Saturday, July 08, 2006


oregano or no?

so lately i've been re-reading a classic tome of southern italian cooking by carlo middione, a book best known perhaps for its wonderful regional wine advice as well as its recipes. he devotes much space to overlooked and interesting cuisine of sardinia, as well as giving one of the few home recipes for carta di musica bread.

in his book he discusses an eternal question: does authentic neapolitan pizza sauce contain basil alone? or does it include oregano?

as i was enjoying an intelligentsia black cat cappuccino and comparing its tastes to my usual batdorf dancing goat cappa -- they are very different coffees in roast level alone -- and pondering signore middione's disquisition, i realized it was nearly time for yoga.

this month my regular saturday yoga class is being subbed by a student of dharma mittra's from greece, one yiannis. usually i fear subs, but yiannis is a good teacher who gives nice adjustments, which i think is largely due to the high quality of dharma's strict teacher training program.

some people find yiannis' accent a bit tough at first, but after just a few minutes, it's not a problem. and he is really quite a strong teacher.

all dharma classes seem to feature a lot of backbending -- i think that's just dharma's style. in hot summer weather like this, it's not ususally a problem, altho' in the stiffness of winter i sometimes want to say, ok, enough!

and yiannis' class is no exception. on the plus side, yiannis has found a nice balance between encouraging people to try poses that they fear are difficult without pressuring students into them.

most importantly, yiannis is not afraid to say something i think teachers should repeat nearly every single class: "you are the only judge of your own yoga, but you shouldn't let your preconceptions limit you too much. be playful and try the preparation."

see what i mean? yiannis is inspiring, but not bullying or prescriptive.

i do look forward to his classes, no doubt! (and on the oregano, carlo argues yes. so i added some to my sauce today.)

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