Self Care – Porcupine Tree Plays Linton Samuel Dawson

(Quick note: this video is made to be trippy… lots of colors and such. The flashing is minimal here, but still… just be careful if you’re sensitive to this kind of thing…)

Since my last post talked about LSD and the music inspired by it, here’s one I thought y’all would enjoy, and get a kick out of. This was recorded back when Porcupine Tree was just Steven Wilson. And yes, that’s him singing; just with some added effects to his voice.

The video is not official at all. It’s just… well… it fits with the theme of the song, if there even is one…

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Self Care – Great Guitar Solos: Jimi Hendrix Plays Third Stone from the Sun

(Obviously, this has gone up an hour early, as this series is being incorporated into my Self Care series. The others will go up at the normal 12 pm time, but still as part of my Self Care series for the foreseeable future.)

Story time!

I’m a huge fan of psychedelic and experimental rock. I’m also, incidentally, fascinated by LSD, and while I haven’t tried it yet, I hope to one day. Since I am fascinated by LSD, I’m constantly on the look-out for music clearly inspired by it. And finding such music is, of course, very easy. So many genres, songs, and even full albums to choose from (I mean… we’ve all heard Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour… right?).

One day, it occurred to me that writing a musical soundtrack to an LSD trip would be awesome. Of course it’s been done before, but this one would serve a specific purpose: envelope a trip with positive, major-key music to keep it happy, while expounding upon the wonders of the universe, allowing the person or people taking the trip to fly through the Cosmos, spurred on by guitar, keyboards, drums, bass, atmosphere, and many different scientists to visit the very birth of our universe and, eventually, the birth of us… and the cosmic tourists would come back home, enlightened, happy and content. So obviously it would have to last as long as a trip does, which means I won’t finish this until I go on a trip myself… it’ll be as long as mine lasts.

In looking for a spark of creativity short of LSD itself, I kept coming back to this Jimi Hendrix song. Something about it fascinates me. I’m sometimes surprised by how many people I know, including Hendrix fans, who find this overly-long, meandering, and boring, but I guess that’s the kind of thing I love. And it inspired the first part for my LSD suite, tentatively titled The Heven Suite.

So here it is… the amazing Third Stone from the Sun…

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Self Care – Emerson, Lake, and Palmer Play Karn Evil 9 (YouTube Video)

Since Mondays are Great Guitar Solos day on this blog, today’s Self Care theme is music.

I’ve already highlighted a bit of this in my GGS series here (1st Impression, Part 2). So now, I want to share the entire suite with you. It’s a masterclass in Progressive Rock, and is just incredible to listen to. Karn Evil 9 is made up of 3 Impressions, and the 1st Impression is split up into two parts.

I was hoping to bring y’all a live performance, but, sadly, I can’t find a full live cut of the song with video; I can only find audio. And the point of posting a live cut would be for y’all to watch the musical mastery of Keith Emerson, Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer. Since I couldn’t find that, here’s audio of the full studio version, from the album called Brain Salad Surgery. Since there’s no video here, you can just listen.

It’s a full 29 minutes and 39 seconds long.

Self Care – Best Vegan Mac & Cheese Recipe (YouTube Video)

It’s time to prep a midnight snack, although you may want to make sure you’re either alone, everyone is awake, or whoever you’re with is a HEAVY sleeper, as it requires a blender.

This is definitely a comfort food.

Now, I made this earlier in January while my parents were in Las Vegas (yes, I currently live with my parents; I’m barely making enough money to cover my car and health insurance payments; I definitely can’t afford rent). I didn’t have the nutritional yeast, so used a little almond milk. I can’t say exactly how much because I basically added to taste, and it was very little because the bulk of the liquid came from the broth. It was delicious, but I do want to try it with the nutritional yeast.

I haven’t made it for my parents yet, though… my dad especially likes to make “I’m a meatatarian” jokes, so it’ll be interesting to see what he thinks of it…

Self Care – Portobello Cheesteak Recipe ~ Brown Vegan (YouTube Video)

Dinner time!

So, it needs to be said that I am in love with mushrooms. Mushrooms make me so happy. I know not everyone likes them, for taste and/or other reasons (I can see why eating a fungus would be off-putting). But I’m definitely a mushroom fanatic. I have mushroom field guides (though no, I’ve not gone hunting for them… yet), apps, recipes, and more. I’m constantly on the search for new mushrooms I haven’t tried, and one day, when I have my own place, I’m going to have a mushroom garden where I grow chanterelles (my absolute favorite; sautée them with a little butter and garlic, and they actually taste like spaghetti with butter and garlic; I’m not kidding), trumpet, morels, matsutake, porcini, and a few other varieties.

One reason I adore mushrooms so much is how versatile they are. Because I love them, I can put mushrooms in almost anything (I do draw a line at desserts and other sweet stuff, though… mushrooms are savory, not sweet; and I won’t put them in “meal shakes”… I’ve seen that, and just… they’re a food, not a drink), from soup to sauces/salsa to salad to sandwiches… and, often, with the right marinades and spices, they make a perfect vegan substitute for meat. Like here…

I think the only thing I’d do differently is, like a classic cheesesteak, put the ingredients in the roll, wrap it all up real tight in aluminum foil, place them in the oven, and let the cheese melt over them that way.

Self Care – How to Make a CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE MEGA CAKE! With GIANT COOKIES & COOKIE BUTTER Buttercream! (YouTube Video)

(Have I shared this already? I think I might have. Welp, all well. Here is it again.)

I love How to Cake It. Yolanda Gampp is just a phenomenal baker and artist, and her cakes are ridiculously out of this world.

As someone who loves chocolate chip cookies, this mega cake just makes me drool. I can imagine that a single slice is nearly, if not over, 1000 calories, but I don’t care, because… just… damn…

Join me in drooling…

Self Care – $5 Pizza Vs. $135 Pizza (YouTube Video)

“Worth It” is a really cool and funny Buzzfeed video series. So far, with two exceptions (a date and a tattoo), it’s mostly focused on food; comparing the same dish at three different price points. In this case, it’s pizza:

Now I love me some pizza, but I’d rather spend $5 than $135, thanks. I don’t need truffles and fancy cheese on my pizza. I just need mozzarella cheese, pizza sauce, and, if it must have toppings, mushrooms and black olives or pepperoni… or the cheese itself is perfect enough. And it needs to be foldable without breaking with a thin, crispy crust. Though I love a good Sicilian, and I’ve yet to try Chicago’s lasagna pie pizza, so I won’t pass judgement on that.

Anyways… enjoy your pizza, however it’s made and at whatever price point. I’d like to say that pizza is one of those things that’s good even when it’s bad, but then people who believe that have obviously never had kosher pizza… [insert *dry heave* gif here]

Don’t. Get. Me. Started. On. Kosher. Pizza.

Self Care – How To Make French Toast 3 Ways : Classic, Vegan and Guilty… (YouTube Video)

(Note for vegans: eggs and milk are used here. Actually, to be honest, I just realized that most of today’s food posts are going to involve animal products of some kind [after this, it’s a video about pizza, then cake; I’m not sure what the fourth and fifth videos will be, yet]. I apologize. I think I’ll focus on looking for a couple vegan food things for the last two posts at 7pm and 11pm.)

It’s breakfast time! Assuming you’ve woken up before now… 😀

This is a video showing you three different ways to make french toast: the classic way, a vegan way, and a super rich way. The host, Alex, has a thick French accent. There are subtitles, but they aren’t perfect. Either way, this video made me hungry, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make some french toast now…

So today’s a fooding day… fun!

Self Care – The Wonders of Space – Amazing Hubble instellar images – sit back, relax and enjoy the view! (REALLY LONG YouTube Video)

This video is 8 hours, 54 minutes, and 19 seconds long. It’s basically a compilation of so much of what Hubble has brought us, along with images from the Spitzer, Herschel and Chandra Telescopes, as well as from the ISS.

I did actually have this video playing once a few days ago for the entire nearly 9 hours when I just had no interest in doing anything else but cleaning, eating, and relaxing. What I would do is, if you can, cast this to your TV or set it to full-screen on your monitor and just enjoy the view while doing other stuff.