monday workout

Deadlifts with 135lbs x5

Squats with two 12kg kettlebells x10

Presses with two 12kg kettlebells x10

Windmills with an 8kg kettlebell x10

Push-ups x10

Adobe MAX

Going to industry conferences is really inspiring... I should definitely try to go more. I guess I had gotten into kind of a funk about learning new stuff on my own. I'm probably going to sign up for lynda.com. I really want to learn more about user interface, interaction design, and graphic design too. Right now I don't have enough confidence in those areas to really push my point of view.

thursday night workout

5 sets of 10 reps using the barbell:

- deadlift
- row
- clean
- squat
- press

5 reps using these rolling dumbbell things:
- one arm
- other arm
- both arms

monday night workout

Repeated twice:

5x - Deadlifts, at first 50lbs + barbell, then 70lbs + barbell
5x - One-handed presses, each side, with a 12kg kettlebell
5x - Assisted pistols on the Smith machine, each side
5x - Assisted pull-ups on the Smith machine (first time one-legged; second time cross-legged), each side
5x - Push-ups
20x - Double-handed swings with a 16kg kettlebell

Lastly 15 rollouts on the ab wheel.

Thursday night's workout

laddered sets of 10 kettlebell swings:
8kg -> 12kg -> 16kg -> 20kg (omg 44lbs!!!) -> 16kg -> 12kg -> 8kg

10 assisted pull-ups on one leg
10 inchworm push-ups
10 chair pistols on each leg

Repeat all that again, but with the kettlebell swings going:
20kg -> 16kg -> 12kg -> 8kg -> 12kg -> 16kg -> 20kg

and the assisted pull-ups on the other leg

Monday night's workout

Three sets:

- 10 single-handed swings on each side (16kg kettlebell)
- 10 kettlebell squats (single 16kg kettlebell)
- 10 single-handed presses (12kg kettlebell)
- 10 reverse rows on the Smith machine
- 10 kettlebell lunges each side (passing the kettlebell between the legs)
- 10 push-ups

late night cooking

Late night cooking = bad idea. Especially when it's something I haven't made before. I had been meaning to make some Chinese pan-fried chive dumplings for a while now. Apparently for too long as the chives I bought were partially rotting. I had to go through each stalk, not just to wash them, but to pick off any slimy rotted portions. This took a LOT longer than expected. I started at 10:30pm but did not finish until 2am.

This was the recipe I followed: Stuffed Pancakes with Garlic Chives

The dough calls for boiling water. Why? I don't know. I didn't have any pork on hand so mine only had vermicelli, egg, and chives as filling. The second most time consuming part was wrapping the damn things. When a recipe calls for 1 lb of flour for a dough that then needs to be divided into small chunks to wrap things with, that should be a clue to either cut the recipe in half or not start it at 10:30pm.

Silly me, I made the entire portion of dough and separated it into 16 balls. I continuously wrapped until 2am, by which time my back and legs hurt. I couldn't even try one because Lawrence didn't want me to fry them up that late at night. Instead I got up extra early this morning to fry some up. I made them last night so that I could bring them for lunch so I better have some for lunch.

I was a little bit skeptical because the chives & vermicelli were not cooked before wrapping but they steamed up nicely inside the dumplings while they were being pan fried. It actually turned out pretty good, but I think I'll try cooking the next batch at a medium-high heat instead of full on high. I think the outsides got too dark before the dough could fully cook. However, the one I ate seemed cooked through so I don't know if it's even an issue.

Three pan-fried chive dumplings + 3 slices pan-fried turnip cake with sweet chili sauce = nom nom lunch!