#3: You should learn how to walk before.. Seriously, learn how to walk.

[Nuala]

Nuala was walking restlessly in her small apartment. She failed the guild, she really did. She has been side tracked from the guild orders and couldn't achieve all her goals. She failed and failure means death.

The silence in the street was daunting, the moon was hidden, a perfect night to assassinate someone, Nuala knew that too well.

"Cowardice won't save me", Nuala thought. She knew way too well that she would not be able to escape the guild wrath. Taking a deep breath, she decided to face her (probably really short) destiny. She opened the shutter, stared at the darkness and step back slowly. Just one little step. The expected arrow arrived just a few seconds later, missing her head from less than one centimetre.

Nuala froze, expecting a second arrow, one who will not miss her that time, but that arrow never came. Puzzled, she turned her back from the window to check the arrow and the guild message. A message, but why? She was waiting for death, not new orders.

Greeting assassin,

Even if you have failed most of our previous order, your activity and dedication in the war makes us give you a second chance. Don't waste it and learn from your mistakes...

Nuala browsed the letter quickly, not believing in her luck. She was still alive and she still had the guild support! She was feeling indeed really lucky.

OOC:

I kinda messed up the previous challenge, too much pride not enough thoughts, I failed most of my fitness goals. I'll do better this time!

Fitness goal #1: Push!.

I hate push-ups, I really do but I can't let a challenge like the century push pass. We will all suffers, we will all cry but it will be fun! I don't think it would be realistic to aim to 100 push-ups so my goal will be to keep on working this goal 3 times a week minimum and participate on the thread enough to make sure that nobody will give up due to lack of cheering. We're all in that together!

Grade A: 100 push-ups [+3 STR, +2 STA]

Fitness goal #2: Squat!

One of the goal of my previous challenge was a pistol squat. It was a really stupid goal to choose, I can't even squat correctly! From the mobility WOD website, I summon

Yes, this is my goal: to do a 10 minutes squat. For now I can last... 2 seconds at best.

Grade A: 10 minutes ATG squats with close knees [+1 DEX, +2 STA]

Grade B: 10 minutes ATG squats with wide knees

Grade C: 10 minutes squats

Grade D: 8 + minutes squats

Grade E: 5+ minutes squats

Grade F: Less than 5 minutes squats

Fitness goal #3: Split!

I have always dreamed of being flexible but even at my best (I was 8 ) I could never do a front split. Not even close. For this challenge I will follow this routine: http://www.unique-bodyweight-exercises.com/splits.html that will hopefully get me closer to my goal.

This goal will be separated in several chunks:

- Every Sunday/Monday: I will write the program of the week so that it will be easier for me to follow. The website is kinda verbose and my English not that good.

- Follow the program closely. No excuse.

- Go as closer as a front split as possible

Grade A: Doing all of above [DEX +3, CON +1]

Life goal: Write!

I like cooking and internet is an awesome resource for recipe, but I often forget dishes I like, or lost the links to my favourite recipe. So I want to write my own recipe book in a "Level up your cooking" style. If I can do something readable in English, I will send a copy to Milythael ^^

[CHA +2, WIS +1]

[Siferiax]

Life goal: Write!

I like cooking and internet is an awesome resource for recipe, but I often forget dishes I like, or lost the links to my favourite recipe. So I want to write my own recipe book in a "Level up your cooking" style. If I can do something readable in English, I will send a copy to Milythael ^^

[CHA +2, WIS +1]

I wanna snatch that cookbook from you

Good luck this challenge!!! Keep it up! We don't want the assassins to kill you

[milythael]

I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it. And I want, I want, I want ... your cookbook.

[Siferiax]

I'm so excited. And I just can't hide it. And I want, I want, I want ... your cookbook.

I... I just can't top that... I'll just go along

[Nuala]

Ok, ok. I'll write 3 cookbooks then. One for Mily, one for Kibcy and one for me

[Siferiax]

Hooray!!! you're the best!

[Gobnait]

Gonna yoink your flexibility link to see if it helps me too.

You can yoink some of the foods I write down in my thread if it helps you with ideas.

[Ocelot]

ooh the suspense in your post was brilliant. I was frightened on your behalf! Glad your fears didn't come true and you are back to assassinate another day!

I'm totally going to join the century pushup thing now... thanks for the inspiration :]

Best of luck and fair winds for this challenge!!

[Nuala]

I promised Kibcy earlier to write a more detailed ratatouille recipe, and of course it will be in my cookbook, so I might as well put it here too. I'll try to write down in this thread 3 recipe/week as a training to write recipe in English as I'm not at ease with its the cooking terms. You'll notice a small change in the photo album with the normal recipe. Apparently I forgot to buy zucchini when I did my shopping yesterday, so I used a cucumber instead. :facepalm:

Partially C/P from a previous message:

Ratatouille

Ingredients:

4 small/medium zucchini

1 medium eggplant

1 pepper-bell (colour to your taste. I usually use a red one which is softer than the green)

1 big onion

2 tomatoes

1 clove of garlic

Seasoning: herbes de provence (thyme, rosemary...) or Salt and pepper or parsley

Olive oil.

This proportions makes a lot of ratatouille. I usually divide it by 2 for 2 people.

Level 1: The easy morning ratatouille ready in 20 minutes

The longest part is washing/cutting the veggies. But nothing that a good knife can do!

Put some water in your pressure cooker

In the metal steamer basket put in that order:

- the zucchini cut in slices. No need to peel them, just make sure they were well washed.

- The eggplant peeled and cut in small dices

- The pepper-bell cut in strips or or small squares

- The onion cut in dices

- The tomatoes cut in round slices

- Sprinkle with the garlic cut in tiny dices and the herbs of Provence (if you have some), salt and pepper. Don't use parsley at that moment.

Put the water in the pressure cooker to a boil, then add the basket and close it. When the pressure is high, cook for 3-4 minutes. More if you like your veggies really soft.

When the pressure is down, add some olive oil, the fresh parsley and eat!

/!\ updated /!\ Level 2: I have some guests at home and 2 hours.

Check the whole photo album:

Cut the onions. You could either use spring onion, both the white and the green can be used. Just cut the extremities and then slice it.

If you use a standard onion, just cut it in half with the skin removed. Cut each half vertically, then perpendiculary to make some dices.

In a big pot, cook your onions with a little olive oil on medium-low heat. You don't want your onions to burn so stir frequently. When they are transparent, add the tomatoes diced. Cook at medium heat so that the tomatoes melts.

Add the bell-pepper sliced, the eggplant peeled and diced.

The eggplant tends to act like a sponge, if you used some juicy tomatoes, the eggplants will absorb their water, if the whole mixture at that moment looks a little dry, you can add a little water. Starting this point, you will have to use a lid to cover your pan and mix frequently.

Cut the zucchini in slices and add them to the mixture. Add some garlic minced.

Cover and let all the vegetables cook slowly (the slower the better) together low-medium heat, don't forget to stir from time to time. If your mixture is too dry, add water, if it's too moist remove the lid when the zucchini are almost cooked.

When the zucchini are soft enough to your taste (all the other vegetables will be cooked at that point). Season, add a little olive oil for extra shine and serve.

In this version, we cook everything together so that every vegetables takes the taste of the other. The slow cooking is essential so that the aroma mix well together. Thing is, some vegetables will be more cooked than the other. Hence the level 3 version.

Level 3: I'm a ratatouille maniac! So I cook everything separately!

Make a tomato sauce with the onion, the tomatoes, the garlic and the herbs. Reserve

Cook the zucchini in a pan with some olive oil. Reserve.

Roast your pepper-bell in the oven so that its skin is burned and easy to remove. Slice and dice. Reserve.

Do the same with the eggplant. Reserve.

In a large serving dish, mix all the ingredients together with some olive oil and the seasoning. Serve.

This isn't a difficult dish. As long as you know how to cut your vegetables, you're almost done. The nice thing with this dish, is that it can be transformed really easily.

Transformation #1: The ratatouille pie:

Back an unsweetened tart fond. The dough has to be cooked but only lightly brown.

Drained the ratatouille of its water.

Mix with an egg

Cover the dough with the mixture

Cover with cheese

Bake until cheese is melted

Transformation #2: The ratatouille curry:

Drain the ratatouille from its water.

Optional: cook some chicken meat in the pan with a little oil.

Re-heat it with some coconut milk and curry

Transformation #3: the egg mixture curry

Drain the ratatouille from its water.

Dice it in small pieces

Beat some eggs in a recipient then add the ratatouille

Put the mixture in a loaf pan

Cook 20-30 minutes 180°C

And probably many other

[Gobnait]

Mmmm, I like the level 2 mixture, but thrown into a glass cakepan and roasted all together. Good over pasta or nice crusty bread.

[Nuala]

This combination of vegetables works well with everything! Too bad it's almost the end of the season for most of them.

And here is my schedule for the week:

Monday:

Gym: 45 minutes

Push-ups: 14 - 18- 14 - 14 - 20+

Plank: 2 minutes 30 seconds minimum

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

Tuesday:

5 Sets of pull-up minimum 2 pullup/set, rest between sets: at will.

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

Wednesday:

Gym: 45 minutes

Push-ups: 20 - 25- 15 - 15 - 25+

Plank: 2 minutes 30 seconds minimum

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

Thursday:

5 Sets of pull-up minimum 2 pullup/set, rest between sets: at will.

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

Friday:

Gym: 45 minutes

Push-ups: 22 - 30 - 20 - 20 - 28+

Plank: 2 minutes 30 seconds minimum

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

Saturday:

5 Sets of pull-up minimum 2 pullup/set, rest between sets: at will.

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

Sunday:

Bouldering: 2 hours

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

So stretching and squats every day. Alternance of pushups and pullups. Gym is mostly use to wake up in the morning, no fixed schedule for it, it's bonus exercises.

[Erick the Red]

Great goals. Good level of detail. Your English is fine - I have taught English as a second language, and yours is as good as many native English internet dwellers!

[Brometheus]

I love the goals...this challenge looks like all sorts of awesome.

And on the mobilitywod squat? Just do it. I got up...4 or 5 times to quickly stretch the first time. Every time I give it up for a couple months...well, I do the same thing. But eventually it's second nature!

[Siferiax]

NUALA!!!! -hugs- All the tears!! Thanks a lot for the recipe. Totally going to try making it again

And looks like you have a nice schedule planned out for yourself!! Good luck on completing it!!

[cammocat@gmail.com]

Love your challenges, and recipes! Definitely going to try that.

I am positive you are going to dominate this challenge.

[Hammlin]

Nuala, I love your week breakdown already! You're going to do so awesome!

[Nuala]

Thanks everyone! I'll do my best not to disappoint you!

Today's summary:

Gym: 45 minutes, I ran for 10 minutes then spent some time on the machine dip and doing some stretching.

Push-ups: 14 - 18- 14 - 14 - 24 Cf century pushup challenge

Plank: 2 minutes 45 seconds

Slit training:

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

I thought it would be the easy part, I was wrong, soooo wrong. Every single one of this exercice is a torture. Of course I'm not going up to the pain but still it's not feeling nice at all. My legs are really not willing to stretch. This will be a really difficult challenge.

Resting squat: Did one minute it was difficult to keep my balance. I think my legs will hurts like hell tomorrow :S

[inara]

Those are some great goals Nuala!

That stretch program gets pretty intense, let me know how it goes! (I'm also trying to get the splits )

And I love that you're posting recipes here, keep 'em coming!

[Siferiax]

"No pain, no gain" apparently.

Sounds like you're off to a nice start. Keep it up!

[ysabet]

Love the recipe, Nuala! And that stretch program is ... wordy. If you need a hand with it, just let me know

[Matthijs]

Hi Nuala, great progress. Keep up the hard work!

[Siferiax]

AH! More Dutch people! Hooray! -high five-

[Nuala]

Kibcy, you should hang out with us on IRC during the day Euroland-NF represent! And while I think about it, Give me your 3DS friend code! Well, if you want anyway

Anyway, it was to be expected: my legs aren't happy with me today. Like not at all. Well, dear legs, you'll have to learn how to deal with it! The arms survived to 30 days of pushups, you will survive daily stretching!

Program of the day:

5 Sets of pull-up minimum 2 pullup/set, rest between sets: at will.

Plank

Split training:

Toe touch*3

Supine Hamstring Stretch*3

Deep lunge 30 seconds max

Zenkutsu karate stance 30 seconds max

Standing quadriceps stand 30 seconds max

Front split 30 seconds max

Resting squat: 1 minute minimum in one or more session

Most of it will be done tonight, plank can at least be done while I'm at work.

[Siferiax]

Kibcy, you should hang out with us on IRC during the day Euroland-NF represent! And while I think about it, Give me your 3DS friend code! Well, if you want anyway

I have no idea how that works... or rather if that even works on this computer! Explain it to me!

And I will!!! When I have my 3DS and can give it to you

[cammocat@gmail.com]

Ugh, I know what you mean with split stretches. The. Worst.

You sound like you are doing awesome though. You will definitely have to get a photo of your mad awesome splits for us by the end of this.