us. She listened to us, showed us dozens of options, then found the perfect tiles. We ordered them and picked them up three weeks later. When the designer found the tiles, I asked her if anyone told her they loved her that day. She said no, so I told her I loved her for finding the perfect tiles. She laughed and was glad she made us happy.

The tiles we chose come in six similar patterns that can be put together in endless options. When I can’t sleep, I rearrange these tiles in my head for hours, it seems. It’s stressful because I don’t want to regret the pattern we choose. I will be looking at this wall whenever I cook and want to get it right.

This photo shows how dingy the white looked after 15 years. Ewww!

We’ve been painting all week; first the walls, then all of the wainscoting, shelving, and cabinetry. It was time-consuming because we did it correctly by taking off the cabinet pulls, doors, and hinges. The cabinets look fantastic and brand new. It was a pain in the ass but worth the effort.

Freshly painted food pantry organized and neat…for now!

Today, I stayed home from the farmer’s market to reorganize our food pantry. After moving all of the equipment to the back room, I could put the microwave in the pantry in the kitchen freeing up precious counter space. Everything is so organized, I wonder how long it will stay that way.

Hopefully, tomorrow we can start the vent hood and figure out the tiling part of the project; it’s the last part and the trickiest. We’ve renovated our entire home ourselves, but it’s always a little intimidating until we get going. You never know what kind of problems you can run into when renovating an 1832 home.

So that’s the update. My dining room is almost free of the chaotic clutter, and the backroom is back to normal for the most part. We are getting there, and I can start cooking for real again. Thank goodness for leftovers I froze and were either baked in the toaster oven or microwaved all week.

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Step one… ✔️

Today , after production we completed step one of the great kitchen project!

Step one isn’t in the kitchen, but in our mudroom and an unused loft area the boys used to play in when they were little.

In order to have the look of our new kitchen, Marty and I knew we had to declutter for this to happen.

I have a lot of kitchen stuff; that I use. Some of the things that I don’t use every day such as small appliances, serving platter and bowls and random pots and other items needed to find a new place to be stored. The basement is out because I want it handy enough to just grab and use. Once things go down into the dungeon, they never come out.

We decided the unused loft space would be perfect to create a new pantry. I’ve seen in lots of magazines kitchen that have a separate room for their pantry, much like a butlers pantry, but a room that is an extension off of the kitchen.

It was both some of Marty’s ideas and mine that came together how we wanted to create our pantry & mudroom.

The plan right now is to create the pantry to get the kitchen items out of the main kitchen. In the near future, the pantry will be painted the same new color of the kitchen and purchase similar lighting.

Marty set up the heavy duty wire kitchen shelving while I started thinking about what was going where. I had the whole pantry in my mind before we even started.

The pantry came out better than we imagined. It looks as if it’s always been there. It makes more sense of the space than just a cozy, cute vignette I created last year.

I am stoked that I have this space for all of my kitchen specialty items. We are getting close to completing another hurdle in the main kitchen.

We are hoping to have the kitchen completed by the end of next week. This is only day 5 of the project and we’ve been working while renovating.

Tomorrow is Friday, the kitchen project will have to go on hold until Sunday. We need to focus on making product for the spätzle business, do some banking and get ready for our farmers market on Saturday. We haven’t had a market since 12/18 and are looking forward to going back.

I am so happy I could share with you one little piece of our project. This is the one thing that is complete…step one. ✔️

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Complete takeover…

I told you guys we were doing a kitchen project that as of today, has turned into a bigger renovation than I expected. I don’t know why I didn’t expect it because it’s always the way around here.

Since we started the kitchen project we had stuff from the kitchen in part of the dining room and a corner of the mudroom. Now, it’s grown, taking over the living room, the whole dining & mudroom.

Yes, that’s a purple light in the living room.

Projects always take longer and are more work…in other words we will be living in a total mess for a while. The payoff will be worth it though.

Klaus wondering what in the hell is going on.
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Chaos…

Yesterday, we started our first DIY project of 2022. We wanted to start our project back in early December, but the house was decorated for the holidays; we decided to wait until after the first of the year.

Before I tell you about the project we are tackling, let me tell you how any project goes in the Irion household…it messes up the entire house; we live in chaos leaving me stressed out.

Our kitchen is the room where the project is happening. This is serious business because I depend on my kitchen so much! We need to get the job done as fast as we can, but doing things the right way and not taking any shortcuts.

Dining room.

I just snapped these photos demonstrating exactly what I mean by chaos. There is shit everywhere! My dining room looks like a grocery store and our mudroom looks like a kitchen equipment shop.

Dining room.
Loft in the mudroom.

A little while ago I started to empty out the pantry so it can be moved. Our pantry holds A-LOT of stuff…part of the chaos.

In the pantry, Sam has one non-gluten free shelf of snacks that we keep separate from everything else. I haven’t touched those yet.

The tools and equipment we need for the project are everywhere…part of the chaos.

The six burner stove is disconnected standing in the middle of the kitchen…part of the chaos.

Ok, I made my point. I am taking photos of the project day by day to share later on.

We are in full spätzle production again after the holidays with deliveries to make, so the work on the project comes after all that is done.

Once the first project is done another one connected to the first comes next. Then there is a third one. They have to go in order so this is going to take a while. It’s like the ankle bone is connected to the shin bone story.

I want to keep the project a mystery until part one is done. There should be a pretty big transformation so I want to do a big reveal. Yes, I watch too many renovation shows on tv, I know.

It’s almost 8pm and this is the first time I sat down today. I am beat and starving; I have no clue what to make to eat due to the chaotic mess and not having a stove or oven. We do still have a microwave and toaster oven thank goodness.

Have a great night guys I’ll catch up with you tomorrow. I need a shower and some food badly; probably some Ben Gay tomorrow. 😜

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Family time in the kitchen…

New Year’s Eve dinner table.

We had a great visit with my sister Jen, Sofia, and Julian, her children. As soon as I know we will be having guests; I start planning my menus right away. Jen and I discussed dinner options a month before they came. I asked what types of things the kids liked to eat and what they didn’t like. I chose a menu, and she said they would love it all. Yay!

Jen and I love to cook together, so it was even better when Sofia helped us in the kitchen one night. Jen’s kids like to cook; Sofia is 14 years old and already has excellent knife skills.

Chicken Franchaise.

We made Chicken Franchise for the first night’s dinner with homemade Fettuccini (gluten-free) Alfredo. I made the pasta the day before, so we only had to cook the chicken and make the alfredo sauce. The meal was delicious, and the kids loved it.

Terrible lighting affected the photo of the fettuccini alfredo; it looked so much better in person.

The fun part about cooking together is that we work side by side like we’ve been cooking together forever. We trade off tasks and pull off the meals with lots of laughs and chit-chat.

Chorizo.

Wednesday night, we made my dad’s recipe for Portuguese Shrimp with Chorizo and Yellow Rice. I have to admit the shrimp came out good. We also made Brazilian Cheese Bread. This may have been Sofia’s favorite dinner of all. She kept saying how it was the best garlic shrimp she ever had. Of course, this made me very happy, and Jen said she would be making this dish at home. The cheese bread was a big hit as well.

Portuguese Garlic Shrimp.
Brazilian Cheese Bread.

The next night I made meatballs, but not with tomato sauce; they don’t like it; I made Swedish Meatballs. They requested spätzle, so this was the perfect meal to serve it with. This meal was another homerun.

Swedish Meatballs with our Spätzle.

New Year’s Eve would be our first authentic “holiday” dinner together. I wanted to make a traditional turkey dinner; nothing says “holiday” like turkey.

A winter holiday theme table.

I set a fancy table for our New Year’s Eve dinner. We used placemats instead of table cloths for the rest of the meals. I decorated the table with greens and candles; it looked beautiful.

Turkey! Forgot to take a pic of the sides!

I kept the turkey dinner simple and didn’t make as many side dishes; as usual, they weren’t necessary. I went with stuffing, candied sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce. The basics, but the basics are the best. Marty loves sweet potatoes and stuffing best, while I like turkey with mashed potatoes & gravy.

We only had dessert two nights; we ate late every night and played cards right after dinner, so it wasn’t missed that much. We made hot fudge sundaes one night, then the kids and I made Chocolate & Peanut Butter Lava Cakes on New Year’s Eve day.

Making lava cakes with Sofia & Julian.

I have a lot of experience cooking with kids. I taught a six-week after-school cooking program one year, and I had students helping to prepare food in my kitchen when I worked at the school district as their food service director and lunch lady.

First, I made us read the recipe all the way through. I can’t beat this into adults’ heads, so I always make sure to teach it to kids.

Before and after baking.

Next, we got out the ingredients and double-checked the recipe again. Then, we started baking. I divided the tasks; Sofia melted chocolate and butter in a double boiler while Julian buttered and dusted the ramekins with cocoa powder.

I had Sofia whisk eggs and sugar while I poured in the hot melted chocolate. Next, Sofia filled the ramekins halfway with the batter while Julian scooped peanut butter and carefully put the peanut butter right in the center of the ramekin. He was adorable doing this, and he did a great job. Sofia finished topping the ramekins with more batter, then we covered them and kept them cold until after dinner.

Checking for lava.

Later on, I popped the ramekins into the oven while they were watching a movie. I was praying the lava cakes would easily come out of the ramekins, and the peanut butter would ooze out when cut open. It did! Yahoo! I breathed a big sigh of relief. I never made lava cakes before and wasn’t sure if they would come out as expected.

Success!

Klaus and Otto were good boys during their visit. Julian and Marty took the dogs outside one night to play catch. Klaus didn’t forget that Julian was a new playmate and kept staring at him to play. I took them outside the next day and was pleased that Klaus and Otto played nice with him.

Playing “tire” with Klausie-boy.

My family stayed at an Airbnb up in Manchester, but we decided that they would camp out in our living room on New Year’s Eve. There are way too many stupid people who still drink and drive; I didn’t want them traveling back to Manchester.

Klaus wasn’t happy when I shooed him off the mattress to put on the fitted sheet at bedtime.

Kausie-boy thought it was the greatest thing in the world when we plopped a twin mattress in the center of the living room! He climbed on it right away and wasn’t planning on moving. LOL!

They left early New Year’s Day morning to head back to NJ. We had a great time even though there wasn’t any snow. We planned on snowshoeing and sledding, but of course, that didn’t happen. At least they got to go ice skating.

Jen and I wanted to start our own family traditions; this was an excellent place to start celebrating the New Year together.

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New Year’s Eve…

Can you believe it? This year flew by in the blink of an eye! Yes, indeed this was another strange year for us all, but I have to say I am coming out of it very blessed.

Our wholesale business has flourished which we are beyond grateful. My blog is 11 months old, and I have written almost 300 blog posts. I’ve come a long way personally over the last year as well. I wrote about the ups and downs, having many more ups than downs which is very good.

My sons both advanced in their careers, Noah changed jobs for an exciting business opportunity, and Sam became an RN.

Marty and I finally went on a real vacation by ourselves, the first one in 26 years. This year has taught us to do the things we want to do and stop waiting. Waiting for what?

I am grateful for all of my family members, who I am getting to know better every day. I am fortunate that we found each other and have them in my life; we still have many years to make up for lost time. It’s exciting to watch my nieces and nephew grow up; I love being Aunt Julz!

Finally, this blog was the best thing I did all year. It helped me focus on my life’s journey and not only the destination. It made me think about the good things in my life and not concentrate on negative thoughts or things. It’s easy to get into one’s head, especially in these challenging times. It also made me look back on some wonderful childhood memories and try to let some of the awful ones fade away a little at a time.

Thanks, guys, for a great year; I truly appreciate all of your comments, support, and donations to keep my blog going.

I wish you all a very Happy New Year, a year of good health, and prosperity. Cheers to better days ahead and a fantastic year.

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Benched…

I made it once around the rink in excruciating pain. The bunions on both of my feet made my feet feel like Cinderella’s ugly step-sisters when they tried on the glass slipper.

Damn bunions

I tried a different kind and went up a size. I loosened the skates up as much as I could and gave it another shot. I got eight steps onto the ice; the pain stopped me right in my tracks. Shit, I knew as much as I wanted to skate I wouldn’t be able to. I hate being a party pooper.

So here I sit watching Jen and the kids skate bummed with myself and my feet. Dammit!


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Fun & games…

I just took the Christmas tree down now that my sister Jen and her kids got to see it yesterday. I usually take it down the day after Christmas but waited for them this year.

My sister is from northern NJ and got here in about three hours. She was smart and left early, missing all that dreaded NJ traffic.

After they arrived, we hung out for a bit then had a quick lunch. Then they left to head up to Manchester, where they are staying an Airbnb.

The kid’s favorite place in Vermont is the Northshire Bookstore since they both love to read. They were super excited when they opened their presents from us, gift cards to the bookstore.

They hit the bookstore before checking into their Airbnb, then settled in. I rested for a bit before they came back later for dinner. Yes, I have insomnia again; the Midnight Drops stopped working because my body got too used to them. I’ve tried some Melatonin which works but gives me bad dreams. I’ll probably be writing more about this in the future.

Jen and I love to cook together. We made chicken franchise with fettuccini alfredo, all of our favorites. It’s like we’ve been cooking together our whole lives; it feels longer than the 2 1/2 years that we have known each other. I hate using the words adopted and biological, but she is one of my biological sisters that found me through Ancestry.com. We became sisters the first time we met, and I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

After dinner, we played the card game Five Crowns. We started playing this game with our friend across the street, Martin. It’s a lot of fun and can be highly competitive. Jen and Marty compete so hard against each other it makes me laugh.

My brother Dan and I play games for fun; they play to win. Marty says, “Why wouldn’t you play to win? What’s the point.” Um, just because smarty pants! Five Crowns is a challenging game to describe, but it’s a blast to play once you figure it out.

Today I am going to meet them up in Manchester, and we are going ice skating. I used to love both roller and ice skating when I was younger. Hopefully, I won’t hurt myself and be so sore tomorrow I won’t be able to move. Lol. Marty isn’t coordinated and says one of us needs our legs so he won’t be skating with us. We are expecting a delivery from one of our supply company’s, and he needs to be home to accept the delivery. Work never really goes away during a holiday vacation week.

I just wanted to check in and say hello and let you know what I’ve been up to. My writing may be more sporadic than usual, but I plan on taking photos and writing every day, even if it’s a short post.

Have a great day, and keep your fingers crossed for me at the ice rink. ⛸