Hooray for me! After 3 days this week, I’m officially re-certified in Occupational First Aid, CPR, and the use of the AED (Automated External Defibrillator. I have a new breathing mask, and am up to date on the latest 30:2 breathing ratios.
On a side note- anyone ever notice that Mr.Body the CPR dummy is always a hairless male? There’s never any females…. I wonder why… (I’m kidding, of course!)
In the last few weeks, I’ve enrolled in the complete bartending course at the Dublin Bar Academy. It’s a 3 week intensive course, designed to teach us everything about being an expert bartender. This includes 30 + cocktails; cocktail flair; history of all the different spirits and how they’re made; master class including tastings for whisky, tequila/mescale, over 30 different liquors, coffee barista, as well as tasting all the cocktails that we are making. There are exams every day and then a comprehensive exam and a practical behind the bar (double and triple orders) exam which involves making 10 cocktails in under 10 minutes. There are also visits to Guinness and Jamesons for a behind-the-scenes bit of information. It gave me a new appreciation for the knowledge that a bartender has to have – as well as those that are making my drinks. I took the course using up 3 weeks of last year’s vacation. It meant being up early – and into the city most days by 8:00 AM. I found it a real challenge – because I’d done nothing like it before – but also because it was so different it was absolutely enjoyable. I am looking forward to putting my newly gained skills to use – either at a bar or in a party at some point.
Now, what would my blog be without a few pictures from what we learned…
Practicing the double order pour.
In addition to time behind the bar (6 stations) practicing cocktail making, free pouring, and learning about cocktail flair (essentially juggling bottles), we had to spend plenty of time hitting the books to study (seriously I’m 3 weeks behind in TV!).
We had many master classes. They ranged from a Whisky day (including trip to Jamesons), to Tequila and Mescale, Italian Grippa, a complete range of liquor tasting (30 different types of spirits from fruit, to herbal, to egg/milk/bean), to a day at the Guinness Brewery, and also time learning to be a certified coffee barista.
Oh – and if you ever wondered what a 600 Euro bottle of Patron Tequila (from our master class on Tequila) looks like – it is a thing beauty.
In the end, we had a 3.5 hour written exam and a practical exam which we had to make 10 cocktails in under 10 minutes out of double / triple orders. My time? 10 minutes and 30 seconds. My overall grade – I found out for the class was a 91%, which I’m super pleased.
What’s your favorite cocktail? Do tell! As a certified bartender / barista – I’d love to get the chance to make it for you!
Since late last year, I’ve been taking some dance classes in a style called Ceroc. It’s been a great opportunity to meet a few people, learn to dance, and have a fun evening out that’s not sitting at home!
As can only be expected, the dance class is mostly women, but we have a good few men in the class who are learning as well. I’m surprised at the ages of the different classes – I’ve seen people from about 20 all the way up to their 60’s learning to dance. I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s because of shows like “Dancing with the Stars” and “Strictly Come Dancing” that some people are in the class – but I have to say whatever the reason, its been fun to dance with multiple partners – and even more so, to have partners that actually WANT to dance and are enjoying themselves too.
So, you ask me, what is Ceroc?
Well, it’s a male led dance that is a combination of modern swing, jive, salsa, and merengue. It also has steps from the Tango and Rhumba, but not necessarily all the complex footwork. It’s fairly easy to learn – and in a single class, you learn enough moves for most guys to actually “look” like you know what you’re doing on the dance floor. 🙂 Oh – and the best part? It can be danced to almost any type of music you want. There’s over 250 steps by the time you make it through the highest level advanced levels – with the beginners learning about 18 or so in the first 6 weeks. They’re done in any combination (as led by the man) and it’s always a treat to see the different styles of the people on the floor – in combination.
I don’t have any videos or pictures of myself dancing (I’ll see what I can do), but I can give you a few samples, thanks to youtube. The one at the top of the page is an intro to one of the mid-level classes, and the one below is as well. The bottom one is a guy teaching some modern jive – but he also teaches ceroc – and you get an idea of how the steps are introduced.
Now, anyone want to dance?