#learning to cook like a witch mini lesson

[aesethewitch]

A fun and quick little cooking tip I've picked up for if you want to add a new seasoning to a sauce, dressing, gravy, or even spice blend, but you aren't sure what to add or how it'll change the taste:

I'll use a sauce as an example. Make a batch of the sauce as you normally would. Pour out a small amount of sauce into a bowl or onto a plate (or just scoop some out with a clean spoon). Season the portion using a fraction of the amount you'd use in the full recipe. Give it a stir and taste.

If it sucks, congrats! You've avoided ruining a whole batch of sauce, and you can try something else instead. And if it's great, scale up the amount and season the whole pot of sauce! Hooray!

It's fun to do this with several spices side by side. Spoon out little portions and see how more salt would affect it. What about pepper? What if it was spicier? What's the difference between red chili flakes and chipotle chili powder? How do different herbs change the taste? And so on and so on.

Doing this kind of taste testing helped me learn how similar spices change a dish in different ways. It also means I can pick out particular flavors within a dish with relative accuracy, allowing me to duplicate recipes or figure out how to improve them by knowing what's missing (or what has too much) by taste.

(And the same principles apply to testing ingredients in spells! Learning to cook by trial and error forms a good portion of my witchcraft foundations. (: )

[lexiesmeredith]

Halloween Season | Mark Sloan

You and Sophia have the yearly tradition of decorating yours and Mark’s shared home for Halloween. Cuteness ensues.

originally posted to my wattpad

 It was finally halloween season… or October as most people called it. Supremely boring people who didn’t know how to have fun, in your opinion. You on the other hand? You loved Halloween. It was your favorite day other than October 1st, when your boyfriend Mark finally let you decorate your shared apartment with all of your spooky decorations. And of course you enlisted his daughter, Sophia to help.

Sophia loved you, almost as much as she loved Callie, Arizona, and Mark. In the little girl’s eyes she had 3 mothers.. and you? Well you were lucky enough to be the fun one.

You weren’t responsible for any discipline. You made it clear to Mark and Callie at the very beginning that you were not comfortable with yelling at the little girl, especially when she wasn’t really your daughter - though you were there from the very beginning when Callie told Mark she was pregnant in the first place.

You and Sophia baked cookies, and watched movies that Arizona would probably yell at you for letting Sophia watch (you always cleared stuff with Callie first of course), and Mark loved you for it. It made you all the more perfect in his eyes - and made him all the more ready to propose.

And it was only appropriate to do it on your favorite day of the year.

You woke up super early on October 1st, rushing immediately to the kitchen to whip up some waffles and fruit for you and Sophia. She aways stayed over on September 30th, Callie and Arizona already knowing your plans for the next day. Mark had worked the night shift they day before - like always.

You loved surprising him with your newly spook-ified house, and he loved the smile on your face when you saw his reaction.

You knew that Sophia would wake up as soon as she smelled the fresh waffles wafting through the apartment - it was both of your favorite breakfast, whereas Mark was more of a pancakes man himself.

As the waffles cooked you began unpacking the bags and bags of decorations that you got from Party City and Halloween Town the weekend before. It took all of your self control not to start decorating immediately, Mark having to remind you to wait for Sophia.

You had bags of fake cob webs and bugs, bowls with spooky witches to fill with candy, skeletons to hang from the ceiling, and so, so much more that you just new Sophia would love.

Speaking of the little girl, she bounded out of her space theme bedroom, wrapped in a Star Wars blanket that you had gifted her months before. Star Wars was another thing that you had gotten the girl into, the pair of you deciding to go as Rey and Leia for trick or treating that year.

She squealed at the sight of the orange and black decorations that were sprawled across the table, running over for you to pick her up

. “You got so much stuff!” She giggled, grinning up at you and effectively making your heart melt. You never saw yourself as a maternal person, but you did have a soft spot for the little Sloan.

“I knew you’d love it.” You cheered, placing her on a chair and going into the kitchen so you could plate your breakfast. “After we eat we can start decorating. Daddy will be home at one, so maybe we’ll have time to bake some pumpkin cookies before he gets home.”

“Those are his favorite!” She smiled, thanking you quietly when you put the food in front of her.

“Mine too!” You grinned, tickling the small girl’s sides, laughing at her loud, shrieking giggles.

After breakfast the pair of you got to work, stretching faux cob webs over all of the picture frames in the house and filling them with spiders of all sizes. You also hung skeleton garland from last year above the bar, taking your time to male sure it was perfect.

Sophia was responsible for placing the candy bowls all around the house and filling them with her favorite treats. She also was responsible for sticking clown stickers and fake blood splatters on the windows. Her favorite thing, however, was placing the mini pumpkins around the house. She always lectured Mark and yourself when one of you would accidentally shift one. She could always tell.

The jack o lantern decorating would wait until closer to Halloween so the pumpkins wouldn’t rot. You learned that lesson the hard way.

After two hours of hard work, you and Sophia were exhausted, the little girl laying in your arms as you watched “Halloween Town” and ate popcorn, both of your eyes drifting closed every few seconds.

You were so tired that you ignored the sound of the front door opening and closing and Mark calling you and Sophia’s names. You only snuggled further into the couch, Sophia’s grip on your pajama shirt tightening.

Your eyes didn’t even open when you felt Sophia’s heavy weight being lifted from your body, or a pair of warm lips kissing your forehead. You just sent who you already knew to be Mark a small smile before laying back into the couch even more.

You woke up an hour and a half later to the sweet smell of cookies lofting around the apartment, and Sophia and Mark giggling over a fake witch that sat at the bar. They were hunched over a plate of small pumpkin sugar cookies - the ones that you had planned to make for Mark, but sleep won over.

Mark grinned at your disheveled state as you walked into their sight. “There’s the sleeping beauty. I was wondering when the cookie smell would get you up.”

You smiled softly at the pair, Mark walking over to you and pulling you into a short kiss. You both laughed at Sophia’s disgusted expression. “You guys are worse then my other Mommies.” Mark chuckled, picking up the girl and tossing her into the air.

“Sophia wanted to surprise you with the cookies. She said you were very hard at work decorating.” The small girl nodding her head in agreement. “Oh yes! It was worse than any thoracotomy I think I’ve ever done.”

“But you loved every second.” Mark added, pulling you into his and Sophia’s embrace.

“Of course I did! I got to spend it with my favorite six year old in this whole entire world!” You cheered, poking Sophia’s side softly.

“And I got to come home to my two favorite girls in this whole wide world.”

[dellyjelly444]

Missing underwear *one shot*

"Girls I don't know about this"Amy says as they have gathered for girls night at Amy and Sheldon's apartment. "What do you mean it's a great example of how men are impatient and you can think of this as a experiment"penny says as she sips her wine. The other week sheldon was complaining that ever since they started living together his laundry night has suffered since Amy was always distracting him by doing laundry right next to him his argument was "I can't focus when you are putting you bra and undies in my face also I have found a particular secret in my laundry that victory may be missing"he said with a smile and Amy just look at him and rolled her eyes she had accidentally put some of her underwear in his laundry. After her being scolded they would normally jump each other on top of the washing machine and by "accident" push the wash button as a apology on Amy's part although she did enjoy herself. So she agreed to do his laundry for him as he was wanting to play with the boys this evening. When penny and Bernadette had arrived she told them about it and as a pay back they thought of a idea for revenge. "Amy this will totally work all you have to do is hide all his underwear and anything he could rap around his areas" Bernadette said the plan was to take all his underwear and leave it so all he could ware was Amy's underwear if he was brave enough. It was going to be a joke to see if he was going to go through with it because sheldon was not the type to not ware underwear as he said he was "scared of trapping he southern pole" as he called it. "Alright but I am only doing this because I am not having him scold me for putting my underwear with his I am he girlfriend I should be aloud to was both our clothes together if I want"Amy tell the girl as they nodded their heads. "That's right you should be able to wash what you want when you want with what you want" penny said after finishing the last bottle of wine. The girl left and the Amy started to plot her plan of getting all his underwear without him noticing. She came up with the plan to get him in the shower and take his underwear and hope he gets to hot so he will sleep nude tonight. But in the meantime time she was going to take all the ones that currently occupied the draws and she put them in a box under the sink in the kitchen "why would he look there" Amy thought to herself just as she finished hiding his boxer sheldon walked into the apartment. "What were you doing?" Sheldon looks suspiciously at Amy. "I was …err…I was just going to cook are you hunger?"Amy had already eaten so she hoped he was not hungry. "No me and the boys ate take out like we normally do how was girls night?" He said as he walked round to the couch to sit and work on some equations on his laptop. "It was good yeah and what about you boys night was it good?"she said as she walked over to him taking his shoes of his feet and siting next to him and watched him type away as they normally did on Saturdays. "Yeah we love nothing more thank the taste of sweet victory against those men that act like dumb embryos that need to go back to the dumb uterus they came from, but all in all it was a good night did you do laundry?" He asked with a smug look on his face he new she only insisted on doing it by herself was to avoid another ear full of sheldonness. Amy's face was looking at her hands now with a little smile in the corner of he mouth" yes I did nice clean …laundry" and with that she put her action into plan she started to kiss his neck and then his lips as she tried to remove the laptop from his lap. And with that Sheldon got up and picked Amy of the couch and took her to the bedroom. A few squeaks later a very worn out Sheldon and Amy was tangled together panting. "Again how do you do that I was nearly over in the first 10 minutes witch for me is to soon as we can go for hours" Sheldon manages to get out before leaning over to get his drink of water from there mini fridge by his bedside. "Well …I guess you deserve a treat" Amy says as she knows he is about to be embarrassed and she feels so smug it feels wrong but not enough to give his underwear back. "Why don't you go shower and I will be in after I change the sheets?"Amy says as she see her opening to take the last thing standing in her way. "Alright but I will be sleeping nude it's to hot summer sex is a killer with this heat" Sheldon say as he gets up to go shower. Watching him leave she quickly grabs the last item and runs back the kitchen to hide it once hidden she goes back for round to of the "southern pole". The next morning Sheldon wakes up to a note in Amy's pillow saying she had to go into work today and that Howard needs him to help with some work project at his house. As he goes to get dressed after his shower he can't find his underwear "that's odd I know I have them here somewhere they were there last night"he thought but one thing for sure Amy is not allowed to do laundry with his supervision again. After looking everywhere he can think of he looks in the draw one more time and sees that his only option was Amy's section of secrets to choose from he went with the only one that didn't wanna give him a 2nd asshole a nice black silk pair of panties it was like the Wolowitz of the group uncomfortable but bearable. As he slips them on feeling so uncomfortable he didn't realise that one day his big size would be a curse Amy love his large pole but these panties weren't very accepting of it. With a very squished pole and warm balls he is sure that he won't be having kids after this. After trying to call Amy all he got was voicemail. He definitely did not look forward to the rest of the day he thought about going to by new boxers but found that Amy had took that as they had a joint account so the fighting about money would stop. He was stuck like this for the day. Arriving at Howard's house with the most unbearable wedgi known to man he waddled he way into the house. "Howard what do you want?" He asked in a angry tone that wasn't meant for Howard per say he was mad a Amy. "Sheldon can I help you" Howard asked confused by his friends presents on a Sunday morning. "I was told your dumb and need a miracle to fix whatever it is you are trying to ruin next" he says looking at him with a face that looked like it was ready for tires. "I will take that as a compliment or I could slap you but you already look pissed off I don't need you to help me build a lego Hogwarts so what's wrong with you, you look upset ?" "I am upset I am wearing some underwear that have officially crushed my masculinity"Sheldon says as he is ready to burst. "Oh Sheldon it's cute you think you have masculinity but what does your underwear have to do with i…" before he could say anything Sheldon burst in anger "THEY ARE AMYS AND ARE CRUSHING MY DICK" and with that Howard burst out laughing to the point he couldn't speak or ask why so Sheldon just went home. As he arrived home after what felt like forever Amy was sat on the couch looking at her sweaty boyfriend as he slowly walked back to the bedroom with a limp in the end. As she stifled a laughing fit she calls out "Sheldon are you ok?" Waiting for a response that never came she walked in to see Sheldon spread over the bed but naked with his bits looking red from being huddle together for hours. "Sheldon sweetie what happened" knowing full well what happens and holding her nose discreetly trying to hold her laughter. "I …I couldn't find my underwear so I wore yours and now I can't feel my nuts" "Oh sweetie maybe if you opened your eyes and looked in the kitchen you wouldn't have suffer or maybe you should do your laundry and not scold me from washing them together this is just revenge baby and it felt great to know that you had to walk around with girl panties on"Amy says as she sits next him on the bed looking down at him. "You know what I am sorry and I have learned my lesson to never mess with your or you underwear the only interaction I want from them now is to take them of you that's all" he said "also I don't think may pole works and the flag won't rise again and our kids will have to be imaginary from now on" he says looking at her Amy feels a slight twitch of guilt so as her little apology she said "well lets see then if I can fix your problem Dr Cooper" and with a wink the pole rises to maximum height.

[lets-get-sirius-about-stars]

Luna Williams Character Page (Updated 6/12/17)

(The GIF is not mine)

Big thanks to @cuddles-for-cassie​ who came up with a few of Luna’s special abilities! YOU ARE AMAZING!

Also, Thanks to @the-singing-canary​ for helping me out with the Luna as well XD

Also Tagging @royslittleharper​ @maruthor​ or @guns-n-lilies​@ and @preppygothica​ and @hamsterforlive​

Sources: http://farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/ and http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Lunar_Manipulation

Original Art for her costume and appearance is here!

Basic Info

Name: Luna Williams

Original Name: Unknown

Alias: Lunar mist

Age:

    Physically: 24 years old

    Actual Age: 514 Years

Nicknames

Lune

Lu

Lu Lu (Mostly by Mercury and Pluto)

Nicknames (Alias)

Misty (Mostly by Sirius)

Gender: Female Race: Human-ish(???) Moon Nationality: African

Date of Birth: May 3rd, 1504 Citizenship: 

       Current: America

       Past: France Height:  5”2 Weight: 120 Eye Color:  Glowing White (No visible irises or pupils) Hair Color: Silvery white

Hair Style: cornrows on the left side of her head and her frizzy curly, short hair flowing freely on the other side

Sexuality: Lesbian Body Type: Pear body shape with defined muscular arms

Outfit/Style:

Loose fitting flowy shirts, tighter around the sleeves but loose at the bottom

Jean shorts with sandals

Or skinny jeans with the same combat boots she wears with her costume

She likes flowery designs on her shirts

Prefers lighter colors

Physical Traits:

Silver hair

Glowing white eyes

White freckles that glow, brightness depends on the phase of the moon

These freckles are sprayed across her nose and cheeks as well as her shoulders.

Thick lips

Fan Cast:  Gugu Mbatha-raw

Family:

      Father: Henry Williams; Deceased (To be changed)

      Mother: Rebecca Williams; Deceased (to be changed)

 Relationships:

Cassandra, The Celestial Witch: Was the student or prodigy of the witch; she absolutely hated the witch for taking her away from her family

Koriand’r: Luna’ best friend, also Luna’s crush. She absolutely loves the Kori’s positive attitude and her innocence. Luna can’t seem to pick up the courage to ask Kori out.

Sirius Vance: He… confuses her to say the least. She can hardly speak English as it is, and h usually talks at 100 mph, which doesn’t usually help with her comprehension of the English language. But he’s nice to her, and she can tell that he’s a good person

Makayla Fray:  Her powers and abilities eludes her; they are extremely similar to someone she used to know when she was cursed… but of course that’s impossible (To be revealed later). She loves how patient she is with her when it comes to her lessons on the modern world. Although she doesn’t understand Makayla’s and Sirius’ relationship, but all in all, she enjoys her presence

Kira Kal-El: She enjoys her presence, and absolutely LOVES her cooking

Kara Zor-El: She is friends with her, along with everyone else in the Super Family. Loves her positive attitude and admires her morality.

POWER

She trained with a witch, so she’s able to cast some spells

A bit harder to use magic after being in space and stuff for so long, so she often uses a staff (magical artifact) whenever she needs to cast a spell

She always has the ability to slightly affect the gravity field around her; with this ability, she can control how high she jumps and how fast her decent is (Think Steven Universe)

Also can manipulate magnetism. She can induce magnetism in an object, and can (Depending on the phase of the moon) attract metal on her accord.

Can manipulate water, This ability is trickier for her to use, so it’s only really ever useful in a fight when the moon is at a waning/waxing gibbous or a full moon.

Different abilities are granted to her depending on which phase of the moon.

She’s OP when there’s a full moon and at her weakest at a new moon (So basically, the more the moon is showing the more power she has)

When It’s a pink moon(April), she can strongly control plant life and make botonny life grow or die (much like poison Ivy, which she can go toe to toe with on a pink moon. (She had this ability even when the pink moon isn’t out, but it is dulled down dramatically to where she can pretty much only keep a plant above a well-nourished with her power)

Snow moon (February) grants her the ability to freeze things and produce ice (this of correlates with her water ability

The Blue moon helps Luna with her water powers, grants her the ability to easily use them

The Full Wolf Moon (January) doesn’t affect her powers as much as her personality. She looses her usual cool and collected personality and is savage and out for blood.

The Full Hunter’s Moon (in October) heighten her senses, her vision compared to that of a hawk, with super hearing, taste, smell, and touch. She can also easily track things on this day.

SKILLS/HOBBIES

She likes reading, history mostly, along with a French to English dictionary

Jogs every morning

Loves gardening

Quick learner

HABITS

She counts her freckles when bored

Messes around with her powers when she’s anxious

Whenever she’s mad or upset, her language immediately switches back to French and she’ll just angrily rant in French

Braids her hair when nervous

Her freckles glow a bit brighter when she’s happy

LIKES

Flowers

Night time

Swimming

Quiet nights in

Snuggling up with a good book

Classical music

DISLIKES

People who are anti-alien

Noisy areas

Day time

Doesn’t like hen people stare at her, she knows she’s different looking, she doesn’t need to be reminded of it.

Arrogance

STRENGTHS

Full moon

Being near an ocean

Fighting besides her loved ones

Eclipses

WEAKNESSES

She’s weaker in the day time, her powers aren’t fully functioning until night time

She is very vulnerable in the day time

She doesn’t speak very good English, so that has been a road block on more than one occasion

Technology and modern age devises confuse her greatly, she doesn’t understand how Sirius was able to pick them up so easily.

FEARS

Losing control of her powers and hurting the people closest to her

Losing her way and her morals, essentially turning into Cassandra.

TV’s terrify her, when she first saw them, she thought that there were people magically trapped in little boxes and she freaked out. Makayla calmed her down and explained to her that there weren’t actually people living in the boxes, but she still is wary

She’s scared of telling Kori how she feels because she doesn’t want to lose her as a friend

Her past, she wishes to forget it and doesn’t want her friends to find out about the foul deeds she did in her time with Cassandra.

  OTHER FACTS

She was taken away from her village and family at the age of nine by Cassandra

Cassandra had put a curse on her village and refused to lift it, that is, unless they gave her Luna.

Casandra could sense her magical abilities and wanted to be able to harness them for her own needs

Her parents refused at first, but eventually had to due to the number of deaths

Luna is not her original name, Cassandra renamed her this as soon as she was in possession of her

Luna can’t remember her original name

Cassandra spent years training Luna in the magic arts, teaching her both light, and dark magic.

Luna went along with it, playing the part of the obedient student

She even went as far as pretending to be nice to Cassandra

Over time, Cassandra loved Luna like a daughter, treating her as one too

Finally, when Luna felt she was stronger than the great celestial Witch herself, she attacked

The two witches battle, until Cassandra finally beat her, cursing Luna for her betrayal

Luna was cursed to the moon, her physical appearance changing dramatically

Around the end of her 489th year, she gets visions of earth

She is confused at first, but soon figures out what’s happening

She sends short SOS messages telepathically to none other than our girl Makayla Fray

It takes her a few months to free Luna, but she is eventually freed.

Luna lived in France with Cassandra, which is why she speaks French

Luna thinks of team Astro as her family

When she first met Kori, she had complimented her on her beauty, of course, peaking to her in French. Kori, not knowing any French and wanting to talk with Luna, took this as an invitation to… Err… learn the language.

So yeah

Kori kissed Luna upon first meeting her

Luna had a little mini panic attack but calmed down when Kori explained to her in French that this was how she learned a language.

Luna was both relieved, and disappointed by this

She has since then fallen head over heels for the cheerful Tameranian

All of her friends try to teach her how to speak English

She’s gotten better at it over time

[russiancircles]

The Thin Air // Interview with Russian Circles

By Will Murphy

Ahead of shows at Dublin’s Whelan’s on Wednesday, March 22 and Belfast’s Empire Music Hall the following night, Will Murphy speaks to Brian Cook, bassist with Chicago instrumental masters Russian Circles about touring, politics, their latest album, the ideal audience, the craft of songwriting and more.

Hi, Brian. How’s the road been treating you? The next few months look pretty exciting in terms of venues and nations, is there anywhere that you’re all particularly looking forward to? What will you be listening to stave off the monotony of touring?

Touring has been good. We took care of our headlining U.S. dates last fall, and we divided Europe into two tours this time around just because there were so many cities we wanted to hit. We did Scandinavia and Eastern Europe back in October and November, which was pretty exhausting, but overall a great experience. Sometimes you get so accustomed to hitting the same places over and over again that it becomes easy to take things for granted, then you wind up playing a few shows in Romania and it serves as a reminder that we’re very fortunate to be able to do what we do. Now we’re out doing Western Europe and the UK, which is very familiar territory for us. Not as much of an adventure, but rewarding to be back in cities where we have friends and know the lay of the land. In terms of music, I’ve sort of reverted back to the old school touring listening habits. It used to be that you’d go on tour with a half dozen cassettes or a small book of CDs, then the iPod made it so that you toured with your entire music library and you’d never listen to the same album twice on a six-week tour. Now I’m back to traveling with just a few albums on my phone. I’ve been listening to a lot of Sun City Girls, Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, Michael Rother, and Lungfish on my headphones. There has also been more than a few spins of the new Power Trip, Oranssi Pazuzu, and Rotting Christ albums in the van.

I remember seeing you when you were last in Dublin. What struck me was how unwilling you were to rush anything. Everything took exactly as long as it was going to take. It was a really ballsy move, and I’m wondering has it ever backfired horribly?

The bigger problem is not allowing enough time. Mike and I have so many changes and adjustments we have to do between songs—different tunings, different guitars, different pedal settings, different Taurus settings—and we do it all while bridging the songs with interludes. Plus, there’s the whole thing of trying to squeeze in a swig of beer and a toweling down of the face between all of that. We used to tour with these auxiliary delay pedals at the end of our chain that served zero purpose other than to silently notifying the rest of the band that we were ready to go into the next song. If the red light on Mike’s delay pedal was on, we knew he was ready. Same for me. The only problem is that sometimes one of us would forget to turn it on, and we’d stand there waiting for nothing until the guilty party remembered to stomp on the pedal.

Is there ever a frustration performing to an audience, given that so much intricate detail is lost when you port the songs to a live context? With that in mind, do you prefer to spend your time in studio constructing these mini epics or letting them loose on the audience night after night?

I’m not sure what the ideal audience would be. I remember Fugazi talking about how their anti-moshing stance grew to such mythical proportions that it seemed like people were afraid to dance at their concerts. I can empathize with that—I hate seeing violent dancing, but it also feels like a lot more work to play when people are totally stoic. The happy medium is when people are physically moving to the music but also respecting their neighbors. At this point, I try to look out into the audience as little as possible, because that happy medium is so difficult to achieve. As far as writing versus performing, they are both gratifying. I don’t think I’d be happy doing just one or the other. I love performing music live. Most of my love of other peoples’ music comes from watching it—or envisioning it—unfolding in real time. So the process of making a song happen in the present, in a very specific environment and with a select audience, is really magical. But if you don’t love the composition side of music, you should just stick to being in a tribute band.

You recorded a trio of albums with Brandon Curtis, each of which was absolutely stellar. Yet for last year’s Guidance, you opted to go with Kurt Ballou. What inspired this change? Was there ever a concern that Ballou might not bring out the same level of performance that Curtis helped to unleash? How hands-on was he during the recording?

Working with Brandon was amazing. We were really drawn to his ability to capture space and dimension with this work with Secret Machines. He’s also just an incredibly knowledgeable musician. He was good set of ears and a really good sounding board for those three records. We opted to go with Kurt Ballou on Guidance simply because we wanted to try something new, and we knew Kurt would share a lot of our musical reference points. Whenever you hire someone to produce a record there’s always that concern over their level of involvement, particularly if you come from a punk background. You don’t want some outside party compromising your vision and trying to make your songs appeal to a broader audience. But our songs tend to be so malleable and go through so many permutations that we have come to value having that set of fresh ears that can hear the different variations and have an unbiased opinion on what works and what doesn’t. In that respect, both Kurt and Brandon were amazing. I think Kurt tended to be a bit more focused on shaping tones while Brandon tended to have more ideas in terms of composition, but they both definitely made their mark on our albums. I can’t speak highly enough of either of them.

A number of groups who’ve recorded with Ballou have talked about Salem being a deeply unsettling town, given the commercialisation of its brutal history. Did any sense of this permeate the songwriting?

Salem is a strange place. It shuts down early. We would stop recording around 8pm just because dinner options after 9pm were virtually non-existence, which was an adjustments considering that we’re from Chicago and New York, where you can eat whatever you want at pretty much any hour of the night. But the witch trials weren’t really something that loomed in the back of our minds during our time there. The juxtaposition of the tourism trade and the public inebriate population was far more jarring.

Your songs feel so meticulously planned and crafted. How long do spend with a single song? How do you know when it is ready or, if it’s the kind that’ll never be perfect, when, if ever, do you throw your hands up and say “fuck it, it’s good enough”?

Some songs come together really quickly. Some songs are labored over for months and months, right up to and through the recording process. The album is bookended by two compositions that were crafted by individual members of the band and transformed into full-band songs with a minimal amount of effort. Then there are songs like Vorel that are transforming even as we play them over the course of this tour. We have to set deadlines for recording otherwise we’d tinker with songs forever. There’s an old lesson I learned in a painting class: every twenty minutes, step away from your work to reassess where you’re at. Inevitably, you’ll step away at some point and realize it’s done and any additional brush strokes are just detracting from the immediacy of the work. It’s a similar thing with songs in the studio sometimes. Every once and awhile you’ll hear a playback and realize that any additional changes or embellishments are just going to diminish the impact of the song.

Tracks like Afrika and Lisboa suggested a focus on geopolitics and a wider cultural sphere. What made you choose these subjects? What was it about the Portuguese capital that inspired you?

I was definitely drawn to political bands when I was younger. I liked topical punk bands. I liked ‘60s protest music. Basically, I just liked bands that obviously gave a shit about the world and expressed some capacity for empathy. I hated love songs. I hated songs about dancing, or partying, or money. Of course, being too topical can make your music a bit dated. I love punk music from the early ‘80s, but it’s a little distracting to hear bands ranting against Reagan and Thatcher. We’re not an overtly political band; there isn’t really a way for us to do that as an instrumental group, but I do like infusing our records with imagery that has some sort of historical or political context, just because it harkens back to a lot of the music I was obsessed with during my formative years. As far as specific song titles, they have very specific meaning to us personally, but we prefer to keep those meanings unclear to the general public. That said, we’ve already mentioned this before in other interviews so I guess I can say it again here, Lisboa was given its title simply because Mike began putting the song together during some downtime on tour in Portugal.

Memorial featured some spellbinding vocals, whereas with Guidance you opted for a purely instrumental approach. What was the reasoning behind this? Are there any plans to bring in vocals for the next release?

We dabbled with vocals on Memorial and Praise Be Man because they seemed like interesting experiments. We have no plans of making vocals a recurring part of our method, but that isn’t to say we won’t feel compelled to explore the option in the future. I enjoy the fact that we can draw heavily from the world of underground metal, but I don’t think borrowing from the vocal styles of those bands would do anything to enhance our music. If anything, I think it would be a distraction. I think being an instrumental band has allowed us a lot more stylistic fluidity, and that is far more important to us than having a lyrical component to our music.

There’s a lot of darkness in the world currently. Trump and Muslim ban, Aleppo, the continued success of Nickelback. How, if at all, does the current state of affairs affect your songwriting?

Well, Guidance is ultimately a reference to our collective uncertainty. For the three of us in the band, it literally referred to a lot of uncertainty in our personal lives, but we tried to extrapolate that to a general sense of apprehension towards the future for the sake of the album. In that sense, “guidance” can refer to the mistaken notion that there is some sort of benevolent leadership out there that has the public’s best interests in mind, or it can refer more generally to the allure of some overarching answer to all our problems. It’s all a carrot on a stick. So it goes.

Finally, given the foreboding and gloom that your work is shrouded in, where and how do you find the inspiration for the more delicate elements of the tracks?

Being that we don’t all live in the same city, we spend a lot of time writing independently. And while we all write with the idea of crafting songs that lend themselves to the darker and louder end of our spectrum, we don’t shut out any ideas that may come up. When you’re playing your instrument alone in your room, a lot of times the quieter and mellower stuff winds up sounding a lot more satisfying than the paired-down versions of the heavier stuff. For example, Asa was not meant to be a Russian Circles song, but those notes sounded good together and it turned into a little song, and I forwarded it along to the other guys in the band just because we have a pretty open sharing policy with our music. And it wound up being something that resonated with Mike and Dave. Overboard was actually two separate songs that were written completely independently by Mike and I and they just happened to fit together. So while we never deliberately set out to write those kinds of songs, sometimes they just happen.

Photos by Ryan Russell and Tomas Mladek 

(via The Thin Air)

[bbysamu]

Kuroo: you already know most of this but we're (you and Oikawa & Kuroo and I) having competing Roaring 20s parties. Kuroo and I would go all out - renting the Gatsby house, decorations to the nine, hiring a jazz band, we'd even take dancing lessons to learn the Charleston, I'd have my hair done in the finger waves, we'd have costumes in case anyone didn't show up in proper attire, hire a butler and a waitstaff and chefs for the night. But we're not stopping there. Oh, no, there's gonna be a twist. It's going to be a Roaring 20s murder mystery party.

Iwaizumi: A dinner party with our closest friends. So the Seijoh 4 and my besties. We'd cook, of course, but probably splurge to have one or two people to serve food so we can enjoy the time with our friends. Iwa would want something small and easy with the people he cares about the most. There's a twist to this one, too. It's actually a party to celebrate our engagement which before dessert. Iwa is also the type to only host a party for an important reason.

Bokuto: A superbowl party. He's so the type to be into all sports. Like, yeah, volleyball is his favorite but he likes them at all and he'd so love the superbowl. He'd order so much food because you know all of MSBY is going to be invited as well as Kuroo, Akaashi, Tsukki, Kenma and Yams (because friends by association). Literally everyone. And you know those boys can eat, especially the pro players. So there's gonna be ribs, steak, burgers, hot dogs, pigs in a blanket, nachos, popcorn, chips and dips, chips on their own for days. He's absolutely gonna set up a projector and speakers in the backyard so people can also enjoy games like cornhole or football or volleyball. And of course there's gonna be every type of drink and more, but especially beer.

Mattsun: A superstition themed halloween party. He's gonna go all out on the decorations and food. mini graveyard in the front and zombie decor. Might even hire actors to jump scare people. He's gonna have appetizers like peeled eyeballs (peeled grapes), and brains (noodles), make witches fingers cookies and just every halloween themed treat and food you can think of is there. Drinks are gonna be served in cauldron whether it's punch or a sherbert customized drink called witches brew or just soda and beer cans and water in a cauldron filled with ice for grabbing. Will absolutely have fog machines at the entrance and on the drink table and many other places. Costumes are required. We'll be in a couples costume as either your generic vampires or Buffy and Spike.

Osamu: Also gonna be a low-key party. Will likely just invite Atsumu, Suna, Kita, Aran, and then who I want to invite. Might include Bokuto, Hinata, Omi, and Meian because Atsumu extended the invite. It's gonna be a game night party. We're gonna play apples to apples and cards against humanity because those are good for a lot of people. There will be lots of pizza and beer and soda. It'll be chaos but so fun. There will also be chips. For minimal/one type of food and significantly less people than Kuroo's, Bokuto's, and Mattsun's, the place is a mess when the party is over and people are gonna crash there because I kinda imagine they'll get a little or a lot drunk and it's the safest thing to do. This one would be the most chaotic because of the beer and the games played, specifically CAH. - 🐱‍🐉

Kuroo: OH crap. I was thinking Toru and I can take you and Kuroo no problem. We'll just replicate the Gatsby movie party scene. All the dancers, the exaggerated decors, flapper dresses, but then you said its a murder mystery twist? Girl, just go. You two win

Iwa: so wholesome and honestly sounds like a type of party he'd enjoy. I don't see him as a big party guy. Also congrats on the engagement. I better be invited to this big milestone celebration

Bo: UM HECK YEAH. SUPERBOWL PARTIES ARE THE BEST. I don't even watch football, but I show up at almost every Super Bowl party bc of the FOOD. I love the whole vibe you've described. I could see all of them so clearly in my mind, just absolutely STUFFED with all the food and just enjoying the game 10/10

Mattsun: Yeah, I can't think of anything else to say except, you hit the nail with what kind of party he'd want. And he's making all the food himself? talk about a chef! Mattsun

Osamu: Lowkey party, yes yes yes. An overall wholesome night. Cards against humanity will be SO chaotic with this group. So much laughter, you guys will probably get a stomachache from the food and all that laughing. But you know what? its worth it, 10/10 would do it again

[pcrozier87]

Today is Mother’s birthday. As I reflect on the wonderful presence she is in my life, I find myself reminiscing. 30 years of memories with her make me so grateful to have her as my mother, my best friend, my confidant and sounding board. She is the sound of reason, the voice in my head, the one I turn to for advice and comfort, my number one fan, and the absolute best example of unconditional love. I know there will always be nothing but love from her. She is quick to respond with positivity and support, ideas and creativity, and her own personal brand of vivacity. In 60 years, when she’s 112 and I’m 90, I’ll probably have to say goodbye to her, but even then it won’t have been enough time with her. She’s incredible and amazing, and I can’t imagine my life without her. She’s the woman who came to organize my apartment because I didn’t have a chance to do it before the baby was born. She the woman who, when I asked to borrow her giant pot to make some dishes for my family, responded with, “Absolutely!” I see so much of her in me. And I’m sure as my own daughter grows I’ll hear her words coming from my mouth more and more. After all, my whole life has been filled with her.

There’s something about cooking that takes me back to the past. Back to days in the kitchen with Mother. With Granny. Back to my childhood. Chicken and dumplins–the rolled out kind, not the dropped ones, pinto beans, rice, corn bread, banana bread, chicken breast… I made those a few days ago. All of it. All at once. Cooking isn’t a challenge if you only have one pot on the stove and nothing in the oven. Heaven knows I like a challenge. My bonus daughter asked me how I learned to cook. The thing is, I don’t really know. I just watched. Cast iron skillets, Magnalite pots, corningware dishes, pie plates, and cookie sheets. There was magic in the kitchen when I was little. I watched Granny cook endlessly for the first 11 years of my life. I remember sitting on the yellow formica countertops stirring the roux so it would get nice and brown without burning. I remember finding recipes and measuring ingredients to make pies and cookies to feed the people who seemed to always be at Granny’s house. I remember the dumplin pot full of goodness and watching the women of my family make the recipe that was never written. Casseroles and soups and things we made up as we went, those were the magic of that kitchen. I learned to love to cook there, though the practical application and technical skill came later. Training to be a restaurant manager will teach you things about being in the kitchen that you never thought you’d need to know. I know how to do things that no single person ever needs to tackle in their own home, but learning it was useful. Knowledge for the sake of knowledge is just as powerful, after all.

My husband is working overnights right now, but he has weekends off, so I’m thankful for the consistent schedule. I’ve been able to prepare meals in advance for him because of his steady hours, so cooking a week’s worth of meat and putting it in separated Tupperware means one less obstacle for his day. This is the easiest part of my time in the kitchen. I’m so thankful for the genius who came up with those pre-cut foil sheets. One per chicken breast, seasoned individually so he’s not eating the same flavors every day, then into our awesome mini-oven below the microwave (originally intended mostly for pizza, I think, but we use it CONSTANTLY). 425 degrees for 45 minutes for thawed and 90 minutes for frozen, then out comes an easy entrée for my hard-working honey to eat on the job.

We have my bonus daughter here for the month. Well, she got here on June 23rd and she goes back to her biological mother on July 23rd, but this is her “month” with us. This is the first time she’s been able to spend the full four weeks with her father and me. There were always scheduling conflicts in the past. It’s been wonderful and interesting having her here. I’m able to see the young woman she’s becoming, and I’m able to influence her in those aspects I find important to being a mature, well-behaved lady that she may not be exposed to elsewhere. Things like not eating in bed, picking up trash, cleaning up after yourself, brushing your hair more than once a day, brushing your teeth and showering regularly, making smart food choices, not needing a dessert after every meal, being responsible for cleaning up your living space, and being observant and considerate are all lessons of the summer in a roundabout way. She loves her baby sister, though she gets bored with her lack of mobility, I think, but she is always willing to help. At 11, she’s showing those signs of teenage “attitude” that I see at school, and her fashion choices are very much on the dress-down side, and so I see a lot of myself in her, despite the lack of biological connection. I actually feel the need to apologize to my mother on a regular basis for my own fashion choices and hormonal attitude at that point in my life. It’s completely different and I understand her so much better looking at it from this side.

She’s the reason I’ve been pre-packaging fruits and veggies, making more chicken and dumplins than I’ve ever made before, and cooking big meals with leftovers. She hasn’t quite learned the kitchen and can’t really cook more than Ramen, and even that’s with supervision, so she makes sandwiches and heats things in the microwave. With the new baby demanding time and energy, I welcome her autonomy when possible. She genuinely seems to like what I cook, especially dumplins. Except for the beans. She said, “I’m not really a fan of beans in general, but if I were, I would like these.” That’s the most back-handed compliment she’s ever given, I think. And I’m pretty sure she was just being nice. You can’t please everyone, I suppose. This is the same child who likes Brussels sprouts and claims to not like cheese.

I find my role as both mother and bonus mom significantly colored by the experiences I had with my own mother. I see what she went through in my own life, and I thank the Lord above I have her to observe, that I grew up watching her deal with life and all of its challenges, especially the ones that come from having children that you’re trying to shape into the best adults possible.

Dumplin’ Pot

Cast Iron

Chicken and dumplins

Cornbread in cast iron

Pinto beans with rice and cornbread

Banana bread

Seasoned Chicken

Chicken in Foil for Baking

I like to cook. I make things up as I go along even more now than I did before. Mother does that. I learned how to make dumplins and pinto beans from her. A little of this, a little of that, season it until it tastes right, though my palm is my measuring cup. Mother learned it from her mother, who learned it from her mother, as far as I know. Those are Mother’s recipes. Nothing is written down with any sense of certainty. Just approximations and estimations, eyeballing amounts in your hand before dusting them into the pot and knowing it just fits, smelling things and picking out the flavors you want, mixing and matching tastes and ideas and feeling that certain something in your gut that makes you add an unorthodox ingredient that makes a dish perfect. Like sugar with sour cream, or peanut butter with honey or bananas, or tomato and mayo on a sandwich. All of those are things my husband just doesn’t get. I follow recipes, too, but I’m not afraid to add a little something here and there to make it my own. I run into the problem all of the cooks in my family deal with, though. Once it’s made, we have NO idea what went in it! I got my own set of wonderful Magnalite pots and pans for Christmas last year, and I’ve had cast iron for ages now. I love them. Magnalite pots and cast iron skillets are the cornerstones of my kitchen. If the kitchen is magic, I come from a long line of witches. The foundations of my happiness in the kitchen are firmly ensconced in Magnalite, magic, and Mother’s recipes.

Magnalite, Magic, and Mother’s Recipes Today is Mother's birthday. As I reflect on the wonderful presence she is in my life, I find myself reminiscing.