#great food great prices

[uraandri]

[wishfuldivine]

gaz walking around with his collar acting like nothing is amiss meanwhile one of his boys is losing his shit… good food. great food. the world is at balance.

Gaz walking around wearing one of their hoodies (you can choose whoever) with sweater paws because it fits a bit too big and his tight black underwear.

He was too busy trying to do his own chores and was unaware of the other basically salivating. A very apparent tent in their pants and trying so hard to keep themselves from grabbing him.

His ass just.. looked phenomenal.

And fuck, that collar. It looked beautiful around his neck. So beautiful that the need to rip it off with their teeth was becoming a damn must. He looked mighty sinful.

It went along like that for some time until they couldn't handle it anymore. They practically devoured him deliciously.

[fictionadventurer]

I went into Ruth expecting a dreary read. How could a Victorian "fallen woman" story be anything other than dark and depressing? So I was shocked right from the beginning to find a sweet, gentle, romantic story. The dressmaker's apprentice who sits in the coldest, darkest part of the workroom because that's where there's a panel painted with flowers that remind her of her country home? How could I not adopt her as a favorite character? Ruth's innocent, romantic outlook on life gave us some beautiful descriptions of the scenery of both city and countryside, and my imagination went on overdrive to create very vivid images of the story. Even the love story, which we know is going to go very wrong, starts out sweet, with a kind, charming love interest who only shows flashes of just how wrong his character is going to go.

Even after Ruth's fall, the story is so gentle, putting Ruth among kind people who are willing to risk and sacrifice a lot to help her. And then the story gets almost too gentle--after some initial struggles with depression, Ruth resolves to bear her troubles patiently and work toward virtue, and her sweet, too-innocent character gets flattened out into someone who's just Good. Life just goes on, with things generally going well, and every potential turn toward drama results in someone deciding to be reasonable, which can make the story drag.

But, in a story like this, the lack of drama becomes the plot twist! It is refreshing to see characters who don't always jump to the worst conclusion or take the worst action, who pause and consider the whole story and act like decent human beings.

And in the places when the drama does kick in, it's good drama. Painful drama. It's also (especially in the last section of the story) melodrama. There were sections of the book where I was rolling my eyes at the cookie-cutter Victorian path the story was taking--but then there'd be one line or one moment that would just stab me in the chest because of how beautifully specific it was to this story. Just enough to elevate it from something bland to something unique and fascinating.

I often had the thought that this book could be about a third of its length without losing anything--yet it should also be just as long as it was. If the story cut all its repetitive musings about Ruth's regret, and used that space to develop the side characters and and show the plot instead of telling us about it, it would be a much deeper story. I found myself wishing Gaskell had reworked this one later in her career--the way that North and South was a more skillful reworking of the issues explored in Mary Barton. In a way, she sort of did in Wives and Daughters, with the story of Molly the quiet innocent getting tangled up in the intrigues surrounding her headstrong, flirtatious stepsister Cynthia serving as a more layered, personality-flipped version of the story where headstrong, sheltered Jemima gets tangled in the story of quiet, sweet Ruth and her past romantic intrigues. (The doctor at the end of the story also feels like a proto-Mr. Gibson).

Yet I'm still fascinated by the themes specific to this story. Contrary to expectation, this "fallen woman" story isn't about sex, or gender, or how unfairly women are treated (though it does touch on that in the end). It's about sin. It's not questioning why Ruth's behavior is considered a sin or looking to dismantle the society saying that it's a sin. It comes from the Christian perspective of saying that sin is real and harms people--so how are we going to deal with that?

The story shows lots of people struggling with temptation, failing, and dealing with the consequences (or harming others with the consequences). Sin is always a case of either not caring enough to do the more difficult, good thing, or a case of "the ends justify the means", where people rationalize their bad behavior as something necessary in this specific case. It always leads to harm, but some people--and some sins--suffer greater consequences in the eyes of the world, whether or not they deserve it. I wish the story had developed and resolved this theme better in places, but the raw material there is fascinating food for thought.

This book is Gaskell at her preachiest, but also Gaskell at her kindest. It explores deep, difficult issues in a very loving way. As a story, there are ways it could be better, but I'm very glad I read it. Perhaps I'm making a point to be kinder to it because I know it's the type of story that today's readers tend to judge harshly. But amid my issues with the story, there are some lovely images, some great messages, and some wonderful characters that going to be living in my heart for a long time.

[benthesoldiersjeanshorts]

So long America.

Hope everyone has their Fallout gear ready.

[girlivealwaysbean]

pata hai last kuch din i was very busy with my project kyunki final dena tha and binding karni thi etc to wo karwayi then i went to the bookfair bekaar tha then parso submit karne jaa rahi to subah accident hogaya (bhai ki bike skid hogayi and we fell down) and now i have a big ass blue bruise on my upper thigh and my parents don't even know lmao and kal ek science conference thi to i had to sit in an auditorium for 6 hours listening to accomplished people speak. that's what you missed now your turn

omg i knew everything in this except for the accident cause i stalk your blog vigorously everyday are you okay!!!!!!!!!! did you get tetanus shots!!!!!!!!!! also on your upper thigh oh no that's where future jiju is supposed to write MINE na as per our beloved song guilty as sin?

[justplaggin]

went to milan last week and brought back some italian little guys :D

[kinomiakai]

can I just talk about my cat. for a second. he is such a social little guy. Not only does he constantly hang out in the same room and yell whenever he sees us to say hi, he was just sitting along the back of my spouse's chair and once my spouse left, he meowed a whole bunch and then came to sit on the back of my chair. he's still sitting here now. he needs a buddy!!!!!! I love him!!!!

[janiedean]

literally begging for any chain ever to fucking let terf wizard collaborations in the dust i don’t want to give that woman a cent of any of my money ever but i’d also like to buy food that’s not like shitty thank u

[fieriframes]

[AT A FAMILY-OWNED RESTAURANT THAT'S BEEN OPEN FOR MORE THAN 62 YEARS. YOU CANNOT GROW A BEARD IN A MOMENT OF PASSION BUT NOT THIS JOINT. THEY'RE STILL SERVING GREAT FOOD AT REASONABLE PRICES]

[paper-lilypie]

Man, Puerto Rico sounds so cool to bad I'm stuck in the US (I really hate it here)

Dude hop on JetBlue we’re literally American soil

[thyfleshc0nsumed]

Fucked up I just remember my friend who used to live by steak n egger no longer lives right by steak n egger and now I have less excuses to get steak n egger

[what-even-is-sleep]

Trying to get ahead of an unsustainability cycle that might be starting up this week,,, (I start work).

[butchlifeguard]

i would love to do a really long essay about food conspiracies and fatphobia

[yoshistory]

Honestly when I woke up today I was expecting to be feeling it and be really achey and tired but I wasn't and I'm not. Love wins

[bat-the-misfit]

hAHaHahaHahAhHa nevermind :')

120 reais i don't have this money lol

[mmmthornton]

I am stone cold sober and I just ordered a bulk frozen box of smoked pork belly to my house lol.