Faux Mash Potatoes

1 cup natural yogurt
1 can butter beans (Fiamma)
1/2 cup spring onions
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tbsp flaxseed oil
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp thyme or oregano

Drain butter beans. Put em in a bowl and squish the hell outta them. Once done, add yogurt and flaxseed oil to get texture. Add everything else after that. Mix well. Serves 2.

Salad: Spinach and Chicken

2 cups of spinach
1 cup of chicken strips
1 tbsp flaxseed oil
1/2 tsp garlic salt
2 tbsp french vinaigrette

Pour boiling water over spinach leafs till wilted. Drain the water. Add everything in. Mix. Simple and refreshing.

satisfied cravings...

The snack... Fresh!

I heart laidback weekends...

The king of em all...

Good chillout sesh with the bud on phryday night. Rather have the hang out nights than club the night away like I used to. Then there was the beer after the durians, which wasn't exactly the best idea in the world. But life's a gamble anyway and I'm glad I can still document it out here right now. Jam session wasn't too bad either! Fingers are a bit numb from the strings but it's all good fun and I really do love laidback weekends!

Hoping the roadtrip to Terengganu tomorrow will be sweet one! Expecting plenty of food rendezvous along the way, taking my time and enjoying the east coast weather. Dropping by Cherating for a beach walk sounds good too...

word.

Locale travel...

Though it obviously can't be compared to international travel, the experience is somewhat, still rather foreign for me. Perhaps I need more exposure to our local culture.. I frequent Perak and fell in love with one of their local kick-ass drink. The effects of Toddy (Indian coconut liquor) are quite subtle, and the high comes gradually. Some may not like the fermented smell, but it's usually masked with a bit of good ol' Guiness Stout. I get knocked down pretty easily with this drink and it helps with sleep throughout the long drive back. Of course, I'm not the one driving.

Toddy, Devil's milk...

Then there was the Sibu trip. Never knew how cool the Pasar Malam's there were (heard from Bel that it rocked) until I checked them out. It's a mixture of all sorts of fantastic local foods. Was brought to try out Sibu's famous Kompia (meat bun) and Kampua noodles by a friend and I was hooked. Thing is, Sibu is just a freakin 6-hour drive away from Miri and yet they've got their own special thing goin on there.

The old man called it Yu Chong Gao...

Porcine reminds me of Texas back in Miri...

Fuckin delish local yummies...

word.

La historia hasta ahora...

The latest addiction... squids!

Been having tonnes of squids for lunch! I'm a sucker for good sambal belacan and they're available everywhere here! Now, fried squids and sambal belacan combined, happens to be the best dish in the world! At least I think so...

And yes, I'm back... Need somewhere to let go of my rantings and adventures and where else better but here? Been up to plenty but I'm too lazy to recap. Prolly pictures will tell my story after this. Schedule for the upcoming weeks?

Capoeira. Finally going to be training capoeira with real capoeiristas... No more gingaing on my own! There's a demo happening this weekend in Petaling Jaya so I'll be headed there to check them out and join them next week hopefully. Looking to keep myself busy with training together with them every week. Their site.

While I'm in PJ for the capoeira demo, I won't be missing the chance to drop by the Pace Gallery. Bitumania, will showcase art paintings done with bitumen. Bitumen is the oily and black material (a.k.a tar...). It'd be the first exhibition in Malaysia of its kind! Pics will come up when I'm done. Lets hope they allow pictures...

Naked & Blanket - Not a porn series but rather an artistic exhibition featuring the contrasts between modern urban and rural areas... Rich vs poor. Capisce? Opening party of the exhibition will be at Findars Space on Saturday at 7.30pm. Once again, if they allow pics, it'll be up!

KLCC will be having an art appreciation series and I seem to have missed the first two parts of the series. Anyway, registered for the third and final workshop, Breaking New Ground, next Tuesday. Its sounds like a perfect place to chill while learning about contemporary art at the workshop (and just to wait out the traffic jam after office hours...)

Seems like there are tonnes of art exhibitions this few weeks... The rest I'm planning to check out but have yet to confirm. Then again, their times are flexible and I do have plenty of time so theres a really high chance that I'll be dropping in on all of them:

Michal Macku - Glass and Gellages

Cecilia and Noni's Exhibition

The Light Show

3D to 2D: Sculpture Studies

Very tempted to see what Stuart Hamm has in store for us this Saturday. But I'll be running around so many places I doubt I even have time to drop by the Panggung Bandaraya... It would be awesome to check out his bass skills tho. I'm no bassist but Cuban showed me a couple videos of the superbly mad bassists and it impressed me!

Also, not forgetting...

Hardcore training resumes next week...

=D

The New Program: Project Mass-Occur!

The new training plan this holiday is to bulk up and gain lean muscle mass. Thus, the name Project Mass-Occur! Like all bulking plans, adding a bit of bodyfat is inevitable. Unless I inject myself with plenty of hormones (aka roids), it is almost impossible (not fully impossible though) to add mass without gaining bodyfat increase. I'm down to 12-13% bodyfat. Not bad, considering I came from a high 25-26% when I first started training. The beauty of my lifestyle program is that its a long term plan and not just some short term plan to 'lose weight'.

Training will be hectic as I'll do plenty of high volume training coupled with cardio in a day. So recovery is crucial for me. Incorporating active recovery into my training as well. Active recovery is doing higher reps of really light weights to pump blood into the targetted muscle area a few days after the training day of that particular muscle group. For example, 2-3 days after training (high volume) the biceps, I do curls with super light weights which brings it to a point where it almost induces fatigue to pump blood with nutrients into the biceps.

Gotta up the protein too. But been having a lot of red wine lately! Dad got a whole box of them Stanley wine and sittin in the fridge, it makes an awesome after dinner dessert... damn. Apart from that, been eating out a lot. It takes a toll and I could really feel the difference it makes on training and to my recovery process. Recovery takes ages and I wake up feeling like shit everyday. Not good. Cleaning up my food intake and hopefully life will resume to normal in a couple of days.

Meanwhile, working on a fitness portal with plenty of info for ANYONE who is thinking of improving their health and lifestyle. Feel better about yourself and check us out! Launching beta in a month!

Filling in...

Contrary to what is being seen, lots have been happening but thanks to the finals, I wasn't able to fill in the blanks in this lonely blog of mine. From dinner to a pork haven to my performance in Labuan, to the Beer Appreciation Night (BAN) that happened last night. Here we go~

Dinner with the parents and the darling at Ho's Fine Foods

Grand Dorsett Hotel, Labuan. Nice big room.

Meditation and mentally getting myself prepared for the show

Mind rehearsal before my performance.

Met with Ian Wong on his trip back to Miri.

Mark (far end), Ian (in grey) and Lawrence (in red).

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Then there was the Beer Appreciation Night

(organized by Cuban over at his place)

Gala with beer bong. Overlooked by his caring sis...

Cuban with the beer bong.
Designed a training program for his Brisbane rugby tourney.
Hope all goes well.

Baptizing everyone with the almighty beer bong...

Just the tip of the iceberg...

Abored Chu Chang Yee...

Dinner with gramps...

werk werk...

Your defenses were on high

Your walls built deep inside

Yeah I'm a selfish bastard

But at least I'm not alone

Life's been hectic lately. I guess this is how it's supposed to be. Being in the final year and all. The units I'm taking aren't many but the workload is pure madness! Gotta juggle many projects and assignments. A good thing that happened is that I take pride in actually feeling responsible to start my work and do it. It's probably about time I took things seriously (after a couple of years!). Just can't afford to waste any more time studyin undergrad.

My intentions never change

What I wanted stays the same

And I know what I should do

it's time to set myself on fire

Training has been great so far, apart from the fact that leg training is slower than ever. Bel told me that my legs were losing plenty of mass and that scares me. Need to up the training for mass. I think I've hit a plateau of strength gains. My strength has been stagnant and it needs to be pushed. Next week a cheat week and super heavy weights to stimulate hypertrophy? We'll see about it. The gym's my breather and I got plenty of it today with super intense training. Lately training has been intense I'm guessing thanks to the plenty of stress studies and workloads that has been thrown to me. Gonna include a daily meal log from next post onwards.

Here we go again...

Limbang: Christopher's Wedding

The story so far...

Bel passed her driving test and finally got her license! Congrats darling! The drive to campus yesterday was 'educational'! :P

*****

Steph got into a car accident because of drunk driving. She wasn't the drunk one... Poor thing. You'll heal soon girl!

*****

Home alone ain't so bad. But getting broke real fast. Stocking up on food and cooking lots myself. The rabbits are getting damn annoying. They used to have four meals a day. Now its two. I just don't have the freakin time to rush back just to feed them! I wonder if Hunter can swallow them...

*****

Wormwood Studios reviving after 2 years of inactivity. Looking for freelance graphics designers, photographers, artists, to join the Wormwood Studios Creative Pool. Wormwood Studios is a visual graphics studio that doubles as an agency for freelance artists. We'll have clients, and members of the Creative Pool will get a chance to showcase their art through designing for them. By joining as a member in the Creative Pool, you'll earn money and experience! Email me at interiora_mortis@hotmail.com if interested.

Chocolates and paint!

Got these from Labuan!
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A short review on the foods...The chocolate liqueur was really sweet. I couldn't complain about it though because there wasn't any comparison to the taste. It was just unique. Bailey and Kahlua lovers would like it but other than that, there wasn't anything special about it. The fact that it is made out of 87% cocoa was the only thing that made me buy it. My parents love it though.

The 99% Cacao bar... Now that. The texture was perfect. Soft and smooth like it was the best chocolate ever. The taste however, was like cooking chocolate. No sugar and the bitterness was beyond anything I can bear. Because I bought it, and because I kinda 'recommended' it, I had to swallow the damn thing whole in front of my family just to convince them it was ok. Evil. I know. They knew it too. Right after they took a huge piece each... :P

Sent the dear to her piano exam yesterday. She was nervous about it but I was sure she'd do well. Being stressed by it and all, I was glad she took everything so well and despite the interferences during her practise time and pressures from many people. It also happened to be our 4th month together but it feels like we've known each other for so long. It was a really comforting thought to know that we're really open to each other and that makes us understand each other pretty well. What more can I ask for? Celebrated the monthasary at the new Halo Cafe. Food was great. Service was great. Environment was great.

Well, today was another day spent with Bel. Helped out in painting the 'treehouse'. The paint on the wall was badly peeling thanks to the next door neighbour who refused to paint their side of the wall. Water seeped into the cement and caused the peel. Had fun painting it though. It's been a while since I painted walls and it kinda feels refreshing in a way. Anyway, my car's signal lights were smashed badly by some motherfuckin morons. I had no idea how or who did it but it happened two nights ago when I was parked outside Bel's place. The neighbours opposite the house were hanging around outside at that time so I reckon I'll find out who did it through them. Unless they're the guilty ones...

Bel doing her part of the wall...