#talking about food and drink

[murasaki-sama]

I am so jealous of people who like black coffee as is, with no sugar or cream or anything. Or even black coffee with a tiny bit of sugar or cream.

I mean think about it. This drink comes in unlimited free refills, is available at most restaurants, is socially acceptable to order all year round and at most times of the day or night.

I am warm drink enjoyer (all warm drinks) and none of the others get a teeny tiny bit of that treatment.

Hot chocolate? expensive, one cup per purchase, comes over sugared with whip cream, made with water mostly (never with milk), only socially acceptable to order during the fall and winter.

Tea? here in america, even at Tea Shops or whatever, the best you can get is hot leave juice, and the worst you can get is a disgrace. went to a Chinese restaurant yesterday and what I got when I ordered green tea and my sister ordered Jasmine was just... bad.

Most people don't even know what Wassail is, so good like finding that and ordering it.

Apple cider or any other fruit cider probably isn't available either, not even in the fall. the best you might get is apple juice, in a small class, one cup per purchase and oddly expensive per cup too.

And if one does like coffee, but a bit doctored up with sugar and cream, all you get are tiny sugar bags and small cream cups, and it takes like six of one and half a dozen of the other to fix a single cup, so even with unlimited refills you spend half of you meal time opening containers and mixing them in your coffee. and then there is the caffeine thing, which many other warm drinks do not have.

so yeah, i really envy people who just order coffee, black, and drink it as is. lucky bastards.

[zetadraconis11]

HL Incorrect Quote #62

*in the Scriptorium*

Sebastian: Extraordinary! I could stay in here all day!

Ominis: I would rather we didn't. I wish for us to leave as soon as-

*slurping sounds*

Sebastian and Ominis: *turn to see and hear MC sipping from a cup*

Sebastian: Where did you get that?

MC: Oh, it was just sitting here.

Ominis: And you DRANK it? Do you not realize how long that beverage had to be sitting there?

MC: It was only a little dusty.

Ominis: A little-?! You are going to kill yourself one of these days!

Sebastian: Why would you just drink some random cup of...whatever is in there?

MC: I think it was tea. You're telling me you're not curious what kind of tea a founder of Hogwarts drank?

Sebastian:

Sebastian: Well, when you put it like that-

Ominis: DON'T ENCOURAGE THIS-

[lizzybeeee]

the language being stripped of lore specific terms made it so much worse in retrospect. fr tho Davrin calling Eldrin "Uncle" Eldrin instead of Hahren, like it's okay Davrin you can use elvish around my Rook I won't judge :( I haven't romanced him does he at least call you vhenan??

I could get the use of 'uncle' if Davrin was trying to explain it to Rook who was not elvish (since all elves in this game seem to just instinctively know elvish) since it would make sense to make a connection between the dalish role and familial role for an outsider:

Rook - "Who are we seeing?" Davrin - "Hahren...Uncle Eldrin." Rook - "Hahren?" Davrin - "It's elvish - they're storytellers and caretakers in the clan." Rook - "So...not your uncle." Davrin - "Close enough. He raised me."

Does Davrin call you 'vhenan'? I could have sworn he did in the final love/petting over clothes scene but I did a look up because I couldn't remember...apparently its just my wishful thinking - but don't quote me, maybe it's only in a specific dialogue option? :(

That fact that I can't recall it off the top of my head is telling -> Solas calls Lavellan 'vhenan' so much its burned into my brain, the same with other endearments from other romances. I played as a shadow dragon elf so I was hoping to be able to say 'amatus' - didn't get to do that either.

Which is one reason that the romances in this game really fall flat for me. I loved how different characters had different endearments for you, it made it feel more personal! Bull with 'Kadan', Dorian with 'Amatus', Solas with 'Vhenan', Leliana with 'My Love', and Sera had a 'pick your own' that wonderfully reflected her character!

I assume they were trying to make the language more accessible for new players, but it was never a barrier for me in any of the other games? If anything it always made me more interested/curious in what was going on when I encountered a phrase that I didn't understand. It added to the idea that these characters were from different nations and cultures - they had their own languages and phrases that reflected that -> the world felt bigger because of it!

Even if I didn't understand something, the voice work was always so stellar that even if the exact meaning wasn't understood, I got the intent that it was being said with.

Best examples being Solas and the Arishok - I understand certain words and phrases of each language, but I'm not a translator like some very talented people on this website. Even if I didn't get what was being said I absolutely understood the intent from the emotion and nuances in voice work. Top tier example is Solas and Sera in DAI:

Solas: Our people used to be here. Sera: Pfft, you say that everywhere. Solas: It is more true than you want to believe. Sera: I bet, right? Who wants to think about stepping on dead elves. Solas: Din elvhen emma him? Sera: Oh, you felt that one.

The way that line was delivered was incredible. Didn't understand a word but you could absolutely feel the repressed fury of what Solas was saying - his disgust at what Sera said. Once again, Gareth David-Lloyd coming in with incredible voice work! <3

It's such a strange choice to just...remove that immersion - to have so little of it in-game. Does it require extra work to make certain that the characters language reflects their history and culture? Yes! But what it adds is so immense to the world. I can't imagine not having Solas call Lavellan by elven endearments or having Andrastian characters not say 'Thank the Maker!' or 'Maker's breath!' It was cool worldbuilding! Just like how we say 'oh my god' there's a Thedas equivalent that communicated the very same idea!

Hearing lore specific words and phrases makes me know that I'm playing a Dragon Age game. Playing DATV which severely lacks in those words and phrases made me realize I'm sitting on my swivel chair and looking at a computer screen.

[jacenotjason]

GADREEL POSSESSIONS....

i wanna make more of these but i am Tired right now

Gadreel would enjoy pretending to be the person he's possessing, and likes to have fun with it. like playing with dolls!

[cfrog]

The workers at my local Sonic know me by name.

[the-meme-monarch]

so i should probably state I'm taking a little hiatus from commissions until my wisdom tooth extraction sites are well enough healed, so that I don't have to worry abt them all day ! i did do one since the surgery and I'm happy with it and i think the commissioner is too, but i felt i was taking too long and wasn't focused enough on it <:] i just wanted to say this bc I have a couple people waiting already and i dont want to like. idk I feel like im letting people down if I were to Wait for someone to contact me for a commission and Then saying 'hey I can't rn bc my mouth is healing and it's kinda distracting' if that makes sense. but hopefully in another week I'll be all good 👍

[kirkwallguy]

i wish we could talk about coffee IN THEDAS? on a cultural level and its background with lucanis. cuz I've never heard of it in any other games so it's interesting to me like is it a class thing? where does it come from? why it is not popular in south? or is discovered in ten years (reasonable)? in my hc it's harvested in and sold from rivain but I'd really like to see more of it, the cultural stance and all. and economical which makes it interesting.

it doesn't add anything in to the game but having conversations makes you immerse and learn about worldbuilding and characters... like we didn't need to talk with fenris about literacy and how he was so interesting in Shartan but it's a content, it means something for the characters and gives things details, like in real life. so it's a general thing not just a coffee

actually i wish we could make ANYTHING into a conversation that reaches beyond the main topic lol but alas we'll just have to sneak in to eavesdrop

Oh, the coffee has been driving me CRAZY since the promo where it was looking like it would be lucanis' only personality trait. there's a post that was going around a while ago that i can't find now that iirc used coffee as an example when talking about white western fantasy authors being uninterested in extensive worldbuilding and how this can result in putting colonialism in your cosy escapist fantasy fluff novel. the coffee in treviso so widely available that coffee houses are a thing, not exactly mass produced but imported or widely farmed at least. coffee also seems to be equally as available in tevinter (if i'm remembering neve talking about it right), so that's at least two countries that are being supplied with coffee beans

who grows the coffee? where is it grown? who imports it? what do they trade for it? we're talking about antiva and tevinter here, slavery is legal in one of these countries and in the other country a massively influential faction benefits from the slave trade (not that you'd know it if you only played vg lol). even if coffee is grown in the country and not exported anywhere, cute little family farms where everyone is paid fairly aren't going to produce enough to sustain mass consumption in cities. rook can also respond that they prefer hot chocolate, which means we also have a cacao industry going as well.

ofc, this is an issue with all the da games and with most mainstream fantasy. i'm not saying i need every game to map out its trade routes and have characters look into the camera to acknowledge the spices they're putting into their food were likely the result of exploitation and would only have reached them under colonial circumstances etc etc. but veilguard's preoccupation with food and baking in a way that comes across as 'wholesome' makes this issue more pressing than it was in previous games - slavery barely exists but everyone can gather around the lighthouse table for a cosy talk about what their favourite spices and sweet treats and special drinks are. it kind of echoes how the white western consumerist mindset of ignoring how your starbucks and shein clothes and temu accessories were made because you buying them for yourself is an act of 'self care'

[lynzishell]

✨Atlas Stephens - Character Sheet✨

TYSM for the tag @onestormeynight This was so fun! 🫶🏻

Personal

Financial: wealthy / moderate / poor / in poverty

Medical: fit / moderate / sickly / disabled / disadvantaged / non applicable

Class or Caste: upper/ middle / working / unsure / other

Education: qualified [computer science degree from Foxbury Institute] / unqualified / studying / other

Criminal Record: yes, for major crimes / yes, for minor crimes / no / has committed crimes, but not caught yet [I mean technically ig, but nothing serious, just some illegal substances at clubs n stuff like that] / yes, but charges were dismissed

Family

Children: had a child or children / has no children [but he's the best uncle there ever was] / wants children

Relationship with Family: close with sibling(s) / not close with sibling(s) / has no siblings/ sibling(s) is deceased

Affiliation: orphaned / adopted / disowned / raised by birth parent / not applicable

Traits and Tendencies

extroverted / introverted / in between

disorganized / organized / in between

close minded / open-minded / in between

calm / anxious / in between

disagreeable / agreeable / in between

cautious/ reckless / in between

patient / impatient / in between

outspoken / reserved / in between

leader / follower / in between

empathetic / vicious bastard / in between

optimistic / pessimistic / in between

traditional / modern / in between

hard-working / lazy / in between

cultured / uncultured / in between / unknown

loyal / disloyal / unknown

faithful / unfaithful / unknown

Beliefs

Faith: monotheist / polytheist / atheist / agnostic

Belief in Ghosts or Spirits: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

Belief in an Afterlife: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

Belief in Reincarnation: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

Belief in Aliens: yes / no / don’t know / don’t care

Religious: orthodox / liberal / in between / not religious [let's just say his past destroyed any chance of that]

Philosophical: yes / no

Sexuality and Romantic Inclination

Sexuality: heterosexual / homosexual / bisexual / asexual / pansexual

Sex: sex repulsed / sex neutral / sex favorable / naive and clueless

Romance: romance repulsed / romance neutral / romance favorable / naïve and clueless / romance suspicious

Sexually: adventurous / experienced / naive / inexperienced / curious

Potential Sexual Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

Potential Romantic Partners: male / female / agender / other / none / all

Abilities

Combat Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor / none

Literacy Skills: excellent/ good / moderate / poor / none

Artistic Skills: excellent / good/ moderate / poor / none

Technical Skills: excellent / good / moderate / poor/ none

Habits

Drinking Alcohol: never / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / alcoholic

Smoking: tried it / trying to quit / quit / never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / Chain-smoker

Recreational Drugs: never / quit / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / addict

Medicinal Drugs: never / no longer needs medication / some medication needed / frequently / to excess

Unhealthy Food: never [he's just really not a fan of sweets and stuff tbh] / special occasions / sometimes / frequently / binge eater

Splurge Spending: never / sometimes / frequently / shopaholic

Gambling: never / rarely / sometimes / frequently / compulsive gambler

I have no idea who to tag cos I haven't been around as much lately and I don't know who's already done this... so yeah... if you wanna do it, then do it and say I tagged you... and then like, tag me back cos I kinda wanna do this for Ash too... so, really, you'd be doing me a favor 😉🤭💖

[bumblingbabooshka]

One of the best Voyager scenes to indicate Tuvok & Neelix's dynamic and how I think Tuvok is just as if not more 'annoying'(positive) than Neelix is when Neelix pours Tuvok a fresh squeezed glass of a fruit juice blend and Tuvok's like (paraphrased) "I don't want to drink this." and Neelix is like "Can you please try it?" and Tuvok's like "I don't want to, you're really bad at this sort of thing. It's going to taste bad." and Neelix says that Ensign XYZ said she LOVED it, she even had a second glass! And Tuvok says Ensign XYZ could drink poison without a second thought and Neelix is like "Tuvok could you please just TRY it? Just try a little SIP of it PLEASE??" and Tuvok sighs and rolls his eyes and sniffs it before taking a sip and it turns out he loves it. Turns out it tasted good actually. And then after all that Neelix tries to talk to him over eggs (which he's again cooking fresh for him) and Tuvok tells him he doesn't wanna hear "the life history of his breakfast." Absolutely insufferable this man I would have burned his eggs on PURPOSE!!!!

[jewishbarbies]

I’m always surprised by just how many people think the general american population somehow dont know that foods like chips and soda aren’t considered healthy. like. OBVIOUSLY soda is full of sugar? that’s why I’m drinking it? I want to drink it? no one is forcing me at gun point to buy soda instead of drinking water. as an American, I’m not some mindless slave to american food companies. I’m perfectly capable of choosing what i want to eat and drink. yes, less healthy foods/drinks are typically cheaper bc they’re cheaper to make in large quantities and are fairly shelf stable. that does not mean eating and drinking those things can’t possibly be a choice. if i want a soda im going to fucking drink a soda. you can pry my dill pickle chips from crusty dead hands. stop robbing americans of their autonomy and infantilizing us when discussing the american food system. we’re well aware of what sugar and carbs are.

[sparvverius]

i woke up when my class had already been going for 20 minutes because i must have turned my alarm off without fully waking up -.- so i had to run down as quick as i could luckily it was an optional class so nonody eas mad at me for being late and 10 minutes after waking up i was having a mimosa and talking about lolita and now ive had a coffee and am shaking a little bit. so you can imagine the kind of day i am having

[des-no9]

Kinda wanna do a big meta post of my githyanki relationship and "family" HCs. Family I believe was more of a concept to them pre-Vlaakith and could be something again post Vlaakith, but that damage is so deeply done to their society it could take a very, very long time for such big changes.

Also, I like to look at family and relationships etc to them through their lens, not our lens as much as possible. Even if it was probably that they were descended from humans so very long ago, they're very much aliens now.

This concerns their society as a whole and not necessarily the outliers like githyanki brought up outside of creches or the system etc.

[recurring-polynya]

Izakaya Kamenoya, part 3

It's been so long, and I kept getting busy with stuff, but rest assured, I have not stopped thinking about every shinigami's favorite watering hole, Izakaya Kamenoya, for even one second of that time, and today I am going to talk about what's really important: what kind of booze can you get there.

The multiplicity of drink options is honestly the thing I really love about Kamenoya. On a meta level, someone has to draw all this stuff, like, with their hands. I have no idea, actually, if the animators consider this sort of thing a break from all the powering up and sword fights and rolling across cave floors, or if they consider a Trip to the Bar to be really tedious. My point is, they very well could have just always drawn people drinking out of the same cups, except they didn't, they drew a series of loving close ups of sake-pouring and a variety of drinkware styles. On a more Watsonian level, I just like the idea that, like Alice's Restaurant, you can get anything you want at Izakaya Kamenoya. So let's get into it!

I think the thing that really made me notice this was this scene from the Amagai Arc, where you see Kira doing mokkiri, or overpouring his sake. (At least I think that's what he's doing. The articles I read sounded more like the server is supposed to do it, which emphasizes the establishment's generosity, so maybe Kira is just being a messy drunk. I'm pretty sure you're also not supposed to pour yourself sake, you're supposed to do it for your tablemates)

Often, mokkiri is done into a masu, which is a small square box that was used as a standard measure for rice. You can see Nanao drinking out of one here!

What kind of cup to drink your sake out of is a huge topic, but basically, it depends on the flavor and characteristics of the sake. The fact that Kira and the Lads are drinking out of clear glasses might imply that they're drinking chilled, summer-style sake (or possibly trying to appreciate the clarity of the vintage, as if this is what you call up Iba and Renji to go to the pub for).

I am not an expert, so I'm not going to attempt to identify exactly what these different cups would be classified as, but you can see a variety of shapes, sizes and materials.

I found less information on different shapes of tokkuri (that's the slightly bigger bottle that you serve from), but those come in a variety, as well. Mostly, they have either the large, oval-shaped jugs you can see in the first picture, or the more slender white ones in the second. I am really fond of these tall boys that Kira and Hisagi have, which seem to have straighter sides than the other kind, kind of like a milk bottle.

While we're looking at that picture, there's an ad on the wall for beer. Beer!

In modern times, beer is actually the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan, which Wikipedia tells me came about after WWII because of restrictions on the use of rice. They've had beer since the Edo era, though, and many of today's major breweries got started in the late 1800s. I love the idea that beer is a thing you can get in Soul Society, but it's clear that it has not overcome sake in popularity the way it did in the World of the Living--which makes sense, because of they never had those restrictions. (In other words, throw this in the bucket of stuff like tattoos and attitudes toward homosexuality that I think diverged from the Living World because of weird quirks of history).

In fact, Kamenoya apparently imports beer from the World of Living (maybe it also has local brews as well).

Look how lovingly that bottle of Kirin is drawn. 😂 The fact that it's shown in a glass mug in the ad, but served in a Pilsner glass here supports the idea that there are multiple kinds of beer available. Now, I believe that Kirin Zero is non-alcoholic. It's surprisingly hard to do research on beer labels from 20 years ago. I couldn't find a label that looked exactly like that, and Kirin's non-alcoholic offering seems to be called Kirin Free now (Kirin Zero is now zero-carb and I couldn't figure out if it's alcoholic or not). In any case, I am choosing in my heart to believe that this is because of weird TV censorship and in no way implies that Rukia is not one of the champion drinkers of the Gotei-13.

Don't get me wrong! I love a bar that offers non-alcoholic options! You can also get tea at Kamenoya, which you can see Tobiume and Okyō drinking below; Momo has some as well (they also have a discussion about it)

earlier posts in this series: (part 1) (part 2)

[infiniteseriesofhalfways]

sitting in the parking lot thinking i might vom

[mishkakagehishka]

"We're old moms, we can't wait to stop breastfeeding so we can get [very excited, shrill even] botooooox!!!"

We are never making it out of the patriarchy.

[lbhslefttiddie]

life in shambles brain a puddle of useless dysfunctions BUT my doctor friend told me that i have an immaculate liver and pancreas :]