Les Allees De Cantemerle, 2009, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux

Property of Mr Flabby Less

Les Allees De Cantemerle, 2009, Haut-Medoc, Bordeaux

2nd wine of Chateau Cantemerle, which is a Fifth Growth. 61% Cabernet Sauvignon, 29% Merlot, and 10% Cabernet Franc. Even as a second wine, grapes were individually hand-sorted before fermentation and the wine spent 12 months in 20% new French oak before bottling.

Dark ruby-garnet in colour. Medium bodied. Short-medium finish. Pleasantly soft with decent structure. Tannins have rounded and pretty integrated. Loads of dark fruits character and nose- mainly blackberries, dark cherries and cassis. Tastes of rustic mushrooms, pencil graphite, tobacco leaf, cassis and dark berries. Worth cellaring a few years. 

Rolex Two Tone Oysterquartz 17013

Property of Mr Flabby Less

Rolex Two Tone Oysterquartz 17013

This is my very first Rolex and it can't get any better than this stylish looking vintage Rolex (released in the 1970s) that's no longer in production. I like the modern classic good looks! I especially love the open 6s and 9s and I look forward to wearing it on the 6th, 9th, 16th, 19th, 26th and 29th of the month!

Briefly, the Oysterquartz utilizes Rolex’s fine thermocompensated quartz movement placed inside a heavier than usual Oyster case and held to the wrist with a heavier than normal bracelet.  Although it's 36mm, it looks slightly larger due to the thicker casing. It actually sits pretty well on my wrist.

I had originally bought this for Wifey but even at the smallest wrist size, it was still too loose for her. So I gladly took it over as my pride and joy! :-) I typically wear this with work clothes or formal wear to exude a touch of class!

...I also wear this when I'm rushing and have no time to adjust my other automatic or manual-wound watches!!! :-PPP

What you absolutely need before bedtime...

What do you absolutely need before bedtime? Sex? Well, hell yeah! But this is equally important… ;-P

I’m talking about food. Yes, your last meal before going to bed (or before having sex!) *guffaw*

It is important to note that the right meal before you retire for the day can have a positive effect on your overall training result as this important meal helps your body recover from your exercise by feeding your muscles with quality nutrition as you sleep.

You have to be selective and not pick unhealthy food such as fast food or ice cream or roti canai or fried rice etc. Choose the right food based on the following general rules:

Rule #1: Avoid carbs and insulin

Consuming carbs will result in a significant insulin release. This will in turn put the breaks on fat burning. In addition, carbs are easily stored as fat in the evening hours when metabolism is naturally slowing in preparation for sleep.  Furthermore, you will definitely have very little opportunity to burn off that energy after consuming carbs at night as you don’t burn much calories when you are asleep.

So you’ll surely think, “that’s ok, I’ll just have protein”. Well, certain proteins such as red meat and fish have been shown to yield a significant insulin response as well.  While these proteins are generally acceptable for a pre-bed meal, there are better choices, like those mentioned below.

Rule #2: Choose slow digesting proteins 

Slow digesting proteins such as turkey and chicken meat are great pre-bedtime meal choices as they digest slowly and they don’t really produce a significant amount of insulin.

Another great choice is the milk protein casein found in some supplements and also in cottage cheese.  Casein has the ability to coat the stomach, digest slowly and provide quality nutrition to your muscles over several hours (time-released properties) and thus makes a perfect pre-bedtime meal!   

Rule #3: Add fat 

Before you cuss at me and ask me whether I’ve gone out of my mine, let me qualify myself…yes, add fat…but only quality and healthy fats such as nuts and nut butters that will help to further slow gastric emptying and digestion while increasing fullness and satiety.

Beautiful lavender

Lavender is doesn’t only have a beautiful purplish-blue colour but it’s also widely known as the healing herb.

The powerful healing abilities of lavender are derived from the chemical composition of this herb. You can freely and confidently use lavender to treat bites, burns, wounds, fatigue, depression, fatigue, cramps etc. Its wide variety of healing abilities makes it one of the most popular plants on the face of the earth.

Below are the 7 healing wonders of lavender:-

#1: Lavender is an antiseptic or disinfectant

#2: Lavender is an expectorant that helps soothe coughs

#3: Lavender is an analgesic that relieves headaches, pains, discomforts and tension

#4: Lavender is used in aromatherapy that has calming properties and induces sleep

#5: Lavender is a nervine that can gradually calm the nerves system

#6: Lavender is a cicatrizant that promotes natural healing

#7: Lavender is an antidepressant and helps to uplift mood

More benefits of red wine

You've probably read and heard that red wine can be a very healthy beverage (heck, I too have personally covered this a few times in my previous posts!). However, you most likely only read and heard about generic benefits of drinking red wine, i.e. the antioxidants and resveratrol.

These are other key reasons why drinking red wine in moderation (1-2 glasses per day max) can be a super healthy part of your diet:-

1. People who drank red wine moderately per day (only dry red wine and not the sugary dessert wine variant) had higher levels of beneficial bacteria in their gut and lower levels of pathogenic bad bacteria in their gut.  Harmony and balance in your gut is crucial to everything from your digestion, immunity, metabolism, skin health etc.

2. In addition to decreasing pathogenic bacteria in the gut, red wine consumption also has a prebiotic effect in the gut in that it supports the growth and colonies of healthy gut microbes, which ultimately protect and promote good health.

3. Red wine drinkers have lower levels of systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol, and CRP (C-reactive protein).  CRP is a measure of overall inflammation in your body, so it's great to see an association between red wine and reduced inflammation.

4. Red wine consumed with a meal can slow and moderate the blood sugar response you get from that meal.  This is yet another benefit to keeping your hormones balanced, controlling insulin levels, controlling appetite and staying lean!

You’ll not be able to derive any of the above benefits by drinking equivalent servings of another alcoholic beverage. This is because the benefits above are related to the polyphenols and resveratrol in red wine and not the alcohol content itself.

So go ahead and choose your favourite Cabernet, Merlot, Pinot Noir, Shiraz or any other dry red wine to pair with your meal! I know just which French red to open for my next meal… :-)