The final piece of our Downton Abbey party is here…the curried egg salad sandwiches! This one is the one I got most creative (aka deviated from the recipe found here: The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook, Revised Edition: From Lady Mary’s Crab Canapes to Daisy’s Mousse au Chocolat–More Than 150 Recipes from Upstairs and Downstairs (Unofficial Cookbook)
2007 was a huge year for me. I graduated high school, entered college, and started a quick transition from being more than an athlete that grew up in a gym. While I loved Arnold in my youth (mostly thanks to Conan the Barbarian), I was instantly attracted to Muscle Magazines that featured him. With the challenges of being a college student, I wanted something more lifestyle based and to make a long story short, I became a monthly subscriber to Men’s Health. I think I’ve received every issue since 2007 in the mail and while it’s hard to continue to crank out new material, they do so in a way that attracts your average Joe that wants to make a change.
I’m going to give you my highlights on the magazine released the month before the new release. For example, September is now on sale, so I’m going to share what sparked my interest in the July/August issue. I don’t want to take any business away from them, but this might help you highlight some of the really unique material being released. After nearly a decade of subscription, I’ve seen a lot of recycled material, so for the first time, here you are.
Did a mini road trip (60 miles) to run up the miles in order to get our car fixed
Collaborations and remixes reign in this month’s top 10 list—with all but one of the tracks being credited to multiple artists. In the mix, you’ll find an unlikely pairing between country superstar Brad Paisley and pop siren Demi Lovato. Equally unusual is a club cut featuring Bright Light Bright Light and Sir Elton John. Lastly, there’s a Top 40 hit featuring festival giants Major Lazer, Danish songstress MØ, and Justin Bieber.
On the remix front, you’ll find an ode to weekend featuring Flo Rida and Jason Derulo and an uptempo version of the rap anthem “All the Way Up.” In addition, there’s a song that Alan Walker released as in instrumental dance cut in 2014, which was re-released with vocals in 2015, and is back on the charts in 2016—after being reworked by Tungevaag & Raaban. For all of these tunes and more, check out the full top 10 list—according to the votes logged on workout music site Run Hundred.
Switching up your workouts is key for surpassing plateaus, getting stronger, and better at the physical activity you do. The body is constantly trying to find homeostasis and when you make a routine that you follow daily, weekly, monthly, etc., it’s not as hard for your body to reach towards homeostasis. However, if you throw your body curveballs by doing different workouts, you’ll be doing muscle confusion. For example, my week looks something like this: rest, boxing, muay thai, home circuit, traditional strength training, and hiking. I’m getting hard workouts in, but they are different. My body doesn’t have a chance to get used to any exercise because I’m pushing it to do different movements to challenge strength, speed, flexibility, and more. We wanted to share an awesome infographic brought you by Ghergich and Clubwoodside. Enjoy below:
Do cross training stay hungry and fit!
There’s no food quite like Cucumber Sandwiches to make you feel like you’re having a proper tea time (except, perhaps, tea). They’re dainty, delicate, mild, but better yet, delicious. They want to make you drink tea, lift your pinkie, and wear a fancy hat. To go along with our Downton Abbey themed get-together where we also had raspberry meringue pie, a summer salad, and egg curry sandwiches, we of course had to feature cucumber sandwiches! I took this recipe right from the The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook: From Lady Mary’s Crab Canapes to Mrs. Patmore’s Christmas Pudding – More Than 150 Recipes from Upstairs and Downstairs (Unofficial Cookbook)
Started the weekend off with a Friday evening drink at Curtis Stone’s new restaurant
Please enjoy a guest post from James McDuffy of Muscle Growth Expert.
Experts seem to be adamant that working out in the morning is probably the best part of the day to do so. Not only do morning workouts incinerate body fat much quicker, they also get the blood flowing, so you’re ready for what the day has in store for you. In reality, all this is a bit of a Utopian dream because many people and I include myself in this bracket…HATE MORNING WORKOUTS! The moment my alarm clock starts going berserk, the torment begins…that noise seems louder than it actually is, ringing through my ears like there’s no tomorrow. Quite often this leaves me in a bad mood if I’m honest. Quite often, it’s the girlfriend who tells me I’m in a grumpy mood, because I don’t realize it myself.
In actual fact, things don’t necessarily have to start out this way. The long and short of it is…how you start the day pretty much sets the precedent for the rest of the day, and this can include what you eat and how effectively you work out. If you get out on the wrong side of the bed, you’re increasing the chances of raiding the fridge and reaching for all the comfort foods you can, followed by a rushed half- assed gym session because you’re running late! Just to reiterate, a bad morning usually means a terrible day! To avoid being an ogre in the mornings, there are steps you can take to get your mojo back so your:
A few simple steps that take no longer than a few short minutes are suffice for all of the above. So here goes…
Recently, I had a Downton Abbey get-together with a few friends. I’ve been watching with one friend who has just started because I love the series so much, I don’t mind to watch it all again! And because I recently got the Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook, I wanted to turn a simple Downton Abbey viewing into a food-included party! There were a few things on the menu: cucumber sandwiches, egg salad tea sandwiches, a beautiful salad, tea (of course), and raspberry meringue pie. The others will be coming as a recipe to Hungry and Fit soon, but for now, let’s start with the Raspberry Meringue Pie.
This pie has a wonderful tartness that comes from pure beautiful raspberries co-mingled with the small meringue atop it. I’m really not a fan of super sweet pies, so the tart ones are my favorite (see: my mum’s rhubarb pie). I shouldn’t say exactly how much of this pie I ate, but it was more than one serving. This pie brings the dessert to you without all the sugar-y sweetness you’ll find in most pies. I had a lot of help from Jamie (our resident guest chef) on this one. Let’s dig in.
For the vast majority of my life, there have been two times of the year where I’m showered in more gifts than I need, deserve, and usually even want. While I’m extremely grateful for all the time and money other people have put into this over the past six or seven years, my focus has shifted to having less stuff. Growing up, we always wanted more… more video games, more basketball jerseys, more Pokemon cards, Beanie Babies, stickers, etc. Whether it’s been the effort of moving every year since 2007 (yes… I’ve moved every summer since 2007 either from one room to another or across the country) or just a change in overall mindset, I want less.
Example of way too many presents (that we are very grateful for)
