Two liquor classes heralded the final night of our Good Food Month smorgasbord. In Mezcal: “Tequila’s Hipster Cousin” Rachelle Lacroix-Malik explained to us the main differences between Mezcal and tequila (they come from the same plant but not same species and the process is different). We also talked about the history of this liquor, starting with the Mayans and pulque and we got two taste two different Mezcales: Anejo (old) and Joven (young). Also anejo tends to be a favourite, with a more smoky flavour, this time the class was equally divided!
Later, Jimmy introduced us to the world of Tequila, with a detailed tour of the process. from harvesting the agave, to steaming the leaves, to distilling, and finally to the finished product. Tastings abounded, with everyone getting to try the blanco, reposado and anejo varieties. We also found out about an annual competition to find the best jimador, or agave harvester. The speed at which the fastest jimadors can slice apart an agave is astounding!
If you’re going to learn ukulele in December, you may as well learn Ukulele via Christmas Carols. The ever-impressive Harry Harrison taught the basics to the tune of Jingle Bells, and festive cheer filled the air! Of course, we all will need a little more practice before we start our careers as professional uke-ers.
Yasemin Tanzirel brought her love for paper to Laneway Learning and mixed it with a dose of festive cheer in her class making Handmade Christmas Cards. After a brief round of introductions we picked out the colors, patterns and pictures that inspired us and set to making our cards.
In An Introduction to Poetry, Bridget teased apart the structure of poems. We learned about meter, such as iambic, trochaic, dactylic, anapaestic, pyrrhic, and other techniques such as enjambment. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
Simone Aleisch drew our attention a little to the north in Indonesia – Getting to Know the Neighbours. Some politics, some history, some culture, and plenty of discussion. A country so different form ours, and just across a small sea too!
Alisdair Horgen was back in The Little Mule with a round of Italiano in Italian for Travellers. We learnt about accommodation and transport, food and entertainment and spent a lot of time pairing up to practice our skills. There was even some mountaineering over and under tables and people gave directions out to lead their partner around The Mule.
The man of many talents Alisdair stuck around for another class, this time in Writing Your Own Training Program. This was training in terms of physical exercise and so whether the gym was our closest friend, or if we were terrified of stepping through the door we discussed how we can achieve our own personal goals. we talked about muscles groups, recovery time, compound exercises versus isolated ones and many more besides. Just in time for our New Year’s resolutions!