I don't understand the Upma hate. Upma this, Upma that. You can just gobble it up when you are late. Ofc upma is bland in itself but with some sugar or coconut chutney it's top tier breakfast material. It's similar to oats. Oats with water is bland but oats with milk and sweetener is so yum. Stop with the memes already.
Please enjoy this small rap about Upma by ChatGPT along with your mom's homemade upma:
(Verse 1) Yo, listen up, I got a dish to mention, A breakfast classic, it's my true intention. It's all about the flavor and the Indian spice, I'm talking 'bout a dish that's real nice.
(Chorus) Upma, upma, it's time to shine, A dish so tasty, it'll blow your mind. With semolina and veggies, it's a perfect blend, Get ready to feast, my hungry friend.
(Verse 2) Heat up the pan, let the oil sizzle, Add mustard seeds, watch 'em pop like a missile. Onions and chilies, sautéed to perfection, Filling up the kitchen with a fragrant direction.
(Chorus) Upma, upma, it's time to shine, A dish so tasty, it'll blow your mind. With semolina and veggies, it's a perfect blend, Get ready to feast, my hungry friend.
(Verse 3) Now comes the star, the semolina grain, Roasted golden, it's ready to sustain. Pour in the water, let it all absorb, Stirring it up, there's no time to get bored.
(Chorus) Upma, upma, it's time to shine, A dish so tasty, it'll blow your mind. With semolina and veggies, it's a perfect blend, Get ready to feast, my hungry friend.
(Verse 4) Carrots, peas, and some cashews too, Adding color and crunch, it's a beautiful hue. Sprinkle some turmeric, salt, and spice, Mix it all up, now it's time to entice.
(Chorus) Upma, upma, it's time to shine, A dish so tasty, it'll blow your mind. With semolina and veggies, it's a perfect blend, Get ready to feast, my hungry friend.
(Verse 5) Garnish with cilantro, a touch of lime, A symphony of flavors that'll make you climb. A spoonful of upma, a bite so divine, In every mouthful, happiness you'll find.
(Chorus) Upma, upma, it's time to shine, A dish so tasty, it'll blow your mind. With semolina and veggies, it's a perfect blend, Get ready to feast, my hungry friend.
(Outro) So next time you're hungry, looking for a treat, Remember upma, it can't be beat. A rap about a dish that deserves some love, Upma, the breakfast star, rise above!

Just completed a four way instant coffee taste test. Keep in mind, hubs and I are coffee snobs who thinks Starbucks is the McDonald’s of Coffee’s, but we understood walking in that instant coffee was going to be rough. The intention is to find a PALATABLE coffee for long term storage. Not delicious, not amazeballs, just palatable in an emergency situation.
The contenders were:
Death Wish Coffee, Folgers Classic Roast, Starbucks French Roast, Starbucks Italian Roast,
The control cup of coffee:
Blue Mountain Blend medium roast beans, freshly ground and brewed.
As a note: all cups of coffee were consumed black; no cream, no sugar, all the same temperatures being poured and tested.
Results:
Death Wish- bottom of the barrel, wouldn’t even give to a homeless person for fear I would be charged with 1st degree murder if they choked on it. The acid after taste is enough to melt pavement, the liquid itself might as well have been used motor oil. 10/10 would recommend to my worst enemy.
Folgers Classic Roast: Even worse. There is no amount of sugar and cream that can salvage the the bitter burnt peanut ammonia taste that sat in our mouths for what felt like eternity. Might as well drink battery acid and just get it over with.
Starbucks French Roast: not very good. Just… nondescript “Blegh.”
Starbucks Italian Roast: if you didn’t know what coffee was and tried this, you would side eye people who drink coffee black, and then add a bunch of cream and sugar and not have a terrible day.
Starbucks Italian Roast moves on to round two!
Any suggestions for more brands/roasts to try next?
Edit:
Thanks for the award!
I have a whole new list of coffee to try! I think this is going to be a lot of fun! My mom is coming to town soon so I have to put taste testing on hold due to funds necessary to entertain family, but def bookmarking this to keep it going!

I was just wondering if it would be better to get the K4 vs K6? I understand that K4 is made for espresso and better for dark and medium roast and K6 does better for light roast, but is K6 good for medium to dark too? Is it more universal? Would I be able to do both light and dark with the K6?

I've crept and read through so many posts/reviews/videos outlining these three and I'm stuck. Essentially even a "shot to shot" breakdown came to the conclusion that it "depends on the beans, not even simply light vs medium vs dark". I was hoping you guys could shed some light and help me make a decision or at least have a discussion here.
Machine will be a GS3MP to work along side it. I primarily drink espressos/small water added americanos and stick to medium/darks for the most part (my current setup is limited).
I couldn't find much for tangible differences other than the max flat tends to be brighter with light roasts, the conical tends to be more forgiving, anecdotally from several posters on another forum - the flat grinds are more "fluffy".
Any input or device is appreciated, this whole rabbit hole of research has left me with more questions than answers.

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2-May-2023

• Stability AI releases StableVicuna, the AI World’s First Open Source RLHF LLM Chatbot (https://stability.ai/blog/stablevicuna-open-source-rlhf-chatbot)
• Introducing Lamini, the LLM Engine for Rapidly Customizing Models (https://lamini.ai/blog/introducing-lamini)
• Machine Learning Compilation (https://mlc.ai/index.html)
• The State of Serverless GPUs (https://www.inferless.com/serverless-gpu-market)
• A brief history of LLaMA models (https://agi-sphere.com/llama-models/)
• Study Finds ChatGPT Outperforms Physicians in High-Quality, Empathetic Answers to Patient Questions (https://today.ucsd.edu/story/study-finds-chatgpt-outperforms-physicians-in-high-quality-empathetic-answers-to-patient-questions)
• AI / ML / LLM / Transformer Models Timeline and List (https://ai.v-gar.de/ml/transformetimeline/)
• Speed Is All You Need: On-Device Acceleration of Large Diffusion Models via GPU-Aware Optimizations (https://arxiv.org/abs/2304.11267)
• Italy lifts ban on ChatGPT after data privacy improvements (https://www.dw.com/en/ai-italy-lifts-ban-on-chatgpt-after-data-privacy-improvements/a-65469742)
• We aren't close to creating a rapidly self-improving AI (https://jacobbuckman.substack.com/p/we-arent-close-to-creating-a-rapidly)
• Lawmakers propose banning AI from singlehandedly launching nuclear weapons (https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/28/23702992/ai-nuclear-weapon-launch-ban-bill-markey-lieu-beyer-buck)
• AI News, Explained by GPT-4 (https://www.emergentmind.com/)
• The self-supervised learning cookbook (https://ai.facebook.com/blog/self-supervised-learning-practical-guide/)
• A Photographer Tried to Get His Photos Removed from an AI Dataset. He Got an Invoice Instead. (https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkapb7/a-photographer-tried-to-get-his-photos-removed-from-an-ai-dataset-he-got-an-invoice-instead)
• Develop, optimize and deploy AI models natively on everyone's devices (https://github.com/mlc-ai/mlc-llm)

​
3-May-2023

• WangChanGLM — The Multilingual Instruction-Following Model (https://medium.com/airesearch-in-th/wangchanglm-the-thai-turned-multilingual-instruction-following-model-7aa9a0f51f5f)
• Inflection AI launches pi chatbot (https://heypi.com/talk)
• Mojo — a new programming language for all AI developers (https://www.modular.com/mojo)
• Understanding Large Language Models (https://magazine.sebastianraschka.com/p/understanding-large-language-models)
• Avoiding hallucinations in LLM-powered Applications (https://vectara.com/avoiding-hallucinations-in-llm-powered-applications/)
• Samsung bans use of A.I. like ChatGPT for employees after misuse of the chatbot (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/02/samsung-bans-use-of-ai-like-chatgpt-for-staff-after-misuse-of-chatbot.html)
• Job cuts may intensify as IBM plans to use AI to replace 30% of back office jobs (https://www.computerworld.com/article/3694874/job-cuts-may-intensify-as-ibm-plans-to-use-ai-to-replace-30-of-back-office-jobs.html)
• Chatbot ‘journalists’ found running almost 50 AI-generated content farms (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/02/chatbot-journalists-found-running-almost-50-ai-generated-content-farms)
• Jsonformer: Generate structured output from LLMs (https://github.com/1rgs/jsonformer)

​
4-May-2023

• HuggingChat Python API (https://www.kdnuggets.com/2023/05/huggingchat-python-api-alternative.html)
• Mojo may be the biggest programming language advance in decades (https://www.fast.ai/posts/2023-05-03-mojo-launch.html)
• OpenLLaMA: An Open Reproduction of LLaMA (https://github.com/openlm-research/open\_llama)
• Replit's new Code LLM: Open Source, 77% smaller than Codex, trained in 1 week (https://www.latent.space/p/reza-shabani#details)
• SparseGPT: Massive Language Models Can Be Accurately Pruned in One-Shot (https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.00774)
• Poisoning Language Models During Instruction Tuning (https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.00944)
• Chatbot Arena: Benchmarking LLMs in the Wild with Elo Ratings (https://lmsys.org/blog/2023-05-03-arena/)
• Evaluate and compare LLM outputs (https://github.com/typpo/promptfoo)
• AI vs. Hollywood: Writers battle “plagiarism machines” in union talks (https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/05/ai-vs-hollywood-writers-battle-plagiarism-machines-in-union-talks/)
• AI-generated beer commercial contains joyful monstrosities, goes viral (https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/05/ai-generated-beer-commercial-contains-joyful-monstrosities-goes-viral/)
• Amazon RDS for PostgreSQL now supports pgvector for simplified ML model integration (https://aws.amazon.com/about-aws/whats-new/2023/05/amazon-rds-postgresql-pgvector-ml-model-integration/)

​
5-May-2023

• Microsoft is dropping a big set of updates to Bing Chat today (Bing Chat Plugins, Multimodal answers, Persistent chat + chat history, No more waitlist to use) (https://twitter.com/nonmayorpete/status/1654018106543554561)
• Distilling Step-by-Step! Outperforming Larger Language Models with Less Training Data and Smaller Model Sizes (https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.02301)
• Google tells staff it plans to limit publishing AI research to 'compete and keep knowledge in house' as its rivalry with Microsoft's OpenAI heats up (https://www.businessinsider.com/google-publishing-less-confidential-ai-research-to-compete-with-openai-2023-4)
• Inflection AI, Startup From Ex-DeepMind Leaders, Launches Pi — A Chattier Chatbot (https://www.forbes.com/sites/alexkonrad/2023/05/02/inflection-ai-ex-deepmind-launches-pi-chatbot/)
• Amazon plans to rework Alexa in the age of ChatGPT (https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/4/23710938/amazon-alexa-ai-chatbot-llm-teaching-model)
• BigCode Project Releases StarCoder: A 15B Code LLM (https://twitter.com/BigCodeProject/status/1654174941976068119)
• Google "We Have No Moat, And Neither Does OpenAI" (https://www.semianalysis.com/p/google-we-have-no-moat-and-neither)
• Re-implementing LangChain in 100 lines of code (https://blog.scottlogic.com/2023/05/04/langchain-mini.html)
• WizardLM: Empowering Large Pre-Trained Language Models to Follow Complex Instructions (https://github.com/nlpxucan/WizardLM/tree/main)

​
8-May-2023

• MPT-7B: A New Standard for Open-Source, Commercially Usable LLMs (https://www.mosaicml.com/blog/mpt-7b)
• Releasing 3B and 7B RedPajama-INCITE family of models including base, instruction-tuned & chat models (https://www.together.xyz/blog/redpajama-models-v1)
• OpenAI changed its plans and won’t train on customer data, Sam Altman says (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/05/sam-altman-openai-wont-tap-into-customer-apis.html)
• OpenAI vs Open Source LLM Comparison for Document Q&A (https://georgesung.github.io/ai/llm-qa-eval-wikipedia/)
• VardaGPT is a memory-enhanced GPT-2 model powered by Hugging Face Transformers and FAISS (https://github.com/ixaxaaVardaGPT)
• MaMMUT: A simple vision-encoder text-decoder architecture for multimodal tasks (https://ai.googleblog.com/2023/05/mammut-simple-vision-encoder-text.html)
• Practical-Data-Science-Blog (https://github.com/youssefHosni/Practical-Data-Science-Blog)
• Unlimiformer: Long-Range Transformers with Unlimited Length Input (https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.01625)
• VardaGPT is a memory-enhanced GPT-2 model powered by Hugging Face Transformers and FAISS (https://github.com/ixaxaaVardaGPT)
• Deep Reinforcement Learning library focused on improving development by introducing RLOps - MLOps for reinforcement learning (https://github.com/AgileRL/AgileRL)

​
9-May-2023

• Introducing Slack GPT, the future of AI in Slack (https://slack.com/intl/en-in/blog/news/introducing-slack-gpt)
• Fixing Hallucination with Knowledge Bases (https://www.pinecone.io/learn/langchain-retrieval-augmentation/)
• Using Images in Your Prompts - The /Blend Feature (https://mjtipsandtricks.substack.com/p/using-images-in-your-prompts-the)
• Running Large Language Models Natively on Mobile and Laptops (https://www.infoq.com/news/2023/05/mlc-llm-mobile-laptops/)
• ChatGPT Code Interpreter (https://twitter.com/skirano/status/1653085442047369217)
• Open-source PaLM models trained at 8k context length (https://www.reddit.com/MachineLearning/comments/13bxu2g/p\_opensource\_palm\_models\_trained\_at\_8k\_context/)
• Google launches demo site for Visual Blocks & Announces Colab Integration (https://www.reddit.com/MachineLearning/comments/13ccho0/d\_google\_launches\_demo\_site\_for\_visual\_blocks/)
• It looks like GPT-4-32k is rolling out (https://community.openai.com/t/it-looks-like-gpt-4-32k-is-rolling-out/194615)
• Reflected Diffusion Models (https://aaronlou.com/blog/2023/reflected-diffusion/)
• DEF CON to set thousands of hackers loose on LLMs (https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/06/ai\_hacking\_defcon/)
• AI’s Ostensible Emergent Abilities Are a Mirage (https://hai.stanford.edu/news/ais-ostensible-emergent-abilities-are-mirage)
• Alphabet to unveil A.I. updates at Google I/O, showing off creative writing and coding capabilities (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/08/google-io-to-feature-ai-updates-showing-off-palm-2-llm.html)
• Efficiently Applying LLMs to Transform Semi-Structured Data (https://www.infoq.com/news/2023/05/data-transformation-using-llms/)
• RasaGPT: headless LLM chatbot platform built on top of Rasa and Langchain (https://github.com/paulpierre/RasaGPT)

​
10-May-2023

• Meta open-sources multisensory AI model that combines six types of data (https://ai.facebook.com/blog/imagebind-six-modalities-binding-ai/)
• Machine Learning Containers are Bloated and Vulnerable (https://deep.ai/publication/machine-learning-containers-are-bloated-and-vulnerable)
• Study: AI can predict pancreatic cancer three years ahead of human doctors (https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/09/ai\_pancreatic\_cance)
• Language models can explain neurons in language models (https://openai.com/research/language-models-can-explain-neurons-in-language-models)
• Amazon Is Being Flooded With Books Entirely Written by AI (https://futurism.com/the-byte/amazon-flooded-books-written-by-ai)
• Google's AI chatbot Bard now available for Workspace accounts (https://www.techlusive.in/apps/googles-ai-chatbot-bard-now-available-for-workspace-accounts-1375948/)
• Constitutional AI: RLHF On Steroids (https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/constitutional-ai-rlhf-on-steroids)
• Run inference for Large Language Models on CPU, with Rust (https://github.com/rustformers/llm)
• llm-jeopardy (https://github.com/aigoopy/llm-jeopardy)

​
11-May-2023

• Google Bard is now open to over 180 countries, more connected with apps & extensions (https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/artificial-intelligence/google-bard-gets-new-updates-at-google-io-2023-8602245/)
• LMFlow Benchmark: An Automatic Evaluation Framework for Open-Source LLMs (https://www.reddit.com/MachineLearning/comments/13d2vos/r\_lmflow\_benchmark\_an\_automatic\_evaluation/)
• Huggingface Transformers Agent (https://huggingface.co/docs/transformers/transformers\_agents)
• StabGPT: A Tool-Equipped LLM Designed for Improving Social Outcomes (http://sigtbd.csail.mit.edu/pubs/2023/sigtbd23-paper1.pdf)
• A Large Language Model for Healthcare NHS-LLM and OpenGPT (https://aiforhealthcare.substack.com/p/a-large-language-model-for-healthcare)
• Google Chrome Upgrades Web AI Intelligence (https://www.analyticsinsight.net/google-chrome-upgrades-web-ai-intelligence/)
• Google I/O 2023: Making AI more helpful for everyone (https://blog.google/technology/ai/google-io-2023-keynote-sundar-pichai)
• Google launches PaLM 2, its next-gen large language model (https://techcrunch.com/2023/05/10/google-launches-palm-2-its-next-gen-large-language-model/)
• Google will label fake images created with its A.I. (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/05/10/google-will-label-fake-images-created-with-its-ai-.html)
• AI Test Kitchen is a place where people can experience and give feedback on some of Google’s latest AI technologies. (https://aitestkitchen.withgoogle.com/)
• Principle-Driven Self-Alignment of Language Models from Scratch with Minimal Human Supervision (https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.03047)
• Your next Wendy’s drive-thru order may be taken by an A.I. chatbot that understands a ‘milkshake’ is actually a ‘frosty’ in the chain’s lingo (https://fortune.com/2023/05/09/wendys-ai-powered-chatbot-drive-thru-orders/)
• IBM Unveils the Watsonx Platform to Power Next-Generation Foundation Models for Business (https://newsroom.ibm.com/2023-05-09-IBM-Unveils-the-Watsonx-Platform-to-Power-Next-Generation-Foundation-Models-for-Business)

​
12-May-2023

• Claude’s expanded context window from 9K to 100K tokens, corresponding to around 75,000 words (https://www.anthropic.com/index/100k-context-windows)
• DeepMind cofounder warns governments seriously need to find solutions for people who lose their jobs to A.I. (https://fortune.com/2023/05/10/artificial-intelligence-deepmind-co-founder-mustafa-suleyman-ubi-governments-seriously-need-to-find-solution-for-people-that-lose-their-jobs/)
• Gandalf – Game to make an LLM reveal a secret password (https://gandalf.lakera.ai/)
• Google needs to stop throwing good money after Bard (https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/10/23710839/google-bard-ai-competition-bing-openai-chatgpt-io)
• Delimiters won’t save you from prompt injection (https://simonwillison.net/2023/May/11/delimiters-wont-save-you/)
• Stability AI releases Stable Animation SDK, a powerful text-to-animation tool for developers (https://stability.ai/blog/stable-animation-sdk)

​
15-May-2023

• Web browsing and Plugins are now rolling out in beta (https://help.openai.com/en/articles/6825453-chatgpt-release-notes#h\_9894d7b0a4)
• Why Conscious AI Is a Bad, Bad Idea (https://nautil.us/why-conscious-ai-is-a-bad-bad-idea-302937/)
• Google Launches AI Supercomputer Powered by Nvidia H100 GPUs (https://www.tomshardware.com/news/google-a3-supercomputer-h100-googleio)
• Open source codebase powering the HuggingChat app (https://github.com/huggingface/chat-ui)
• Reverse engineered google bard's system prompt (https://twitter.com/bladestatus/1656920476533551104)
• Chatbots Don’t Know What Stuff Isn’t (https://www.quantamagazine.org/ai-like-chatgpt-are-no-good-at-not-20230512/)
• The Vault: A new multilingual dataset for advancing code understanding and generation (https://www.reddit.com/MachineLearning/comments/13fftd7/r\_introducing\_the\_vault\_a\_new\_multilingual/)
• Language Models of Code are Few-Shot Commonsense Learners (https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.07128)
• Bot or Human? Detecting ChatGPT Imposters with A Single Question (https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.06424)
• Training code of the open-source high-performance Llama model, including the full process from pre-training to RLHF (https://github.com/s-JoL/Open-Llama)
• Forefront Chat: Access GPT-4 Completely For Free (https://blog.unlimitedgpt.co/2023/05/forefront-chat-access-gpt4-completely-for-free.html)
• The Dual LLM pattern for building AI assistants that can resist prompt injection (https://simonwillison.net/2023/Ap25/dual-llm-pattern/)
• Run LLama 13B with a 6GB graphics card (https://gist.github.com/rain-1/8cc12b4b334052a21af8029aa9c4fafc)
• GitHub Copilot Chat leaked prompt (https://twitter.com/marvinvonhagen/status/1657060506371346432)

media.tenor.com/ydMWvQCt6MIAAAAC/horny-shrek.gif
Video: Mirror - Shrek
This is part of a series exploring the hidden motives and actions of the main players during Robert's Rebellion, named LBJ in reference to the influence of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Vietnam War on GRRM's views and writings on war. LBJ also indicates considerations over whether Lyanna + Bobby B = Jon Snow. Previous installments include:

• Rhaegar Had To Be A Warrior
• Why Did Rhaegar Crown Lyanna?
  • Ice, Ice Baby?
  • Political Suicide?
  • Was She 'A Very Kinky Girl'?
• The Forging of Lightbringer: Blue Flowers & Narrow Visors
• Rhaegar Mistakenly Crowned Lyanna
• I am not fond of fish, but when fish is served, I eat it.
• All is fair in love and war...
• Kingsguard Loyalty
• Southron Ambitions & Lies
• The Return of the Prince: Éowyn at the Trident

In the last part, we combed through evidence that Lyanna fought disguised as Rhaegar at the Trident. We'll now examine why Cersei's torture of the Blue Bard indicates that Rhaegar was tortured by Robert, for the crime of crowning his beloved Lyanna with winter roses in front of half the realm.

"It saddens me to see Your Grace so careworn. I say, run off and play and leave the King's Hand to hear these tiresome petitions. We could dress as serving girls and spend the day amongst the smallfolk, to hear what they are saying of the fall of Dragonstone. I know the inn where the Blue Bard plays when he is not singing attendance on the little queen, and a certain cellar where a conjurer turns lead into gold, water into wine, and girls into boys. Perhaps he would work his spells on the two of us. Would it amuse Your Grace to be a man one night?"

- A Feast for Crows Cersei VIII

Mirror on the Wall: King Robert vs. Queen Cersei

Robert is practiced at shutting his eyes to things he’d rather not see, like when he can’t admit he’s too fat for his armor (like Cersei assumes washerwomen shrunk her gowns) or when he pretends wine made him hurt his queen (which Cersei reenacts on Taena, but is frustrated when that Myrish slut enjoys it). Robert fills his court with corrupt lickspittles and admits on his deathbed that he was a bad king when previously he expected Ned to say otherwise. Likewise, Cersei assumes she’s a political mastermind, basically Tywin with teats. In answer to Robert grooming Barra's barely pubescent mother, Cersei grooms and psychologically scars young Lancel (and Tyrek too for all we know). Robert incestuously cheats with his Estermont cousin early in his reign, so Cersei rekindles incest with her brother Jaime. Cersei has bastards killed who could threaten her own children's claims, and Robert tries to have Dany and her unborn child killed to protect the throne from dragonspawn. Robert pretends to care about his baseborn children, and people doubt Cersei loves anyone as more than an extension of herself (although Varys disagrees). Robert does seem to realize he doesn’t love his heirs, which raises the question of whether or not he knew they were bastards.

To her credit, Cersei did not look away. “He saw us. You love your children, do you not?”
Robert had asked him the very same question, the morning of the melee. He gave her the same answer. “With all my heart.”
“No less do I love mine.”

- A Game of Thrones Eddard XII
King Robert and Queen Cersei are an exercise in avoiding hypocritical analysis; any fault decried in one is reflected in the other in a role-appropriate way. Both lie to themselves and others, drink in excess, have cruel tempers, are physically and sexually abusive, and are terrible parents and rulers. Martin has clearly written Robert and Cersei to mirror one another, and if we saw Robert’s inner monologue, surely it would reveal that he’s just as arrogant and delusional as his wife.
It’s often claimed Robert was unaware of the illegitimacy of his heirs, as he would have gone berserk had he known. If one believes Robert would have executed Cersei for cuckolding him, then it must also be true that Rhaegar incurred Robert’s hatred when he crowned Lyanna with sexually suggestive winter roses in front of half the realm. In fact, we know he did:

As for Robert Baratheon himself, some say he laughed at the prince’s gesture, claiming that Rhaegar had done no more than pay Lyanna her due…but those who knew him better say the young lord brooded on the insult, and that his heart hardened toward the Prince of Dragonstone from that day forth.

- The Fall of the Dragons: The Year of the False Spring The World of Ice and Fire
Given his family history of Targaryen betrayal, when the Laughing Storm rebelled against the Iron Throne over a broken betrothal, as well as his possessiveness of Lyanna, Robert would seek vengeance over Rhaegar's actions at Harrenhal. So when Robert talks about Rhaegar raping Lyanna, it’s easy to imagine that he’s reinforcing a lie to himself. Similar to how he projects Lyanna onto Cersei on their wedding night, Robert is capable of projecting his own actions onto Rhaegar. Robert is the person who actually had sex with Lyanna… but only once.

The king touched her cheek, his fingers brushing across the rough stone as gently as if it were living flesh. “I vowed to kill Rhaegar for what he did to her.”
“You did,” Ned reminded him.
“Only once,” Robert said bitterly.

- A Game of Thrones Eddard I
This subtext is mirrored by Jon Connington's implied love for Rhaegar. Connington laments that Rhaegar ass-ended his tower only once, then indicates that all the girls cried when Rhaegar played his harp, implying that Lyanna crying over Rhaegar's music was nothing special.

Yet when they parted, Jon Connington did not go to the sept. Instead his steps led him up to the roof of the east tower, the tallest at Griffin's Roost. As he climbed he remembered past ascents—a hundred with his lord father, who liked to stand and look out over woods and crags and sea and know that all he saw belonged to House Connington, and one (only one!) with Rhaegar Targaryen. Prince Rhaegar was returning from Dorne, and he and his escort had lingered here a fortnight. He was so young then, and I was younger. Boys, the both of us. At the welcoming feast, the prince had taken up his silver-stringed harp and played for them. A song of love and doom, Jon Connington recalled, and every woman in the hall was weeping when he put down the harp. Not the men, of course. Particularly not his own father, whose only love was land. Lord Armond Connington spent the entire evening trying to win the prince to his side in his dispute with Lord Morrigen.

- A Dance with Dragons The Griffon Reborn
Robert's false accusation of rape mirrors Lord Mathis Rowan's daughter's lie which landed Dareon, a singer and harpist, on the Wall; if Arya had this information, maybe she wouldn't have murdered him for desertion.

It made her angry to see Dareon sitting there so brazen, making eyes at Lanna as his fingers danced across the harp strings.

_

He is a man of the Night's Watch, she thought, as he sang about some stupid lady throwing herself off some stupid tower because her stupid prince was dead. The lady should go kill the ones who killed her prince. And the singer should be on the Wall.

- A Feast for Crows Cat of the Canals
So when one considers that our favorite evil queen had an innocent singer imprisoned and tortured on trumped up charges, it then should not come as a shock that the fan-favorite warrior king would do something similar.

The Blue Bard Mirror

Cersei has the Blue Bard arrested and tortured in the dungeons, framing him for seducing Margaery. Afraid of Maggy the Frog's prophecies and thus jealous of Margaery, Cersei imprisons the young queen's favorite musician, accusing him of bedding her. She enlists Qyburn to torture a false confession from the Blue Bard and lies to herself about its veracity. The main beats of Cersei's motives and actions here 'rhyme' with what actually happened to Rhaegar: jealous over the prophecy-minded, musical prince's use of pale blue roses at Harrenhal, which according to Bael the Bard's song indicates a desire to bed and father a child on a Stark maiden, Robert imprisoned and tortured Rhaegar, also having Lyanna imprisoned in the tower of joy with Dorne's help, raped her, and lied about Rhaegar's guilt.
What follows is an examination of the Blue Bard torture scene from A Feast for Crows, Cersei IX.
Like Bael the Bard, the Blue Bard is linked to pale blue roses, signaling that his story is relevant to mysteries surrounding Lyanna.

“Not kind,” said Cersei, “merely truthful. Taena tells me that you are called the Blue Bard.”
“I am, Your Grace.” The singer’s boots were supple blue calfskin, his breeches fine blue wool. The tunic he wore was pale blue silk slashed with shiny blue satin. He had even gone so far as to dye his hair blue, in the Tyroshi fashion. Long and curly, it fell to his shoulders and smelled as if it had been washed in rosewater. From blue roses, no doubt. At least his teeth are white. They were good teeth, not the least bit crooked.
“You have no other name?”

His eyes are like Robert's eyes, beckoning readers to 'see':

A hint of pink suffused his cheeks. “As a boy, I was called Wat. A fine name for a plowboy, less fitting for a singer.”
The Blue Bard’s eyes were the same color as Robert’s. For that alone, she hated him. “It is easy to see why you are Lady Margaery’s favorite.”
“Her Grace is kind. She says I give her pleasure.”
“Oh, I’m certain of it. Might I see your lute?”
“If it please Your Grace.” Beneath the courtesy, there was a faint hint of unease, but he handed her the lute all the same. One does not refuse the queen’s request.
Cersei plucked a string and smiled at the sound. “Sweet and sad as love. Tell me, Wat . . . the first time you took Margaery to bed, was that before she wed my son, or after?”
For a moment he did not seem to understand. When he did, his eyes grew large. “Your Grace has been misinformed. I swear to you, I never—”

vs.

For a moment Robert did not seem to understand what Ned was saying. Defiance was not a dish he tasted often. Slowly his face changed as comprehension came. His eyes narrowed and a flush crept up his neck past the velvet collar. He pointed an angry finger at Ned. "You are the King's Hand, Lord Stark. You will do as I command you, or I'll find me a Hand who will."

- A Game of Thrones Eddard VIII
Not only do these passages share certain words and syntax, but they also reinforce both Cersei and Robert's rash, retaliatory natures. Both expect to be obeyed.
Cersei's violence towards the singer even evokes Robert smashing the rubies off Rhaegar's armor at the Trident.

“Liar!” Cersei smashed the lute across the singer’s face so hard the painted wood exploded into shards and splinters. “Lord Orton, summon my guards and take this creature to the dungeons.”
Orton Merryweather’s face was damp with fear. “This . . . oh, infamy . . . he dared seduce the queen?”
“I fear it was the other way around, but he is a traitor all the same. Let him sing for Lord Qyburn.”
The Blue Bard went white. “No.” Blood dripped from his lip where the lute had torn it. “I never . . .” When Merryweather seized him by the arm, he screamed, “Mother have mercy, no.”
“I am not your mother,” Cersei told him.

Cersei retorts that she's not the Blue Bard's mother, before having Wat tortured out of jealousy of her step-daughter Margaery, who she thinks is the younger queen from Maggy's prophecy. This is clearly meant to reflect the story of Snow White, in which her vain and wicked step-mother is told by a magic mirror that the princess is more beautiful, leading her to send a huntsman to kill her. He takes Snow White into the deep of the wood but lets her flee, presenting a boar's heart to the evil queen instead. Similarly, Robert is a huntsman who is killed by a boar, with the aid of strongwine supplied by Cersei.

Dorcas put a silver looking glass into her hand. Very good, the queen thought, smiling at her reflection.

- A Feast for Crows Cersei V
I've previously argued that the queen of love and beauty's laurel at Harrenhal was actually formed from white roses and mistaken as pale blue like frost in shadow. "The Blue Bard went white" is just one of many pieces of text that foreshadows this reveal. Azor Ahai forges Lightbringer, so it makes sense that solutions to major mysteries would involve light phenomena.

Even in the black cells, all they got from him were denials, prayers, and pleas for mercy. Before long, blood was streaming down his chin from all his broken teeth, and he wet his dark blue breeches three times over, yet still the man persisted in his lies. “Is it possible we have the wrong singer?” Cersei asked.
“All things are possible, Your Grace. Have no fear. The man will confess before the night is done.” Down here in the dungeons, Qyburn wore roughspun wool and a blacksmith’s leather apron. To the Blue Bard he said, “I am sorry if the guards were rough with you. Their courtesies are sadly lacking.” His voice was kind, solicitous. “All we want from you is the truth.”
“I’ve told you the truth,” the singer sobbed. Iron shackles held him hard against the cold stone wall.
“We know better.” Qyburn had a razor in his hand, its edge gleaming faintly in the torchlight. He cut away the Blue Bard’s clothing, until the man was naked but for his high blue boots. The hair between his legs was brown, Cersei was amused to see. “Tell us how you pleasured the little queen,” she commanded.

vs.

There was a faint blue shimmer to the thing, a ghost-light that played around its edges, and somehow Will knew it was sharper than any razor.

- A Game of Thrones Prologue
Qyburn slices off the Blue Bard's nipple and the wet red eye weeps blood... Margaery may favor his music, but it's obvious they did not have a sexual relationship. Lyanna also was moved to tears by Rhaegar's music, but that doesn't mean she desired him. This series is called A Song of Ice & Fire, so it's appropriate to hide major clues to its most important mysteries in a singer's tale.

“I never . . . I sang, was all, I sang and played. Her ladies will tell you. They were always with us. Her cousins.”
“How many of them did you have carnal knowledge of?”
“None of them. I’m just a singer. Please.”
Qyburn said, “Your Grace, mayhaps this poor man only played for Margaery whilst she entertained other lovers.”
Lord Qyburn ran a hand up the Blue Bard’s chest. “Does she take your nipples in her mouth during your love play?” He took one between his thumb and forefinger, and twisted. “Some men enjoy that. Their nipples are as sensitive as a woman’s.” The razor flashed, the singer shrieked. On his chest a wet red eye wept blood. Cersei felt ill. Part of her wanted to close her eyes, to turn away, to make it stop. But she was the queen and this was treason. Lord Tywin would not have turned away.

vs.

The dragon prince sang a song so sad it made the wolf maid sniffle, but when her pup brother teased her for crying she poured wine over his head.

- A Storm of Swords Bran II
Like Cersei mentally distorts reality to believe Margaery seduced the Blue Bard, it's easy to imagine Robert convincing himself that Lyanna tempted Rhaegar, to try to make sense of the insult at Harrenhal:

In the end the Blue Bard told them his whole life, back to his first name day. His father had been a chandler and Wat was raised to that trade, but as a boy he found he had more skill at making lutes than barrels. When he was twelve he ran off to join a troupe of musicians he had heard performing at a fair. He had wandered half the Reach before coming to King’s Landing in hopes of finding favor at court.
“Favor?” Qyburn chuckled. “Is that what women call it now? I fear you found too much of it, my friend . . . and from the wrong queen. The true one stands before you.”
Yes. Cersei Robert blamed Margaery Tyrell Lyanna for this. If not for her, Wat Rhaegar might have lived a long and fruitful life, singing his little songs and bedding pig girls princesses and crofter’s lord’s daughters. Her scheming forced this on me. She has soiled me with her treachery.

Cersei urges the Blue Bard to recant certain accusations, reinforcing the fact that people of means have privileges, a theme of King Robert's reign:

"Not true, Your Grace," protested a wispy young man who must have been Caswell. "What is mine is yours."
"Whenever someone said that to my brother Robert, he took them at their word," Renly said.
"Do you have daughters?"
"Yes, Your Grace. Two."
"Then thank the gods that I am not Robert. My sweet queen is all the woman I desire." Renly held out his hand to help Margaery to her feet. "We'll talk again when you've had a chance to refresh yourself, Lady Catelyn."

- A Clash of Kings Catelyn II
vs.

By dawn the singer’s high blue boots were full of blood, and he had told them how Margaery would fondle herself as she watched her cousins pleasuring him with their mouths. At other times he would sing for her whilst she sated her lusts with other lovers. “Who were they?” the queen demanded, and the wretched Wat named Ser Tallad the Tall, Lambert Turnberry, Jalabhar Xho, the Redwyne twins, Osney Kettleblack, Hugh Clifton, and the Knight of Flowers.
That displeased her. She dare not besmirch the name of the hero of Dragonstone. Besides, no one who knew Ser Loras would ever believe it. The Redwynes could not be a part of it either. Without the Arbor and its fleet, the realm could never hope to rid itself of this Euron Crow’s Eye and his accursed ironmen. “All you are doing is spitting up the names of men you saw about her chambers. We want the truth!”
“The truth.” Wat looked at her with the one blue eye that Qyburn had left him. Blood bubbled through the holes where his front teeth had been. “I might have . . . misremembered.”
“Horas and Hobber had no part of this, did they?”
“No,” he admitted. “Not them.”
“As for Ser Loras, I am certain Margaery took pains to hide what she was doing from her brother.”
“She did. I remember now. Once I had to hide under the bed when Ser Loras came to see her. He must never know, she said.”

The previous line draws attention to a gaping hole in the Rhaegar red herring: Rhaegar believed his children by Elia were heads of the dragon, his son Aegon the prince that was promised, and yet he allegedly left three Kingsguard with Lyanna while leaving none to protect his other children. He also failed to explain their disappearance, when doing so would have gone a long way towards keeping his and Lyanna's families alive.

“I am not lying. Ser Amory dragged Princess Rhaenys out from under her father’s bed and stabbed her to death. He had some men-at-arms with him, but I do not know their names.” He leaned forward. “It was Ser Gregor Clegane who smashed Prince Aegon’s head against a wall and raped your sister Elia with his blood and brains still on his hands.”

- A Storm of Swords Tyrion IX
Wat is kept in the black cells and given milk of the poppy for his pain. He is told by Cersei that he can take the black if he lies sufficiently, so he continues to lie when the Faith gets ahold of and also tortures him. Ned was likewise kept in the black cells, feverish from his broken leg but denied milk of the poppy, then was given a similar deal, the black in exchange for lying and dishonoring himself, before being beheaded on the steps of the Sept of Baelor.

“I prefer this song to the other.” Leave the great lords out of it, that was for the best. The others, though . . . Ser Tallad had been a hedge knight, Jalabhar Xho was an exile and a beggar, Clifton was the only one of the little queen’s guardsman. And Osney is the plum that makes the pudding. “I know you feel better for having told the truth. You will want to remember that when Margaery comes to trial. If you were to start lying again . . .”
“I won’t. I’ll tell it true. And after . . .”
“. . . you will be allowed to take the black. You have my word on that.” Cersei turned to Qyburn. “See that his wounds are cleaned and dressed, and give him milk of the poppy for the pain.”
“Your Grace is good.” Qyburn dropped the bloody razor into a pail of vinegar. “Margaery may wonder where her bard has gone.”
“Singers come and go, they are infamous for it.”
The climb up the dark stone steps from the black cells left Cersei feeling breathless. I must rest. Getting to the truth was wearisome work, and she dreaded what must follow. I must be strong. What I must do I do for Tommen and the realm. It was a pity that Maggy the Frog was dead. Piss on your prophecy, old woman. The little queen may be younger than I, but she has never been more beautiful, and soon she will be dead.

Ahem...

It rained all through that night, and come morning Ned, Lem, and Watty the Miller awoke with chills. Watty could not keep his breakfast down, and young Ned was feverish and shivering by turns, with skin clammy to the touch.

- A Storm of Swords Arya VIII
Of interest, the only time our author's name appears in the canon is applied to Lord Confessor George Graceford, a notorious torturer during the reign of Aegon III who had a knack for extracting false confessions. Because of this, and in light of mirrored text during Qyburn's torture of the Blue Bard, surely this scene is of utmost importance in unravelling hidden truths.
Like Cersei with the Blue Bard, Robert may have wanted to witness the torture of Rhaegar. Previously, we saw indications that Rhaegar and/or his companions were held in Ghaston Grey, the Alcatraz-style island prison in the Sea of Dorne. Yet it's also possible Rhaegar was held for a time on the mainland, perhaps at Summerhall or even Storm's End, where Robert lingered while trying to consolidate his military power:

The king's voice was thick with anger. "My brother had a gift for inspiring loyalty. Even in his foes. At Summerhall he won three battles in a single day, and brought Lords Grandison and Cafferen back to Storm's End as prisoners. He hung their banners in the hall as trophies. Cafferen's white fawns were spotted with blood and Grandison's sleeping lion was torn near in two. Yet they would sit beneath those banners of a night, drinking and feasting with Robert. He even took them hunting. 'These men meant to deliver you to Aerys to be burned,' I told him after I saw them throwing axes in the yard. 'You should not be putting axes in their hands.' Robert only laughed. I would have thrown Grandison and Cafferen into a dungeon, but he turned them into friends. Lord Cafferen died at Ashford Castle, cut down by Randyll Tarly whilst fighting for Robert. Lord Grandison was wounded on the Trident and died of it a year after. My brother made them love him, but it would seem that I inspire only betrayal. Even in mine own blood and kin. Brother, grandfather, cousins, good uncle . . ."

- A Storm of Swords Davos IV
In testament to how easy it is to be duped into supporting conflicts based on lies, just as Robert and his allies garnered support for the rebellion based on malicious propaganda, consider this fact about the film The Rock, set at Alcatraz:

A scene from the film was the basis for incorrect and false descriptions of the Iraqi chemical weapons program. Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service was led to believe Saddam Hussein was continuing to produce weapons of mass destruction by a false agent who based his reports on the movie the false claims of weapons of mass destruction were the justification for UK’s entering the war.)

Video: The Rock - Ranger Bob
Going forward, we'll continue the examination of evidence that Robert Baratheon truly earned his moniker the Demon of the Trident, showing that he went along with a deceptive plot to overthrow the Targaryen dynasty, and even raped Lyanna after his loss at Ashford. We will then conclude by examining Ned's inner turmoil, indicting his best friend and king. To preview where this series is headed, in its full audio/visual glory with greater detail, look here.

Since this sub was so helpful in planning, I wanted to share my itinerary and trip report! We had an incredible first time in Japan and I can't wait to go back.
Couldn't fit our (very detailed) itinerary in this post, but if you'd like to download it's here.
Medium article version with photos + itinerary is here.
And our shareable Google map is here.
About us:

• We’re New Yorkers in our 30s who have been planning this trip for about 6 months.
• My bf has been learning Japanese for about a year, and I’ve been learning for about 5 months (a mix of Pimsleur and Duolingo).
• Boyfriend is into history and baseball, I'm into skincare and nature, but we’re both big on food so that was our number one priority.
• He has a peanut allergy and avoids all nuts. He learned to say that in Japanese (私はピーナッツアレルギーがあります - "Watashi wa piinattsu arerugī ga arimasu”), and every restaurant and hotel was understanding and careful. Luckily most cuisine is nut-free anyway, but we managed not to have any close calls in 2 weeks which is amazing.

Some overall learnings:

• If I were planning this trip again, I think I would skip Kanazawa. It was a lovely town and the food was amazing, but we wished we had spent that time with a night or two in Osaka instead of just making it a day trip from Kyoto.
• Even if you’re not a baseball fan, Japanese baseball games are so much fun. I’ve never experienced anything like it.
• I packed a suitcase and brought a fold-up duffel bag, and halfway through the trip I moved my clothes to the duffel and just used the suitcase for souvenirs. It was a great idea but we ended up buying an extra suitcase at Donki our last day anyway.
• We both felt a bit underdressed compared to locals, especially in Tokyo. I wish I’d packed more dresses, skirts and trousers and fewer jeans and tees - the only people I saw wearing sweats, athletic wear or cutoffs were other tourists. Obviously you can wear what you want, just be aware you’ll stick out! Also, women are generally more covered up, even on warmer days, to protect their skin from the sun.
• If you go clothes shopping, take your shoes off in dressing rooms. I made a right fool of myself.
• Clothes sizing is wildly different in Japan. Know your cm measurements! Your size here may be hurtful to your ego.
• People line up to get on the train (check the ground for a guide of where to stand) and let everyone off before they get on. This seems obvious, but I’ve been living in New York so long that I wanted to weep tears of joy every time.
• If you’re new to sitting showers: there are two buttons. One is to fill up a bowl of water, and the other is to turn on the handheld shower head. Both automatically turn off a minute after you turn them on, but you can also turn them off manually. You sit on the little stool and there’s usually a mirror in front of you, which is… a humbling experience. There are usually also scrubbing washcloths.
• The worst train station toilet was still nicer than a goddamn Nordstrom bathroom. It was a pleasure to have IBS in Japan.
• At many European and American historical sites, you pay a hefty flat fee to see everything. In Japan, you can usually get into the temple grounds for free, then pay for each individual building you go into. Most were 400-700y/person, which felt really reasonable.
• We came at an almost perfect time (mid-May) weather-wise. Most days it was clear or sunny with a high in the mid-seventies. We definitely got some rain, but less than we were expecting (maybe 3-4 rainy days and 5-6 rainy nights).

Hotel Reviews:
Tokyu Stay Shinjuku Eastside (Tokyo): This was a great basic hotel, close to plenty of transportation and right on the edge of Kabukicho. The buffet breakfast was the highlight - a great mix of Western and Japanese breakfast options, including a great miso soup.Hakone Airu (Hakone): Mixed review here. On the one hand, the in-room onsen and public onsen were both wonderful, and the service was extraordinary. On the other hand, the mix of Balinese and Japanese didn’t quite work, and dinner and breakfast were more confusing than enjoyable.Hotel Alza (Kyoto): By far our favorite stay. I can’t recommend this place enough, and it was definitely worth paying a little extra. They brought us an amazing bento breakfast in our rooms every morning, they had every amenity we could need (they even re-upped the free sheet masks every day), and the micro-bubble bath at the end of a long day of walking was amazing.Koyasan Syukubo Ekoin Temple (Mt Koya): This was a great temple experience. Koyasan in general is obviously pretty tourist-y, but Eko-in still made it feel authentic, and dinner and breakfast were both amazing. Your stay includes a meditation class, morning prayers and a morning fire ritual, and you can pay to attend a cemetery tour, all of which were great.Utaimachi (Kanazawa): We were only here for two nights, but this place was pretty good. Very close to the Higashi Chaya area, where we didn’t actually end up spending much time. Always love tatami mat flooring, and the washedryer was a nice bonus, but we were also right next to the lobby and right under another room so there was some noise.The Gate Asakusa (Tokyo): A great and very Westernized hotel with amazing views of Shinso-ji and the surrounding area. It’s on the top floors of a building right in the middle of all things Asakusa, but is still pretty quiet. And has a wonderful, deep soaking tub with free bath salts.

Tuesday: Arrival, Shinjuku

1 PM: Arrival at Haneda
We got customs and immigration forms to fill out on the plane and everything went fairly quickly. Picked up some cash and Suica cards, went to see about taking the Airport Limousine bus ($10/each) but we should have booked in advance because there wasn’t one for another hour. We ended up taking a taxi (about $50) to our hotel in Shinjuku.
4 PM: Arrival at hotel - Tokyu Stay Shinjuku East Side
We dropped our luggage and went to a nearby eel restaurant, Shinjuku Unatetsu. The eel was incredible and not too filling. Wandered Kabuki-cho for a bit, I dragged my bf through all 4 floors of Don Quijote (I had a list of beauty items to pick up), then rested at the hotel.
7 PM: Dinner in Shinjuku (Tsunahachi)
We went to Tsunahachi for dinner and got some amazing tempura (I wish we had sat at the bar to watch it being made!) and then crashed by 9 pm, because we are young and cool.

Wednesday: Harajuku, Meiji, and Shibuya

7 AM: Hotel breakfast
Up early for hotel breakfast, which has convinced bf to start making miso soup every morning.
9 AM: Shinjuku Station - Pick up JR Passes
We went to Shinjuku station to pick up our JR passes, then spent 30 minutes finding the place where we could get them before 10 AM. There was a long line (staff shortage) so we waited about an hour but we got them and headed to Harajuku.
11 AM: Meiji Shrine & Yoyogi Park
We walked to Meiji Shrine, stopping at the gardens along the way (well worth the 500y entrance fee, especially on a beautiful day). We were lucky to come across a wedding at the shrine. Then we walked around Yoyogi Park a bit.
1 PM: Lunch (Gyoza Lou)
Walked into Gyoza Lou and were seated right away. Incredible gyoza as well as beer and bean sprouts with meat sauce - maybe 10 bucks total for 2 people.
1:30 PM: Shopping/museums in Harajuku
We split up so I could do some shopping in vintage stores - Flamingo, TAGTAG and Kinji (my favorite), and bf could go to the Ota Memorial Museum for their Cats in Ukiyo-e exhibit (which he loved). I walked down Takeshita street to meet him and managed to get a green tea, strawberry and red bean paste crepe from Marion Crepes.
3 PM: Shibuya Scramble & Hachinko Statue
We grabbed the train to Shibuya, saw the scramble and the Hachinko statue, then entered the maze that is Tokyu Hands. I got some onsen powders for gifts and some more cosmetics. My boyfriend checked out the Bic camera store and I went to Gu, which is like the love child of Uniqlo and Primark. I immediately undid all the “light packing” I did with new clothes.
7 PM: Dinner Reservation - Shinjuku Kappu Nakajima
I got us a reservation a few months ago at Shinjuku Kappu Nakajima. It was probably one of the best meals of my life. The omakase came out to less than $100usd each, which felt like a steal.
9 PM: Golden Gai bar (Bar Araku)
We wandered Golden Gai and went into a bar where the entrance fee was waived for foreigners called Bar Araku. It was very small but had great vibes, highly recommend. I drank too much sake, which will be a theme.

Thursday: Shinjuku

4 AM: Earthquake
The phone alerts are insanely loud! We rushed down to the hotel lobby and the only other people there were fellow foreigners - apparently Japanese people at the hotel knew a 5.1 is okay to sleep through.
9 AM: Shinjuku Gyoen
We strolled around in the sun taking photos for about 3 hours. Today is a lot less planned than yesterday - I kind of wish I’d switched the itineraries after how long getting the JR Pass took. We did go to the fancy Starbucks, of course.
12 PM: Lunch (Kaiten Sushi Numazuto)
We tried to go to a nearby sushi place but it was full, so we walked up to Kaiten Sushi Numazuto. We were a little disappointed it wasn’t actually conveyor belt sushi (the conveyor belt was for show and you ordered from the staff). Stopped in Bic camera afterwards for a bit.
2 PM: Ninja Trick House
We tried to go to the Samurai museum but learned it closed a few weeks ago. A good excuse to go to the Ninja Trick House instead. You’re thinking: “Isn’t that place for children?” Yes. Yes it is. And we loved every minute. I now have a camera roll full of myself being terrible at throwing stars. The dream.
3 PM: Don Quijote
More Don Quijote, mostly to get out of the rain. Got my last few beauty products I really wanted and a few souvenirs. An overstimulating heaven.
6 PM: 3-hour Shinjuku Foodie Tour
We signed up for a 3-hour “foodie tour” of Shinjuku that stopped at a sushi place, a Japanese bbq spot with insane wagyu beef, and a sake tasting spot. It was great, and we loved our guide, but wished it had stopped at a few more spots to try more things.
9 PM: Walk around Shinjuku
We attempted to play pachinko, got very confused and lost $7. Tourism!

Friday: Hakone

7 AM: Set up luggage forwarding to Kyoto with hotel
Luggage forwarding is brilliant. We did it twice and it went so smoothly, for about $10 USD per bag. Highly recommend.
9 AM: Transit to Hakone
We got to experience Japanese transit at rush hour. I can’t believe I have to go back to the MTA after this. We took the subway to Tokyo station and then the Shinkansen to Odawara, then a train to Hakone-Yumoto. The hotel was only a 20-minute walk away, so we decided to take a more scenic route - which turned out to be a forest hike straight up switchbacks most of the way.
11 AM: Lunch in Hakone (Hatsuhana)
We stopped in a soba place called Hatsuhana with a system of writing your name down and waiting outside to be called in. They skipped our names because they weren’t in Japanese, but let us in when they realized their mistake. The soba was made and served by old aunties so of course it was insanely good and well worth it.
1 PM: Hakone Open Air Museum
We took the train down to the Hakone Open Air Museum, which lived up to the hype. I’m not normally into sculpture, but seeing it in nature, and the way the museum is laid out, made it incredible. And obviously the Picasso exhibit was amazing.
3 PM: Owakudani, Pirate Ship, Hakone Checkpoint
We took the train to the cable car to Owakudani, then the ropeway to Togendai, then the pirate ship ferry to Motohakone. We were running behind so unfortunately had to rush through the Hakone Checkpoint, which was empty but very cool.
6 PM: Dinner at hotel
Back to our hotel for our kaiseki meal. The staff spoke very little English and Google struggled with the menu, so we had no idea what we were eating half the time, but overall it was pretty good.
9 PM: Onsen time
Experienced my first public onsen, followed by the private onsen in our room. The tatami sleep did wonders for my back.

Saturday: Travel to Kyoto, Philosopher’s Path, Gion

8 AM: Breakfast, travel to Kyoto
Took the train to Odawara and then the Shinkansen to Kyoto station. We booked all of our Shinkansen seats about a week in advance but you can also book them on the day, I believe.
1 PM: Lunch in Gion
Our Kyoto hotel let us check in early, and then we went looking for lunch. Quickly learned that most every place in the Gion area has a line outside and closes at 2! We eventually found a tiny spot with insanely good ramen. It also had chicken sashimi on the menu but we weren’t brave enough.
2 PM: Philosopher’s Path, Ginkaku-ji
We took a bus over to the Philosopher’s Path, which was not busy at all because of the rain. It was pretty, and I could see how great it would look in cherry blossom season. We had to kind of rush to Ginkaku-ji, which was gorgeous nonetheless.
4 PM: Honen-in, Nanzen-ji
Stopped by Honen-in (which we had completely to ourselves, thanks rain!) and then Nanzen-ji. My bf is a big history guy and he went feral for the Hojo rock garden. It was very pretty and I’d love to see it in better weather.
6 PM: Food Tour of Gion & Pontocho
This food tour stopped at two places (an izakaya and a standing bar) with a walking tour of Gion and Pontocho in between. We also stopped at Yasaka shrine and caught a rehearsal of a traditional Japanese performance.
10 PM: Pain
My feet hurt so bad. Bring waterproof shoes, but make sure they don’t have 5 year old insoles. I tried some stick-on cooling acupuncture foot pads I picked up at Donki and they were bliss.

Sunday: Arashiyama, The Golden Pavilion and Tea Ceremony

8 AM: Arashiyama Bamboo Forest
The forecast was for heavy rain all day, but we lucked out and only got a few drizzles here and there. We headed to Arashiyama Bamboo Forest in the morning and it wasn’t too crowded. We did have an amazing bamboo dish at dinner last night so now bamboo makes me hungry.
10 AM: Tenryu-ji, Iwatayama Monkey Park
Headed over to Tenryu-ji, which was very nice but very crowded, and then to one of the things I looked forward to most on the trip, the Iwatayama Monkey Park. It’s a 20 minute hike up there but it is worth it. Oh my god. Getting to feed a baby monkey made my whole week.
12 PM: Lunch near Arashiyama (Udon Arashiyama-tei)
Headed back down to the main road and got duck udon at a little place called Udon Arashiyama-tei. I know I keep calling everything incredible but… yes.
1 PM: Ginkaku-ji
Ran into some bus issues (the first time we experienced anything public transit-wise not running as expected!) but eventually got over to Ginkaku-ji. It was also very crowded (seems like Japanese schools are big on field trips, which I’m jealous of) and not my favorite temple, but beautiful nonetheless.
3 PM: Daitoku-ji
We were ahead of schedule so we got to spend some time at our meeting place for the tea ceremony, Daitoku-ji. It ended up being our favorite temple, especially Daisen-in, a small and very quiet spot with a great self-guided tour. The monks showed us a section normally closed to non-Japanese tourists with beautiful calligraphy.
4 PM: Tea Ceremony (90 mins)
The tea ceremony we booked said it was in groups of up to ten, but it ended up being just us. It was very nice and relaxing, plus we got a little meal.
6 PM: Dinner (Gion Kappa), Pontocho Alley
We both nearly fell asleep on the bus back so we took it easy for the night. Went to an izakaya called Gion Kappa which had the best tuna belly we’d ever eaten, then did a quick walk around Pontocho Alley, got treats at 7-11 and went to bed early.

Monday: Fushimi Inari, Nishiki Market, Kyoto Imperial Palace (kinda)

9 AM: Fushimi Inari
Our plans to get up super early to beat the crowds to Fushimi Imari were hampered by the fact that we are no longer in our 20s. It was packed by the time we got there, and the amount of littering and defacing done by tourists was a bummer.
11 AM: Tofuku-ji
We had planned to go to the Imperial Palace at 10:30 for the Aoi Parade, but decided instead to get away from crowds by hiking from Fushimi Inari to Tofuku-ji, which was beautiful (I’d love to see it in the fall).
12 PM: Nishiki Market, lunch (Gyukatsu)
Grabbed lunch first at Gyukatsu (wagyu katsu - delicious) then wandered Nishiki a bit. It’s touristy, but fun.
2 PM: Kyoto Gyoen, Kyoto Handicraft Center
It was supposed to rain all day but ended up sunny, so we went back to the hotel to drop off our rain jackets and umbrellas. Stepped back outside and within ten minutes it was raining. We went to Kyoto Gyoen and saw the outside of the imperial palace; it was closed because of the parade earlier and half the garden was blocked off because the former emperor was visiting. Without the palace, Kyoto Gyoen is kind of meh. We walked over to Kyoto Handicraft Center which was also meh, but we picked up some nice lacquerware.
7:30 PM: Dinner at Roan Kiku Noi
We had a reservation at Roan Kiku Noi where we had maybe the best meal of our lives. Amazing that it only has two Michelin stars, honestly. Had fun trying to decipher the pain meds aisle at a Japanese pharmacy afterwards and then called it a night.

Tuesday: Day Trip to Nara

8 AM: Travel to Nara
We took the subway to the JR and were there in about an hour.
9 AM: Nara Deer Park
Two things about the Nara deer. One: if you bow to them, they bow back, and it’s very cute. And two, if you buy the 200y rice crackers to feed to them, do it somewhere where there aren’t very many of them. I got mobbed by like 15 deer and bitten 3 times. My fault for having skin approximately the shade of a rice cracker.
10 AM: Kofuku-ji, Nara National Museum
We saw Kofuku-ji and then the Nara National Museum, then stopped at a random little cafe for rice bowls with some kind of regional sauce (I can’t find it now!).
12 PM: Isetan Garden
We spent a long time finding the entrance to the Isetan garden only for it to be closed on Tuesdays.
2 PM: Giant Buddha
Saw Nandaimon Gate and the Daibutsu (giant Buddha), which are both every bit as enormous and glorious as advertised, as well as very crowded.
3 PM: Kasuga-taisha Shrine
Wandered over to Kasuga-taisha shrine, which is famous for its hundreds of lanterns and thousand-year-old trees. There’s a special inner area (paid) where you can see the lanterns lit up in the dark.
4 PM: Wait for the emperor
We got held up by a procession for, guess who, the former emperor again. Stalker.
5 PM: Nara shopping and snacks
Walked around Higashimuki Shopping Street and Mochiidono Shopping Arcade, bought a nice sake set and an amazing little hand-painted cat, ate some red bean paste pancakes and headed back to Kyoto.
7 PM: Dinner in Kyoto
Walked around Pontocho searching for dinner and landed on Yoshina, where we got even more kaiseki. Finished the night at Hello Dolly, a gorgeous jazz bar overlooking the river.

Wednesday: Day Trip to Osaka

7 AM: Depart hotel
Started by taking the subway to the JR. Took us about an hour altogether, though it would have been faster if we’d caught the express.
9 AM: Osaka Castle
We got to Osaka Castle in time for it to hit 85 degrees out. The outside of the castle is gorgeous, but the line to get in was long and I don’t know if the museum parts were worth the wait, especially with the crowds. The view from the top is nice, though.
12 PM: Okonomiyaki lunch (Abeton)
We went to an okonomiyaki spot in Avetica station called Abeton that was full of locals and absolutely bomb as hell.
1 PM: Shitteno-ji, Keitakuen Gardens
We headed to Shitteno-ji (our oldest temple yet) which was nice, though the climb to the top of then 5 story pagoda wasn’t worth the sweat. Then we walked over to Keitakuen Gardens, a small but gorgeous garden in Tennoji Park. Had a nice sit in the shade to digest and plan our next moves.
3 PM: Ebisuhigasbi, Mega Don Quijote
I am a crazy person, so I had to go to the Mega Don Quijote. We walked around Ebisuhigasbi for a while first, and while I was buying gifts in Donki, my boyfriend entered a sushi challenge for westerners (which turned out to just be “can a white boy handle wasabi”) and won a bunch of random crap! Now we own Japanese furniture wipes.
5 PM: Dotonbori & America-mura
We took the Osaka Loop to the Dotonbori area, which was super crowded as expected. We walked around America-mura and enjoyed seeing what they think of us. There are great designer vintage clothing shops here if that’s your thing.
6 PM: Dinner (Jiyuken)
We tried to get into Koni Doraku, a crab restaurant, but they were booked up, so we went to a tiny spot called Jiyuken for curry instead. I would do things for this curry. It was the platonic ideal of curry. It was served by old Japanese aunties from a very old recipe, so we knew it was going to be good, but it exceeded our wildest expectations… for <1000y each.
7 PM: Return to Kyoto
My feet were feeling real bad (the Nikes may look cool but they cannot support 25k steps a day) so we headed back to Kyoto and packed for our early morning tomorrow.

Thursday: Travel to Koyasan, Temple Stay

8 AM: Bus from Kyoto to Koyasan
The transit from Kyoto to Mt Koya is complicated, so we ended up just booking a bus directly from Kyoto Station to Koyasan (which barely cost more than public transit!). We got there bright and early for the 3 hour trip - if you take a bus out of Kyoto Station I definitely recommend giving yourself extra time to navigate to the right bus.
11 AM: Arrive at Eko-in, lunch
We arrived in Mt Koya and checked in to our temple, Eko-in. The quiet and the beauty hit me hard and I fell asleep for a few hours. We got a nice lunch at Hanabishi in town.
4 PM: Meditation class, dinner
The temple offered a meditation class, which was lovely, followed by a vegan dinner in our rooms. I can’t explain how peaceful this place was.
7 PM: Okuno-in Cemetery
We signed up for a monk-led tour of Okuno-in, which was definitely worth it. Came back for some public baths and fell asleep to the sound of rainfall.

Friday: Travel to Kanazawa, Higashi Chaya District

7 AM: Service & ritual at Eko-in
The day started with a religious service and a fire ritual at the temple. Both were stunning. I did wish that my fellow tourists had been a bit more respectful by showing up on time and following directions, but luckily, no one has more patience than a Buddhist monk.
9 AM: Travel to Kanazawa
We took a taxi through some sketchy mountain roads to Gokurakubashi Station, took two trains to Osaka Station, and then the JR Thunderbird to Kanazawa.
1 PM: Arrive at Kanazawa, Lunch (Maimon)
We got into Kanazawa station and went straight for a sushi spot called Maimon, which was delicious. Struggled a bit with the bus system and eventually got to our hotel, Utaimachi.
4 PM: Higashi Chaya District
Wandered the Higashi Chaya district a bit. It seemed kind of dead, but maybe we are just used to the hustle and bustle of Tokyo/Kyoto.
7 PM: Korinbo, dinner (Uguisu)
Walked down to the Korinbo area southwest of the park and found a tiny ramen spot called Uguisu. Incredible. Some of the best broth I’ve ever tasted plus amazing sous vide meats.
9 PM: Bar in Korinbo (Kohaku)
Went to a little upstairs whiskey bar called Kohaku. Boyfriend got Japanese whiskey and they made me a custom cocktail with sake, pineapple and passion fruit that was just insane. They were very nice and talked baseball with us for a while.

Saturday: Omicho Market, Kanazawa Castle, 21st Century Museum

9 AM: Kenroku-en Garden
We walked over to Kenroku-en Gardens, which were as beautiful as advertised. I was hurting pretty bad (crampy ladies, just know Japanese OTC painkillers are much weaker than ours, BYO Advil) so we’re moving slowly today.
12 PM: Omicho Market, lunch (Iki-Iki Sushi)
Walked to Omicho Market and ate little bits from different stalls, then waited about an hour to get into Iki-Iki Sushi. It was worth it. Some of the best, freshest sushi of my life.
2 PM: Kanazawa Castle, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art
We walked around Kanazawa Castle a bit, then walked over to the 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art. It was packed and the line to get tickets to the special exhibits was crazy, so we looked at the free ones and then headed back. Along the way we stopped in a few little stores and bought some handcrafted lacquerware from a local artist.
6 PM: Onnagawa Festival, dinner (Huni)
As we walked towards the restaurant, we came upon the Onnagawa Festival on the Plum Bridge, which included a beautiful dancing ceremony and lantern lighting. We went to Huni for dinner, our first “westernized Japanese” restaurant, and it was fantastic. 9 dishes served slowly over 3 hours at a table overlooking the river. Highly recommend if you’re in Kanazawa.
10 PM: Why does the bathtub have a phone
We went back to our hotel, struggled with the automated bathtub, and enjoyed our last night on tatami floors.

Sunday: Travel to Tokyo, Tokyo Giants Game, Ueno Park

7 AM: Travel to Tokyo
Grabbed a taxi we arranged the night before to Kanazawa Station - it would have been an easy bus journey but our number of bags has increased - and boarded the Shinkansen for Tokyo.
12 PM: Travel to Tokyo Dome and Tokyo Dome Park
Dropped our bags at our hotel in Asakusa, then headed for Tokyo Dome. We got there a little early to look around - there’s basically a full mall and food court and amusement park there. We grabbed some beers and some chicken katsu curry that was delicious.
2 PM: Tokyo Giants vs Chunichi Dragons
Japanese baseball games are so. much. fun. This was a random mid season game, and the stadium was full and people were amped. I’ve been to many American baseball games and never seen fans this excited. We also scored some fried cheese-wrapped hot dogs on a stick and a few more beers and had the time of our lives cheering for the Giants.
5 PM: Ueno Park
After trying and failing to find the jersey we were looking for, we walked to Ueno Park and looked around a bit. It was lovely, but we were exhausted and full of too many beers, so we headed back to Asakusa.
7 PM: Dinner in Asakusa
There was a festival all day around Shinso-ji and there were a ton of street vendors and day-drunk people when we arrived in the afternoon (as a native Louisianan, I approve) and it seemed like the partiers were going on into the night. We ducked into a restaurant for some buckwheat soba (never got the name, but it was only okay) and tucked in early.

Monday: Tsukiji Food Tour, Kapabashi Dougu, Akihabara

8 AM: 3-hour Tsukiji Food Tour + lunch
We started the day with a Tsukiji food tour, which ended up being my favorite food tour of the 3 by far. The guide was great, and we stopped by a dozen food stalls and sampled everything from mochi to fresh tuna to octopus cakes. We finished with lunch at Sushi Katsura, where our chef prepared everything in front of us.
12 PM: Imperial Palace, Don Quijote
We were planning to spend the afternoon exploring the Imperial Palace and Edo Castle Ruins, but it was hot and the palace was closed, so we walked to Taira no Masakado's Grave, then headed back to Asakusa for, you guessed it, Don Quijote. I did not intend for this trip to be “guess how many Don Quijotes I can visit” but here we are. We bought another suitcase and I filled it with food and gifts to bring home.
3 PM: Kappabashi Dougu
We walked Kappabashi Dougu and browsed kitchenwares while wishing we had a bigger kitchen, an unlimited budget and a way to get a hundred pounds of porcelain home in one piece.
6 PM: Akihabara dinner + games + drinks
We took the train to Akihabara, got dinner at Tsukada Nojo, then played games in a few arcades and ended the night at Game Bar A-button, which lets you play vintage handheld games while you drink.

Tuesday: Senso-ji, Flight

9 AM: Breakfast, Senso-ji
We got breakfast pancakes at Kohikan, then walked around Senso-ji and the surrounding shopping streets for a while.
12 PM: McDonald’s
Look, I couldn’t leave Japan without doing it, okay? I got the Teriyaki Chicken Burger (too sloppy and sweet) and bf got the Ebi Filet-O (he said it tasted exactly like a Filet-O-Fish). It was not great but I deserve that!
3 PM: Cab to the airport
I caught the flu on the flight home and have now been in bed for a week! Welcome back to America, baby.

Hi all,
Received today was a quantity of MBGs new HHC kief 20% HHC 14% CBD.
Visually, I'll use ground regular MBG CBD/G stuff as a comparison, it's lighter in, a little clumplier and a little fine, which depending on how you get used to rolling with it can lead to smolder sides but also if your medium is abit moist it can get a nice coating to avoid this.
My only experience with HHC has been 3g of the shake MBG was offering a month ago and I think I had it figured out by the time I ran out.
My usual base blend is about equal portions of CBD/G kief at about 13% each then I'll add to that whatever I fancy various flowers or other hashes ect.
Tried a single with minimal HHC on its own as a trial didn't really get much, I was effect but HHC for me lacking the cerebralness of thc I wasnt sure, also has a tiny quant of thc in my usual blend before hand which might have thrown in.
After making 4/5 smokes out of it I think I've got my swing with HHC now I'm using like a ratio of 2 scoops HHC to 1 each of D and G, residual thc in there as well.
It lacking what I find the mental kick thc has I'd say it's hard to quantity effect of potency vs as my blends are % of % of a grander total but it's got that vibe of being stoned without, for myself, the semi often anxiety of THC so I've had 2/3 1+1/4 skins with quite alot of admixture in now and yeah I'm on its level I don't fancy another really as its not going to get me blasted I don't believe but it seems to be a nice forget your even high kinda feeling.
Reading from other and perhaps from myself it does creep slower than THC which is nice and it's also lacking the cerebral headfuck THC can be, later in the evening I might be tempted to add a noticeable quantity of thc to my admix but it's working well so far and I believe the DG and H should prevent my thc irritation.
As for how this is for sleep yet I'm yet to say and also don't really want to have to test it, THC keeps me awake for at least 90 minutes even from a tiny ammount, I've discovered CBN actually does make my mind shush abit and my body relax and go to turn off mode so I can see that being a god send. Others will have to make up their minds regarding HHC and sleep.
Conclution - Happy customer (even if they did run out of the Swiss cbd kief in the clearance section before I stocked up)

As I'm writing this there are still about 10 hours left until Diablo IV launches in my region.
But I can use that time for something I haven't done before: Preparing meals so I don't need to order Takeouts or live from snacks and microwave food.
My Plan is to have enough meals until Monday/Tuesday, so I will prepare the following:

• 1 Pot of Curry
  
• 1 Pot of Rice
  
• 1 Bowl of Tiramisu
  
• 1 Bowl of Salad
  
• 1 Banana breads
  
• Some stuff for Breakfast and Snacks in between.
  

Curry:

This takes about an hour to make. That's why we start with this. You need:

• Curry mix (I use Golden curry but there might be other brands in your Region)
  
• about 500g of Meat (I use Beef, Goulash fit's pretty well here)
  
• about 350g Onions
  
• 3 Medium sized Potatoes
  
• 3-4 Carrots
  
• about 600 ml water or broth
  
• some vegetable oil
  

And these secret ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon of Apricot Jam
  
• 2 cl Worcester Sauce
  
• 20g Dark chocolate (I use 85% cocoa)
  

Step 1: Chop the Onions into rings. No need to be precise, you aren't Gordon Ramsay. Take a big pot and heat some oil. Then roast the meat until it's slightly brown and place it on a Plate/Tray. Now place the onions in the same pot and fry them until at least slightly brown or further (to your liking). Then fill the pot with 600ml of Watebroth and put the meat back in, leave it on medium heat. Set a timer to 40 minutes. Now you have time to peel and chop the potatoes and Carrots (should take you about 10 minutes). Add them to your Water with meat and onions.
Step 2:
If the 40 min are over you should test if the meat is tender. If it's not, leave it for about 10 more minutes. If it is, reduce the heat and add the curry mix to the pot. Let it simmer for about 5 more minutes and you're done. UNLESS you want to try my secret ingredients - if you do, add them, too and stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
The cooking time depends a lot on which type of meat you use, some need more and some need less time cooking.
CURRY DONE - it gets tastier after a day in the fridge, so this is perfect. An alternative to Curry would be a pot of goulash, but I prefer curry.

Pot of Rice

Step 1: Cook rice.
Step 2: you're done. Unless you don't know how to cook rice, in that case: Long grain rice needs double the amount of water, short grain rice needs the same amout of water. So if you use long grain you take a cup or some container and fill it with rice, add it to a pot, then you fill it with water, add that to the same pot and then you fill it with water again and add it to the same pot. If you want to make double of that amount... well I guess you can figure it out. I advise you to fill it with rice first, since if you start with water the grains will stick to whatever container you used. With short grain rice (also known as "sushi" rice) you only add as much water as you added rice (in volume). Then you heat it until the water boils and leave it on medium to low heat until the water is either evaporated or sucked up by the rice.
Or you use a Rice cooker and follow the instructions there.

Tiramisu

This is probably the most complicated recipe on this list, but it's tasty.
You need

• 750g Mascarpone
  
• 300g "Ladyfingers" (google said that's the correct translation, they are these things )
  
• 1,5 cups of coffee
  
• 75g Sugar
  
• 1/2 cup of Amaretto
  
• 4 Eggs
  
• cocoa powder
  

Step 1
Seperate the eggs into yolks and whites. Mix the Yolks and amaretto. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with the sugar until stiff. Mix the Mascarpone with the Egg yellow/Amaretto. Then carefully add the egg whites.
Step 2
Now you take the container for the tiramisu (A caserole for example) and add layers of ladyfingers and mascarpone, starting with the ladyfingers. Dipp them in coffee, but don't let them get soggy. Then add a layer of mascarpone. repeat until you're satisfied or out of ingredients, usually 4 layers (2 of each) are enough.
Sprinkle the top layer with cocoa powder and put it into the fridge.

Salad

This is very quick, my salad contains these ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
  
• 3 Tomatoes
  
• 1/2 cup of green olives
  
• 1/2 cup of black olives
  
• 2 spring onions
  
• 100g of feta cheese
  
• 1/2 Pomgranade
  

Preparation
Wash and chop the ingredients and add them to a container with a lid. Do not add oil, salt or vinegar yet - they will damage the veggies and they'll get soggy quickly. Add them shortly before you want to eat the salad.

Banana Bread

This is an easy recipe, you can make it while you wait for the curry to finish to save time.

• 300g flour
  
• 80g Honey
  
• 3 ripe Bananas
  
• 6 Table Spoons grated coconut
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 1 Table Spoon baking powder
  
• 1 table spoon Vanillin Sugar
  
• Cinamon to taste
  
• 200g nuts (whatever is available in your area, I use hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts)
  
• as many nuts as you need for topping, I used 100g hazelnuts
  
• 450ml Coconut milk
  
• 50ml Water
  
• 1 teaspoon grated ginger (optional)
  

Mix together and bake for 45 min at 175 °C in a convection oven

Breakfast

I bought 4x500 ml of Quark and will mix it with Cherrys and some seeds. This mixture is rich in protein and fiber, so it is a good breakfast for anyone who isn't lactose intolerant.
I also bought some Nuts, peanuts and dried fruit as healthy snacks.

And don't forget to hydrate.

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