Got my Vivillion

 Yay! Took a while and I was way behind most other people, but I finally collected from the last region. Turns out I had enough friends (other players, not actual friends) from around the world to get most of them. Savanah and Sandstorm I was able to get relatively easily but the last one - Tundra - proved quite elusive. I had needed just one more for ages!

Another box ticked, wheee!

Making an offer

We've found another property and have made an offer on it. Fingers crossed!

We had a nice big property we'd been chasing for a few years (long story), it finally went to auction a few weeks ago but we were outbid. And of course my pet peeve, the reserve was higher than it should have been. Seems like such a waste of time to me - just come out and say what the seller wants for the property rather than running through the charade of an auction just to wrap it up with "reserve not met".

If we don't get it, we'll keep looking. If we do get it, we'll have a few busy weekends... for the next year or three.

Everything everywhere all at once

We tried watching this movie the other day, it's meant to be some you-beut aweseomsauce movie ... but we just couldn't get into it. Very muddled, hard to follow - not for us. Loads of people liked it (I believe it won a bunch of awards as well), but not our thing.

In a similar vein, a few weeks prior we watched the Queen biopic. I can honestly say I never thought about Freddy Mercury's name. Now that I've spent three seconds thinking about it, it is kind of obvious that it was a stage name. I didn't realise his ethnicity either - again, probably because I don't spend a lot of time thinking about celebrities.

The way I normally work is I'll like a specific song (or songs) from a band but not be a fan of their other stuff. No idea why, but I know some other people love bands and all their works. I'm not a fan of country music, but there are some specific country songs that I like.

Protein Ball experiment #1

 So, I made the first batch. Basically used the ingredients that I had on available:

• Sultanas, chopped up small. About two tablespoons worth of bits. Would have done more, but started chopping and kept going until I got bored.
• Cup of oats (I used quick oats, which are pre-chopped relatively fine. Rolled oats would be too chunky)
• 2 & 1/2 cups protein powder (started with two, added a bit more)
• About 1/2 cup of peanut butter
• About 2 tablespoons of honey

I found the ingredients mix was a bit dry in the bowl while I was mixing so I also added a sprinkle of water to help to ingredients mix. I made them late last night, made the balls and popped them in the fridge to firm up.

In the morning I tried one to see how it came out and found it to be a bit dry. Tasted ok, nothing to brag about. Mostly tasted of peanut butter and protein powder, couldn't even detect the sultanas. Not much pointing eating them when standing around, so next part of the experiment was to go out for a run and take some with me.

I put two into separate mini ziplock bags as I honestly expected them to collapse into powder and crumbly bits and loaded them into my off-brand camelbak along with a 2L water bladder and my bluetooth speaker for some tunes.

I had the first one at the 5km mark, and the second at around the 7.5km mark. The first one was easier to eat as I had stopped to take a Pokemon Go gym. The second one had been slightly squished out of shape but both had kept their structural integrity. When I ate the second one, I put the whole thing in my mouth - that was a mistake! Very dry, couldn't drink, made it hard to breathe. May need to make them smaller or make sure to take bites. Not sure how much having them along with me made a difference but I was able to do my 10k run in 1h 11min. A bit slow off my personal best of 1h 1min, but I also hadn't done a long run in around a year.

Changes for next batch: I want to try and work out a way to make it more moist. Maybe add butter? Less protein powder? Egg would give it more protein and make a good binding agent but would probably need to bake them a bit which would make them firmer. If I can make the base mix sticky, I can then coat the individual balls with desiccated coconut to stop them sticking to each other. I also want to add sugar, for that raw energy. And possibly a pinch of salt, since I tend to carry water instead of electrolytes when jogging. Would help on the longer runs.

Trying new protein powder

Last night I bought myself some Musashi protein powder. Tried to find the stuff that's really basic with as few additives as possible. Not a fan of pre-workout and other "energy" things with a long list of unclear ingredients.

Tried the first lot today after a 6.4km jog on the treadmill, see how I feel in the morning.

Goal complete!

 And one more makes 28 - nice!

First time ever making a post every day on this blog. A bit annoying that I did resort to making a few "forced" making a post for the sake of making a post posts. I didn't really have anything to say, but I said stuff anyway - not my style.

Happy to have set a goal and completed it, would be happier if I'd actually posted meaningful stuff each time. But at least I have one up for each day of the month.

Am I going to do it again? No, I dont see any advantage in trying to force more posts for the sake of making posts. I will be trying to post more, but mainly when I have something to share.

Powerball ideas

 To aid in post workout recovery (and as a snack), there are a bunch of different recipes for power balls - also known as sports balls or protein balls. Loads of places sell them, but I'm always a bit wary about what stuff companies put in them. Home made is more likely to be better, though not cheaper.

Most of the recipes that I've found use peanut butter as a main ingredient which sounds good to me. Adding some type of protein powder is good and will help with muscle recovery but not all protein powders are created equal and tend to be expensive. Egg is a simple substitute though then storage becomes an issue. Not much point eating something healthy that makes me really sick!

A common binding agent is butter, which would have similar refrigeration and short shelf life issues as the eggs. A bunch use coconut shavings on the outside as a way to stop them sticking together.

I might have a go at making some, if I can. Hunting around for a good recipe with ingredients I can afford and tastes halfway decent is proving a challenge.