ASMR *whispered

It stands for Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response and it feels like your brain is tingling. 

Officially, I discovered it on YouTube but when I really think about it, I've always enjoyed listening to certain sounds - and voices - just because they relaxed me. 

Cooking sounds, eating sounds, vacuum cleaner sounds... and apparently I'm not the only one:

10,797,004 views and counting

From what I've gathered, the reason I find the sound of vacuuming so relaxing (it literally makes me fall asleep unless I'm the one doing it) is because my mother used to carry me in a sling while she vacuumed and I napped, (when I was baby, obvs). 

Can anyone explain why I find the Kardashians eating so relaxing, though? 

Especially salad.

crunch, crunch, crunch

I've always thought that I was a little weird (and now I know that I am) but not because certain sounds make my brain tingle.

In fact, there's a whole world of ASMR out there, mostly on YouTube, including that soft-spoken guy with a perm who painted happy little clouds, mountains and trees: Bob Ross.

Island in the Wilderness

The early (1993) combination of whispering, scraping and brushstroke sounds that helped make Bob Ross so soothing - and popular - is what ASMR is all about; and goodness knows we could all use a little soothing right now.

So here are some of my favourite ASMR (or not ASMR, but relaxing nonetheless) triggers/channels, in no particular order.

1. Chiropractic cracking

Maybe it's because I know how good it feels, but I love watching videos with loud chiropractic cracking. Dr. Rahim Gonstead's videos are particularly soothing, and this guy's story is fascinating.

Crack, walk and talk

2. Cooking

I've always found the sound of cooking extremely relaxing and there was a time when I'd have the Food Network playing in the background 24 hours a day, just for the white noise. These days, I'm more about The Hunger Diaries. A mix of cooking and eating, it both relaxes me when I'm anxious and stimulates my appetite when I don't have one.

Homemade Big Mac mukbang

3. Mukbangs

YouTube speak for "eating show," mukbang culture originated in South Korea but quickly took over the world. Trisha Paytas, who is known for many, many, many things, is one of my favourite eaters, and this is one of my favourite eating shows.

"When in Rome, right?"

4. Reiki and massage:

Even if you're not the one getting it, watching a massage can be extremely relaxing. Itsblitzzz is a Los Angeles-based YouTuber who specializes in reiki/massage ASMR, as well as pole dancing. 

As you do. 

Or wish you did.

Julia pole dancing

Julia massaging a kitten

Julia doing a night massage, with gua sha

I also really enjoy watching these Korean/Chinese facial massages:

5. Calmed by Nature

My go-to when writing, Calmed by Nature has a bunch of super cozy, ambient videos with sounds like rain, a crackling fire and the ocean that either help me concentrate, or fall asleep.

Rain

A campfire with ocean waves

6. Jakob ASMR

With over 21,000 channel views and counting, Jakob is a fledgling, young ASMR artist from Montreal that I know and love. Here are two of his most popular videos:

Jakob ASMR doctor

Jakob ASMR gay best friend

And lest we forget Cardi B:

 Okurrrr

Good night!

Staying home and learning about wine

The best way to learn about anything is to do it, which is exactly what I've been doing: learning about wine.

it's called learning, karen

A couple of weeks ago, during you-know-what, I set out on a journey to create a list of my favourite red wines after watching a video on YouTube called Random Empties + Rattlesnake Pasta w/ Chef Steph.

 the video in question

Immediately after watching it, I promised myself two things: I was going to learn more about wine and I was going to make rattlesnake pasta.

(Spoiler alert: I did both.

To become a true wine connoisseur, *I quickly learned, you needed to do more than just hit the bottle; you needed to hit the net too (#StayAtHome). 

*I realized this the morning after the first night of my journey, after finishing a bottle of one of my (now previously) favourite red wines, Revolution Red. I really enjoyed it on the spot (with the spot being my kitchen), but less so in bed, the following morning, with my pounding head.  

So I took a Masterclass with James Suckling, binge watched Chef Steph and started using the SAQ app, to keep track of my likes and dislikes and check for additional information about the wines I was trying.

Lesson #1: sugar content matters
Revolution Red has 10 grams of sugar per litre (g/L) of wine, which is around five more than my body can handle, apparently.

Sugar content can vary anywhere from 0 g/L to 50 g/L to 100 g/L or more, and corresponds to the amount of sugar that's leftover in the wine, from the grapes, after the fermentation process is over.

Lesson #2: type matters
I like jammy wines and no matter how "good" a red wine is supposed to be, I probably won't like it unless it tastes like plum, berry, vanilla, chocolate and/or coffee.

Side note: Two weeks ago I was tricked into buying The Chocolate Block. The name (and font) on the label led me to believe that I'd love it, but I did not. Especially at $40. 

It only had 2.5 g/L of sugar but it's a syrah, so, not very jammy...

After a few hits and misses, I can now attest to the fact that I most enjoy drinking cabernet sauvignon, with carmenere a close second. 

PKNT is a Chilean carmenere that was introduced to me years ago by a friend; at $12 a bottle, and just under 5 g/L, it's still a winner.

Lesson #3: price doesn't matter
Of all the wines I tried, my two favourites were Rain Cloud, a merlot/cab sauv blend from California that goes for $8.80 (in Quebec, where I live) and Bread & Butter, another cab sauv from California, that's $20 a bottle. 

***Note to self, and the universe: wine tasting in California!!!

I also really enjoyed Francis Ford Coppola Director's Cut ($32) as well as 19 Crimes ($19), Longshot ($15) and Tom Gore ($20) Cabernet-Sauvignon. 

If I had been choosing wines based on their name/label alone, like I pretty much used to, instead of selecting them based on type and sugar content, I would have never tried Tom Gore — but it was delicious.

I didn't try any wines over $40, because, you know, #finances, but there's one that caught my attention... so maybe next month?

Lesson #4: cleansing the palate
Have you ever tried a wine and loved it only to buy it again and hate it? If so, might I suggest that your palate was to blame, and not the wine. 

According to Suckling (my new catchphrase), one of the best ways to cleanse the palate before wine tasting is with an olive, which is exactly what I did one day, after brushing my teeth, before tasting a wine.

It worked.

Lesson #5: drink responsibly and enjoy!