#takeout restaurants in california

[thesocialitekitchen]

Fried Brussels Sprouts Deliver

Explore The Socialite Kitchen in San Francisco, California for eating Fried Brussels Sprouts and we also deliver to your destination. Our food quality & taste is high as compared to other restaurants. You can eat local breakfast, brunch, and lunch as well as hand-crafted beverages.

[geweke-kia]

THE 5 BEST PIZZA PLACES IN YUBA CITY, CA

1. SPARKY’S GOURMET PIZZA

Sparky’s serves a classic pizzeria menu, complete with garlic twists, chicken wings, potato wedges, and sandwiches alongside their pizza and calzone specialties. This pizza joint is also a great choice if someone wants a burger instead. Sparky’s quarter-pound cheeseburgers satisfy your hunger just as well as their pizza does. Check out their online-only specials or stop by the pizzeria at 1215 Colusa Ave.

2. DHILLON’S PIZZERIA

You’ll find this pizza parlor in Downtown Yuba City at  601 Plumas Street. Their pizza menu might be small, but it is absolutely exploding with flavor. Dhillon’s offers a few traditional pizzas like supreme and meat lovers, but you should try one of their Indian-inspired pies. The Tandoori Chicken Pizza is topped with white sauce, tandoori chicken, onions, jalapenos, cilantro, ginger, and garlic. Combining Indian with pizza, Dhillon’s may have found the perfect takeaway.

3. SILVIO’S PIZZERIA & DELI

This Yuba City chain has two locations, so wherever you are in town, there is probably a Silvio’s nearby. You can find them at 1747 Live Oak Blvd,. and 229 Clark Ave. Silvio’s makes their own sauce in-house and uses their own sourdough crust recipe to get their famous flavor. Try their pretzel bites with cheese sauce and Sylvio’s Special Pizza with pepperoni, salami, olives, sausage, and garlic ranch.

4. CHICAGO’S PIZZA WITH A TWIST

Located at 887 Colusa Ave., this pizzeria is a great choice for any group that has dietary restrictions. You name it, Chicago’s does it, offering vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and halal pizzas. Try one of their classic pizzas or go for a Pizza Twist specialty like the Spicy Lamb Kabob Pizza. The menu also includes salads, pasta dishes, breadsticks, and pizza cookies for dessert.

5. MARCELLO’S ITALIAN RESTAURANT

Pizza is one of America’s favorite Italian dishes, so it makes sense to go to an Italian restaurant when you crave a delicious traditional pizza. Marcello’s, located at 1235 Bridge Street, is the perfect place to find a delicious thin-crust Margherita pizza. They offer pizzas and calzones alongside steak and pasta dishes, so if the family is looking for a dinner that is more upscale than a pizzeria, come check out Marcello’s.

Thankfully, Yuba City has no shortage of excellent pizza restaurants. You will be impressed by the pies at any of these great spots, but before dinner, come visit us at Geweke Kia to explore our inventory.

Image by pasita wanseng from Pixabay

[startrekfangirl2233-writes]

Hi hello!

💗 with Jake and Baby Blue? I love how sweet Jake is and how soft they are together, so more of that would be amazing!

Love you Star!

💗 slow kiss / gentle kiss / inevitable / soft with Jake and Baby Blue

Thanks for requesting this, Fern! I hope you love how flirty and fluffy this is!

There's music playing when you let yourself into the apartment one blustery fall day. Living in California, it's never quite as cold in December as it is in other areas of the country. But when you’ve been running between buildings on campus all day, it's still nice to slough off your coat and toe away your boots in the warmth of Jake’s foyer. Normally, he’s still at the office when you get back from your last class of the day, leaving the apartment dark and silent until you gather up the energy to make some dinner in between bouts of paper writing and studying.

Today was such a harrowing day, you were debating whether you should call up the Chinese restaurant down the road on your way up to the apartment or if you should just make something easy. Takeout was winning the mental battle. You’d get Jake's favorites and yours, and crack open a bottle of wine for the two of you to enjoy as you sat at the table in your pajamas. Obviously you don’t have to do that anymore. But other than the soft music, you can barely hear anything else. Jake’s a force of nature. Every room he enters feels his presence. It’s not that he’s loud, which to be clear he is, it’s that he takes up a room just by being in it. So why can't you hear anything else? 

You pad into the kitchen, trying not to make any noise. It’s not often Jake cooks for you - the music playing, Ella Fitzgerald crooning away, evidence that he had indeed been cooking for you - and you desperately want to see him in the act. You can imagine, in a love-sick sort of way, how he furrows his brow as he looks down at the ingredients. How he bites his upper lip in concentration as he chops vegetables and tastes what he’s making. It’s a sight you’ve only seen once in your relationship, and the last time you were too sick to enjoy or remember much of it. But the kitchen is deserted, only the smell of the lasagna bubbling in the oven and the music playing from the speaker on the counter an indication that he was once here. 

You finally find Jake sprawled out on the oversized sofa in the living room. He's fast asleep, hair mussed, cheeks a little pink with his face smushed into a cushion in his arms. He's wearing the soft pants which drive you a little mad and a sweater. Even when he’s at home he dresses like he’s going to be photographed for a magazine. The sweater’s rucked up a little from where he’s twisted on the sofa, revealing a trail of burnished gold slipping beneath the waistband of the aforementioned dangerous pants. He looks so peaceful, so relaxed that you leave him be, walking into the bedroom to change into loungewear of your own.

“Baby Doll?” His voice is sleep-slurred as you carefully lever the lasagne out of the oven fifteen minutes later.

“I’m in the kitchen, Jake!” You call back, keeping your focus on the lasagne as you set it carefully on the counter.

“Mmmm, baby doll, a man could get used to having you in his kitchen dishing up dinner like that.”

It’s so sleazy, so unexpected, you cackle with laughter. You know better than anyone Jake doesn’t actually believe a woman’s place is in the kitchen. He just has a fondness for your ass in this particular pair of satiny pajama shorts. But the delivery of the sleazy pickup line has you bending at the waist as unrestrained laughs leave your lips.

“Th-that’s so bad!”

By the time you straighten, Jake’s at arm’s reach, and you’re struck with the need to kiss him now that he’s awake.

“If that’s so bad then how come you look like you really desperately need a kiss, then, huh, baby doll?”

His hands are hot as they slip under the hem of your soft shirt. 

“I always want to kiss you, Jake.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” 

Your words are swallowed in a tender kiss, your body wrapped tight in his arms as he kisses the breath out of your lungs. It’s a kiss so sweet you could live in it forever, soothed by the scent of him, the feeling of him, just surrounded by him in general. His hand tangles in the hair at the base of your skull, big palm hot as he draws you closer. You can’t help how you curl your fingers into his hair in return as you reciprocate the motion, dragging him in until he's pressed up against you. You've been overthinking how you feel about him recently, choking back those three little words which share a part of yourself you've never shared with anyone else before. But now you want to so desperately, you can’t rationalize a better time than this. So when you pull away, finally, because you need to breathe and not because you want to, you murmur, “I love you” against his lips.

He lets you sweat a little, standing in the circle of his arms. You catalog every inch of his face, tracing the small wrinkles at the corner of his mouth and the glimmers of gold in his green eyes. You're counting his eyelashes, ridiculously thick as they feather around his eyes when he breaks the silence.

“If it wasn’t obvious, Baby Blue, I love you, too.”

Your squeal is so loud you're sure someone could hear you from a mile away. But you don’t care. The lasagna goes cold on the counter, ready to be reheated in the middle of the night when you're a little more kiss-bitten and sore. The fresh fruit and whipped cream which were supposed to be your dessert are put to very good use, albeit not in the fashion they were intended to be. Neither of you mind.

Ask me to write a kiss for one of my pairings!

[freyito]

Let’s see those Johnshi headcanons

MEEEE ??? YOU WANNA HEAR MYYYYYY JOHNSHI HEADCANONS?? (specifically asked for people to ask about them) TWIRLS HAIR...

anyways. building off the fact that I headcanon Johnny as Jewish... he's jewish by blood, right? like mother dearest was jewish (and we know hes got daddy issues...) but didnt really like practice much? like Chanukah was about as far as she'd go. HOWEVER. Johnny carries her Matzoh Ball Soup recipe with him at all times. Like it's a little faded list of ingredients in a lockbox with his social security card and birth certificate or something lmfao.

Johnny's got such a mediocre grip on cooking. But obviously you can't just live off of takeout and fancy restaurants your entire life. Johnny also really enjoys cooking but he also thinks cooking together is like real intimate and just a fun date. Kenshi and Johnny have definitely tried to cook together ONCE with Sento by so Kenshi can see... but then Kenshi like nicked his finger and Johnny freaked out so Johnny decided that was that. He'll cook Matzoh Ball soup for Kenshi like once a week but especially during the colder months cause it reminds him of the good parts of his childhood.

Johnny actually really loved Chanukah as a kid cause it was like a second christmas, so he celebrates it every year. The first Chanukah with Kenshi, Johnny was like super giddy... history nerd 100% so Johnny will like hype it up and tell him why Chanukah is important all day until finally it's time to light the candles!!! And Johnny doesn't know like ANY HEBREW... besides the Chanukah chant. Kenshi loves it when Johnny speaks in different languages (I imagine he knows a little cause of his career, but also like he's not fluent in like any of them) so to hear Johnny speak in Hebrew, Kenshi is like !!! WOAH!!! Probably asks Johnny to repeat it again and again...

[Spoilers for Johnny and Kenshi's Tower Ending] Johnny definitely bought Kenshi's groceries a LOT after coming back from outworld. Yeah yeah, they were most definitely in different countries but nothing a little modern day technology can't fix. Johnny also 100% pays Kenshi "surprise visits". Will drop way too much money on a ticket to Japan, do MORE shopping for Kenshi there, then show up at his door. Will also visit Kenshi at work as well, since I assume with both Johnny and Kenshi have such busy schedules, being a director and a OIA agent, they don't get much time together.

On that note, eventually when Johnny's whole divorce is settled and he's on his way to like a third Mortal Kombat movie and an animated film or something, Kenshi requests a transfer to California. Goes through EASILY, and that's when they start living together. By then, Johnny's gotten much better at cooking and like cooks for Kenshi whenever he can.

WE ALL KNOW Johnny's a certified yapper. And Kenshi's a listener, specifically for him. Kenshi will bring up stuff Johnny's said once upon a time and Johnny's like "you remembered!!!" cause not a lot of people really listen to Johnny...

Also. Johnny's got daddy issues. Kenshi's got mommy issues. They complete eachother.

I think a lot of people brush over the fact that Kenshi's definitely fuckin loaded too. Like he was a Yakuza, and now he's a government agent. He's got MONEY MONEY MONEY. So all the time after everything, Kenshi would send over gifts upon gifts to Johnny. They gradually decline in price. Not because he's getting cheaper, no! Kenshi's not much of a gift giver but I can imagine he feels pretty bad for Johnny cause he KNOWS Johnny STILL feels guilty about Kenshi losing his eyesight. Kenshi also believes the small things matter the most, and he starts sending over little things that remind him of Johnny. Only when he moves in with Johnny is when he stops gift giving. But we'll get to why later.

Neither are super picky with their food. But, Johnny hates tomatoes and pickles on burgers. Kenshi will eat them regardless. So Johnny purposefully makes sure that tomatoes and pickles are on whatever burgers he gets. (OLIVE THEORYYYY)

Also since I hced both w/ depression... Johnny normally just kind of. Can't function during hard episodes. He really just prefers to stay in bed and let it pass, cry it out a little. Kenshi on the other hand NEEDS something to do cause it helps him get it out, and he's got a pretty active mind, so a distraction is always needed. So Kenshi LOVES cleaning for Johnny during his episodes, he'll get so much laundry done, everything will like practically spotless. And it kind of helps Johnny's mood get better, too.

Kenshi sets aside like at least a week a month when he has time off to just. live life without Sento, if that makes sense? He'll set Sento aside and just deal with life with a cane, he doesn't mind it like at all. He wants to get comfortable with a cane as well because for very very very obvious reasons he can't bring Sento with him everywhere. Face Mapping also. Like every night. Johnny might complain a little cause Kenshi does it so often but he really loves it. Kenshi's got Johnny's face down, like absolutely down. But does it regardless cause he KNOWS Johnny loves it.

I'm still like 90% sure Kenshi is insecure of his tattoos but doesn't talk about them like at all and I mean I think he's pretty comfortable about his past completely. We hear him joke about it for fucks sake. But he does have a habit of covering up what he can of his tattoos. So on the days where Kenshi's just wearing like a tanktop or even no shirt at all, Johnny's all over his arms tracing his tattoos. Like they will be trapped laying on the couch for HOURS. Cause Johnny has to finish tracing EVERY INCH of Kenshi's tattoos. Kenshi won't ever admit that he likes it. And it's not like... erotic either. It's soft and tender. Johnny's just kind of fascinated. (Johnny also probably will take off his shirt like "now trace mine". he will always and forever have his name tattooed across his chest in my heart)

Their love resembles Ludus (Playful Love) the most. They definitely have some pretty tender and passionate moments, but I think Johnny just in general sets the tone for the relationship. Even if Kenshi is more Pragma (Enduring Love) aligned. Johnny kind of lets his humor take the lead, and Kenshi kind of enjoys it.

When Kenshi moved in, he brought Johnny some konpeitō. Johnny was hooked. Now Johnny has like 3 1lbs packs in the cabinets.

Kenshi 100% has a guide dog. And Johnny dotes on that thing and spoils that thing like a motherfucker...

And finally. After like atleast a year and a half of them living together, Kenshi proposes. Johnny HAD a ring and was ready to propose but he was so worried about it and about the time and he let his nerves get the best of him each and every time. Kenshi doesn't make it a big show... probably after a nice dinner and maybe some dancing. But he definitely set the whole day up. Johnny tries so hard not to cry at his proposal.

anyways. gay losers.

[brostateexam]

Kadesh Swanson has a rule at sit-down restaurants: He tips 10%. It’s half the norm (at least 20% these days), but it’s what he’s always done. “If servers want more, then they should put the same effort in that I took to earn that money,” he says. Swanson, 34, makes tobacco pipes and hosts taco pop-ups in Olympia, Washington, and sees a gratuity as a reflection of the service he’s offered. He’ll tip more occasionally when the experience feels exceptional, but never on takeout or counter-service orders. “You just came, did your job, and you left,” Swanson says of workers at limited-service restaurants.

A 2023 Pew Research Center study showed that people who have worked for tips are more likely to leave a gratuity. But that’s not the case for Swanson. Even running his own taco pop-ups at local breweries hasn’t changed his views on tipping. He considers his business model comparable to that of a fast-food restaurant: “It comes off the grill and someone hands it to you,” he says. Swanson appreciates a gratuity but admits that “my own business is not one that I would personally tip.” He may not be the average customer, but Swanson is not alone. There are diners across the country who view gratuity in its most literal sense—as totally discretionary.

Tipping has been a controversial topic pretty much forever—but it’s only gotten more polarizing. Stories of people shaming bad tippers are commonplace now, and tipping on everything from takeout to counter service has become the industry norm. Still, there are people among us who are actively resisting this movement. They rarely—if ever—tip 20%, and some believe that by withholding tips, they’re actually protesting an antiquated and inequitable system.

There’s a lot of these people: 5% of Americans never tip and 12% only sometimes leave a gratuity on their meals, according to Bankrate data. In a new YouGov etiquette survey, half of the more than 1,000 respondents indicated they think it’s “acceptable” to leave no tip after receiving “bad service.” That Pew Research Center survey of almost 12,000 adults found that more than half would tip 15% or less on “average—but not exceptional—food and service” at a restaurant. (One quarter of respondents said they would still leave 20% or more, and 2% said they wouldn’t tip at all.)

“I believe the role of tipping should be to incentivize and reward excellent service,” says Anda Galffy, a 69-year-old travel blogger who was born in Europe but now lives in Southern California. “It has nothing to do with generosity.”

[haddonfieldwhore]

sparks fly - will borgen (2)

will borgen x fem!reader (part social media)

summary: you bring you favourite player a birthday gift at a kraken practice

warnings: this is pure delusion lol enjoy, fluff 🧸 please pretend the game on dec.20th was at home not in california

word count: 1.3k (this is part 2 )

❥ click here for part one

9:46am - you

you came back downstairs dressed and feeling refreshed after your shower, grabbing your phone off the counter getting your shoes on. you had a few errands to run, and if you wanted to be home in time to watch the game tonight, you wanted to get a move on.

since it was close to christmas, you hated how busy it was downtown, but you always loved how they decorated the trees, snapping a quick picture and posting it to your story. you admired the passing buildings from the backseat of the uber you were in, when your phone buzzed in your lap. your eyes almost fell out of your skull as you saw what the notification was. once again, you had to check a few times to convince yourself that it truly was the real will borgen messaging you, and you pinched yourself as you typed out each reply.

he didn’t reply as fast this time, and you tried not to look insane to your driver as you checked your phone every 10 seconds. finally, a reply came through, but it only left you more bewildered.

he had sent you a ticket to the game? you couldn’t fathom why, but you weren’t going to say no when your favourite player was saying he wanted you there; that he wanted to see you. the game wasn’t until later that evening, giving you plenty of time to both get ready, and overthink everything about the situation.

•

6:21pm - you

you still felt like this was all a dream, even as you arrived at the arena and got to your seat, in the lower 100s section near the net that the kraken would shoot on twice during the game. you felt bad, wondering how much the ticket had cost, but you were pretty sure the players got a few tickets for free, so you hoped that was the case.

the kraken won in the end, leaving you feeling even more on cloud 9 as you walked up to the concession area of the arena. you were getting ready to leave, when you felt your phone buzz in your pocket.

you felt like you were going crazy, wondering what made you so special to deserve all of this happening to you. nervousness grew in the pit of your stomach - you had never hung out with a professional hockey player before. what would you talk about? what if you made a fool of yourself? he must have sensed your hesitance somehow, because after a minute of you not replying, another message came through.

if someone had told you 24 hours ago that you would be texting with, never mind getting coffee with will borgen, you would have laughed in their face. but somehow, you wondered if he had also felt that little spark between the two of you at the iceplex, and that’s why this was all happening. it sounded a little too fantastical for you, but you would believe anything at this point.

you got to the starbucks, the restaurant part being mostly empty, just a few people in line for takeout. you sat at a table in the corner, waiting anxiously.

as promised, 20 minutes later, you saw will sneak past the two people still in line, and over to your table.

“hey, thanks for waiting,” he smiled shyly, and you smiled back at him. how could he be nervous right now? you wondered.

“no problem. you’re really you,” you laughed softly, and he chuckled.

“yea, did you think i wasn’t?”

“a tiny part of me did. the ticket kinda convinced me but this is …. a little insane.”

“in a good way?” he asked nervously.

“will, of course i mean in a good way. i just … why me?” you fiddled with your hands in your lap, picking at your fingernails.

“why not you?”

“i mean i’m just me and you’re.. you.”

“you realize that makes no sense right?” he laughed, and you couldn’t help but giggle. despite how nervous you were, you felt more and more comfortable in his presence.

“you know what i mean.”

“you know, matty actually had to convince me to work up the nerve to message you.” you looked up at him, surprised.

“really?” you asked in disbelief. “do the other guys know-“

“no just him. he doesn’t know we’re together right now but he convinced me to invite you to the game.”

“well thank him for me then,” you laughed. “should we get drinks?” will nodded, and the two of you went to the counter to order. will insisted on paying for the drinks despite your protests, and he asked if you wanted to walk around the arena.

“you’re not worried about people seeing you?”

“no, most people are gone anyway even if i did.” as he took a sip of his drink, you smiled, noticing a familiar string of blue beads around /,” you smiled, holding his wrist softly to admire it on him.

“yeah, this really pretty girl gave it to me for my birthday,” he said, sliding his hand into yours and licking your fingers together. you blushed slightly as you walked hand in hand around the arena, will showing you around and explaining different things about the game. it had only been about half an hour, but you felt like you had known eachother for years.

•

matty beniers was walking out of the arena, having stayed a little later than usual after the game. as he looked down the hall, he noticed you and will walking the other way, smiling to himself as he walked to his car.

“he actually did it,” he thought to himself, proud of his friend for taking his advice. he ran into yamamoto who was also just leaving.

“hey, borgy’s not with you?” he asked, and matty shook his head.

“he had a few things to do tonight,” matty lied, not wanting to be the one to tell the guys about will and his potential new girl.

“i guess we’re celebrating his birthday without him then,” kailer laughed, and patty pushed him gently towards the door.

“more cake for us.”

•

10:51pm - you

“so did you enjoy your birthday?” you asked, laughing as will swung your joined hands back and forth between you slightly.

“yes, but i think i might have enjoyed today more,” he smiled. “it is getting late though and i don’t want to keep you here forever. do you have a ride home?”

“yeah, it is. i can take an uber-“

“i could drive you if you want?” he offered, and you smiled.

“if it’s not a bother- thank you.”

after a short drive, will pulled up outside your apartment, and you felt sad to be saying goodbye. what if he didn’t want to see you again?

“i would invite you up, but i really wasn’t prepared to have guests so the place is a mess. and it’s pretty late so you probably want to get home and-“

“it’s okay,” he laughed at your rambling. “next time. we fly to anaheim for a few days but i’d like to see you when i get back- if you want to i mean,” it was his turn to ramble, the fact that he was also a little nervous made you feel more at ease somehow.

“yeah, i would really like that,” you smiled. “i’ll be cheering you guys on from home.”

“thanks,” he replied, but looked like he wanted to say something else. “…can i kiss you goodnight?” he asked, and your face got warm, but you nodded. he leaned in, pressing his lips to yours softly. the taste of coffee on his tongue was sweet, and you found yourself wanting to kiss him again as he pulled away, but you didn’t.

“i’ll text you tomorrow?” he offered, and you nodded, getting out of the car and wishing him goodnight. he waited in his car to make sure you got in the building safely, and you sighed happily, a huge smile on your face as you rose the elevator up to your floor.

you just hoped the next few days went by fast.

disclaimer: all screenshots, events, and/or interactions depicted in this are a work of fiction. i have no association with any parties mentioned

[thealogie]

happy new year's, dying to know your top LA restaurants of the year

Happy new year and thank you SO much for this question Maddie. I’ve been training for this one the whole year

-northern Thai food club (also shows up as amphai northern Thai food on Google sometimes). This place has like 4 tables total, very cheap and serves the best Thai street food I’ve had outside of Thailand.

-saffy’s (fun but lowkey) and bavel (slightly more trendy and definitely more expensive) are sister restaurants by the same husband and wife pair serving some creative but authentic twists on middle eastern food. I had some of the best kebab of my life at saffy's and as a middle eastern person i don't say that lightly

-sonoratown: everyone in LA knows this casual mexican spot but it truly lives up to the hype. do not do takeout, these tacos/carmelos/burritos must be enjoyed hot at the source

-gjusta: classic deli food but make it a california brunch spot.

-girl & goat: just a classic california brunch spot

-my two fave special occasion/splurge spots ive been to are republique (classic french) and osteria mozza (classic italian)

[cookies-over-yonder]

Walk in the Park

CO-WRITTEN BY @silverlistenstothings

Nicky chooses the wrong dialogue option while chatting with Taylor.

Part 22 of The Mortifying Ordeal of Being Roommates

ao3

Maybe kicking a ball around was a no-go for Taylor, but the park still seemed like a good idea, no sports required. It’s a nice day, slightly cloudy and not too hot, so it’s as good a time as ever to take Taylor out for a little picnic, Nicky figures. He even planned ahead this time, though he’s starting to think he should have planned more. But creating a bullet list of conversation topics to bring up with your son is definitely lame, right?”

"So, um, how's school?"

Is that what people are supposed to ask their kids? Nicky wonders, sitting at a park bench with Taylor, who's finishing up his takeout sushi from a restaurant nearby.

 

"'S fine,” Taylor says around a mouthful of rice. 

 

"That's good, uh…"

 

How are you doing?

 

Are you holding up okay after everything?

 

"What do you think of the blue sky?"

 

"Uhh, it's weird,” Taylor responds, glancing balefully up at it. 

 

"I grew up with it looking like this, you know."

 

"Mm,” Taylor hums. He’s losing him. 

 

"Do you… miss it being red?"

 

"I guess, yeah… I dunno. It's weird, because technically this sky is the—" he does air quotes, " normal sky, but I don't… like it… I mean—sorry—I dunno—"

 

Taylor scratches at the back of his neck and directs his gaze to the empty takeout container on his lap.

 

"That's okay, kiddo,” Nicky reassures. “I get it, you know?"

 

"Mm."

 

Taylor is biting at his lip now, staring back up at the sky.

 

"I mean, everything was like, uh, super weird for me when the sky turned red, so, like, yeah."

 

There's a look of unease on Taylor's face—furrowed eyebrows and a slight frown—and he's got this faraway gaze that wasn't there before.

 

Nicky concludes that attempting this conversation was a bad idea, if his silence is any indication.

 

Fuck. He’s blowing this so bad already. 

 

Then Taylor's head tilts, as a bird flies by, and he's following it with his gaze. It’s small and brown, kind of orange around the head and the base of its tail. He’s sure that Sparrow told him what it was in another lifetime, but Nicky has no idea now. 

 

"I think that's a, uh… california towhee,” Taylor offers, a bit weakly, trying to regain his usual confidence. It doesn’t really work, but Nicky is more than willing to take the distraction. 

 

"Do you like birds?"

 

"Hermie does,” Taylor corrects, relaxing a little.

 

“Oh yeah?” Nicky wouldn’t have guessed that. They always seemed to be the other kind of nerd. 

 

“Yeah. They were telling me about sparrows the other day,” Taylor confirms, smiling slightly. “They’re really smart, they know a lot about birds.” 

 

Nicky hums, and they lapses back into silence, paying slightly closer attention to the sounds of the birds around them this time. 

 

A gust of wind blows through, and Taylor shivers. Nicky knows better than anyone how cold-sensitive being part-demon makes you. 

 

"Say, you wanna head back to my place and watch some anime?"

 

Taylor locks eyes with Nicky, and they're so full of light. The vacancy from earlier seems to have left them completely… or the light is bright enough to hide it.

 

“Hell yeah,” Taylor says with a grin. 

 

And so they leave, and Nicky resolves to save his earlier line of conversation for another time. He should check up on his son, and he will, just not right now.

 

Definitely.

[sketchy-scribs-n-doods]

billy and max were not californian enough in my humble socal opinion. like i’m not saying all californians have had my exact experience. but. come on.

where was the bitching about the cold weather and the lack of good mexican and chinese restaurants nearby. never have i met a californian that wasn’t ready to throw down for in n out when out of state ppl try to talk shit, even if it isn’t remotely their favorite burger place. i just know max would go crazy over the fuck all to do in town within a month or two. the largest city is probably hours away, cue billy quickly realizing the only entertainment at hand is shitty high school parties.

you’re telling me max wouldn’t throw a fit about the lack of giant skateparks? that billy wouldn’t take every opportunity to bitch and moan about having to get chains for his tires and the menace of ice and snow on the roads fucking up his car? billy refuses to button his fuckin shirt in november, he’s going to die as soon as the temperature dips below 35F. i know not every person from socal is as much of a bitch as i am about low temperatures but most of us are not built for temperatures below like 40 or 30F. actual snow is going to happen and max is going to eat shit trying to skateboard through it. i had to defrost my car for the first time during a cold snap last month and i thought i was losing my mind, billy is going to fucking hate what cold temperatures can do to your car, especially if you park it outside on the regular.

white bitches love mexican food, have you seen how they get about chipotle? one day billy and max are gonna be home alone and go ‘we should get mexican takeout tonight’ and suddenly realize they live in the fuckin heartland now, the chances of finding a good (let alone decent) taco place nearby depend entirely of the percentage of mexican immigrants settling in bumfuck indiana to actually open a place. or at least somebody from texas.

i desperately need max and billy throwing down for in n out. i don’t care about your opinion on it, your average bitch from california will not stand for actual slander against it. lucas tries taking max to the local diner and puts his foot in his mouth (”it can’t be that good, max”) after trying to insist that the burgers in hawkins are leagues better than whatever they had back in california. steve and billy nearly brawl again because billy fuckin loves the skinny crispy in n out fries and dares to put them above mcdonald’s fries and steve thinks he’s fucking crazy.

depending on where they lived in california, the lack of mountains would probably be something weird to get used to. travelling past the mountains and through flat land makes the monkey in my brain go ‘where big rocks go??? why so exposed??? too flat!!’ and i can’t help but think of max constantly doing double takes at the sheer amount forest around hawkins and the distinct lack of mountains nearby lol. california is huge and there’s loads of different biomes within it, but you’re not gonna find very many forests, especially in the areas billy and max probably lived in (i think in runaway max they lived in san diego? but that’s shaky half-canon at this point).

give me the weird slang differences between the midwest and the west coast. i had a teacher from wisconsin call water fountains ‘bubblers’ once and i swear it gave me whiplash. i love regional slang. idk if it depends on the person’s age or region or if its interchangeable in some places, but the face i’m picturing billy making after hearing somebody call it ‘pop’ instead of ‘soda’ is priceless. there’s also no fucking way billy hung out with californian surfers in the 70s - 80s and didn’t pick up some truly atrocious slang that pops up now and then. max thinks he sounds fucking dumb, but then billy makes fun of the fact that she can’t roll her ‘r’s and it starts another bitch fight. more of max and billy both saying ‘like’ way too much as a sentence filler and everyone else making fun of them.

i don’t know, i want more fun and interesting and annoying little things that people from different states do. billy and max moved across the whole damn country, i want more conflict from that than just the obvious issues.

[thesocialitekitchen]

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[phoneylovely]

Things are a little bit crazy right now. We got back from Portugal late Monday night, and I went back to work yesterday. I have my biopsy tomorrow for the lump in my armpit and am hoping to hear good news in a couple of days. Jasper has to have eye surgery next Friday, which will require a good bit of recovery care and follow-up visits to the ophthalmologist’s office, which is an hour away. My husband is starting a strict weight loss program this Friday with intermittent fasting and a pretty limited menu with no restaurants or takeout for a couple of months. My dad’s sister died last week, and he’s taking it really hard. He’s lived with her and her husband for more than ten years and helped with caregiving. My dad asked me to plan her burial service and host her wake at my house sometime in the next few weeks. They all live in California.

This is A LOT, but I feel strangely calm. I’ll take it a step at a time, and my husband will help me. As long as the biopsy comes back negative, I feel like everything else is manageable.

[cricketcampbell]

BIOGRAPHY • MUSINGS • INTERACTIONS

character name: cricket james campbell

nickname: chef, bug (by her mom)

age & dob: november 14, 1997 (26)

gender identity & pronouns: female, she/her/hers

sexual orientation & relationship status: bisexual, single

residential area: ocean crest apartments

occupation: personal chef

place of birth: tuscon, arizona

length of time in aurora bay: two years (as of jan 2024)

personality traits: + audacious, - naive

faceclaim: rachel sennott

FAMILY.

mother: libby campbell

father: unknown

siblings: mavis campbell

cousins: atlas nolan, scottie nolan

TL;DR.

tw power dynamic

grew up on the road at the whims of her generally unstable mother, who never could quite manage to settle down in one place...until she did, with a man who had no idea that she had children and essentially left cricket in the dust. after a nannying gig gone wrong (affair with her boss), realized her passion for taking care of people through food, and attended culinary school in california, where she returned after a brief european stint over two years ago to work as a local personal chef!

HEADCANONS.

is fully convinced that miley cyrus and hannah montana are, in fact, two entirely separate people and will not be accepting any criticism on her theory!

diet coke fiend, her go to caffeine fix more than anything else

sometimes lies just for fun, a habit she picked up in her childhood, especially when she knew she wouldn't be sticking around somewhere for long--not usually about anything major, just a little something to keep it interesting

only got her first cellphone a few years back but caught on very quickly; doesn't quite understand twitter yet but is fully addicted to tiktok and has recently started posting little day in my life as a personal chef videos as a sort of online journal

has absolutely zero clue who her birth father is and never bothered to ask, but thinks her middle name could maybe possibly be a homage to him

cooking for others is her love language but when it comes to feeding herself, it's either strictly the basics (kraft mac & cheese, pb&j, cup noodles) or she's ordering takeout! definitely pays for dashpass

recently adopted a street cat she's named caesar (after the salad ofc)

despite the lack of stability, the one thing her mom was serious about was school, so through a combination of both in person and homeschooling, cricket did get a high school diploma, and even managed to graduate early

personal chef is her main gig, but does offer a less expensive meal prepping service for some extra cash!

has a finsta @friendswholunch where she posts little photo dumps of pics she snaps of her friends when they go out/come over to eat! not only to document good meals but also good company 🫶

started and runs a cookbook of the month club! basically everyone chooses a different recipe to recreate from the same cookbook and then all meet up on the 3rd saturday of the month for a cute little potluck 🤭

CURRENT CONNECTIONS.

younger half-sister of @maviscampbell

ocean crest mommy issues club founding members with @finnbrooks

her recipe tester guinea pig/not so reluctant sous @aidenxstevens

forever hiding from their awful third roomie with @lorelailewis

ex-girlfriend of @mackmontgomery

the older brother she (probably) never had @buddywellls

co-club head and dinner party coordinator for @samucl-kane's community garden

wants @paxton-brady's mom to adopt her

culinary school pals/used to run a pop up restaurant out of @solaadisa's apartment

london friends with @luckylewis

work besties to reg besties pipeline @helenasoarcs

@santiagodeleons used to date her mom

cool older sister vibes @thegillyxliang

cousin of @atlasnolan and @scottienolan

if @ravirussell has zero haters it’s because cricket’s dead!!!

WANTED CONNECTIONS.

clients (either personal chef or meal prepping)

someone who she sometimes enlists as a sous chef

blasts from the pasts from her time on the road/abroad

stable influence(s)

roomies

somewhat recent ex

someone (or someones!) she'd consider to be her best friend(s)

members of her cookbook club or the community garden!

someone she's decided to lie to for fun and it's just spiraled from there

friends who've had a falling out/frenemies/enemies

party/drinking/smoking friends

fans of her tik tok

neighbors

fwbs/one night stands/tinder dates

@aurorabayaesthetic

[elaninrecovery]

Cottage Pie

I learned to make a very simple version of cottage pie when I was around 9 years old.

My mother, a clueless woman in the kitchen, had just gotten married (spoiler alert: it was not a good decision) and decided she suddenly needed to become Stepford enough for this new Rockwell painting her life was finally becoming. A Molly Weasley type woman in our church offered to teach her some recipes and I came along like the chapstick you keep in your purse but never use, something you’re just so used to carrying, you forget it has a purpose.

Of everything we made, my favorite was cottage pie, which my mother decided to call “shepherds pie” (because religious people love to find silly ways to bring Jesus to dinner, even if it’s a misnomer). It was the one thing we kept from that day. My mother would make it for semi-special occasions. It is not really special occasion food, mind you. It’s sloppy and not really very pretty. But it tastes warm and homey. Like Thanksgiving and diner food. Those in-between places where eating feels like it should heal you.

After the divorce, and even as everything got harder and worse and better and somehow even more awful - every so often, we would make the shepherds pie. It was one of the few things my mother would still help me with once I became more duty than daughter. I think it was that last shred of Rockwell she could hold onto. I even learned to make a meatless version when I (and then she) went vegetarian for a while, and still it tasted like it should. Like it could heal some of the aches between us, the widening cracks we tried to ignore. It still tasted like comfort, even as we made it less and less, the magic of its healing no longer able to cover over the patchwork of pain between us.

When I moved across the country, almost 700 days - and a lifetime - ago now, I didn’t think of never making our silly misnamed pie again. I didn’t think I would ever be homesick of a place I’d never felt at home. I didn’t think, 6 months into my move, would be the last time I would ever choose to speak to my mother again. Time and distance are not always kind teachers - but they are good ones. I’ve been in my own apartment for about a year now. I always buy bags of potatoes. I never make the pie. The potatoes go bad in the cabinet, to the point I now keep a paper bag inside for them to sit on, so when they leak, it won’t be gross to clean up.

--- -.  .--. ..- .-. .--. --- ... .

Last night, I wanted to make the pie - told myself it was cottage pie now - no longer shepherd. Correctly named, and made in my tiny home with its rainbow light catchers and cacophony of fridge magnets - no shepherd needed. But still, I paused, unsure. Instead, I took the dog for a long walk in nearly freezing weather, my face numb from the wind when we returned, still too much California in me to remember my scarf.

I whined downstairs at the girls who work at the restaurant my apartment building shares a lobby with, the girls who are now my friends even though I still don’t understand how, complaining about making the pie and wondering if I should just order takeout instead. The youngest, a lovely sunshine girl named Autumn, who is about 10 years my junior, said she’d never had cottage pie - had always wanted to try it. I laughingly said she could come up after her shift and have some if she wanted, thinking she’d joke back and I’d order delivery, the potatoes rotting in the cabinet. But as I went to walk away she stopped me, said she was serious if I was going to make it. One of the other girls jumped in too, asked if there would be enough. The last of them said she would take some home if I had enough to spare. I agreed and bounced my way upstairs.

I turned on my Cooking Music playlist, and sang along with Dean Martin and Ella Fitzgerald about love and time as I peeled the potatoes, cutting out eyes that had started to grow. I made gravy from scratch for the first time ever, mixing and tasting, mixing and tasting - like an Italian grandmother, nothing measured, all of it by feel. Until it tasted like it should - but better. Different than before, still like comfort but not like loss. I made brownies because I could. Tossed them into the oven at the same time, like someone who had their life together. Like I knew what I was doing.

The girls came up, one at a time, curling up on my lime green sofa and laughing at my silly dog requesting pets and bringing them squeaker toys that were nearly bigger than him. Listening to me chatter and telling me we should have a Galentines party together in my apartment. “No its not too small! We can totally fit 4 or 5 of us in here no problem” they told me when I questioned if my 400 sq ft apartment was really where they wanted to hang out (really offering them an ‘out’ to spending time with me, even though they’d been the ones to suggest it).

They ate as I puttered around, unable to stop moving, trying to find distance - not used to people so close to me. They told me I was being silly as they tugged me warmly between them on my sofa, sharing tv trays so the dog couldn’t steal our food. They cleaned their bowls entirely, forks scraping for every last bite as we chattered about workplace shenanigans and memories and video games. Autumn told me she was going to tell her mom about it, thought she might like to make it for their family, asked if she could maybe get my recipe next week. I nodded. “Of course.”

It tasted the same. Kind of. Like comfort.

But it wasn’t a bandaid or a balm, it didn’t need to soothe an ache or offer a reprieve. It wasn’t trying to be beautiful.

But it did taste like healing. Like something finally coming together in a place I didn’t realize had been empty.

[spellbook-gayboy]

It’s been a long while since I had the chance to do one of these, but now I finally have some time, I thought that I’d do another headcanon post!:

For those of you that don’t already know, my main OC Ian and his canon character boyfriend Paul live in San Diego, California. This means that they’d also take part in the many celebrations specific to the city. Ian’s favourite is Restaurant Week, because it’s the only time of the year he can get away with ordering takeout for five days in a row (Paul’s okay with it as long as they get one of their meals from Madame Feng’s). Paul’s favourite is the Gaslamp Quarter Mardi Gras, mainly because it’s the liveliest the place actually gets all year.

Adding on to this, Paul, and by extension Kate, are themselves from California, more specifically from Sacramento in the northern end of the state. Paul has an old Kings basketball jersey he wears to bed, Kate’s slang was so frequent when she was younger she basically sounded like a surfer, and they both still home ‘Old Sac’.

Keeping to the theme of the Cha twins, in canon their shared curse ends up driving their father Tsing insane (which definitely messed them up, but that’s for another time), and their background gets a bit vague from there. However, I would like to instead offer that the two were instead raised by their grandparents for most of their childhood until the twins split. 

Finally, it was this time living with his grandparents that caused Paul to develop an intense love for the Lunar New Year. He keeps a traditional calendar alongside the regular one in the house, and you can probably find him wishing everyone  Xīnnián kuàilè, or ‘(Lunar) New Year Happiness!’

[punkass-diogenes]

10, 12, 19.

Do you have a favourite classic novel?

Here is where I feel guilty about all the classics I haven't read. The one that immediately comes to mind is Nineteen Eighty-Four. I consider it one of the most terrifying books I've ever read - mostly due to the scenes between Winston and O'Brien. The "boot stamping on a human face forever," the part where Winston feels as if O'Brien's mind contains his mind and there is nothing he can think or do that has not been anticipated, Room 101 and the endgame being the breaking of the spirit and the betrayal of the other. Eugh. I haven't read that book in years and it still makes me shudder just thinking about it.

Do you prefer baking or cooking?

Cooking! Baking is a pain in the ass. I love baked goods, but the number of times I have had to deal with bullshit from my bread dough because of the temperature this and the humidity that and the age of the yeast this and that and the other thing. I've had so many meltdowns about baking. When it comes to cooking, I love being able to improvise and try things out.

My newest favorite thing to cook is a quick recipe for lemongrass tofu I figured out. It's hard to find lemongrass at non-specialty stores, plus it's usually expensive and there's no way in hell I will be able to use all of it. So I found this lemongrass powder spice at a Vietnamese grocery store. I cut the tofu into thin slabs and brush both sides with a mixture of peanut oil, lemongrass powder, and five spice powder. Then air fry on both sides until crispy. Serve with rice or rice vermicelli + veggies and mix it all together with hoisin sauce and a sprinkle of fish sauce.

Restaurant prices have gone way up lately where I live (and I believe this is the case everywhere) and I'm not really willing to pay $15 for a meal that used to cost $8 except on occasion. So I've been learning to make a lot of things myself that I used to get from takeout.

Do you prefer forests, sea shores, or meadows?

This is a tough one because I love both forests - particularly the coniferous forests of the Pacific northwest - and sea shores. I think I would have to say sea shores. I grew up near the ocean and it has always been a part of me. I hate being too far away from it for too long. I also have an elemental identification with water.

Also, a big strike against forests for me is bugs. Not bugs in general because I like bugs and think they are super cool. But bugs that BITE. Mosquitos, horseflies, gnats, and so on. These bugs seem to find me a particularly tasty morsel and I get bitten five times as much as most people. On top of that, I have strong allergic reactions to mosquito bites and some of them will swell up to a point that painfully limits circulation in my limbs. Every time I dare to enter a forest, I get bites of some kind. Even in the dry climate of southern California, my arms and legs get so covered with gnat bites in the summer that it looks like I have scabies. I see swarms of gnats on the beach and around the lagoons from time to time, but these beach bum gnats have never shown the same interest in biting me as their dickhead woodland cousins.

My ideal would be a place that has conifer forest right up against the coastline, e.g. Big Sur.