Corn bread and corn pudding

I've gone two days in a row without doing any Pilates. But I did ride my bike to the studio and back today for a total of 10 miles. My wonderful husband accompanied me because I'm a scaredycat when it comes to riding on streets with cars. I insisted on a really terrible route on the way there. He managed to convince me to take a much better route on the way back. Now I think I can do it on my own, especially on a Sunday morning when there won't be so much traffic.

My family came over for dinner tonight. I made corn pudding with freshly picked corn I bought at the farmers' market this morning. We also had a mixed grill of barbecued meats, green beans finished with Moroccan spices and shallots, more of the boy's chili-cheese corn bread, homemade grissini (bread sticks), and oatmeal, cherry, and chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I know, it sounds like a lot of corn. But the two dishes were very different. One was a bread and the other was more of a custard. If we lived before the advent of refrigeration, we'd probably eat whatever is in season, perhaps several different ways in one day, if not in one meal. Certainly there were no complaints from the diners!

Two weeks later

So much for my plans to update at least weekly. I had a grand total of one student during my first week at the studio. But during week two I had three students. One of my new students scheduled a return visit and my second new student scheduled FOUR additional lessons. I also taught my two classes and two private lessons at home. It would appear that I am actually a Pilates instructor.

Today is Friday and I don't teach. My brother is in town from Portland. During our wanderings around the city, doing various errands and window shopping, he told a sales person in a fitness store that I am a Pilates instructor. He made it sound like she should be impressed. That was a first.

The experience of these past two weeks has left me relieved because I still love teaching. After teaching for three hours on Thursday I felt energetic and focussed. Most of my nerves come before I start a session or class. But I got incredibly nervous while teaching one of my new students - a 42 year old man. I forgot how to get someone out of the foot straps on the reformer. I instantly got a hot flash which only made things worse. I started to freak out that my mentor teacher had witnessed my ineptitude. But I managed to pull myself together and move on to the next exercise. A little later when we had finished the session, I was stunned when he bought a package and scheduled four more lessons. I guess he liked me anyway.

I made Afgan-style shish kabob, barbecued sweet corn, and salad for dinner Saturday night. The boys made chili-cheese corn bread from a Cooking Light recipe. Then I went out of town, so the left over lamb just sat there in the refrigerator until I came back Monday night. I made a curried stew with French lentils, carrots, onion, celery, left over sweet corn, and the lamb. We ate it with cucumber and cilantro raita, basmati rice and sweet chutney. Another lovely meal. After dinner I baked some of the oatmeal, chocolate chip, and dried cherry cookies that I had in the freezer. On Wednesday morning I took some chicken out of the freezer to thaw. But we ended up going to see a movie and I didn't cook. That meant I HAD to do something with the chicken Thursday. I made a Chicken Tagine with lemons and olives over Quinoa. We had salad with snow peas, pecans, and cherry plum tomatoes with balsamic mustard vinaigrette. Tonight we had dinner out. I went all out for duck - seared duck liver salad with a bacon-wrapped fig and roasted duck breast and leg over greens and a fantastic corn pudding that I would love to be able to recreate. Stay tuned. I'm hitting the farmers' market tomorrow and I'm going to get enough sweet corn to experiment with!

Now I begin

I began this blog at a turning point in my life. I was about to leave my 28 year career, watch my youngest child graduate from high school, and begin a new life as a Pilates instructor. All that, and more, has now happened. But this is the real beginning point of my new life. Prior to now I was in flux, a state I have traditionally despised. I still had to finish my Pilates instructor training, extract myself from my old job, and execute my son's graduation party. I could not settle into anything like a new routine. I had no firm schedule and a diminishing list of commitments. As a person who is typically over committed and programmed to the bursting-point, it felt weird! Fortunately, I was distracted from the dreaded flux by the threat of a surprisingly major medical intervention. In the end I got the best of all possible worlds because the planned surgery didn't happen but, in the meantime, I was very distracted .

Now I begin. My formal apprenticeship began today. I didn't actually have any students, but that is not the point. I was at the studio as a student teacher, practicing my moves and generally pursuing the knowledge and experience that will eventually make me a kick-ass Pilates teacher. I am no longer in flux.