#consumer staples exchange

[prince-liest]

Do you think you'd ever want to write something about cursed cat alastor? I feel like you could make "al gets turned into a cat lolol" about the metaphysical horror of losing your autonomy and identity or something wild like that.

Also along with being a fantastic character writer, you are also hysterical so it would be equally upsetting as funny I think

I was going to say that my interest in cursed cat Alastor primarily takes the form of looking at art of a hilarious tiny little vibrating ball of malice and unholy intentions, but then I read the rest of the ask and I have to admit, anon, you have me fucking pegged to a T, that is exactly how I'd write that, LMAO.

God. "Character turned into a cat" is such a time-honored fanfic staple for, like, characters who need help and love (and possibly assistance recovering from a giant chest wound) but are fully unwilling to accept it normally, and so get turned into a helpless creature that everyone as a standard accepts as needing to be cared after with a side bonus of "nobody knows it's them so it's a little more okay" and also "they can still lash out and be ornery and it's kind of taken for granted because, well: cat".

It would suit Alastor SO perfectly. The forced, unwilling exchange of control and bodily autonomy for freely provided care would make him SO unwell. Humans anthropomorphize the stress behaviors of cute animals in ways that ignore or infantilize them all the time. I think we should inflict that on Alastor until he fucking snaps. Did you know cats can growl? They don't do it unless they're very upset.

And Lucifer would NEVER get to consume a single cup of coffee before it smashes to smithereens on the kitchen floor as long as Alastor remains a cat.

[thecameronchronicles]

Camera! Lights! Tension!

TW: Smut. Angst. 

SUMMARY: Filming a scene with Drew leads to raised tension. 

WORD COUNT:

*Requested*

Camera! Lights! Tension!

You could never really explain why, but you just never seemed to get along with Drew. As everyone else couldn’t seem to control a smile when in his presence, you had to fight a roll of your eyes. Which was why when the producers decided to set your characters in a sensual exchange for the sake of appeasing fans who could apparently pick up on your tension, you were anything but excited. And yet professional enough to show up without anything but silent indifference. 

But you just wanted it over and done with so you could move on with your life. It didn't help that you'd already endured the teasing from other cast members, which worsened your mood that much more, always drawing a smirk from his lips when he'd overhear. Which was often.

"Ready?" Drew asked as you'd ignored him and stepped before the camera, romantic ambiance at the ready as you felt anything but. Yet despite your lack of camaraderie, he didn’t drop his smile until getting into the role of the sociopathic Rafe Cameron. It was a persona that couldn’t be farther from in contrast to the lighthearted yet affectionate man he was beneath the facade portrayed. 

“Action!” The director spoke from behind the series of cameras trained on this section of the ‘Tannyhill’ house. 

For the scene, you were supposed to slam the door in front of him, to which he’d catch it and an argument would ensue. He’d pull you to him and surprise you with a kiss, you’d slap him, and he’d pin you down, flipping you onto your knees and undressing as the camera panned away. But there was something within the devious excitement of his eyes that made you well aware he was about to go off script. Yet, you kept to the lines you’d learned in the last few weeks. 

“I don’t want to talk to you, Rafe!” He caught the door, slamming it behind him, just as scripted. What wasn’t however, was the way he followed you around the room as you delivered your lines. It fed into the angst-filled moment between your characters that had built to this moment in previous episodes, with your character having offered a type of redemption arc through the love your role had given him. But at this moment, you just wanted to distance yourself as far away from him as possible-both Rafe and Drew. 

“It’s not MY fault-”

“It never is, is it?” Your eyes narrowed at him as he took hold of you before you were ready, making you release a genuine gasp, before taking you to the edge of the bed, hands tightening as he spoke. 

“Please don’t be mad at me, Lacey…” He called your character’s name as he wore those signature tortured eyes that was a staple for the eldest Cameron sibling.

“Everything I do is for you-for us-”

“Don’t put this on me!” You rivaled him, pushing him hard against his chest as he remained unmoved. 

“I never wanted any of this…ANY of it! And definitely not like this-” He cut off your line, taking his set of full lips to silence your own. 

Everything suddenly shifted. 

The way he kissed you wasn’t without emotion or tension, it encompassed it completely, consuming you both as you felt him glide his tongue on the bottom of your lip, forcing them wider. As if breathing you in, he inhaled your kiss, before wrapping his fingers through your hair as you fingered desperately at his jacket, needing more of him-needing him closer. 

He grinned, aware you’d become lost in your role and using it as an excuse, but basking in being the source of your outlet. He carried you onto the bed, lifting you by the back of your thigh until you raised against him just enough to be made mobile, your body colliding onto the mattress with a thud as he was quick to pin you. 

“You still hate me?” He asked, a line unscripted that could have been used just as much between your characters as your personal lives. 

“Always.” You finally answered as a smirk came across his lips before he carried your hands softly over your head, holding down your wrists with a single grasp as he took the other one to your skirt, tracing the lines of your waist. 

“I know it’s only because you want me…” He teased, taking you back to reality as you were apparently more stubborn than seduced. Because of this, you pushed hard against his torso, forcing him to fall just far enough so you could move to your feet, and march off set, not caring of the comments of your ‘diva exit’. 

You managed to make it outside in seconds, the door swinging closed at your back as you ran your fingers through your hair. Your frustrations laid more in yourself than anyone else as you had allowed him to get to you-something you’d been able to avoid until now. But more than this, the way he always seemed to affect you and linger beneath your skin, annoying and plaguing your thoughts, making you fumble lines and focus on anything but being professional. 

The sound of your name called at your back drove your eyes into a roll as he’d followed you. Of course he followed you. That was the type of guy Drew was, making sure you were alright and that he hadn’t crossed any form of line. And this was the reason you loathed him the most-because as hard as you tried, you couldn’t actually hate him. Far from it…and it was so goddamn distracting that it was infuriating.

“I was just messing around…I’m sorry if-”

“Can you just…go! Please?!”

“Did I do something? I mean, you seem to get along with everyone else BUT me, so…”

“I just want to be alone…Just for a minute and then I’ll go back inside and finish the scene, okay?” You snapped, hoping that turning away from him would be enough to make him return to set. But instead, he rounded in front of you, the sight making you roll your eyes in pure annoyance. 

“No. Okay…I want to make sure you’re alright and I’m not going back unless its WITH you-”

“You REALLY want to know?” Whether it was your overall frustration boiling to its apex or the memory of his kiss and the need for an encore, the words fell from your lips following the validation of his nod. 

“I need you to fuck me.” To this, he belted out a cackle, taking his finger as if to say ‘you got me’, before realizing from the lack of change in your expression that you were speaking from sincerity. 

“You want me to-”

“Fuck me. Yeah.” You agreed, nodding in remaining steadfast, watching his eyes dart around as if to verify his reality before finally taking a step towards you. 

“You’re screwing with me…Right? Chase or Rudy-JD put you up to this? One of the girls?”

“It’s a one time offer, Drew…Either way, I’m going back in there, filming those scenes, and then it will be like it never happened. So..take your pick-” He rushed you, hands to your cheeks as he took you against the wall of the back of the house. Your fingers were quick to reach his belt and reveal him to you, the outline of an erection you’d felt a minute prior, that excited you in a way you’d never quite felt before. 

But his touch was quick to apprehend you by your wrists and taking them above your head in one grip, just as he had done on set. 

“If I touch you, it’s because you want me…because you’re gonna finally acknowledge there’s something between us. After all I’ve done is BE nice to you-”

You would interrupt his attempts at chivalry. “I don’t WANT nice,  Drew. I WANT you to fuck me…” You leaned to him, brushing his lips with your own as you watched him clench his jaw from your motions, “Right here. Right now.” A deep breath from his parted mouth, left agape in anticipation, fell into a scoff before you were suddenly released. 

“You want to fuck someone? Have it cheap and quick? I’m sure there are thousands of guys who would be down for it.” He released your hands. 

“You deserve better than that…So maybe I was wrong…Because the things I want to do to you aren’t something that can be done between scenes…I’m thorough…” The sudden absence of his touch drove you into a silent whine of regret that only came through your eyes in a heavy pause void of any other rivaling emotion. 

“Drew…” You took a step closer to him, his eyes pulling into a roll before your fingers pushed him against the wall now at his back.

“I don’t like you, because of how you get under my skin…” His eyes fixated on you as you carried your touch to his belt, his hands fighting to intercept you, but failing once you made contact with his seam, the firm outline of his cock working as a guideline for your hand to follow as he breathed deeply beneath you.

“You make it hard to focus…and all I can think about is you kissing me…touching me…” You continued to stroke him, clenched teeth shielding moans of approval as your reasons were interrupted. 

“Fuck…it’s all I’ve thought about since I met you.” His eyes crept open to notice the smile across your face, a snicker rising across his own, before he took your hand and led you completely against him. 

“I know I said I wouldn’t fuck you quickly, but we are expected back on set within the hour, but I’m not going another fucking second without being inside of you…” You pressed your lips together in a victorious grin as he led you into a rear exit of this shooting location. 

Since you shot the Tannyhill shots within an venue, there were sections and rooms kept off limits and therefore away from prying ears and eyes. Yet even if they were set throughout the estate, none seemed close enough as you were torn through the corridors, evading cast and crew, before coming to one of these rooms keeping the likes of you at bay by a single sign speaking of how it was prohibited. 

Tearing through the exclusion, Drew pulled you inside and forced the door closed with a slam before you pulled him into you by the collar of his shirt.

“Careful, any crinkle and they’ll know how you just couldn’t keep your hands off of me-” You rolled your eyes as his fingers made their way down your skirt. 

“Well, looks like they’ll already know-” You were taken into a deep kiss, calves coming to rest against a vintage chaise colored in a red and silver damask fabric, where you focused solely on him. 

“I’ll make you come, sweetheart, okay?” He explained, guiding his fingers beneath your skirt to remove your panties, before they fell in a crumbled and soiled mess at your ankles, before he set you before him to sit. 

“But you gotta be quiet for me or I’ll have to stop-” You nodded, understanding why, as he suddenly knelt in front of you. Your eyes rolled to how he lifted your leg over his shoulder, the abrupt presence of his lips to your thigh having made you react pitifully roused by him. 

“Shit, I haven’t even done anything yet and you’re already whimpering for me-”

“Please Drew…Please…”

He licked his lips for a moment before gliding his parted lips along your thigh and stationing them to your core. 

“You still hate me?” He teased the lines from before as you nodded, whispering, ‘always’, before he suddenly attacked your pussy in focused sucks made of your clit. Immediately, your hips began to drive against him as your fingers ran over the short cut of his hair to scratch lightly on what tickled your hand. 

“Drew-Drew-Drew!” You spoke his name quickly as he pulled up from you, glistening with your slick and illuminating with a smile all too devious for you to keep focus. 

“It’s too much-”

“We don’t have much time…”

“Then fuck me…just-just fuck me, then!” He rose to you just enough to kiss you before retracting and shaking his head. 

“I need to make sure you’re wet enough-”

“God, I’m drowning you!”

“For how hard and deep I’m gonna pound you, I need you to be even more than you are…” Your eyes rolled as he returned to his focus, your nails finding those familiar lines within his hair until he pulled you closer into him. 

“Come for me, sweetheart-”

“I want-I want to come on you-”

“Yes. On my face. Right now…come on…” Your fingers clawed at his wrists that were wrapped around your thighs, thumbs pulling your clitoral hood wide so he could deepen his tongue to your most sensitive nerves. 

“Good girl, so close, aren’t you?” You nodded as he broke his motions to endorse you, both pleasure and pain left in this absence, before you felt him remain with devotion. Fingers teasing your entrance as his tongue flicked in such repetition that stars began to form behind your eyes. 

“Anyone see her or Drew?” One of the producer's voices came through the door as Drew quickly wrapped his hand around your mouth, but did nothing to stop his motions that would force you louder. You gripped tightly onto his hand, rising your hips against his mouth, before feeling yourself spill against him. The most intense of orgasms taking over you completely before you were taken over his lap. 

“You wanted me to fuck you?” You nodded, still in need of more as he pulled you over his lap, one arm wrapping around your back as the other came to your neck. 

“Then ride me so I can, six feet from where your desperate little pussy could get us both fired-” Your motions synchronized almost immediately, a desperate need for another release taking over your body as his own continued to climb. 

“Be fuckin’ quiet for me so I can make you come-cause they find us, I’m not stopping-”

“Oh Fuck…Fuck, Drew-”

“Keep going baby. Shit, you feel so damn good-SO good.” You nodded as his thumb moved back to your clit. “You need to come again for me-I know you can, you’re SUCH a good girl-”

“DREW!” You belted into his palm, capturing his fingers between your lips in silencing yourself to suck on them. 

“You’re so sexy-oh my God!” To this, he rooted up into you, eyes locked deeply to yours as yours threatened to pull closed. 

“Look at me-look at me when you come. I want to memorize it so I can remember when you do it on camera that I got to see the real thing…come on baby-you’re so close I can feel it-” You nodded, eyes trained to him, as requested, as you felt the claw of his grip set stability against you for his own release as yours was quick to follow, acting off each other’s pulsations for a mutual climax that left you both in tremors. 

“Holy shit…” You pressed a final kiss to his lips before climbing off of him, a nod validating his reaction. 

“Yeah…”

“How am I supposed to focus now?” You chuckled, fixing your clothes as he caught glances of your body left marked by him. 

“Seems like a ‘you’ problem, Drew…Me? Got what I needed-” You winked as he suddenly caught your wrist. 

“I’m not done…” Your brows raised. “It’s not enough…” He pulled a strand of your hair behind your ear. “Any time you feel that…You come to me…yeah?”

“Maybe…or maybe I’ll go to JD or Chase-” He silenced you by pulling you harder against his chest as you gasped,a smile cresting over your face to showcase how you truly enjoyed the way he treated you. 

“I am the one who has had to deal with the glacial iciness between us…so I am the one who gets to reap the benefits, sweetheart. Go ahead and try to you it, I’ll fuck you on camera next time-Just call it method acting.” You scoffed as he gave one final kiss before leaving you a rush of quelled embarrassment and buzzing satisfaction, making you eager to finally finish this scene. 

Taglist: @hopebaker @iovdrew @penny4yourthoughts @magnificantmermaid @pickingviolets

[liyawritesss]

ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴍʏ ᴏɴʟʏ ɪɴᴛᴇɴᴛɪᴏɴꜱ

Pairing: MCU!Riri Williams x Black!Masc!Reader

Genre: Fic

Synopsis: Riri brings you home to meet her mom for Thanksgiving, and you have a heart-to-heart about your intentions with her daughter.

Warnings: BLACK PANTHER: WAKANDA FOREVER SPOILER READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!, homophobia if you squint, the 'relationships' talk is briefly mentioned in regards to Riri

A/N: I have so many feelings for Riri. Comic book and MCU versions. This fic has a mix of both, I tried my best to mesh them both together smoothly. Riri is a character I already feel is gonna be close to home for me, and I can't wait to see more of Dominique Thorne's portrayal of her.

Tags: @verachii @inmyheadimobsessed @badass-dora-milaje @babyboiboyega

There’s no reason why Riri should be the one nervous, you think, as you pull up into the driveway of her home. If anything, you should be the one sweating bullets in the passenger seat. And yet, the irony in such a situation is almost uncanny.

The two of you pull up to three-bedroom bungalow, common in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, decorated festively for the holidays. Riri caught you off guard when she asked if you wanted to spend the holidays with her mom and her. Mainly because, well, you had never met her mom before. Normally you’d meet the parents before such a milestone, but Riri had been putting it off due to her own anxiety. Having been together since January, though, she came to the conclusion that it’s finally time to come clean about this part of her life.

“Baby,” you call out to her, providing a comforting hand on her knee clothed with her favorite pair of blue jeans, “it’s gonna be okay. Shit, you’re more nervous than I am.”

“I’m sorry-” she begins, leaning back into the tan-colored leather fabric of the car seat. “It’s just- this is my moms, and I haven’t brung anyone around since Nat, and-”

Natalie, the one friend Riri did have in her youth, who met an untimely death from a drive by shooting. You’ve heard this testimony a few times - Riri doesn’t like to talk about it much, but when she does, it’s always in a very serious moment.

“Riri, I get it. It’s okay,” you respond softly, giving her knee a squeeze. She looks at you with her bright, lively eyes. The same eyes that caught your attention back at that New Years Eve party where you first met. Riri had always been an introvert, but if it was something she couldn’t verbalize, her eyes could tell it all. And right now, they’re pleading for this evening to go well.

“You know you still have time to chicken out-”

“Don’t even try it, Ri,”

This exchange brings a short laugh from the young and gifted engineer, as she watches you gather your phone and keys and exit the car. In a short moment, you’re at her side, opening the car door for Riri to step out. Her pink cashmere sweater does little to nothing to protect her from the November chill that has set itself into the air. Once the car is locked up, Riri’s feet, the only thing kept warm on her body thanks to the black ankle cut Ugg boots she had on, makes a beeline for the side door that leads into the humble abode. You follow shortly after, the wind starting to break through your clothes as well.

“Ma, I’m home!” Riri calls out from the doorway, and immediately the smell of soul food consumes both of you. The smells are distinctive - freshly baked mac-n-cheese that just got pulled from the oven, the greens simmering on low heat on the stove ready for plating, amongst other staple foods of a black household. The lighting is warm and inviting, and there’s some old school blues being played on a speaker coming from the kitchen. If this isn’t what home feels like, you don’t know what does.

Riri gestures to you to follow her as her mother responds from the kitchen. Riri’s mother turns from the stove to embrace her daughter, and is slightly caught off guard by the other presence in the home.

“You didn’t tell me you were bringing someone else over, baby,” the older woman says as she releases Riri from a signature mama-bear hug. She smiles warmly at you, to which you shoot one back. There’s an uneasy pit in your stomach caused by the anxiety of such a moment, but in an effort to make a good first impression, you ignore it and make the first move.

“It’s nice to meet you, ma’am,” You begin, extending your hand out to greet the older woman. She takes your hand into her own, and the softness of her skin spreads a calming warmth throughout your arm. "Oh, hun, I ain't no ma'am yet. Call me Ronnie."

“Momma, this is (Y/N),” Riri chimes in, swallowing the lump that’s formed in her throat from the interaction thus far, “my girlfriend.”

What you expect is for the world to freeze, for Riri’s mom to go stiff and ridged with discomfort. You expect her warm demeanor to change in an instant, for her to retract her hand, to give you a curt greeting and not another word. It’s the only experience you’ve ever had when it came to moments like this with previous partners.

And yet, they never come. Instead, Riri’s mother pulls you into a mama-bear hug, officially welcoming you into her home.

“‘Bout time she brought you home, had me wondering if y’all were hitting a bumpy patch,” says the older woman, which has your eyebrows furrowing together in confusion. Riri said she hadn’t mentioned she was dating anyone, let alone a girl, to her mother, so why did it sound like she knew all along?

“Oh, don’t look like that, baby,” says Riri’s mother as she lets you go, catching the look on your face, and the nervous one that Riri sports as she stands off to the side, chewing on her thumb nail like it’s one of the chicken drumsticks that sit pretty in a serving basket on the kitchen island.

“Forgive me,” you begin, sheepishly fumbling with your hands, “I just thought- Riri never said-”

“C’mon now,” the older woman interrupts, “a mother always knows.” And that’s enough for you to drop the subject, but Riri, on the other hand, is staring wide eyed at her mother in disbelief. “Momma?!”

“Oh hush, child,” the older woman replies, “you come back from MIT and suddenly you outside every other weekend. Of course you got yourself a lil’ boo, otherwise you’d be in here every Saturday morning hogging my damn TV!”

“Momma-!”

“Ion wanna hear it,” says Riri’s mother, raising her hand in the air signaling the halt of the conversation, “now take (Y/N) and get the good dishes from the glass case and set the table. Food is just about ready.”

Frankly, you were glad Riri’s mom dismissed you two to table setting duty - you weren’t sure how long you could keep a straight face in front of her. The exchange between the three of you was something you never saw coming, but you’d be lying if you said it wasn’t fun, in an odd secondary coming out kind of way.

“I thought you said you never told your mom?” You mumbled to Riri as she’s setting down the china on the placemats you were putting down.

“I didn’t,” she replied, “but that mothers intuition is a bitch.”

You laugh as she continues to mumble on about how she ‘don’t go outside every other weekend’, which both of you know is a lie. The one time Riri did go to a party, it was the New Years Eve party you two met at. You weren’t a student at MIT, but a friend of one, and you were also a Chicago born, and so the two of you just clicked. If it weren’t for your adventurous nature and classic dating etiquette, the young engineer would definitely - like her mother said - be in the house during the weekend hogging the TV. She was an introvert like that, was never one to initiate a conversation nor spark a friendship. Though it never bothered you as much, and you understood how Riri came to be the person she is, and that her standoffish nature came with the territory. Riri said it herself, you were the first person she opened up to fully since the death of her step-father and best friend. You promised yourself that you would do everything in your power to not jeopardize her healing journey, and if clinging to you would aid in Riri going back to her old, energetic self, then you’d gladly do all the reassuring, pay for all your little midnight rendezvous, and everything in between.

You loved Riri, from the girl you caught sight of that fateful night, to the headstrong, confident woman she was becoming.

The dinner portion went swimmingly. Many stories were shared, including Riri coming clean about what happened in Wakanda and why she was gone for so long (there felt like a piece missing, as you could she was visibly struggling when explaining a few parts, but as this was a story previously mentioned to you and that prior she stated that a part of said story she was not able to disclose to anyone, you wouldn’t push further). Her mother was slightly rattled at the story, it being her first time hearing about her daughter getting ‘recruited’ by a foreign nation thanks to her outstanding engineering intelligence, but nonetheless, supportive. It wasn’t every day your daughter gets to be in close proximity of African royalty, after all.

Then came the story of how you two met, which was a simple as the beginning of any regular college romance - the two of you spotted each other across the room at a party, you gathered the courage (with a little help from your homegirls) to approach Riri, and you two clicked from there. You did the pleasure of excluding the bit about a drunken kiss shared under a mistletoe while dancing to the party music, unsure of how Riri’s mother would react to that part. Riri seemed thankful for the exclusion of this fact as well.

With dinner done, you offered to help with the cleanup, and with three bodies moving in synchronicity, what would have taken at least an hour minimum for cleanup was done in twenty minutes. Now, the three of you sit on the couch with the television on some random network with a random show playing. Riri’s mom sports a wine glass with her choice of champagne, while the two of you sported canned sodas. From the way the evening had went, you were all but expecting the one fated question to be asked:

‘What are your intentions with my daughter?’

“Now, (Y/N), you knew this was comin’, so I want you to answer me honestly,” the older woman begins; she’d been nursing her wine for a while now, trying not cause you any unnecessary anxiety (of which, her efforts backfired completely).

“I’m sure Riri has told you the story of her step-dad and her best friend, Natalie - bless their souls,” she takes a sip to this, as if it’s for the aforementioned people, while you adjust your sitting position to face the woman directly. Riri is behind you, her full body weight leaning onto your back, her chin resting on your shoulder, watching her mother interrogate you, fully ready to end the conversation if it becomes too out of hand. It’s almost as if she saw this coming, too, and has prepared her defenses.

“My baby don’t just bring anybody home. And I’ve been hard on her about that, because I know how men are out here. And when she came to me and told me she liked girls, I became even harder, because as a woman, I know we break hearts too, sometimes even worse.”

She takes another sip from her wine glass, and with the way your heart is pumping furiously in your chest, you’re glad that the sound of it isn't audible, otherwise you think it’d shatter the glass in her hand.

“So, I have to ask. What are your intentions with my daughter?”

You took a moment to look at Riri. Your eyes locked. You drew in a breath, and recited your answer.

“Well, I will have you know, Ms. Ronnie,” you begin, addressing the older woman by her name, “Riri came into my life at a time when everyone was leaving me. And her presence has been liberating for me. I’ve asked the universe to take those away from me who aren’t going to help me be a better person- ‘cuz when we met, I was in a dark place. The universe took those bad people away- people who weren’t going to help me excel to my highest being, and…and sent me an angel who taught me more about myself and about love than I could ever imagine learning on my own,”

The weight on your shoulder shifted ever so slightly, but you continued; “I intend on making Riri the happiest girl in the world by any means necessary. I may not have it big right now- I’m working towards making my dream work for me- but when I get my money right, I’m going to repay your daughter for saving me in my darkest moments. If she wants the world, I’ll give her the universe, because she deserves it more than anyone in the world.”

You took a pause for a moment, reaching back for Riri’s hand. Once you’ve taken into your own, interlocking your fingers, you locked eyes with the young engineer, continuing once more; “And once I’ve made her the happiest woman in the world, I plan on making her the happiest wife.”

At this point, you forgot about Riri’s mother sitting to your right on the other end of the couch. In staring into Riri’s dark onyx eyes, you were completely enveloped in her. The Versace perfume you bought for her earlier that week, the warmth of her pink sweater that contrasted against your own clothes. The way she was holding her breathe, the way that her eyes were searching for an ounce of doubt or an inch of a lie in your own.

“Are you serious, (Y/N)?”

“You know I don’t play about you, Ri,”

If it wasn’t for remembering that her mother was in the same room, you would have kissed her. But it was the thought of her mother that caused you to break eye contact with Riri. Even more, the realization that you just spilled your entire life plan to the mother of your lover set in, and suddenly, your body was aflame in what you couldn't tell was either embarrassment or pride. Embarrassment because it’s her mother. Pride because of the amount of love for Riri that you had to be able to say all those things in front of her mother.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” said the older woman, taking a swig from her glass, “You’ve found a keeper, baby.”

At this, Riri wraps her arms around your neck, burying her face into the crook of it, in an attempt to hide the humongous smile that’s plastered on her face. You chuckle a bit at her, a smile of your own making its way to your lips.

“Your daddy would be proud, Ri,” her mother added on, “and he would have loved the shit out of you. I’m sure he’s up there smiling down on us right now.”

Riri peeks from her place in your neck, making eye contact with you once more. The smile on her face makes you melt. You’d do anything to keep that smile there for eternity.

“He would, wouldn’t he,” she whispers, more to herself than to anyone else. You place a kiss on her forehead, and she retreats back into the warmth of your neck.

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[kob131]

So question.

Is Pokemon DLC 'Pay To Win' competitively?

This is an accusation I've heard lobbied quite a bit and to be honest it's kind of confusing. For those who don't know- A 'pay to win' feature that allows you to pay real world money in order to get an advantage over players who do not. Think paying from a great DPS gun in an online competitive shooter or boosting XP for an online game with RPG elements.

The argument around Pokemon DLC being 'Pay To Win' revolves around two main pillars- DLC exclusive Pokemon and returning Pokemon. The 'DLC Exclusives' revolve around the Pokemon Urshifu, Calrex Rider and Ogerpon. All three of these Pokemon have seen/are seeing widespread usage in competitive and are exclusive to their own DLCs. Thus by not having access to these Pokemon- you are at a disadvantage and thus you must buy the DLC. Which sounds like Pay To Win...

Until you remember that each DLC's launch comes with an update that allows for all Pokemon, including DLC exclusives, to be compatible with games that do not have it. Thus you can simply trade for it.

'But no one is going to trade away their 30 Pay To Win bear!'

Well, thing is. Pokemon trading works a lot like bartering- you offer something worthwhile in exchange for something you want. For example, you could trade a Shiny or Legendary or even a starter in exchange for the Pokemon. And it's not like you only get the DLC once- You get it for all profiles on your Switch. So if you were to offer a highly valued Pokemon then someone will work to get it, especially since the likes of Urshifu aren't hard to get. (Can get one before the second Gym). Same with Ogerpon. The only one that doesn't count to is Calrex, which is rather shitty but Ogerpon and Urshifu are the main 'culprits' and they're also the easiest to get and trade with.

'But that's just using an exploit and it's not intended!'

... How is the DLC being downloaded on all profiles an exploit? It's not a glitch or oversight- it's basic consumer friendliness. They had to have known this was a thing.

Another argument is that returning Pokemon inevitably shake up the metagame, introducing new staples, and thus the people who bought the DLC have an advantage. Again this fails to me because you can simply trade for the Pokemon. It isn't completely locked off from you.

Of course people will argue that I'm just defending shitty business practices that modern Game Freak are employing and that they wouldn't have done this in the past. To that I answer-

How do you catch a Heatran in Pokemon Black/White?

It's a simple question- Heatran is a famously evergreen competitive Pokemon. One would consider having access to Heatran as a necessary tool for competitive players. If not Heatran than what about Laitos, the number 1 most used Pokemon in competitive BW according to Pikalytics? If not that then what about Garchomp, not even a Legendary by this point? How do you catch these Pokemon in the most widely beloved Pokemon games?

Simple answer- You don't. You CANNOT catch these Pokemon in Black and White. You either have to buy the sequel games (which is effectively full game priced DLC here) or you buy Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platnium and/or Ruby/Sapphore/Emerald to get them. As well as a second DS to transfer them.

And this is a major problem I have with these arguments. They never take into account how transfers inherently give older players an advantage over new players and how this basically makes older, full priced games necessary to compete. That really, the DLC are in fact the more consumer friendly alternative because you get access to more Pokemon than a sequel or third version would give you; you can easily obtain multiples of Pokemon and unlike some cases- you don't need a duplicate console.

Or in other words- the Pokemon fanbase doesn't seem to realize they're actively calling for Game Freak to fuck them harder.

[floralcrematorium]

How are your boys, aka the NA bros, spending this Christmas? New Years?

Thanks for the ask!

Assorted NA Bros and occasional FACE Holiday Headcanons!

Christmas

• I don't think either of them are religious in human AU and Christmas is an excuse to get together and have a good meal. Sometimes they invite friends, sometimes it's them and their dads, and sometimes it's just them

• Kuma is always invited (human AU where he's a dog or nationverse, whatever. KUMA IS INVITED)

• Alfred probably wants to throw on Christmas movies and Matthew utterly protests. They end up watching movies anyway. Some annual repeats probably include those old stop-motion movies?

• I think Christmas during the height of the pandemic they still got together, but it was just the two of them. I think for this particular holiday, there was wine or weed brownies involved and the binging of far too many Hallmark Christmas movies. I think they broke sometime between movie 14 and 20. Especially Alfred because I think he's rather straight-lace and he was really Out Of It thanks to whatever substance was consumed

• Christmas is an excuse for them to have a sleepover. Christmas Eve into Christmas, and hell, maybe even the day after, they're together. I think it doesn't matter who hosts or if they're anticipating other guests, Mattie and Alfred tackle everything together. Not only that, but it's just an excuse for them to spend time together they don't otherwise get to.

• With the above point being said... Cuddle pile with Kuma? PLEASE GIVE THAT DOG SOME LOVE!!!!! I like to think of Kuma as a samoyed:

• Matthew is not allowed to help cook if he's smoked. He can cook perfectly fine if he's not high, but if he is? Good luck, he is improvising the whole way

• I can see them cooking some of Francis' recipes or Arthur's favorites every year just as a staple, but I think they have at least One New Dish they cook for fun every year

• When they were younger, a tradition they had (thanks to Alfred) was to have one of those shitty Whitman chocolate samplers around:

My grandmother has brought these things to every family get together (supposedly) for the last? 50+ years? Obviously I can only attest to ~20 of those, but the way it works every family gathering is you cannot eat from the second layer of the box until the one on top is gone. Or almost gone -- the chocolate covered peanuts and cashew clusters are always the last to go and don't count.

Anyway, Alfred and Matthew make a game of who gets the messenger boy (the rectangular chocolate in the center. don't know why there are two on each layer bc the one my grandmother gets always has One). Yeah, there's a second layer with a second messenger boy, but where's the fun in that? They make a game of nabbing the messenger boy without the other noticing, however there are rules:

Both people have to be in the room when the messenger boy gets stolen

No involving other people. If you're to cause a distraction, outside help is not allowed. (This rule was created on account of Alfred getting Gilbert or Alastair to distract Matthew more than once)

Once the box is placed, it may not move. No hiding the chocolates

Matthew usually wins. Alfred's not good at being sneaky.

Alfred is also the one who continues the tradition. He still buys the sampler every holiday they're together.

• They give their gifts to each other on Christmas Eve. This is a long-standing tradition from when they were impatient kids and begged Arthur and Francis to let them open gifts early, and when they said no, they begged to at least let them open the gifts they were exchanging between the two of them early

• They try to best the other at who can get a better gift for either parent. These are not the kind of boys to give up and give their parents gift cards as gifts

• They make it a game to give the other the most embarrassing or cheesy gift possible. When they get older, there's probably an additional gift that's actually thoughtful, but if you're not going to torment your sibling with a sparkly life-size cutout of Dolly Parton, then what's the point? (Matthew's plan backfired when Alfred actually unironically liked the Dolly Parton cutout)

• Alfred is the kind of person to try and unwrap presents early to figure out what's inside. One year he discovered he was receiving Pokemon Emerald. He proceeded to play and beat the game in only two nights before rewrapping it, putting back under the tree, and getting away with it

• The best gift Matthew's probably ever gotten Alfred was a missing sports card he needed for his collection (you know that boy collects baseball cards or pokemon cards or something). The best gift Alfred's gotten Matthew was a hockey stick or jersey signed by his favorite player

• Alfred doesn't like eggnog. He buys eggnog every year. He never learns.

• Alfred gets Kuma a new toy every year. Matthew holds it for him to unwrap

• They have gingerbread house building competitions. If they can get Arthur and Francis involved, it's Arthur and Alfred vs Fran and Matthew. Arthur is too impatient and their house collapses, but Francis is so meticulous that they run out of time. One year they switch it up and it's the brothers against their fathers. You can assume how well that went (Alfred and Mattie won)

New Year's

• They probably don't hang out every year for New Year's because I can see Alfred wanting to go out and Matthew wanting to stay in

• The boys inherited being judgy little freaks (affectionate) from Francis. On the years they're together, Alfred puts on the New York New Year's TV thing where celebrities perform, and they sit and judge everyone

• Al's probably dragged Mattie to Times Square for the ball drop at least once. It was cold, there were too many people, and it was not worth it. Matthew never wants to go again

• If they're staying in, they have a feast of appetizers. It's mainly frozen. I think Mattie makes poutine, but aside from that, everything they're eating is junk from the frozen aisle aside from maybe a veggie platter. Favorites include jalapeño poppers (Matthew cannot handle spice and will wrestle the jalapeño out and just eat the breading and cheese), Totino's pizza rolls, and mozzarella sticks

• The first year Kateryna came to spend New Year's with them, Alfred made the joke that he had nobody to kiss at midnight. Matthew told him he could go and kiss Kuma (this did not go over well)

• In the 2000's, they definitely had those awful New Year's glasses:

(They definitely could've been doing this through the 90's up to now, but I think that any year not 2000-2010 looks really silly, with the exception of 1998, 1999, and 2020)

[theworldvsyoshiko]

And, finally for now, the current state of things.

Yoshiko's got what I'll call decent, but not great, late-early-game kinda gear.' Of note: her Airwire Headset, the thing that lets her control several more mechanoids, is just about busted, and she isn't useful enough to make a new one. She's pretty pissy that I'm forcing her to keep wearing it, especially because as I already mentioned, her position entitles her to a beret, which uses the same slot.

Here's the base as it stands right now:

Livestock pens, currently holding several alpacas and one goose for eggs. Don't get too attached to these guys, because some of them die every time there's a fire, which is roughly once a week.

The graveyard, because I wanted a running tally of how many people she's killed. Current tally: 20.

The main entrance, aka a gauntlet of traps with a turret. This is pretty new, and long-term it's probably going to become a killbox that's a bit more detached from the base. (To the north you'll see a long power line from when the wind generator used to be to the NW.)

The prisoner quarters. Currently hosting a prisoner! Might release him. Might try to recruit him. More on that later.

Dining room.

Walk-in freezer. 'But isn't it kinda a bad idea to give your freezer wooden walls facing an area that you just said gets set on fire weekly?' Yes. Yes it is. I'm working on it.

Kitchen.

Research room + the comms console, because it had to go somewhere.

Batteries + generators.

Mechanoid creation facilities.

Hospital.

Yoshiko's meditation room, which doubles as the room for rituals right now.

Yoshiko's bedroom. Later on, this will be moving.

Garden, currently featuring rice and cotton. Also there's a giant sloth there in the picture.

Mami's room.

Genetics lab. More on that later too.

Raw materials storage + the wind generator.

Currently unused, because I just rebuilt this area.

Used to be the rec room, but I hurriedly reworked it when Mami showed up, so now it's a classroom with a billiards table in it. A cool classroom, for sickass kids.

Crafting room.

Dry goods storage.

Near-term goals, in roughly descending order of immediacy:

Research solar power. The wood-fired generators are a decent staple, but right now I still run out of power if the wind is dead for too long.

Either get this prisoner out of here, or recruit him. Either one is going to take a while, since he's pretty freshly injured and Yoshiko is horrible at social interaction.

Gather some more genes so Yoshiko can genetically modify herself for things like not getting food poisoning so easily. This will very likely involve taking some genetic samples from prisoners against their will. Genetically modifying yourself requires a days-long recuperation period while the new genes set in, so that's going to be a pretty risky move.

Build better defenses, because I've reached the wealth level where the game is willing to throw multiple enemies with actual firearms at me.

Move some of the more critical parts of the base into that mountain in the left, which will make them safer from a few existential threats.

Summon the Diabolus, which will let me build better mechs if I can kill it.

Buy a big batch of Luciferium, and get Yoshiko started on it. This will essentially give her a terminal life-or-death addiction, in exchange for making her nearly impervious to pain and disease, all-around more capable, and able to recover from most lasting injuries. With a single colonist, maintaining a steady supply isn't too hard, and it sinks a decent chunk of money into consumable goods, which will keep the colony wealth (and thus the difficulty of raids) down. Disease and passing out from pain are two of the biggest weaknesses of a lone colonist, so this will boost her survivability by a ton.

And, just to put it somewhere, the current mod list, courtesy of RimPy. I'd like to have Combat Extended in here too, but it currently seems to be in a weird spot:

Prepatcher [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2934420800]

Harmony [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2009463077]

Core [https:// no link (local mod)]

Royalty [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]

Ideology [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]

Biotech [Official DLC] [https:// no link (local mod)]

HugsLib [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=818773962]

Beautiful Outdoors [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2011794898]

Food Alert (Continued) [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2017538067]

Inspiration Tweaks [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2117570018]

Interaction Bubbles [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1516158345]

Losing The Faith [https:// no link (local mod)]

More Harvest Designators! [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1541250497]

Pathfinding Framework [https:// no link (local mod)]

Real Ruins [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1552146295]

Skill Master [https:// no link (local mod)]

Stabilize [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023407836]

Vanilla Expanded Framework [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023507013]

Vanilla Animals Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2871933948]

Vanilla Animals Expanded — Caves [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2576512001]

Vanilla Animals Expanded — Endangered [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2366589898]

Vanilla Animals Expanded — Royal Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2858079457]

Vanilla Animals Expanded — Waste Animals [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2962126499]

Vanilla Apparel Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814987817]

Vanilla Armour Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814988282]

Vanilla Backstories Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2861806869]

Vanilla Base Generation Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2830358905]

Vanilla Events Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1938420742]

Vanilla Expanded - Ideology Patches [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2566669771]

Vanilla Expanded - Royalty Patches [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2260012940]

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Insectoids [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2149755445]

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Settlers [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2052918119]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Architect [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2608762624]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Art [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1968134023]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Farming [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1957158779]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Power [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2062943477]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Production [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1880253632]

Vanilla Weapons Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1814383360]

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Medieval [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2023513450]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Security [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1845154007]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1718190143]

Vanilla Furniture Expanded - Spacer Module [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2028381079]

Vanilla Hair Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1888705256]

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Anima Theme [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2666998627]

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Icons and Symbols [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2552609458]

Vanilla Cooking Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134308519]

Vanilla Fishing Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1914064942]

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Memes and Structures [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2636329500]

Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Relics and Artifacts [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2564895018]

Vanilla Plants Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2134308522]

Vanilla Plants Expanded - More Plants [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2748889667]

Vanilla Plants Expanded - Mushrooms [https:// no link (local mod)] Vanilla Social Interactions Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2439736083]

Vanilla Textures Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2016436324]

Vanilla Traits Expanded [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2296404655]

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Grenades [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2194472657]

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Laser [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1989352844]

Vanilla Weapons Expanded - Non-Lethal [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2454918354]

Biomes! Core [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2038000893]

Biomes! Islands [https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2038001322]

[femmefurina]

wym "aside from the chilis and tomatoes"?

chilis and tomatoes (and other common staples now, like potatoes, corn, and squash) both originated in what is known as the Americas, particularly in/around Mexico. Before the columbian exchange there were no chilies outside of the Americas.

While many modern Asian dishes are spicy via chilies now, there are many plants that can impart a similar sort of spiciness independent of them. Chilies are usually just easier to get (for example, cultivating authentic wasabi is extremely time-consuming and tends to be too expensive for most people to buy, which is why most commercial wasabi is basically horseradish) and so older dishes were adapted to include them.

I think it's beautiful that things that originated in the americas could enrich the cuisine of other cultures. Despite the cost we (Natives) paid for the europeans to get these things, I'm glad that many cultures have embraced them and appreciated them.

[sageglobalresponse]

The Rise Of Casinos: From the Streets of Venice to Online Giants

Casinos are an aspect of human culture by now. They have become a popular form of entertainment for many people, offering a variety of games and experiences. Many lives were made and lost at a casino table. As the industry continues to evolve with advancements in technology and changing consumer preferences, ever-growing in the online world. Nowadays, you can even find a great provider who offers sportsbooks, betting exchanges, and casinos in a single account. But where did it all start?

The History

The precise origin of gambling is unknown, but it has been present in various societies throughout history, including Ancient Mesopotamia, Greece, the Romans, Napoleon’s France, and Elizabethan England. The first known European gambling house was the Ridotto in Venice, established in 1638 by the Great Council of Venice. The establishment was closed in 1774 due to perceived impoverishment.

In American history, early gambling establishments were known as saloons, influenced by major cities like New Orleans, St. Louis, Chicago, and San Francisco. Gambling was outlawed in the early 20th century, but in 1931, Nevada legalized gambling, leading to the establishment of the first legalized casinos. In 1976, New Jersey allowed gambling in Atlantic City, becoming the US’s second-largest gambling city.

The Design

Design is an important part of a casino. It plays a crucial role in creating an atmosphere that is inviting and exciting for guests. A well-designed casino can enhance the overall experience and keep customers coming back for more. But there is a somber side to it as well.

Gambling tendencies are influenced by factors such as sound, odor, and lighting. Anthropologist Natasha Dow Schüll highlights Silicon Gaming’s decision to create slot machines with a universally pleasant tone. While Alan Hirsch, founder of the Smell & Taste Treatment and Research Foundation, discovered a pleasant odor released by Las Vegas slot machines that generated 50% more daily revenue to the casinos, suggesting it acted as something similar to an aphrodisiac, leading to a more aggressive form of gambling.

A History of Crime

Casinos have been linked to organized crime, with early casinos in Las Vegas and Macau dominated by the American Mafia and Triad syndicates. In fact, studies have showed that crime incidence at a local level often doubles or triples within three years of a casino’s opening.

A 2004 US Department of Justice report found that the percentage of problem gamblers among arrested individuals was three to five times higher than in the general population. Economic studies showing a positive relationship between casinos and crime often fail to consider the visiting population, overstating the crime rate. This methodology is used due to the lack of reliable data on tourist count.

The Rise of Online Casinos

The online gambling industry began with the launch of “The Gaming Club” in 1994, powered by Microgaming, and the first online poker room, “Planet Poker,” in 1996. The early years were marked by controversy due to unregulated practices, leading to issues like lack of fair play and money laundering. In the late 1990s, Antigua and Barbuda passed the first online gambling legislation, allowing for casino licensing and paving the way for industry growth.

The industry continued to grow in the early 2000s, with more countries passing legislation to regulate and legalize it. However, the US faced setbacks with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) in 2006, making it illegal for banks to process transactions for online gambling sites. By the 2010s, the industry had become a multibillion-dollar industry.

Nowadays, online casinos are a staple of every bettors life. The convenience and accessibility of online gambling have made it a popular form of entertainment for people around the world. And if you are looking for a nice new casino option for your portfolio, we recommend checking out Game2Bet. There you will find great online casino options, along with traditional sportsbook offers. So, go ahead and open a Game2bet account, good luck and good betting.

[quirkymarshmallows93]

The westernization of Poland as exemplified by flagship fast food restaurants

Hi everyone! It's time for a full-on blog post, I'm talking paragraphs and shit. This will be another then and now comparison post, also set in Warsaw, Poland, now with multiple sections.

The First McDonald's

On June 17, 1992, McDonald's opened its doors for the first time on Polish soil. That day, the taste buds of 45,000 Varsovians would discover the hyperstimulative combination of the Big Mac, French fries, and fountain Coca-Cola, the American counterpart of a traditional meal of kotlet mielony (frikadelle), ziemniaczki (potatoes), and kompot (homemade juice). At 8 AM, the ribbon was cut by Jacek Kuroń, the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, who was asked to be present in exchange for a donation from the company to the impoverished children of Poland. Also in attendance were cultural figures such as the coach of the Polish soccer team, Kazimierz Górski, and poet Agnieszka Osiecka. The opening and the fanfare surrounding it was as much a celebration of Polish culture as American culture. The building which housed the restaurant was located on the facade of the Sezam department store, a staple of the communist era, providing a juxtaposition of life in the Soviet Bloc and in the West.

Above is the restaurant the day of its opening, and below is the modernist building shortly before being demolished and after its shuttering in 2014.

The location of the fast food joint is at the corner of Świętokrzyska and Marszałkowska streets, two main thoroughfares in midtown Warsaw. Following the closure of the seminal McDonald's, a new restaurant was opened just slightly east of its forebearer. Below is a comparison of the locations, with the emblematic Palace of Culture and Learning in the background of both photos, the latter photo being taken in May 2023.

The department store was replaced by an L-shaped high rise building visible to the right of the present-day McDonald's, with Sezam still occupying the ground floors. The replacement McDonald's is not as grandiose as the original; however, these days one can walk several hundred meters in any direction and come across another one of the company's franchises, which now number 517 in Poland.

The Stillborn Taco Bell

A while back I posted photos from the 90s of an ultra-rare combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bell/KFC restaurant in the center of Poland's capital. These are likely the only images, on the surface web at least, of the lone Taco Bell which operated for merely a few months in the country, according to PortalSpozywczy.pl. Evidently, the chain's offering didn't quite align with the market's tastes. Still, memories of the restaurant's presence live on online, with a dormant Facebook group pleading for its return to Poland. A Reddit post links to an article about Taco Bell's unsuccessful entry into Central Europe, with commenters reasoning that currency exchange rates in a nascent free market economy made fast food a luxury for consumers, and that the Polish customer simply deemed Tex-Mex adjacent food too exotic, especially when compared to the already unfamiliar offerings of hamburgers, pizza, and fried chicken by competitors.

While visiting the city for a few days, I decided to photograph the site to contrast between 30 years ago and now, as I did with the site of the first McDonald's. Below on the left is the restaurant pictured in 1993, while in the center, the site in 2023. I tried to take the photo on the right from the same vantage point as the 90s image, but the frame isn't quite identical since the lens of my iPhone SE camera doesn't have as wide of an angle. Also, it appears that the restaurants’ signs have been moved back, rendering them not visible from where the photographer was standing in 1993.

Below on the left is the second of the two rare photos, showing the northwest corner of the building. On the right is my recreation.

For some context, the restaurants only occupy the ground floor of the building. It was built as one of Warsaw's handful of pavilions, which were meant to showcase cultural exhibits and provide a space for various expositions. Built in 1968, the complex bears the name "Zodiak", and remains a venue for architectural exhibitions and events, itself a post-war modernist structure. The astrological theme is currently slightly subdued, as the original pavilion featured a neon map of constellations on the building's facade, and a cosmic-inspired mosaic, which was replicated in the renovated building as pictured below.

Back to the fast food chains. The most obvious difference is the erasure of the Pizza Hut and its replacement with a Starbucks café. The pizzeria was relegated away from the street and toward the interior of the block. Gone are the branded trash cans and tiled enclosures, which were cleared to make way for Starbucks' tables and umbrellas. It's clear that Pizza Hut was running the show here thirty years ago, having prime frontage and dominant branding in the complex. Burger King has also invaded Yum! Brands' former fort, now nestled between the still-strong KFC and the Pizza Hut that let itself go. Today, just like thirty years ago, this site is still an example of an old order public institution, here an exhibition space for architecture and design, coexisting side by side with iconic American foodservice brands.

Communism to Capitalism: the Failed Attempt to Convert a Socialist-Nationalist Symbol into an Outpost of America's Largest Export

A similarly famous pavilion to Zodiak in the capital is the nearby Cepelia, which was constructed in 1966 to house a gift shop with the purpose of "solidify[ing] the rural identity of [Poland as] a socialist nation." That's a tall order for patterned mugs, kitchen towels, and woven baskets, but the store was a staple of Warsaw until May 2019, when it closed as a result of the building being sold. The ownership of the building was privatized following the creation of the Third Republic in 1989, and the company which owned the pavilion had been in a state of bankruptcy ever since, while the company which operated the store became the spiritual successor to the brand Cepelia in a schism of sorts, still profitably in charge. Before the closure even took place, McDonald's proposed the construction of a new restaurant in honor of the original vision of Cepelia's architect, Zygmunt Stępiński, after the land's change of hands to a new developer. The fast food giant went as far as saying that the design would go beyond this dream, because building technology had advanced between 1966 and the modern day in such a way that even more remarkable architectural features could be added. However, in 2022, it was announced that the redevelopment into a McDonald's would not take place at the request of the Masovian voivodeship's historical commission. The future of the pavilion remains unclear; meanwhile, McDonald's has not had a true flagship location in Poland since 2014.

Above, from left to right: Cepelia pictured in 1971 in the evening, Cepelia pictured in 2019 with its architectural elements obscured by advertising, and a rendering of the McDonald's which was to replace the pavilion while replicating its original distinguished design.

Fast Food Ephemera: Taco Bell's Free Drink Coupon

Back to Taco Bell. While researching more about its Polish presence, I found a photo of a coupon for a free medium drink with the purchase of any combo posted by a Reddit user.

I figured I could exclude it from this deep dive into the world of Polish fast food, as it didn't add much value to the analysis. That is, until I looked at the bottom of the coupon and noticed its expiration was at the end of March 1997. This shattered my view of the world, to put it hyperbolically. It was my understanding that Taco Bell was only around for a few months in 1993! This is the historical consensus at least. The only explanation for this could be that the coupon was simply valid for a few years instead of the standard few months, as the chain saw a bright future ahead for itself in Poland. Also, since we're here already, it's interesting that, at least in this promotional material, the brand emphasized its vegetarian offering, perhaps since all of its competitors served beef or chicken as their core products. This is the only piece of ephemera I could find online for Taco Bell's Polish presence, but the failure of Taco Bell in the 90s reminded me of the double failure of Dunkin' Donuts (now just Dunkin') in Poland. Buckle in for some more franchise lore.

Dunkin' Pączki?

The coffee chain operated in Poland not only from 1996 to 2002, but also from 2015 to 2018, when the company attempted to reenter the market. When searching for traces online of the company's first presence in the country, I could not find a single photo of a Dunkin' Donuts branch, but something arguably more interesting: a dormant Blogspot blog devoted to a similar mission as this post. Its author posted four entries, all in 2006, and one of them was of ephemera from 1999 that advertised DD's offerings.

Clockwise, from the top right, we have three pamphlets side by side advertising the chain's seven locations in the city of Warsaw, a brochure featuring photos and detailed descriptions of the product offering, complete with pronunciation tips; a flyer which brags that because the donuts are made with vegetable oil and not butter, they contain 40% fewer calories compared to traditional Polish pączki (quite bold of them); and an ad showcasing frozen coffee through iconic 90s graphic design. 14 years after closing its doors in Poland, Dunkin' Donuts came back, making the same mistakes, so I've included below a photo of a storefront with signage proclaiming its grand opening for August 11, 2016, in the city of Łódź, and below it a tweet from the company's Twitter account, stating, "We're coming back, and for good this time! :)" Foreshadowing at its finest.

My take is that Dunkin' Donuts did not have the correct marketing approach when coming to Poland. In other European countries, the chain was able to succeed despite, or likely because of, its emphasis on donuts, since in those cultures, there was room for a novel pastry, and the rest of the shop's offerings - coffee and sandwiches, mainly - could complement the American-style donut. Dunkin' begged Poles to understand that their pastries are unique, but we just saw them as shitty pączki. When the core item, already disliked by the average consumer, is in the place's name, it's no surprise that the rest of the product range didn't catch on and that customers weren't coming in. Perhaps if Dunkin' makes another comeback sans-donuts, it may be more fruitful given the company's shift to a "beverage-led" strategy in recent years. As they say, third time's a charm.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading! I'd like to acknowledge that this shit took me literal hours to conceive of, research, do my own field work for, write, edit, and publish. I was almost late to my great aunt's apartment for dinner because I took those pictures of the old Taco Bell! I know my worth, and what I'll say is that this quality content that you bitches get for free on here should be behind a $500 paywall on ScienceDirect, I'm just so philanthropic I could cry. Now give me my honorary history, marketing, and sociology PhDs. But seriously, I don't know which niche of the internet this sort of thing fits into, but that's the beauty of Tumblr and its randomness. For the most part, I'm just writing this for myself, to put my thoughts into words and try to make sense of capitalism and globalization.

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[nerdydowntherabbithole]

Alright, I got another big infodump for you!

First up, another characteristic for the Aviator:

Their big fuzzy tail is prehensile! (i.e. it grabs things) This is how they're able to carry large, unwieldy objects up to their hunting perches while their paws are occupied with climbing.

Also they have toe beans because I said so.

Next, a minor correction about the giant spiders:

They are NOT a nocturnal species, as the rain makes this impossible. Instead, the shade provided by the Greatwood trees gives them just enough darkness for their camouflage to be effective.

And lastly, the main part of this ask. It's the critter that started this all, back before the forest even existed: the giant bats!

Inspired by irl Flying Foxes– look them up, they're cool– this gigantic species of fruit bat is the largest denizen of the forest. For comparison, they're slightly larger than a good-sized king vulture, but their wings are much bigger since they don't use jets to fly. A daddy long legs would probably be too small to eat an uninjured bat, and even an injured one would take a significant amount of strength and time to consume.

They're frugivores, meaning that their diet mainly consists of fruit, despite technically being an omnivore.

The biggest staple of their diet is the large fruit that grows from high-up branches of the Greatwoods.

They're actually in a symbiotic relationship with the Greatwoods: the bats spread the Greatwood's seeds by eating the fruit, and the Greatwood provides them with a steady supply of fruit and a safe hollow to shelter in from the rain.

While their large shadows tend to evoke the fear of vultures, they actually have a gentle, skittish disposition more like what you'd expect to see from a Rabbit Deer. Slugcats like the Aviator have even discovered that they can offer the bats a Greatwood fruit in exchange for safe travel through parts of the forest.

And that's it for the custom creatures that can be found in the forest! Next ask will be a big one, with the subject being the Greatwoods themselves. After that? I might finally be ready to draft an overview of the forest as a whole.

YES YES YES YYIPPEEEEE WOOO. POG CHAMPIN ALL OVER THE PLACE BRO THIS IS ALL AMAZING. SCUGS AND SPIDERS AND BATS OH MY. BABIES.

[sunalimerchant]

Baking with Natural Sweeteners and Alternative Fats: A Fresh Take in Bread Baking Classes

In the world of bread making, the evolution of healthier alternatives and innovative ingredients has sparked a new interest in traditional baking practices. Bread baking classes are increasingly focusing on teaching the art of using natural sweeteners and alternative fats, offering a healthier twist to the beloved staple of many diets—bread.

The Rise of Health-Conscious Baking

As health consciousness rises, more consumers are shying away from refined sugars and unhealthy fats in their diets. This shift has led to a surge in demand for baking classes that specialize in using natural sweeteners and alternative fats. These classes provide invaluable knowledge for those looking to make healthier choices without sacrificing taste or texture in their baked goods.

Natural Sweeteners: A Healthier Way to Indulge

Natural sweeteners such as honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, and dates are becoming staples in the pantries of health-conscious bakers. These sweeteners not only provide the necessary sweetness but also add a unique flavor profile that enhances the overall taste of bread. In bread baking classes, instructors emphasize the benefits of these natural sweeteners, which include a lower glycemic index and the presence of minerals and antioxidants.

For example, using honey or maple syrup in place of sugar can reduce the amount of sweetener needed due to their higher relative sweetness. Recipes developed in these classes often highlight how to adjust liquid ratios and yeast quantities to maintain the correct dough consistency and ensure proper fermentation.

Alternative Fats: Enriching Flavors and Textures

The fat used in baking bread not only enriches flavor but also impacts texture and shelf life. Traditional fats like butter can be replaced with alternatives like avocado oil, coconut oil, or applesauce to decrease saturated fat content and add health benefits. Bread baking classes delve into how these substitutions affect the baking process and the final product's nutritional profile.

For instance, substituting coconut oil for butter adds a slight coconut flavor and can increase the moisture content of the bread. Instructors in these classes teach techniques to balance flavors and manage moisture levels to prevent overly dense or soggy loaves.

Hands-On Learning and Experimentation

What sets these bread baking classes apart is the hands-on approach that encourages experimentation. Participants learn not just the theory but also the practical aspect of substituting ingredients. They get the chance to knead, mix, and bake using these alternatives, which demystifies the process and builds confidence.

These classes often include sessions on reading and adjusting recipes, understanding the science behind ingredient interactions, and troubleshooting common baking issues. This comprehensive approach ensures that students leave with a thorough understanding of how to incorporate natural sweeteners and alternative fats into their bread baking effectively.

Community and Collaboration

Bread baking classes also foster a sense of community among participants, who share a common interest in healthier baking. This community aspect allows for the exchange of ideas, recipes, and experiences that enrich the learning environment. Many classes encourage ongoing collaboration and support through social media groups or follow-up sessions, which helps to keep participants motivated and engaged in their bread-making journey.

Conclusion

The inclusion of natural sweeteners and alternative fats in bread recipes is more than just a trend; it's a movement towards healthier eating without giving up the joys of fresh, homemade bread. Bread baking classes that focus on these ingredients provide an essential service by equipping bakers with the skills and knowledge to make healthier choices. These classes are perfect for anyone looking to enhance their baking repertoire and embrace a healthier lifestyle, proving that delicious bread can also be nutritious. Whether you are a seasoned baker or a curious newbie, exploring the use of natural sweeteners and alternative fats can transform your baking experience and lead to new, healthier culinary adventures.

[namansharma0950]

Soybean Oil Prices Analysis, Tracking, Updates, Trends & Forecast | ChemAnalyst

Soybean oil prices, indicative of the cost of this vegetable oil extracted from soybeans, are subject to fluctuations influenced by various factors such as global market dynamics, agricultural output, and production costs. Understanding these price movements entails a comprehensive analysis of supply and demand dynamics, crop yields, and macroeconomic indicators.

The pricing of soybean oil is significantly influenced by the balance between supply and demand within the agricultural sector. Soybean oil, valued for its versatility and nutritional properties, finds extensive use in cooking, food processing, biodiesel production, and industrial applications. Fluctuations in soybean production due to factors such as weather conditions, pest infestations, and government policies can significantly impact the availability and cost of soybean oil, thereby influencing its market price.

Consumer demand plays a crucial role in determining soybean oil prices. Soybean oil is a staple ingredient in many households and food industries due to its neutral taste, high smoke point, and health benefits. Fluctuations in consumer preferences, dietary trends, and health awareness can lead to changes in demand for soybean oil, affecting its market price.

Get Real-Time Soybean Oil Prices: https://www.chemanalyst.com/Pricing-data/soybean-oil-1318

Raw material costs also significantly impact soybean oil prices. The price of soybeans, the primary raw material for soybean oil production, can fluctuate due to changes in agricultural yields, input costs, and global market dynamics. Any significant increase in soybean prices can translate into higher production costs for soybean oil manufacturers, thereby exerting upward pressure on prices.

Macroeconomic indicators, such as inflation rates, currency exchange rates, and income levels, can indirectly affect soybean oil prices by influencing overall consumer purchasing power and spending patterns. Economic expansions tend to drive up demand for edible oils, including soybean oil, as consumers have higher disposable incomes to spend on cooking oils and food products. Conversely, economic downturns may lead to reduced demand and downward pressure on soybean oil prices.

Government policies and regulations, such as import tariffs, export restrictions, and biofuel mandates, can also impact soybean oil prices. Trade policies that affect the import and export of soybeans and soybean oil can influence domestic supply and demand dynamics, thereby affecting prices. Biofuel mandates and renewable fuel standards can also influence the demand for soybean oil as a feedstock for biodiesel production, affecting its market price.

Looking ahead, several factors are expected to continue influencing soybean oil prices. Changes in agricultural practices, technological advancements in oil extraction processes, and shifts in consumer preferences for healthier cooking oils could lead to changes in market dynamics and price levels for soybean oil. Moreover, global trends in food consumption, dietary habits, and sustainability concerns may also influence the demand for soybean oil and its market price.

In conclusion, soybean oil prices are subject to a complex interplay of factors including agricultural output, consumer demand, raw material costs, macroeconomic indicators, and government policies. Stakeholders in the soybean oil industry, including farmers, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers, must closely monitor these factors to anticipate price movements and make informed decisions. As the culinary landscape evolves and consumer preferences change, navigating the dynamic market for soybean oil will remain a key challenge for industry participants.

Get Real-Time Soybean Oil Prices: https://www.chemanalyst.com/Pricing-data/soybean-oil-1318

ChemAnalyst

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15a Cologne, 50823, Germany

Call: +49–221–6505–8833

Email: sales@chemanalyst.com

Website: https://www.chemanalyst.com

[momowashisblog]

The Art of Washi Tape: Crafting with Precision

Washi tape, with its delicate patterns and versatile applications, has become a beloved staple in the world of crafting. From scrapbooking to home décor, its popularity continues to soar. However, behind the scenes, the Washi Tape Manufacturer is a seemingly simple yet intricate product that involves a blend of precision, creativity, and tradition.

The Origins of Washi Tape

Washi tape traces its roots back to Japan, where artisans crafted paper known as “washi” by hand using traditional techniques. This paper, made from natural fibers like bamboo, hemp, or rice, possesses a unique strength and texture that sets it apart from ordinary paper.

The Manufacturing Process

Raw Material Selection: The manufacturing journey begins with the careful selection of raw materials. Each fiber contributes to the tape’s quality, texture, and durability.

Pulping: The chosen fibers undergo pulping, where they are transformed into a pulp mixture. This mixture forms the basis of the washi paper.

Sheet Formation: The pulp mixture is then spread onto a mesh screen, forming thin sheets. Skilled artisans monitor this process to ensure uniformity and quality.

Drying: The freshly formed sheets are air-dried or dried using traditional methods such as sun-drying, preserving the natural properties of the fibers.

Design and Printing: Once dried, the sheets are ready for printing. Intricate patterns and designs are carefully applied using techniques such as silk-screen printing or digital printing.

Adhesive Application: An adhesive layer is applied to one side of the washi paper, transforming it into the iconic tape form. The adhesive is chosen to ensure both strong adhesion and easy removal without damaging surfaces.

Quality Control and Packaging

Before reaching the hands of crafters worldwide, each roll of washi tape undergoes rigorous quality control checks. From adhesive strength to print clarity, every aspect is scrutinized to maintain the highest standards. Once approved, the tapes are delicately packaged, often accompanied by decorative touches that reflect the artistry within.

Innovation and Sustainability

While rooted in tradition, the world of washi tape manufacturers embraces innovation and sustainability. Companies explore eco-friendly materials, recyclable packaging, and energy-efficient production methods to minimize their environmental footprint while meeting the demands of modern consumers.

The Artistry of Washi Tape

Beyond its practical purpose, washi tape manufacturers embody the essence of creativity and self-expression. Crafters around the globe use it to embellish journals, personalize gifts, decorate spaces, and bring their artistic visions to life. Its sheer variety of colors, patterns, and textures sparks endless inspiration, making each project a unique reflection of individual style.

Cultural Fusion and Inspiration

Washi tape’s global appeal has led to a beautiful fusion of cultures and artistic influences. From traditional Japanese motifs to contemporary designs from around the world, the tape serves as a canvas for cultural exchange and creative dialogue. Crafters draw inspiration from diverse sources, incorporating elements of heritage and modernity into their creations, enriching the tape’s tapestry with layers of meaning and symbolism.

Conclusion

As we peel back the layers of washi tape manufacturer, we uncover a rich tapestry of tradition, innovation, and craftsmanship. From the meticulous selection of raw materials to the final flourish of packaging, every step in the process reflects a commitment to quality and creativity. As this beloved crafting essential continues to captivate hearts and imaginations worldwide, its story reminds us of the beauty that lies within the art of creation.

[chemanalystdata]

Viscose Staple Fibre Prices, Trend, Supply & Demand and Forecast | ChemAnalyst

Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF) prices have been subject to fluctuations influenced by various factors in recent years. VSF, a type of cellulose fiber derived from wood pulp, has gained prominence in the textile industry due to its versatility, affordability, and eco-friendly nature. The pricing dynamics of VSF are multifaceted, with supply and demand, raw material costs, geopolitical factors, and market sentiment all playing significant roles.

One of the primary drivers of VSF prices is the balance between supply and demand. As with any commodity, when demand outweighs supply, prices tend to rise, and vice versa. Factors such as changes in consumer preferences, economic conditions, and seasonal variations can impact demand for VSF. For instance, an uptick in demand for clothing and textiles, particularly in emerging markets with growing populations and increasing disposable incomes, can exert upward pressure on VSF prices.

Raw material costs also heavily influence VSF pricing. Wood pulp, the primary raw material for VSF production, is susceptible to price fluctuations driven by factors such as weather conditions, supply chain disruptions, and changes in forestry regulations. Additionally, the cost of other inputs like chemicals and energy can impact the overall production cost of VSF, thereby influencing its market price.

Geopolitical factors can also impact VSF prices, especially concerning trade policies, tariffs, and currency exchange rates. Trade tensions between major VSF-producing countries can disrupt supply chains and affect market prices. Furthermore, fluctuations in currency exchange rates can influence the competitiveness of VSF exports, thus affecting global pricing dynamics.

Get Real Time Prices of Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF): https://www.chemanalyst.com/Pricing-data/viscose-staple-fiber-1087

Market sentiment and investor speculation can contribute to short-term price volatility in the VSF market. Perceptions about future supply and demand trends, macroeconomic indicators, and geopolitical developments can influence trading activities and price movements. Speculative trading based on these sentiments can amplify price fluctuations in the VSF market.

Environmental and sustainability concerns are increasingly influencing VSF prices. As consumers and governments prioritize eco-friendly products and production processes, demand for sustainably sourced VSF is on the rise. Producers adopting environmentally friendly practices may incur higher production costs, which can translate into slightly higher prices for eco-conscious consumers.

Moreover, regulatory policies related to environmental standards, labor practices, and product quality can also impact VSF prices. Compliance with stringent regulations may necessitate investments in technology and infrastructure, which could affect production costs and ultimately influence market prices.

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced additional complexities to VSF pricing dynamics. Disruptions to global supply chains, changes in consumer behavior, and economic uncertainties have all contributed to fluctuations in VSF prices. While the initial impact of the pandemic led to a downturn in demand and lower prices due to lockdowns and reduced economic activity, the subsequent recovery and shift towards e-commerce have spurred renewed demand for textiles, influencing VSF prices once again.

Looking ahead, VSF prices are expected to remain influenced by these multifaceted factors. Continued economic growth, evolving consumer preferences, advancements in technology, and regulatory developments will all shape the trajectory of VSF prices in the coming years. Producers, consumers, and investors in the textile industry will need to stay attuned to these dynamics to navigate the VSF market effectively.

Get Real Time Prices of Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF): https://www.chemanalyst.com/Pricing-data/viscose-staple-fiber-1087

Contact Us:

ChemAnalyst

GmbH - S-01, 2.floor, Subbelrather Straße,

15a Cologne, 50823, Germany

Call: +49-221-6505-8833

Email: sales@chemanalyst.com

Website: https://www.chemanalyst.com

[daposi-eyewear]

Top Mistakes to Avoid When Selecting a Private-Label Sunglass Supplier

White-label brands have emerged as a valuable avenue for businesses seeking to establish their brand identity in a competitive market. With sun shades being a style staple and a vital accent for many, entering the non-public-label sunglasses marketplace can be a promising mission for companies like Daposi. However, choosing the proper supplier for non-public-label sunglasses is important for fulfilling your commercial enterprise. In this text, we'll outline the pinnacle errors to avoid when choosing a personal-label sunglasses supplier for Daposi.

Ignoring quality assurance:

One of the gravest mistakes Daposi can make is compromising on the exceptional quality of shades. Poor-satisfactory products can tarnish the emblem's recognition and lead to upset clients. Before finalizing a provider, very carefully determine the quality of their shades. Request samples to assess the materials, craftsmanship, and UV protection. Ensure that the supplier adheres to enterprise standards and guidelines for sunglasses production.

Failing to Research Supplier Background:

Not conducting thorough studies on ability providers is another unusual mistake. Daposi ought to delve into the provider's history, together with their popularity, experience, and track record. Look for good reviews, recommendations, and case research from previous clients to gauge their reliability and overall performance. Verify their certifications and licenses to ensure legitimacy. A complete history test can prevent Daposi from partnering with unreliable or unscrupulous providers.

Overlooking Customization Options:

The essence of private labeling lies in customization. Daposi needs to avoid suppliers that provide restricted customization options. Partner with a provider who can accommodate Daposi's branding desires, which include brand placement, coloration variations, and packaging designs. Discuss customization opportunities upfront and make certain that the provider can deliver personalized sun shades that align with Daposi's emblem identity and aesthetic options.

Neglecting communication channels:

Effective conversation is important for a successful partnership with a non-public label sunshades supplier. Daposi should prioritize providers who keep open and obvious communication channels. Ensure that the supplier is attentive to inquiries, provides regular updates on production progress, and right away addresses any concerns or troubles that can arise. A clear verbal exchange fosters trust and allows a collaborative working relationship between Daposi and the provider.

Focusing solely on price:

While value considerations are important, Daposi ought to not base their provider choice totally on the rate. Opting for the cheapest supplier without considering other factors may be a highly expensive mistake in the long run. Evaluate the overall fee proposition supplied by each provider, considering factors that include first-class, customization alternatives, lead instances, and customer support. Choose a provider that offers aggressive pricing without compromising on quality or service standards.

Ignoring supply chain transparency:

In a state-of-the-art, socially aware market, clients are increasingly concerned about ethical and sustainable commercial enterprise practices. Daposi should prioritize suppliers who exhibit transparency in their delivery chain tactics. Inquire approximately about the sourcing of materials, production practices, and environmental initiatives carried out through the dealer. Choose a supplier who upholds moral requirements and operates in an environmentally responsible way to align with Daposi's values and appeal to socially conscious consumers.

 Rushing the Selection Process:

Rushing the provider selection system can cause hasty selections and not-noted details. Daposi has to allocate enough time and resources to very well evaluate capacity suppliers. Conduct meetings, negotiate phrases, and evaluate proposals from multiple suppliers before making a decision. Rushing the selection procedure will increase the probability of creating errors and can bring about subpar consequences for Daposi's label shade assignment.

Disregarding Flexibility and Scalability

Daposi has to keep in mind the supplier's capability to conform to changing market demands and accommodate future growth opportunities. Opt for a provider that offers flexibility in production volumes and may scale operations consistent with Daposi's evolving wishes. Whether it's a small initial order or a larger manufacturing run, pick out a dealer able to assemble various demand stages without compromising on high quality or lead times. Prioritizing flexibility and scalability guarantees that Daposi can efficiently manipulate fluctuations in calls for and capture opportunities for growth without being restrained by using their dealer's abilities.

In conclusion, choosing the right personal-label shade provider is a crucial choice for Daposi's commercial enterprise achievement. Daposi can forge a mutually beneficial partnership with a reputable supplier that meets their satisfaction, customization, and communication needs by keeping off these top mistakes and accomplishing thorough due diligence. Investing effort and time in choosing the right provider is vital for handing over splendid personal-label sunshades that resonate with Daposi's target market and toughen their emblem presence in the aggressive fashion enterprise.

[ashu-digiroads-01]

Exploring the CulinaryRenaissance: The Rise of Gourmet Middle Eastern Cuisine

In recent years, the culinary landscape has witnessed a remarkable surge in the popularity of Middle East food service market, not only in the region itself but across the globe. Once confined to traditional dishes served in casual eateries or at home, Middle Eastern cuisine has undergone a fascinating transformation, evolving into a gourmet experience that tantalizes the taste buds and captures the imagination of food enthusiasts worldwide.

The Evolution of Middle Eastern Cuisine: From Tradition to Gourmet

Historically, Middle Eastern cuisine has been shaped by centuries of cultural exchange, blending flavors, techniques, and ingredients from diverse regions spanning from the Mediterranean to the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. Traditional dishes like hummus, falafel, and kebabs have long been cherished staples of Middle Eastern cooking, celebrated for their simplicity, bold flavors, and emphasis on fresh, wholesome ingredients.

However, in recent years, Middle Eastern cuisine has undergone a renaissance, propelled by a growing appreciation for its rich culinary heritage and the innovative spirit of chefs seeking to reimagine traditional dishes in exciting new ways. This culinary evolution has given rise to a wave of gourmet Middle Eastern restaurants, where chefs artfully blend traditional flavors with modern techniques to create dishes that are as visually stunning as they are delicious.

Key Trends Driving the Rise of Gourmet Middle Eastern Cuisine

Several factors have contributed to the growing popularity of gourmet Middle Eastern cuisine:

Globalization and Cultural Exchange: As travel and communication barriers continue to diminish, people around the world are increasingly exposed to different cultures and cuisines. This has sparked curiosity and interest in Middle Eastern food, leading to a growing demand for authentic and elevated dining experiences.

Health and Wellness Trends: Middle Eastern cuisine is inherently health-conscious, emphasizing the use of fresh herbs, spices, and vegetables. With an increasing focus on health and wellness, consumers are drawn to the nutritious and flavorful offerings of Middle Eastern cuisine, from nutrient-rich salads to grilled meats and seafood.

Social Media and Food Culture: Platforms like Instagram and Pinterest have become powerful tools for food enthusiasts to discover, share, and celebrate culinary experiences from around the world. The visually striking presentation of Middle Eastern dishes, with their vibrant colors and intricate patterns, has made them particularly popular on social media, fueling interest and demand.

Innovation and Fusion: Chefs are constantly pushing the boundaries of creativity, blending traditional Middle Eastern flavors with global culinary influences to create innovative and unexpected dishes. This fusion of flavors and techniques adds an exciting dimension to Middle Eastern cuisine, appealing to adventurous diners seeking new and unique gastronomic experiences.

The Middle East Food Service Market: A Growing Sector

The rise of gourmet Middle Eastern cuisine has not only captured the hearts of food enthusiasts but has also fueled significant growth in the Middle East food service market. According to recent reports, the region's food service industry is experiencing steady expansion, driven by factors such as urbanization, rising disposable incomes, and changing consumer preferences.

In particular, the demand for gourmet dining experiences has led to a proliferation of upscale Middle Eastern restaurants, both within the region and in key international markets. From fine dining establishments showcasing the culinary traditions of Lebanon, Turkey, and Iran to trendy cafes serving contemporary interpretations of classic dishes, the Middle East food service market offers a diverse array of options to cater to a discerning clientele.

Moreover, the rise of delivery and takeaway services has further boosted the accessibility and popularity of Middle Eastern cuisine, allowing consumers to enjoy gourmet meals in the comfort of their homes or offices.

Conclusion: Embracing the Flavors of the Middle East

In conclusion, the rise of gourmet Middle Eastern cuisine represents a fascinating culinary journey that celebrates the rich tapestry of flavors, ingredients, and traditions of the region. From humble beginnings rooted in tradition to the heights of gourmet sophistication, Middle Eastern cuisine continues to captivate and inspire food enthusiasts around the world.

As the Middle East food service market continues to expand and evolve, driven by a growing appetite for culinary excellence and innovation, we can expect to see even greater diversity and creativity in the offerings of gourmet Middle Eastern restaurants. Whether you're a seasoned foodie or simply curious to explore new flavors, there has never been a better time to embark on a gastronomic adventure through the vibrant and diverse world of Middle Eastern cuisine.