A Recipe for Candied Yams

Finally there's a reason to celebrate Thanksgiving: my recent discovery earlier this month of Candied Yam at the NPC Nationals Bodybuilding Championships in Miami, Florida.

After an exhaustive web search, all I can make out is that "Candied Yam" is actually one Jeff Long. He competed in the heavy weight class (for lads weighing from 198.50 to 225.25 pounds), and placed 16th (along with 20 other guys - which effectively means he didn't place, only the top 15 are ranked).

Now don't go confusing this Jeff with the other Jeff Long, the nationally ranked (albeit 89th) African American bodybuilder who earned his pro card as a middleweight at the Nationals back in 1995 (Graphic Muscle did).

So that, sadly for the moment, seems to be all there is... so until Candied Yam competes again, enjoy these festive pix!

Alternatively, since yams are a traditional part of the Thanksgiving feast, here's the actual recipe that I'll be trying out this Turkey Day (thank you Essie):

Carmen's Candied Yams

Ingredients:
2 cans canned yams
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup crushed pecans
2 cans evaporated milk
marshmallows to cover

In a large pot, mash the candied yams together with the butter, the evaporated milk and the brown sugar. Finally mix in the pecans and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer the mixture to a casserole dish and top off with the marshmallows.

Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes or until the marshmallows begin to brown.

Spoon onto warmed plates, serve immediately, and remember to give thanks for all those "Candied Yams."

What the Frack!

Battlestar Galactic will be moving to Sunday nights when it returns to the airwaves in January (after it's Christmas hiatus). It'll still be on the Sci-Fi Channel at 10pm (and not on NBC as many rumoured), but no longer paired with those other now classic Sci-Friday shows Doctor Who and Stargate SG-1. Instead its lead in will be the new show based on Jim Butcher's best-selling novels, The Dresden Files, about a detective with Harry Potter-esq. abilities (i.e. he’s a wizard).

In it’s new timeslot Battlestar will be facing off against the stiff competition of ABC's Brothers & Sisters (And yes, I jest! Anyone’s who’s watched Sally Field and Calista Flockhart go at it as mother and daughter know the show will barely make it to the end of the season).

For more on the whys and wherefores of this move, click here.

I’m really just glad that Apollo, aka Jamie Bamber (recently featured in People’s 2006 Sexiest Man Alive issue), is no longer wearing the fat suit and is thin again!

Bad, Bad Drugs!

During the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Canadian Ben Johnson beat American "Golden Boy" Carl Lewis to the gold in the 100 meters sprint, the games' premiere event, only to be disqualified three days later when traces of stanozolol (Winstrol) were found in his urine. Johnson admitted to his steroid use, his records were deleted from the books, and he was suspended from the sport.

After a successful pro football career from 1971 to 1985, LA Raiders defensive lineman Lyle Alzado was the first American Football player to admit to the use of anabolic steroids after he had been diagnosed with brain cancer. He claimed that his steroid abuse had caused the disease. Alzado died in 1992 at only 43.

According to Bryant Gumbel and his HBO Real Sports team, these two incidences were the catalysts that made steroid usage the #1 menace that it is today.

In 2000, the writers of the book, The Adonis Complex, claimed that steroid usage can result in serious mood swings, nothing more. In grown men the only side effects ever officially attributed to steroids are acne, breast tenderness, hair loss and an increase in badcholesterol. There have been no long terms studies, and no definitive deaths linked to steroid use.



Before the 1988 Olympics Carl Lewis tested positive three times for banned substances (pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine).

Alzado's own doctors announced that there was no known connection between the cancer and the steroid usage.

Both the DEA and AMA were resistant to administration insistence that steroids become controlled substances.

Hmmmmm!

The Battle of South Beach: The Results

I'm know you've all been waiting with baited breathe for this past weekend's NPC Nationals Bodybuilding Championship results, so here are bodybuilding's new IFBB pros:

Bantemweight: Randy Jackson, Sr.
Lightweight: Henderson Gordon
Welterweight: Abiu Feliz
Middleweight: Garrett Allin
Light Heavyweight: Stan McQuay
Heavyweight: Lionel Brown
Super Heavyweight & Overall: Desmond Miller

As you see, only one of my three "predictions" came to any fruition, with "pretty boy" Stan taking the light heavies. Stan's win was a controversial one however, as again at the Nationals the judges decisions seemed at odds with the will of the crowd. Runner up Charles Dixon was thought by many, but obviously not the judges, to be the clear winner, coming in bigger, harder and more separated. Now in this case both lads have, arguably, paid their dues, but Stan certainly has the more appealing physique, especially when it comes to attracting a broader, more mainstream audience (and is therefore much more lucrative for the supplement company which ultimately sponsors him). Interesting!

Evan Centopani, many a critics pick for the Overall, instead took second to Desmond Miller in the super heavies. At 5'11" and 245 lbs Evan is one big 24 year old with a great future in the sport. Did he deserve to win the Overall? I think not. The guy certainly needs to work on his legs and could add even more mass to his already massive physique. Should he have beaten Miller? Maybe, at least from the pix I saw (though I know real-time viewing can give one a whole different perspective). Next time Evan, next time!

But I ask you to look at the pictures, didn't the 5'5" 170 plus pounds 42 year old middleweight Garrett Allin actually steal the show? The guy was as thick as shit (and you can't beat a good bald head).

Do the heavies and super heavies always have to win the big prize?

And sadly, no word yet on Candied Yam!

2006 NPC Nationals Weigh In

This weekend the 2006 NPC National Bodybuilding (and Fitness) Championships are being held in Miami Beach, Florida.

The Nationals are arguably the most prestigious amateur bodybuilding contest of the year since the winners of each weight class earn their IFBB pro cards (unlike the USA where only the Overall and a select runner up earn their pro status).

Now you may recall my chitter-chatter about the Nationals last year, when one of my favs, "Mighty" Mike Ergas, was criminally beat out of first place in the heavyweight class, thereby being robbed of his pro card (which he finally did win however at this year's USA). Let's hope there's not a similar judging misstep this time around.

To be honest I've not read too much about this year's competition on the boards. I know pretty boy Stan McQuay is one of the favorites for the Light Heavies (having bulked up from a Middleweight in previous shows). And I do believe that Evan Centopani, the "out of the blue" winner of the Super Heavies and the Overall at the 2006 Juniors, has been getting some good press. I've always be a fan of Seb Zona (formerly know here as "Warm Earth," a color which also happens to be my new bathroom color). Seb has paid his dues over the years and is currently looking pretty damn sick (which is a good thing)!

The weigh in was tonight (hence the pix, thanks Bill Comstock now of Muscular Development), prejudging is tomorrow at 5:30pm, followed by the finals at 7pm on Saturday evening, when the top 15 in each class take to the stage and posedown.

Thats a long weekend of fine tuning and fine tanning, so good luck lads, and may the freakiest, most shredded physiques win!

The Actress & My Nemesis

It's been almost a year now since I left The Farm, and though I haven't kept in touch with the guys liked I hoped too, I still miss them. In the three or so months I worked there, Lilas, Nat, Vic, Paul, et al. made my transition to LA much, much smoother.

One person I always meant to write about, but never got round to (because I suddenly up and quit) was Mary Kate (not Olsen) Shellhardt. You might just remember Mary Kate from such flicks as Apollo 13, What's Eating Gilbert Grape or most especially, Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home. Yes, big movies!

I seemingly mention Mary Kate out of the blue like this because we ran into each other this weekend, waiting for the gym to open (more of that later). We worked together only a couple of times, but one shift we got chatting. Mary Kate explained to me the difficulties of trying to get back into the business after taking time off to get her BFA. Numerous excursions to the Charmed casting couch yielded nothing. Even though she had had prominent roles in big movies she couldn't drop the "child star" thing, and still looking quite so cherubic, even in her twenties, didn't help either. Since we parted ways Mary Kate has had guest spots in Scrubs and NBC's summer show Windfall (no I didn't watch that either), and has a new movie, Mr. Blue Sky, in post production.

With things finally looking up, maybe she'll get to pull Leonardo's hair once more!

Anyway, so we're at the gym ready for it to open at 8am on Saturday morning - along with the two dozen or so other freaks desperate to get their workouts in. Now, I have an excuse, I had to work at 10am (yes, on a Saturday), so Joe and I had a chest routine to get through. But what of these other crazies? Are they that obsessive that they have to be knocking on the gym door at 7:45am? On a Saturday?

And who was waiting there in the crowd? None other than my brand new arch-nemesis! One of the NFBs (No Fat Boys) from Gold's who has since followed me to Arclight. If I worked out at 11, there he was. If I waited until 2, so did he. And now there he is at 8am, primed for his morning pump. And did I mention he has NO FAT (which makes his head look big, but I digress)?

So why is he my arch-nemesis? He just is! Like the good folks on NBC's Heroes, everyone needs a nemesis, they'll make you stronger... and maybe just a tad more neurotic!

Steve Namat - 2006 Border States Champ!

This past weekend, at the Cook Auditorium in Anaheim, former 2004 Hungarian champion Steve Namat took home the overall trophy at this year's 2006 Border States NPC Bodybuilding Classic.

Steve swept the Light Heavy class (with guys ranging from 176 to 198 pounds), the largest of the weight classes that evening. Just earlier in the year, Steve was all swole up to a massive 240 or so pounds, especially massive for only a 5'7" 23 year old.

Known in his native tongue as Németh István, Steve was crowned the Hungarian Champion at 21, weighing in at a svelt 180, but even then he showed great promise with his conditioning, cuts and symmetry.

The Border States Classic, another of top bodybuilding promotor Jon Lindsay's shows (his next being the NPC Exclaibur in Culver City this December), is a "National Qualifying Event," meaning that winners qualify for inclusion in the big amateur shows, the Nationals and the USAs, which may earn them their pro cards (a la Mike Ergas). Steve, or rather István, being a European is sadly ineligible for these shows. He is going to have to go back to Europe to earn his pro status. And it'll happen!

With this recent States-side win, reaction to Steve on the boards has varied from "future pro" to just "another midget on steroids." Along with fellow young foreigner James "Flex" Lewis (fondly known here as Sienna Buff), it is my belief that Steve is certainly going to be a future force to be reckoned with in the sport!