The McGill Big 3

SquatUniversity has a Youtube short on The McGill Big 3 (HOW TO DO IT CORRECTLY).

 

Japan, housing crisis and deflation

NPR's Planet Money podcast has an episode on Japan's long term economic slump. The transcript can be found at: Japan had a vibrant economy. Then it fell into a slump for 30 years. The episode puts much of the blame down to the bursting of bubbles in stocks and real estates. People lost a lot of money or wealth, and so they stopped spending and Japan went into a recession. This then led to a banking crisis and sustained deflation.

The ABC's If You're Listening also has an episode on Japan:  How Japan opted out of a global housing crisis. This episode discusses the measures the Japanese government took to lower house prices after they became unavoidable.

I think the two are linked and there are potential lessons for other countries:

• Don't let your real estate prices get too high, keep them affordable. Focus especially on making it easy to increase urban density and reduce red tape around urban development.
  
• If prices do start getting too high, try to bring them under control. But, whatever you do, don't let them come down too much. You really need to avoid sustained deflation.
   

 

Hydrogen won't replace gas for domestic heating and cooking

In Why HYDROGEN for home heating is a REALLY DUMB idea Just Have a Think talks to Canadian petrochemical expert Paul Martin on why using hydrogen to replace gas for home heating and cooking does not make sense.

"Idiot" Chocolate Cake

FitGreenMind's "Idiot Cake". Ingredients are in the comments.

Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Parmisan

In This Grilled Cheese Hack Is a Game Changer thatdudecancook suggests dipping the bread in grated  parmesan cheese before adding to the pan.

The Difference Between Lo Mein and Chow Mein?

In The Easiest Lo Mein Noodles SoupedUpRecipes states the difference between Lo Mein and Chow Mein is the latter still has the heat on when the noodles are added to the wok. Chow means fried.

Squat Univeristy on the Perfect Push-Up

 Squat University on The Secret to PERFECT Push-Ups!

Two One Pot Sausage Recipes

Andy Cooks has 3 One Pot Meals That Don’t Suck.

I'm interested in the first and third.

Potato Kielbasa at 17 seconds.

Ingredients

• 400g (14 oz) smoked sausage, sliced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 10 medium red potatoes, diced
• 1 yellow capsicum (bell pepper), sliced
• 1 green capsicum (bell pepper), sliced
• 1 large brown onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 8 sprigs thyme, leaves picked
• salt and pepper to taste
• 500ml (2 cups) chicken stock
• parsley, to garnish

Red Beans, Sausage and Rice at 9 minutes nine seconds.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 500g (1.1 lbs) raw chorizo
• 1 red capsicum (bell pepper), diced
• 1 brown onion, diced
• 3 sticks celery, diced
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp cayenne
• 250g (1 ¼ cups) long grain rice
• 1L (4 cups) chicken stock
• 2 tins (400g/14 oz each) red kidney beans

Chicken, Chickpea and Yoghurt Wrap

 letsKWOOWK's Healthy Meals That Don't Suck

Ingredients

Chicken tenders

Za'atar

A little olive oil

Some lemon juice

Cook the above in a pan

Stir fry some chickpeas with a bunch of spices for a few minutes until crispy

Sauce:

Yoghurt

A squeeze of lemon

Garlic

A bunch of spices

Whisk together

Heat up a pita bread

Spread on the sauce, some chicken, the chickpeas, cucumbers, red cabbage (for crunch)

From one of the comments:

za'atar is thyme in arabic for those who don't know! its a blend of thyme, oregano, sumac and sesame seeds. tastes amazing

Healthy Apple Biscuit Recipe

 Home Cooking has Apple biscuits Without sugar, flour and eggs!!! In the oven or in the pan.

Ingredients

Oatmeal 1 cup (250 ml).
Apple puree 240 g.
Almonds 50 g.
Walnuts 50 g.
Dried Cranberries 50 g.
Raisins 50 g.
Olive oil 2 tablespoons.

Mosquito vs B-17

There's a story going around that the Mosquito could carry the same bomb load from England to Berlin as a B-17, and on long nights make two trips. It turns out the story is misleading: Could the Mosquito Really Replace the B-17?

 

 

Can't Live Without

I first heard this song in an advert for a new Fini apartment block in Subiaco and loved it. But I could never identify the singer. Well now I've found it. The song is Can't Live Without by Adam Skinner & Dan Skinner and Dave James featuring Roo Savill.

Spicy shiitake and cabbage udon

Danielle Alvarez’s spicy shiitake and cabbage udon

Dr Rhonda Patrick: vigorous exercise reverses heart aging and has anti-cancer effects

Dr Rhonda Patrick on the benefits of vigorous exercise, including reducing cancer mortality: This Type of Exercise Reverses Heart Aging, Lowers Blood Pressure, & Has Anti-Cancer Effects

SquatUniversity on hip mobility

SquatUniversity on improving hip mobility for a patient with pinching pain in the front of the hip: Her Hip Mobility is AMAZING

• Banded joint mobilisation in the pigeon pose
• Banded side plank clam shells holding each for 10 seconds

Another SquatUniversity video for a person with limited internal hip rotation: The SECRET to Fix Stiff Hips?

• Joint mobilisation with a band pulling laterally, driving across your body into even more internal hip rotation, trying to relax your hip as much as possible
• Increase hip mobility by squatting down and opening your hips for three seconds against a band then come back up

 

This person could only feel the glutes on one side when doing B-Stance RDLs: She Could Never FEEL HER GLUTES! The cause was limited mobility and stability in her hips.

• Increase stability with a side plank banded clam shell held for 10 seconds
• Open the hip before then hinging when doing the B-Stance RDL

Rigatoni and Ragu

 Danielle Alvarez has a recipe for Rigatoni with ‘embarrassingly simple’ sausage and red wine ragu.

Jamie Oliver's Sausage Gnocchi

 Jamie Oliver's Quick Sausage Gnocchi with Warm Winter Salad:

Aglio e olio

 Thomas G has a YouTube short: aglio e olio my favorite midnight pasta.

Season boiling water and add the pasta.
While the pasta is cooking, add oil to a pan.
Add finely sliced garlic to the pan and let it toast over medium heat with the chili flakes.
Once the pasta is done, drain it and add to the pan with a little bit of pasta water.
Stir to emulsify and then turn off the heat and finely chopped parsley.
Season to taste.

Ingredients.
1 pound pasta
Salt
1/3c extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp garlic
Chili pepper to taste
2 tablespoons parsley

Note, some people in the comments suggest adding a squeeze of lemon or even anchovies (how about capers?).

Another suggestion was to cook it in less water, so the water has a higher starch content.

Tortellini Soup

In the video short A hug in a bowl FitGreenMind makes Tortellini Soup.

 

 

Ingredients

Soup:
625ml veg stock
1 small carrot
1 clove garlic
1 small onion
1 sprig of thyme
1 sprig of rosemary
Tortellini
Juice of half a lemon
Pinch of salt
Pinch of sugar

Garnish:
Sun dried tomatoes
Parmesan
Basil

Method

Roughly chop and sauté the vegies in some oil with the thyme and rosemary
Add the veggie stock and a pinch of salt
Simmer for 30mins
Remove the herbs
Add carrot, onion, garlic and some of the broth to a blender.
Blend until creamy and add back to the saucepan.
Juice of 1/2 a lemon, juiced
A pinch of sugar
Salt if needed
1 serving tortellini
Add everything to the soup and cook until the tortellini are cooked (follow package instructions).
Serve with sun dried tomatoes, Parmesan and basil.

Noodles in 15 minutes (or more)

 FitGreenMind has a video You can have this in 15min using udon noodles.

Ingredients (I think):

Vegetables (e.g. cabbage, carrot, capsicum, garlic)

Spring onion (for garnish)

Udon noodles (stir fry type)

Sauce:

Tablespoon soy sauce

Tablespoon hoi sin sauce

Teapoon sugar

Teaspoon of vinegar

A pinch of salt

A pinch of MSG

Method

Saute the vegetables

Add cubed tofu (or other protein)

Add the cooked noodles

Add the sauce

Stir and serve