Just in case you were wondering....this is where pumpkin pies comes from! 

Oy!  I can't believe it's taken me this long to complete the last summer workshop sword form video.  Actually, it was done about 2 or 3 weeks ago, it was the parody video that I just finished today. 

Here's the how-to video I made for the 4th and final installment of the workshop.  Enjoy! 

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4r64vL09aeU

Here's the funny video I just completed today using some of the footage from all four of our workshops.  It never occurred to me until the last workshop that it would be neat to have something funny.  Of course, we were really getting silly on the last day, so, without further delay, I bring you a little 2 minute video called "Silly Sword Form."  The portion of the video that has music has footage that has been speed up (x 2).  

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M23yvBO4n8

Jet Li - "Hero"

Last month London hosted the 2009 Gymnastics World Championships and I just wanted to share some videos of some of the outstanding performances IMHO!  I would have prefered to use the NBC coverage but they're pretty good about having their videos removed on YouTube! 

Men's Individual Event Finals - Floor

Marian Dragulescu, 28 yrs old from Romania, has always been one of my favorite gymnasts.  I was actually very surprised to see him competing because he announced after the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games that he was going to retire.  It's a darn good thing he didn't because he ended up capturing the gold medal in this event last month!  Take a looksie at his routine (2 minutes, 8 second vid) that earned him the gold and note the really nice press handstand at around 50 seconds:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nBjf2gMSu0

You'll have to click on the YouTube link to see this video because of the way its embedded but do so...you won't be disappointed!

Men's Individual Event Finals - Vault

Once again Marian Dragulescu dominated this event winning yet another gold medal and this is why I love this guy:  both of his vaults are crazy hard.  The first vault is called a (wait for it.....) Dragulescu (double with a twist), his signature vault, and it's nearly flawless -- a little leg separation going onto the vault and in the air as well as just one little step back on the landing.  Oh, the skinny line on middle of the landing mat is for the women's vault and the men don't get deducted for landing off center of that line (however if they enter into the red zones on the edges of the mats, then the judges will start taking deductions!).

Marian's second vault looks like he's in a blender on puree.  He does a 1/2 onto the spring board, another 1/2 onto the vault table (Are you counting?  That's 360 degrees and he hasn't even done the actual vault yet!) and then does a 2 and 1/2 twisting vault!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s60NdcaSTow

You need only watch the first 3 minutes of this vid to see Marian.

Men's Individual Event Finals - High Bar

The most exciting men's gymnastics event -- the high bar.  There were some really great routines at worlds.  I want to show you something amazing, though.  USA gymnast Danell Leyva in his first World's on high bar does some pretty incredible stunts including a hop with a hand inversion during one of his giants!  Look for it at 55 seconds.  Then, he sticks his landing perfectly!  The guy on the sidelines doing a touchdown-type dance is his coach/dad.  Danell placed 4th and I hope he continues improving on high bar because he was such a delight to see!

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paW0fHhghnM&feature=related

Second place went to an incredible gymnast from the Netherlands, Epke Zonderland.  He was only .325 away from Zou Kai's gold medal score and was quite the high bar showman.  Zonderland is incredibly fast and with really good form despite a few form breaks (leg separations).  You gotta see this guy:

Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg6z8Zk1JyA

Unfortunately I didn't find any complete video of Zou Kai's gold medal performance on YouTube.  To recap, though, it was very similar to his 2008 Beijing Olympic gold medal routine.  The routine was loaded with connections which resulted in huge bonus points however it wasn't a real crowd pleasing routine like what I saw with Zonderland and Leyva or even Igor Cassini's routines (Cassini received the bronze medal).  But, there you go.  Hope you enjoyed my favorite highlights of the men's individual apparatus finals! 

As some of you read over in Jet Li's forum, I was blessed with a harvest of zucchinis this year.  I grew them because my aunt gave me this fantastic zucchini bread recipe and I wanted to bake several loaves to freeze so we could enjoy them throughout the fall and winter seasons.  I had enough zucchini to bake 10 loaves! 

Zucchini Bread - makes 2 loaves

3 eggs

1 cup oil (I use olive oil)

2 cups sugar

2 cups grated zucchini

1 teaspoon vanilla extract.

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup choped walnuts

Beat 3 eggs until light.   Add oil, sugar, grated zucchini, and vanilla extract and mix until blended. 

Add flour, salt, soda, cinnamon and baking powder.  Mix until well blended.  Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Lightly grease 2 loaf pans and pour the mixture evenly into each pan.  Bake for 1 hour at 325 degrees Farenheit (Note:  my oven bakes fast so my bread usually gets done 10 minutes sooner.  If in doubt about your oven, check the bread at 50 minutes by inserting a tooth pick.  If it comes out clean it's done!). 

Remove the pans from the oven and let them cool for 10 minutes.  Then, invert the each pan and cool each loaf on a rack.

For easier cutting, wrap the loaves in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator overnight.

It's gotta have butter!  Oh, yum! 

If you only want to do 1 loaf of zucchini bread, here's the conversion:

2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup grated zucchini, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, a heavy 1/4 cup chopped walnuts.