Category Archives: Exercise

Any exercise activity

The London Olympic Games 2012 opening ceremony, dinner with friends and pondering one’s mortality.

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Yesterday morning I woke and watched the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games (LOG2012) on television. Channel 9 in Australia has the broadcasting rights. In my personal opinion, Channel 9 doesn’t listen to viewer feedback. They won the rights to other programs like Top Gear from SBS and as a result that program has lost popularity and the sales of DVDs of the Top Gear series I imagine have gone up. Channel 9 was warned by loyal viewers and a strong fan base. Did they listen? No, they twitched too early when the ratings were not to their liking. Any fool could have told them it would not rate as well as they had hoped. It’s a program about cars hosted by three blokes who separately are not as funny as when they are together.

I thought the opening ceremony was fantastic and certainly better than anything we’ve seen in recent decades. As proud as I am to be Australian, the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympic Games (SOG2000) was a forerunner for the movie Australia. A ghastly waste of Australian tax payers’ hard earned money. The volunteers were fantastic, don’t get me wrong. I just don’t think the person in charge had any idea.

The highlights for me were the tribute to the National Health Service, the anthem sung by a choir and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. There were many other fantastic elements, not least the segment of Rowan Atkinson playing the character Mr Bean and the orchestra playing Chariots of Fire. The clip below is not from the LOG2012. It looks like many youtube users are rightly concerned with copyright.

[Please note I do not endorse and detest absolutely cigarette smoking. ]

I think it’s a wonderful thing that the British are so proud of their health service that they would integrate it into their opening ceremony and to focus on the Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) for Children. Having a nation and their government dedicated to ensuring every citizen has a right to a high standard of health care is a wonderful thing. It made me think of fabulous hospitals in Australia like the Royal Children’s Hospital in Brisbane (not the one in Victoria), the Princess Alexandra Hospital and the Royal Darwin Hospital.

I’ve ranted on social media plenty of times about the singing of national anthems. At important footy matches and other sporting events, all too often the organiser didn’t use his or her brain and selected a “talented” rising star or well known celebrity to mangle and screech or scream or simply add their stupid and ridiculous take on our anthem. In my opinion, the best way to respect with dignity the importance of our anthem and the anthem of other countries is to use a choir. At a footy match is could be a school choir from a local school, for something bigger it could be a professional children’s choir, and for the LOG2012 it was great to see and hear the voices of a group of singers. It was respectful. It was good.

There was a lot of speculation on who would light the Olympic cauldron. It was great seeing Sir Steve Redgrave take a prominent role towards the end, but what was better was seeing a group of young developing athletes each nominated by a former great of British sport light the thing. It was a nice touch seeing Muhammad Ali there given his role in 1980 in Atlanta. It made me think back to SOG2000. I thought it should have been Susie O’Neil but I’m in a minority there.

After a fairly quiet day Bron and I went to dinner with friends P and L. We’ve enjoyed many fine dinners with them before and their meals have featured in this blog.

Alaskan king crab with aioli

Last night we brought Alaskan King crab that we’d purchased from Costco and Bron made some aioli. For the main meal we had steamboat (hotpot) plus a tray of roasted pork belly. I was fortunate to have the tray of porcine heaven in front of me. There is little better than bite sized pieces of perfectly cooked belly pork along with an amazing dipping sauce.

The steamboat was really good. We had noodles, pork, chicken, beef, fish and prawns plus heaps of vegetables and mushrooms plus some great dipping sauces. L and I like a really hot chilli sauce while P is a big fan of plum sauce. There was also tofu. Bron and L tried to explain how good tofu is. How tofu absorbs flavours and can taste really great in a laksa. If I have a table of real meat and vegetables in front of me, I’m not deliberately going to choose tofu.

Mmm…roast pork belly. I love roasted pork belly.

The table laid out ready for dinner.

You can see in the net some lovely mushrooms.

Towards the end as all the meat and vegetables and yes tofu was coming to an end, we tipped everything into the now developing broth. P and L had laid the table with sipping cups like the ones we have hot chocolate in at Max Brenner. You know, the ones that look like toilet bowls. These are a fantastic idea for steamboat. At the end, when everything was cooked in the broth, we spooned out the final bits and pieces and from the sipping cup drank then best tasting oriental soup you’ll ever taste.

Doesn’t it look good.

This was amazing soup.

P has been continuing his exploration of the world of desserts. His journey is continuing (P understands why I wrote journey…private joke) and discovering new delights. Last night he made a baked cheesecake with coconut cream and topped with slices of pineapple. This was served with Zabaglione. This is the first time P has made it and the first time I’ve tried it. It was fantastic. P, L and Bron enjoyed it with a sticky dessert wine that had a 20 per cent alcohol content. Everyone was pretty happy when the coffee and walnut rocky road plus chocolate covered blueberries came out at the end.

Coconut cream cheesecake topped with pineapple and Zabaglione

Cheesecake and Zabaglione get in my belly now.

Bron also developed a canine crush on Bundy. Bundy belongs to P and L and is a pretty happy pooch.

Bron and Bundy on her lap.

Coffee and walnut rocky road and chocolate covered blueberries

I’m not sure if it was the amount of food and a late night or the week I’ve had at work, but I had some freaky dreams last night. There was lots of thinking about death and mortality. I watched someone die in my dreams and was asked to verify death. It made me think of late night ward call when I was a resident and being called to verify a patient’s death. I went for a walk with Bron this morning and started thinking again about how good it would be to plug my brain into a robot. I’m now at an age when I’m thinking about life and death more often. I’m witnessing my body go through the changes you hear about and learn about when you’re younger. Wouldn’t it be nice to simply plug your brain into a mechanical body and go and skip and jump and see things just like when you were a kid?

This afternoon instead of lunch we had an early afternoon tea and I had a lovely vanilla slice from Ricardo’s at Jamison.

Vanilla slice

My weekend in food while in Brisbane

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This weekend I visited my daughters in Brisbane. Miss14 was competing in the Queensland Women’s Artistic Gymnastics championships for 2012. It also included the trials for the state team to compete at the national titles in June in Sydney. Miss14 is Level 9. On Saturday she came third overall in Queensland. She freely admits her vault lets her down. Her routine is not as difficult as the others in the competition. When I asked why, she simply said she’s uncoordinated. That is the biggest understatement of her life. Compared to the rest of us in the family she’s amazing. So today as I was returning to Canberra Miss14 was competing to make a place in the Queensland team. She got in and received an award for her floor routine. I recorded her routine from yesterday which was ranked second.

On Friday I had lunch with some work mates and also some colleagues from another agency. We ate at the Hellenic Club. The Hellenic Club is a fantastic Canberra institution. It has a range of restaurants including a pretty good Chinese restaurant which is a nice touch for a Greek establishment. I love the Hellenic Club’s bistro. It does a really good steak with pepper sauce and chips (which is what I had) while others had chicken breast schnitzel or a roast dinner.

Hellenic Club's pepper steak (rib eye fillet) and chips (iPhone)

After a very squishy flight to Brisbane and then discovering I had rented a General Motors Barina (beep beep) I got to my parent’s place and enjoyed some time with the kids. Let me digress and discuss the rental car. I rent through Hertz and normally I get a small compact like a Toyota Yaris or Ford Focus. Both are good small manual transmission cars that I don’t find uncomfortable. I should declare that after Chrysler left Australia I switched my allegiance to Ford. For non-Australian readers, in the main, if you’re a bloke, you’re either Ford or Holden (GM). There’s not debate. The Barina, even if Ford produced it would have been and remains a lemon. For someone who is only 170 cm (short arsed), it’s hard to believe that leg room posed such a problem. I would NEVER purchase a General Motors Barina.

In the morning we had a light breakfast. By light I mean toast. I don’t mean warm bread either. I like toast that has a good amount of colour. Not burnt, but at least browned. I also like Vegemite. For non-Australians, Vegemite is a yeast extract and it is a salty dark paste the consistency of cream cheese. It is an acquired taste. If you don’t like it, that’s fine. I don’t get how some Australians go on and on about it. It’s good. Just don’t carry on about it.

Toast with a smear of Vegemite (iPhone)

For lunch I had a sausage roll and chips (no photograph). Most of the day was spent driving between Chermside, Clayfield and Chandler (Sleeman Sports Complex). The competition was at the Sleeman Sports Complex while Miss11 had to also train at Clayfield. I had Miss16 to keep me company :-)

I also had fudge that Miss14 had cooked the day before. This is GOOD fudge.

Fudge after a bite (iPhone)

Miss14′s competition ran late, very late. We didn’t leave until nearly 2000 AEST. When we got back to my parent’s place, Mum and Dad had cooked a roast dinner. We had roast chicken, stuffing, roast potato, roast sweet potato, roast pumpkin, broccoli and beans. Mum also made gravy from scratch. I love Mum’s roast chicken with gravy and stuffing.

Roast chicken (Nikon D90) Click on the image for a more detailed view.

May is a big month for birthdays in our family and it’s not clear if I can visit in May so Mum made a cake. Miss14 and Miss16 become Miss15 and Miss17 on the same day in May. I turn 47 in May. My Dad also has a birthday in May.

Birthday sponge cake with almond chocolate (iPhone)

This morning we were in a rush but that didn’t stop Mum cooking us some snags, scrambled eggs and mushrooms. Mums and Dads are like that and I love my Mum and Dad for being like that.

It doesn’t look all that flash but it tasted great.

Sausages, eggs and mushrooms for breakfast on a plastic picnic plate. Classy :-) (iPhone)

At the airport I sat in front of a container of macaroons. I will not say if I had any or not.

Macaroons (iPhone)

This afternoon after arriving back in Canberra I bought some baby spinach leaves, salmon and a tomato. Dinner was inspired by breakfast and I had the last of the very fresh free range eggs to cook. I cooked the scrambled eggs with cream, a pinch of sugar and a pinch of salt. I also added a little blue cheese for flavour.

Atlantic salmon and fresh free range eggs (Nikon D90) Click on the image for a more detailed view.

Look at how yellow and creamy the folds of egg are. They were amazing.

All in all it’s been a good weekend. Miss14 made the Queensland team. I hope Miss16 is watching the Brisbane Roar win the A-league soccer grand final tonight. Miss11 did an awesome job cheering today and being an all round great kid.

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I feel fat but I’m full of goodness from today

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I had two meals today. I know that’s not ideal but each was quite filling. Not as filling as yesterday’s but filling just the same. I woke up this morning without much of an appetite and then I remembered Bron was going to make Crème Brûlée French toast this morning and my appetite came back with a vengeance.

This recipe also calls for drunken strawberries which were really nice. we also elected to add some whipped cream from a can.

Crème Brûlée French toast naked

Adding whipped cream is fun

Crème Brûlée French toast with whipped cream from a can

Crème Brûlée French toast with cream and drunken strawberries

My second helping of Crème Brûlée French toast

I went for a decent walk this afternoon but I don’t know that I burned enough emergy :-)

Check out the walk at http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/74679324

This afternoon after a little ironing I started preparing dinner. I still had a piece of New York strip steak left and I thought it would make a nice Beef Wellington.

Beef Wellington is one of my favourite meals. It is so rich and unctuous especially when made with Pâté and mushroom Duxelles.

New york strip steak, butter, onion, prunes, mushrooms, and parsley

Laid out I have almost everything ready. New york strip steak, butter, onion, prunes, mushrooms, and parsley.

Browned steak resting and cooling

Browned steak resting and cooling until room temperature.

Duxelles being prepared. Onions sautéed with prunes, and mushrooms (The secret ingredient is anchovies)

Duxelles being prepared. Onions sautéed with prunes, and mushrooms (The secret ingredient is anchovies) You can’t taste them in the finished product but they add a richness to the dish.

Duxelles being prepared. Onions sautéed with prunes, mushrooms and parsley

Lots of parsley is required :-)

Nearly ready to prepare. Puff pastry laid out.

A sheet of Pampas puff pastry.

Steak coated with Pâté

The steak needs to be coated with Pâté.

Duxelles on the puff pastry

Cooled Duxelles in the puff pastry.

Beef on the pastry

Everything ready to be wrapped.

Wrapped and egg washed

The beef is wrapped and the pastry egg washed.

Plated up sans sauce

Plated up with carrots, asparagus and beans. Sauce to come.

With a pepper sauce

I love making pepper sauce with green pepper corns in brine.

On my dining table with a bottle of ginger beer

Plated up on my dining table with a bottle of ginger beer and my MacBook Air ready to eat.

After yesterday’s meal and with the steak and Pâté today I hope I don’t have a gout attack this week.

I really enjoyed making this meal and eating it.

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Kids, sport and injuries

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If you follow me on Twitter you’ll know that I’ve taken a few days off work to attend the 2011 Women’s Artistic Gymnastics National Club Championships at the Australian Institute of Sport Arena in Canberra this week. It’s the last time they’ll be be managed by ACT Gymnastics. Gymnastics Australia will manage them from next year. However, it seems they may keep on being staged in Canberra.

I’ve been tweeting the hash tags #WAGNatClubChampionships and #DeltaBrisbane I am pretty confident every entry will belong to me :-)

Two of my daughters are avid gymnasts. They previously trained at AIS and now are with Delta Gymnastics in Brisbane. Both have won performance (academic and sport) scholarships to a GPS school in Brisbane. They have talent. More importantly they love gymnastics. They love life.

Miss10 could not come to Canberra as part of the WAGL5 team. She has an elbow injury. She should be in the team and I know she’ll be disappointed. I would have loved for her to be here, she is such a delightful child. She is always smiling and encouraging others.

Miss14 is here as part of the Delta Brisbane WAGL8 team. She’s carried a number of injuries over a long period of time, she’s broken an elbow (avulsed medial epicondyle), she has bad knees and ankles and a strained back. Prior to this competition she strained her back again. Her mental toughness and determination is remarkable. I know she is in pain, yet during her routines she continues to smile and encourage others. After she’s finished an apparatus she reaches for her back and then lays down with a tennis ball under the sore area to massage it. I’ve seen her coach and the resident competition physiotherapist treat her after each apparatus to help her get to the next routine. As a parent, I sit in the stands and think about what she’s going through. I wonder if I should wander down and try to do something. I realise then that is more about me and my feelings rather than what is good for Miss14. She loves gymnastics. She has scars, they are her badges of honour. She is so strong. I love and worry about her mental toughness and determination. My mother says she reminds her of me as a kid. She says this in a positive way so I take it that way and hope Miss14 can apply the same level of determination to everything she does. Academically she’s bright, she excels at other sports, she knows what she wants. I only hope for her happiness. She tells me she wants to study physiotherapy and university. Miss10 on the other hand wants to be a surgeon.

In the end Miss14′s team came third overall. In previous years in previous teams they have come first. I ask if she’s happy. She beams and says yes. She knows her sore back has limited her. She understands, a place is a very good result. I am proud of her. I am proud of all three daughters.

Miss10′s team won all their events and won gold overall. They were a dominant force in that level. A Delta Force ha ha… I am sad that Miss10 could not be part of it. I wish she was here.

Delta Brisbane won Champion Club. This is well deserved. They are a fantastic club. Head coach and director, John Mitchell has a great philosophy to coaching.

I tend not to publish images of my daughters. I’m cautious about doing that. I will post some partial images and a couple of videos of the team cheering on their mates.

I’ve posted the videos to YouTube. I like the entrances when the gymnasts march on. They always looks so smart. If you look at the video on the entrance for the final presentation you’ll get a sense of the number of gymnasts who entered. Many of them had already left for their homes because it’s still school time. These are the top four or five gymnasts in each level from many of the clubs in Australia able to afford to send a team.

If you live in Brisbane and if your kids want to do gymnastics I highly recommend Delta Gymnastics. The coaches are wonderful. They have a fabulous outlook on life. They treat their charges well. They understand balance.

If you live in Darwin I recommend Gymnastics Metropolis. This is where Miss10 and Miss14 got their start.

Miss14 arriving Happiness

Miss14 and her medals

Miss14 departing Sadness

Cheering YouTube video

More cheering YouTube video

Entrance to the final presentation YouTube video

Presentation the to champion club YouTube video

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I’ve never seen myself swim

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So today I asked Miss14 to capture it on video.

It is so odd to look at myself swim.

Trying hard to lose weight

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I haven’t posted here for some days. I’ve had a lot on my mind and I’ve also taken an opportunity to focus on trying to lose some weight. I say opportunity because when I’m not at my happiest my appetite isn’t the best and it’s easier to manage smaller portion sizes.

I started using MyFitnessPal a couple of months ago although I wasn’t serious about it and lapsed after a few weeks. I have been more conscious of my weight though. When I arrived in Canberra I was around 75 kg and even then felt uncomfortable. I feel most comfortable at 73 kg. Anyway, since moving to Canberra I’ve ballooned out to 80 kg and have had to step up my wardrobe to match. I’ve even thrown out most of my ‘best weight’ clothes.

This last week I’ve been taking a stronger antihistamine to manage my allergic rhinitis (hay fever) early every night. I’ve found that to be a better way to cope with the grogginess in the mornings so I can get out of bed at 0500 AEDT and walk for around 35 minutes. A brisk 35 minute walk should burn close to 200 calories. I’ve also reduced my carbohydrate intake significantly (although I had a blow out last night). For breakfast I’ve either poached or lightly fried a couple of eggs and had an instant coffee. The protein load keeps me sated until lunch when I can have some Don Strasburg and Coon Tasty cheese. In the evenings I’ve focused on skinless chicken thigh meat, a small amount of pumpkin and sweet potato plus a good serving of boiled cabbage.

At the end of 2002 I was 100 kg. I visited my family in Brisbane and my younger brothers teased me at the beach by making whale song noises. I determined then that I would do something about my weight. I did a lot of reading around weight loss and decided quick results would allow me to get to a comfortable weight to start exercising. I chose the Atkins way of life. I did the induction phase and promptly had my first episode of gout. It was just as I had learnt in medical school. I started drinking more water and taking allopurinal. After the induction phase I was rapidly losing weight and after three months was down to 80 kg at which point I started walking twice a day for 30 minutes. I did have one more episode of gout, but since then I’ve been gout free. Later in 2003 I got down to 71 kg but that felt too light. I started eating some carbohydrates then and learned to titrate my intake to keep me at roughly 73kg. During that time I found cabbage to be a terrific way to feel sated and yet carbohydrate and calorie poor. Likewise sweet potato and pumpkin despite being quite sweet have a low GI Index.

I’ve recorded the walking activity on RunKeeper because I find tweeting after a walk a little more motivation. I know it’s a two edged sword. It’s showing off that I’ve done something. It also demonstrates I don’t do much and I could do more.

Lake Ginninderra

Water flowing at John Knight Memorial Park

So this week, I’ve found myself more comfortable in my skin. My clothes feel better and I feel less bloated being on the protein rich diet. In fact physically I feel much better. It’s helped that it’s getting warmer and we’ve had a bit of rain which meant it was more humid when I was walking. Despite being quite melancholy I found it helped me concentrate on eating less and exercising more.

So below is a selection of meals I’ve enjoyed this week.

Atlantic salmon, pumpkin and sweet potato mash with cabbage

Salmon and avocado lunch

Bacon, eggs, spinach and Chinese gooseberry breakfast

Bacon and cheese omelette

Chicken, bacon and cabbage

Rack of lamb and cabbage

Chicken, bacon and avocado

And so that has been my week in food.

An update

I got a pingback from http://thinkaboutdis.wordpress.com/2011/10/30/10-things-to-do-to-lose-weight/ and Shilpi mentions the benefits of spices. I like using a good amount of pepper and chilli flakes because they make relatively bland food more interesting. Rather than eating a lot, a smaller amount of spiced food feels enough.

A warm Sunday in Canberra

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I haven’t done any exercise this week. I’ve been lethargic and also suffering from hay fever. I wake up feeling groggy and very tired.

This morning I went for a walk to the Owl Statue and back. http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/57156858

It's a pity this owl doesn't dispense wisdom

After some scrambled eggs and a little house work I thought another walk was in order.

Scrambled eggs made with cream

As I was walking out the gate I came across a nice looking lizard which had lost its tail. http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/57176624 

Lizard sans tail

This afternoon I watched the V8 supercars go around the Gold Coast. It was good to see Ford win.

Tonight I cooked a small rack of lamb while I did my ironing. Sadly the pan got a little smoky and now my shirts smell of cooking oil. That isn’t a good thing.

Rack of lamb with cabbage, pumpkin and sweet potato

I rounded off the meal with a nice Kensington Pride mango.

Tonight I’m watching the Rugby World Cup. I’m torn. I really don’t like NZ that much nor am I a fan of the French team. The only reason I can think of to support a team is NZ for Brad Thorn because he was a mighty Brisbane Bronco and Queensland Maroon. A fantastic rugby league player. It is great he has reached the peak of the two great footy codes as a dual international for two different countries. A great achievement.

Today’s calorie effort is 1200 and I used 370 walking.

A broken gate and dinner tonight

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It’s been an interesting weekend. Yesterday I got on my bike and went for a ride http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/56216665

Last night I saw Real Steel http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0433035/ I enjoyed the movie. I’d recommend it to anyone.

This morning was cool and dry for this http://runkeeper.com/user/garydlum/activity/56327108

There was drama in the apartment block when it looks like someone clipped the gate controlling access to and from the car park.

The car park gate from inside

The rail has been pulled out of the concrete. There are broken bolts on the concrete.

This is a close up of the what has gone wrong.

Tonight I had a lamb fore quarter chop meal planned (again). Yeah, I know I do this regularly. It’s a great meal though when I want to watch television. This afternoon I watched Casey Stoner win the MotoGP at Phillip Island and the championship. Then I enjoyed watching the Kangaroos (Australia) play against the Kiwis (New Zealand) in today’s rugby league test match in Newcastle. It was good to watch Australia play well and win the game.

Vegetables sautéing

The meat was again cheap so I enjoyed buying it and preparing it.

Lamb fore quarter chops

I love mushrooms in a slowly cooked meal.

In the saucepan before the oven cooking

I also added some rice before plating up.

Ready to eat lamb fore quarter chops, rice and vegetables

Tonight I’m looking forward to watching the Wallabies (Australia) play against the All Blacks (New Zealand) in tonight’s Rugby World Cup semi final.