Irish Dance Classes

I wanted to give Irish dance a try, and decided to take some classes. I found 4 Irish dance schools in the Metro area, and decided to try Rince na Chroi based on their class location (Concordia University) and adult class time (Wednesdays at 7:30 PM). A series of 15 weekly classes cost $240.

As I was researching options, I was surprised to learn that our present notion of Irish dance is younger than I would have guessed.

While there is evidence of dancing among the ancient Celts and Druids, followed by the invading Normans in the 12th century, it wasn’t until the 18th century when Irish dancing developed the styles and formations we know today came about. In 1893 the Gaelic League was founded to promote and encourage Irish culture in Ireland, organizing formal competitions, lessons and rules for Irish dancing. In 1930 the Irish Dancing Commission was created to regulate Irish dance, and over the following decades it spread to the vast Irish diaspora around the world. The success of Riverdance, first shown in 1995, and more recently Lord of the Dance has placed Irish dance on the international stage.

The style is relatively formal and regimented, with little upper body movement, precise and quick foot movement and a strict number of steps to be completed. This was mostly because of the limited space performers would have had in the 18th and 19th centuries; small crowded rural pubs or barn dances didn’t allow much room for arm movement or for dancing around the floor. Each type of dance falls into one of two categories; soft shoe or hard shoe.

The instructors and participants at Rince na Chroi are very kind and welcoming-a great group of women. Many of the participants have been taking classes for years and clearly love it. The school puts on performances regularly, and as soon as our series of classes started in the fall, the class started to rehearse routines for a performance in February. Early on I elected not to participate in the performance, for two primary reasons:

• It became clear within the first two sessions that this was much more difficult to learn than I'd anticipated, and as the other participants had been dancing for some time I knew as a novice I would stand out and potentially detract from the performance

• The cost of the required performance costume was not insignificant, including:

1. Soft shoes ($50)
2. Hard shoes ($150) with buckles ($15)
3. Rince na Chroi adult custom-made dress and headband ($260)
4. Wig ($70, optional for adults, if you don't wear a wig you must curl your hair and wear it half up)
5. Pair of black dance trunks ($15)

I'm not a complete novice to dance- I took years of ballet as a girl, a semester of ballroom dance in college, and I regularly participate in kickboxing and other dance exercise classes. Even so, I'd underestimated the challenges of Irish dance. First, the timing is not what you're used to with most dance. I can't entirely explain it, other than to say it's syncopated- you leap and move on both upbeats and downbeats, and the timing is hard to figure out and execute. Secondly, it's challenging to make your body move with equal parts power and control, including big leaps without moving your upper body. The class teachers are patient and spent some extra time with me. That said, after the 15 week series I think I'll try something else on my bucket list. This is great exercise and fun, though, so I may decide to do more in the future.

Me with some of the awesome Irish dance gals

Homemade Low-Sugar Jam

My husband likes to have jam about 3 times per month. We'll buy a fairly expensive jar of low-sugar jam (it always seems to cost more than standard jam) and when he grabs it about 2 weeks since he's last used it it's moldy and he throws it out. It occurs to me part of the challenge is that low-sugar versions don't keep as long.

I decided to make my own, and store it in fairly small batches. We don't have access to a lot of good fresh fruit, especially in January, so I used frozen whole blueberries, letting them thaw a bit first.

I used Ball low-sugar pectin in a jar. The cost was quite reasonable.

 It has recipes on the pull-out label, and I doubled the recipe, so I started with 4 C. of blueberries. For liquid, I added 2/3 C of cranberry juice which I had on hand, and the lemon juice as called for, plus 3 Tbsp of the pectin.

 I brought the mixture to a boil and stirred and boiled for a while.

Before adding sugar

Then I added 1/2 C of sugar (half of what is recommended for the low-sugar recipe) and continued to boil for a minute. It thickened up nicely.

After adding sugar and boiling

I let it cool a bit, then scooped it into 8 oz jars, not quite to the top. We have a water bath canner, but I'm going to freeze these rather than can them since it's a fairly small amount. I tasted it, and it tastes quite good- the blueberry flavor really comes through.

Ready to eat

Cinnamon Rolls- 4 ways

My family are big fans of cinnamon rolls, so we've tried a number of recipes. Here are our favorites:
The classic yeast cinnamon roll I've been making for years is from a 1998 Ladies' Home Journal magazine:
Cinnamon Rolls
1 pkg yeast
1/4 C warm water (105 F. to 115 F.)
1 C milk
10 Tbsp butter, divided
1 C granulated sugar, divided
2 large eggs
5 to 5 1/2 C flour, divided
1 tsp salt
4 tsp cinnamon

Frosting:
1 1/2 C powdered sugar
1 Tbsp butter, softened
3 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch cinnamon

1. Sprinkle yeast over warm water, add a pinch of sugar, let stand 10 min. Heat milk and 6 Tbsp butter over medium heat until warm (105 to 115 F.) (butter may not melt completely).
2. Combine dissolved yeast, milk mixture, 1/2 C granulated sugar and eggs in large bowl. beat with a spoon until combined. Add 3 C flour and salt, beat until smooth. Stir in 2 C flour, 1 cup at a time, then knead dough 3 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if needed. Place dough in large greased bowl, cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, 1 1/2 hours.
3. Melt remaining butter. Combine 1/2 C granulated sugar with cinnamon in a cup.
4. Grease a 15" x 10" jelly roll pan. Punch down dough and roll out on a floured surface into a 20x14-inch rectangle. Brush with 2 Tbsp of melted butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar. Roll up from the long edge and pinch seam. Cut with a serrated knife into 18 slices, about 1 inch thick, arranging them in pan. Brush with remaining melted butter. Cover with wax paper and let rise until doubled, 45-60 minutes.
5. Heat oven to 350F. uncover rolls and bake 22-25 minutes until lightly browned. Cool 15 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, make frosting by beating powdered sugar and butter in mixer, then adding milk, vanilla and pinch cinnamon. Drizzle over rolls.
   

For a version using a biscuit-style dough that doesn't require yeast or a rise period, this Cooks Illustrated recipe is great:

Patting this dough out on a silicone mat makes for less stick and easier clean up.

Dough patted out

I added a little cardamom to the filling- halved filling amount from recipe

Rolls placed in cast iron skillet

After baking

This Ginger Cinnamon bun recipe from Penzey's is good:

I've also made a Cinnabon copy-cat recipe:

 Version of Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Dough
1 cup warm milk
2 eggs, room temperature
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 package yeast (1/4 ounce)

 Version of Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Filling
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

 Version of Spread for Cinnamon Roll Dough
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

 Version of Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Icing
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Version of Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll Recipe Instructions

Microwave the milk for 45 to 60 seconds. Then, dissolve yeast in warm milk in a large bowl. Add sugar, butter, salt, eggs, and flour. Mix well. Dust your hands lightly with flour and then hand knead the cinnamon roll dough into a large ball.

Put the ball of dough into a bowl that is sprayed with cooking spray.  Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for roughly 1 hour or until dough has doubled in size.  We turned the oven on and then put the cinnamon roll dough on top of the stove.  The heat generated caused the dough to rise.

Once your dough has risen, it’s time to move on to the next step.  In a new, small bowl, combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter.  Mix them well.  Spray a flat surface with cooking spray or sprinkled flour.  Roll out your dough ball into a 16″ x 21″ rectangle roughly 1/4 inches thick then spread a 1/4 cup of softened butter on the dough.  Next, sprinkle the rolled, buttered dough evenly with the sugar/cinnamon/butter mixture you prepared in your small bowl.

Roll up the dough starting with the longer side and cut into fourteen (14) cinnamon rolls (or more smaller rolls, if you prefer). Place the cinnamon rolls in a lightly greased 11″ x 15″ pan. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and let the cinnamon rolls rise until nearly doubled, which should take around 30 minutes.  

Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.  Once your cinnamon rolls have risen, bake them in the preheated oven until golden brown, approximately 18 to 20 minutes (we used a professional General Electric gas-range oven at 20 minutes exactly).  The dough should still be soft, though fully cooked, especially toward the center of the rolls.

As your cinnamon rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, and salt for the Cinnabon cinnamon roll icing.  The icing should be spread on your cinnamon rolls when they are still warm, shortly after being taken out of the oven so that the frosting melts into the cinnamon rolls.  This is reportedly part of the official Cinnabon process according to some of the employees.

When the cinnamon rolls are still warm, serve, and enjoy!

Cinnabon copy cat version

Another batch of the biscuit-style