"Don't Stop Believing" - Ellie's Dance Competition

On Saturday we spent some time at the Denver Dancesport Jam. Her group performed their formation.

They are a cute group of girls.

And silly, too.

They can be intentionally silly.

It was at the Hyatt Regency, a really nice building with some great, artistic touches.

This is Ellie with Alia and Keira. Sometimes it is easy to mistake Alia for Ellie from the back.

Here's a little of what they were doing. They danced to "Don't Stop Believing," the Glee version.

They won first place.

The dancers are always interesting and entertaining. And they are beautiful. It is not unusual to see a dancer with her dress, the rhinestones in her hair and a fuzzy pair of slippers.


On Friday I came across this great recipe. Closet Cooking is a blog worth checking out. He made quinoa flatbread, topping it with the likes of hummus, feta cheese, pomegranate seeds and felafel. I picked up some hummas and cucumbers, intending to make these for dinner. My family did not want to wait so long, so I only got as far as the flatbread. My quinoa flatbread is much smoother than his. They are very tasty! I think they'd be great for my next party with vegetarian friends.

Quinoa Flatbread
via: Closet Cooking

1 cup quinoa, processed
1 cup whole wheat flour or brown rice flour
1 egg
1 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the processed quinoa, flour, egg, water, salt and pepper and let it soak for an hour.
Heat a greased pan over medium heat.
Pour 1/4 cup of the mixture into the center of the pan, cook for 5 minutes, flip and cook for another 5 minutes.

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I also made a version of this lovely soup. The color is not much to consider, but it is very flavorful.

Curried Lentil Stew
via: Fine Cooking

1 large clove garlic
1 piece (1/3 inch long) peeled fresh ginger
1/2 small bulb fennel, cored and cut into large chunks, or 1 small rib celery, cut into large chunks
1 small carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 small parsnip, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 large shallot, cut in half
3 Tbs. unsalted butter
2 tsp. curry powder
1 cup brown lentils, picked over and rinsed
1 qt. homemade or lowsalt canned chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp. kosher salt; more as needed
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; more as needed
(4-6 Lamb Chops, optional)

Pulse the garlic and ginger in a food processor until chopped. Add the fennel or celery, carrot, parsnip, and shallot and pulse until coarsely chopped.

Melt 2 Tbs. of the butter in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped vegetables and cook, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add the curry powder and cook, stirring, until the curry powder is fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the lentils, broth, salt, and pepper. Bring the soup to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to maintain a brisk simmer, cover, and cook until the lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

(optional - I browned a few lamb chops in a saute pan with a bit of olive oil and a touch of salt. I put them in with the stew, letting it all simmer for a few hours to provide a slow cooking. I pulled them out, deboned and shredded them and added it back in.)

Transfer 1-1/2 cups of the soup to a blender or a food processor and purée until smooth. Stir the purée back into the soup along with the remaining 1 Tbs. butter. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and adjust the consistency with water, if you like.
Serving Suggestions
Garnish with a dollop of plain whole-milk yogurt and chopped fresh mint or cilantro, or both.

nutrition information (per serving):
Size : based on four servings; Calories (kcal): 330; Fat (g): 11; Fat Calories (kcal): 100; Saturated Fat (g): 6; Protein (g): 19; Monounsaturated Fat (g): 3; Carbohydrates (g): 43; Polyunsaturated Fat (g): 1; Sodium (mg): 320; Cholesterol (mg): 25; Fiber (g): 14;

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Ellie enjoys a very basic granola, but many have too many pieces of dried fruit for her liking. I am working on trying to figure out a good, plain granola. I found the "Granola, Deconstructed" blog entry at Gourmande in the Kitchen very informational. I also liked what at Nourish Network concerning granola. I combined bits from both of them for the following recipe:

Granola


2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup Coconut Flakes
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp Ginger, ground
1/4 tsp Clove, ground
6 TBL Maple Syrup
6 TBL Molasses
2 tablespoons Coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups whole natural almonds (or other nuts of your choice)


Preheat the oven to 300 F placing the oven racks in the lower and upper thirds of the oven.
Line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a large bowl, combine the 2 kinds of oats, rice crisp cereal, cinnamon and sea salt. Stir to mix well.
In a medium bowl, combine the fruit puree, honey, light brown sugar, vegetable oil and vanilla extract. Stir to mix well.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dry ones, and mix until completely blended (it’s best to use your hands to get everything evenly coated.)
Spread the mixture out evenly between the two prepared baking sheets. Squeeze clusters of granola together with slightly damp hands, allowing for space between the clumps in order for air to circulate while baking.
Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets, flip over the granola with a large spatula and add the almonds and pumpkin seeds. Bake for another 20 to 30 minutes (or more, depending on how thick the layer of granola) until completely dry and just golden brown.
Let cool on baking sheets, and store in an airtight container when completely cool. Add in the dried cranberries just before serving.

Colorado Star Ball - Saturday (the Big Event) and Sunday (Competition!)

Saturday at the Colorado Star Ball was a big one. The kids had classes and a big, over the top glitzy evening (where you didn't have to wear your dance shoes, or any shoes, for that matter).

Saturday's classes included a Rumba class, core rhythms and "Mambo Mysteriouso". I think Ellie enjoyed them all. The core rhythms class was the most popular with the kids, hands down.

People watching continued to be great. I was really fascinated with all of the ways you can do a person's hair. This woman had wonderful hair. Many women had the whole rhinestone thing goin' on.

The evening program featured famous world class dancers competing. It was exciting and the ballroom was packed, even at $70 a ticket for adults. Men wore their tuxes. Women came in gowns, some of them ball gowns, some were formal party dresses. After a long day of dancing many people did not wear their shoes, but those who did wear shoes wore really lovely ones. I hung out with Laura, Kate's mom. She admired the shoes, I admired the hair does, we both enjoyed the dresses. In the earlier part of the evening we left the Westin and went to see "Bridesmaids." It was quite funny, but very raunchy. It was a good thing I saw it with an adult instead of one of my kids. It was sort of a "The Hangover" but for girls.

By Sunday the formerly preppy group was draggin'. Some of us worried that the kids would not have the energy for the competition. They had two foxtrot classes and a swing class. The swing was a great way to cap off the dance camp part of the ball. In between sessions they put up their hair, put on their make-up and their outfits.

When their time came to perform, they were on. You could not tell that they were so tired.









The finale'.

After the session was over many overly tired kids straggled home. Grandpa Don took Ellie and I out for dinner at the Hibachi restaurant.
I knew it would be a fun treat that Ellie had not experienced before. Our cook, Angelsan, was very funny.




By the Sunday evening, everyone that came back after the dinner break had worked themselves into a very silly mood. It was catching.

During the dancing the group started to notice what the men were wearing. Somehow the topic of a sparkley man-scarf came about. When the champion dancer from Costa Rica walked by they engaged him in a discussion. He was friendly. We had to take a photo, of course. That made one of the kids happy since having her photo taken with champion dancer - that's one off of her bucket list.


Here's the "Gun" show. The dance coach, Marodi, wins hands (okay, well, arms, really) down! You kids gotta work those muscles!


You may not be able to pick your friend's nose, but it looks like you can borrow a hunk of hair to give yourself a mustache.

Finally, the Colorado StarBall is Here!

It's finally here - The Colorado StarBall.

(Ellie is wearing slippers because her feet were tired of the dance shoes. It is really pretty funny and interesting to see the odd combinations people wear between dances. You see slippers, bathrobes, satin boxing robes with lots of splashy embroidery, leg warmers, winter boots, elegant dresses with polar fleece jackets, etc.)

We had a blast on Friday. If you like anything that is glitzy, glamourous, sparkley - you've gotta be here. To get registration you walk through the vendor's area. Oh, what a sight. There are amazing dresses in what seems like endlesss combinations of colors and designs. I tried to look at everyone. But I was sure not to touch any of them. Most of them cost well over $3,000. The rhinestone jewelry was something else, too. If you like glitz and sparkle, you need to find your way to one of these events.



We cheered our studio team mates on. Well, actually I gave them complimentary comments when they practiced in the hallway. I did not buy a ballroom ticket for Friday, only Sunday.


This is one of our dancers. She did really well, making it to podium for each of the three dances she did on Friday.

The day was filled with classes. It started out with "The Mysteries of the Heel Turn" which was really very useful. (The title of the class makes me laugh just a little. I imagine a very serious conversation going on between a couple of world renowned dancers in which one remarks on the others remarkable heel turn. The other humbly replies a thanks and the first encourages her to teach a class in it. "Some day," she might reply,"once we are no longer competing against each other." Next up was the "Creating a Beautiful Rhythm in Waltz." I think that was the general favorite of the day between the girls. The last dance class was "Injury Free Dancing" in which they learned about how to move gracefully so as to not hurt yourself. Marodi devises funny things to keep them clicking. After reviewing what they learned in the session she played "stupid party games" that were a hoot. Things like, what weird thing can you do with your body and what animal would you be if you were not human.

The kids are "on" the whole time we are here. That is great fun for the extroverts. It will be fun, but taxing for the introverts.


I spent part of the morning working and part of the time helping the organizers unwrap rubbery flashing party rings that every person will get later in the evening. I had fun visiting with a young man who is in college in Utah.
He, like many others, traveled with his studio team to be part of this event. He teaches dance 7 hours a day and still loves it. He hopes to transfer college and get a balldance scholarship from BYU. They have a serious team, or rather, several teams. I hope that happens for him. He seeed like a really nice young man.


Here's what we packed for today: (pictures to be loaded soon)




Make-up: nearly white eyeshadow, a dark grey eyeshadow, lip stain (because lipstick gets on your teeth)bronzer, concealer, mascara (two kinds because Heavens knows one does not do it all), fake eyelashes (with adhesive), fake fingernails with a French manicure (but they did not end up working - back to doing your own nails!)bobby pins, hair ties, a flower for her hair, make-up remover, fingernail polish, fingernail polish remover, cotton balls, spray-on panty hose (because regular panty hose make your legs look fat and glowy with the kind of light you find on the dance floor).

Clothing for today: A summery evening dress for the evening dance party, jazz shoes, ballroom shoes, ducky slippers (for when your feet start to hurt.)a sweater, if you can find one, jewelry, if you have some to match your dress.

Food for the daytime - They will be dancing a ton since they have Dance Camp each day, not to mention the formation practice inbetween things:
Vanilla Protien drink (Odwalla), Lemon and Mozzarella Pasta Salad, nut bars, an apple, Swedish fish candies, Cheezits crackers and water.

Colorado Star Ball Dress Rehersal

Tonight Ellie's dance studio held a dress rehearsal for the Colorado Star Ball that is coming up in two weeks. It was pretty cool.

Most of the dancers showed up dressed to the nines and strutted their stuff. The teens were up first so I stuck around and took a few photos.

The first formation dance was a variation on the Rumba done to "Sing" by the musical cast of Glee.


The second dance is a variation on the Foxtrot done to "I'm into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits. It looks like that it is a lot of fun. Ellie gets to dance with Jake and Sam. This dance a story of sorts. It is about a group of boys who move into the neighborhood.

At first all of the girls think they boys are cute and fight over them. Then the boys dance with all of the girls.

In the end the boys go around to try and get a girlfriend but the girls refuse since they've tried out everyone. It is really kind of funny.

The little kids and the adults also did their dances. The little ones were very cute, of course.

After the dancing was over it was time for dinner and games. People were at tables. One was the Rumba table, another was Swing and and one more. They played Jeopardy style game with three categories: Your teachers, dancing and the Colorado Star Ball. Each table had a cow bell. The question was asked and you had five seconds to answer it after you rang your bell. They had to answer a question. Sometimes you could take a challenge. One challenge involved sitting back so that your face is flat. A cookie is placed on the person's forehead and they had to use facial muscles to move it to their mouth and eat it. Another challenge involved two rolls of toilet paper, one for each hand. The goal was to unwind them in 60 seconds or less. The last challenge involved trying to stack three golf balls and keeping them stacked 3 seconds. (These are all from "Minute to Win It." They also ate dinner, chatted and listened to the funny speech that Marodi gave about the dancers.

Pulling Things Together for the Colorado DanceSports Ball

The kids in Ellie's dance classes will be competing in formation dances for Rhythm and Smooth at the Colorado DanceSport Ball in June. They've learned the dances, now they just have to perfect them.

This is the dress they will be wearing, though their dresses will be black.

Here are the songs they will be dancing to:
"I'm Into Something Good" by Herman's Hermits


"Sing" by Glee (Chemical Romance cover)

A Jazzy, Modern Take on Tosadas from the Cherry Creek Arts Festival

In some ways, I am a foodie. Now, I won't drive four hours just to visit a restuarant, but I do take in as many cooking classes and demostrations as I can. I recently enjoyed a few of the demonstrations at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. The only one that I sat all the way through was the one with Duane Walker from Lola. His food was wonderful and I am thinking of making his Rock Shrimp Tostada with Mango & Guacamole tonight for dinner.

Today begins a whirl wind of fun activities. I will spend the day in a painting class on how to use the new OPEN Golden Acrylics. They are supposed to be something like painting with oils as they take a long time to dry. I've never tried oils, so this will be exciting.

This evening Larr and I will take in "Much Ado About Nothing" at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Then we are off to the races this weekend. Ellie races up Cheyenne Canyon in Monument (near Colorado Springs) and Ethan will do the Peak to Peak Mountain Bike race in Winter Park. He and Larr will also go rock climbing. Sunday we will race in Longmont. I am hoping we can sqeeze in a cooking class at William Somona, but we'll have to see if it works out. It is on Summer Desserts. I am hopeful.

Here's the recipe in the event you want to make it, too. You can find two years worth of the recipes here (http://www.cherryarts.org/CulinaryDemo).

Executive Chef Duane Walker- Lola's
Rock Shrimp Tostada with Mango & Guacamole
(Serves 6-8)
Ingredients:

Rock Shrimp
6oz cured rock shrimp
To cure: 3 to 4 hours
4oz of orange juice
4oz of lime juice
1 vanilla sprig

Guacamole
4 ripe avocados
1 red onion, small dice
2-3 Serrano's, chopped
1 oz garlic, chopped
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 Tb chimayo powder
1 tsp cumin powder
4 limes, juiced
Salt and pepper, to taste

Ceviche Base
3 mangos, medium dice
2 papayas, medium dice
1 red onion, medium dice
2 fresno chiles, small dice
1 jalapeno, small dice
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
2 limes, juiced
2 oz rice wine vinegar
2 oz olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

mix all ingredients in a bowl


On an entirely different note, here are some videos that the kids find inspiring. Mike Song is a pro at a dance style called "tutting." If you like this video, check out his choreography video on youtube.com

Ethan thinks "Flawless - Britains Got Talent" guys are amazing, and they are. You'll need to visit them on youtube.com to view their dancing.

Enjoy!