All posts by hannahviolin

I am a violinist. I also enjoy running, working out, reading, and hanging with my friends and cat.
Teaching

Pancake Wrist

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This week, in order to help me maintain my sanity (well, starting on Wednesday, after a horrendously negative attitude at the start of the week) I decided to focus on one technical problem that many of my class students share. 

Pancake wrist.

I don’t even know how that expression got started.  What does a collapsed left hand wrist have to do with a pancake? 

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I guess it’s because pancakes are floppy?  One of my students also invented “waffle wrist” in which your wrist bumps in and out of pancake wrist.  You know, because waffles are bumpy.

For those who aren’t violin teachers:  you are probably asking yourself, what IS pancake wrist?

Well, it’s NOT this:

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though that woman DOES have a pancake wrist cushion.

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That is an example of “pancake wrist”.

It should look more like this:

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In any case, we had a great time laughing about delicious breakfast food!  Perhaps next week I shall choose another technical issue to address in a funny breakfast manner.  Thoughts?

Random thoughts

Things I’m thankful for

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As a few of my posts lately have been negative, I wanted to post something more positive…

How about a list of things I am thankful for?  That always cheers me up.

I’m thankful for:

a warm house that I can make warmer if I want

a warm snuggly kitty

adorable students

my LEFT wrist doesn’t bother me

St. Louis Bread Company (that’s Panera to most of you) and their awesome “you pick two” combo

my kindle, chock full of awesome books (currently reading “The Year of Magical Thinking” by Joan Didion)

a loving boyfriend

being gainfully employed, from a variety of employers…

my awesome trainer who never fails to cheer me up AND kick my butt twice a week

getting to run outside in a race on Saturday..and supposedly it will be much warmer!

getting to play La Traviata next week

being able to email my thoughts to npr on their stories (yes, I did this today!)

Last but not least:  I’m thankful that February is nearly half over, which means March is nearby!!  And spring!!

Random thoughts

St Louis Streets Suck

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I decided tonight the true reason I’ve been so crabby the last week is that every time I leave my house I have to walk across sheets of ice to get to my car, and then drive down a block which is a sheet of ice, play “chicken” with oncoming traffic (because the grooves in the ice are down the middle of the street.)  And I wonder why I’m in a bad mood. 

I think it’s great that St. Louis doesn’t care about those of us who live on side streets.  Do I still have to pay my earnings tax since I get nothing from this?  It’s been a week since the storm.  I understand that main streets are more important, but how about coming to the small streets afterwards?  Oh, and homeowners and landlords—clean up the sidewalks in front of your house.  It’s been a week. 

Yeah, I’m pretty annoyed. 

Random thoughts

Winter Doldrums

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I have been in a crabby mood lately.  As you might have guessed based on my short, crabby blog entries.  I couldn’t figure out WHY exactly—

I finally figured it out—it’s the weather.  I’m SICK of the ice, snow, and cold…the ice that simply PILES up on the streets and doesn’t go anywhere due to the COLD.  I want to be able to freely move outside, and I can’t for risk of falling (and I do tend to fall a lot).  I want sun, and warmth, and sandals.

But this is winter, after all, and I don’t want to live in Florida or Arizona (I really don’t.)  So I need to just live with it.  And as far as all the students that are annoying me probably because they are also feeling crabby…for the same reasons that I am—I need to cut them some slack.  We are all in the same icy cold boat here.  I remember in the fall (and the beginning of January!) I was full of patience and hope…I need to try to regain that rather than simply counting down the days until summer. 

Do you experience the winter doldrums as well?  Do you have any suggestions for me?

Books

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

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Last year when the book was coming out, I heard several interviews on NPR with Rebecca Skloot and thought it sounded like a really interesting read.  But I generally read fiction…even though some of my favorite books have been non-fiction!  I finally got around to reading this book…and it was fantastic.  If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend you do so as soon as possible.  I spent several hours yesterday (during the super bowl…) reading the book, and I just couldn’t put it down.  It’s both well written and a fascinating subject matter. 

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And no, I did not watch the super bowl.  I decided to spend the evening relaxing and resting up, and of course finishing my book.  Now I’ve moved on to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which I realized is a very short book.  The one thing about the Kindle is that you don’t know how many pages a book is!  Once you get started it tells you what percentage you have read, so it’s easy to tell after a short time whether it is a long or short book, but you don’t know until you start. 

Food

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Chicken

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Last night’s dinner…it was delicious!  I should have taken a picture, but I was too eager to get started eating it.  And the recipe is from Cooking Light, so it’s not too bad for you.  I’m not sure about the sauce—it was tasty, but I don’t think I made it exactly right.  Oh well!  In any case, I highly recommend you try this recipe.

 

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Chicken from Cooking Light Magazine

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Resist the urge to turn the chicken before it’s time; otherwise you risk having the breading stick to the pan (mistake #12).

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 breast half and about 4 teaspoons sauce)

Ingredients

  • 1/2  cup  (2 ounces) crumbled blue cheese
  • 1  tablespoon  reduced-fat sour cream
  • 1  teaspoon  fresh lemon juice
  • 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
  • 4  (6-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
  • 1/4  cup  all-purpose flour
  • 2  tablespoons  2% reduced-fat milk
  • 1  large egg, lightly beaten
  • 1  cup  panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
  • 1 1/2  tablespoons  butter, divided
  • 6  tablespoons  finely chopped drained bottled roasted red bell peppers
  • 2  teaspoons  water
  • 1  teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce
  • 1  teaspoon  minced fresh garlic
  • 1/2  teaspoon  hot sauce

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff cheese mixture evenly into pockets.

3. Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Place panko in a shallow dish. Working with 1 chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, then dip in egg mixture; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken, flour, egg mixture, and panko.

4. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan; swirl until butter melts. Arrange chicken in pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over; place skillet in oven. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until done.

5. While chicken bakes, combine remaining 1 1/2 teaspoons butter, bell peppers, water, Worcestershire, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; cook until butter melts. Remove from heat, and stir in hot sauce. Serve sauce with chicken.