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theangriestpea · 5 years

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Mercy Killing

TW: minor alcoholism

A/N: Enjoy the little bit of fluff in this chapter! May not be able to update until Friday but I’ll hopefully have a Tumblr exclusive blurb out before then. Cross Posted on AO3

Chapter Eleven: Hurt

“I’d like something a little stronger than caffeine.” The shaggy haired customer said as he looked at the menu placed on the wall behind Lavender. “You know, something that’ll keep me awake better than three shots of espresso.”

Lavender stared at him, her heart thumping loudly in her chest. Every time a customer came and asked her for something stronger than what they technically offered, she panicked. It wasn’t visible on her blank face, thank God. She was somewhat actually good at this.

“That’s cash only.” She said evenly, gauging the waters. Every person to ask for that bright color stick of powder, she immediately questioned whether or not they were an undercover cop. Maybe they were onto her. Maybe someone tipped them off. She felt like she was losing years off of her life from the stress alone.

“I’ll take two.” The man said with a sly smile on his lips. He had been told he could score here but he hadn’t actually believed his source. Now getting Jingle Jangle on the Northside was going to be easier than ever.

Lavender bent down to a cabinet hidden under the counter and took out two striped paper straws of stimulant. She placed them in a brown paper bag that they used for their pastries. “That’ll be ten dollars.”

“Ten dollars for just two? That’s ridiculous!” He said, raising his voice a little. “Come on, can’t you cut me a discount. Buy one get one free? Half off?” James had warned her about this. Said customers would haggle her but to only agree to it if they started to make too much of a scene.

“Ten.” Lavender said, her voice growing harder, “or you get none.” She wasn’t going to give in to demands that easily though. She had a quota she had to meet and she wasn’t paying out of pocket for what she didn’t sell or paying the price difference in what she sold at a cheaper price. Maybe if she was bad enough at this, they’d ask her to stop.

The customer slapped down a ten dollar bill and snatched the bag from her hands. Lavender took the bill and stuffed it into her pocket with the rest of them. She hated to admit how each transaction got a little easier.

Coming back to work this week had been rougher than she imagined. Sure her bruises were almost all gone and her ribs didn’t hurt nearly as much so she didn’t need anything stronger than a low dose of ibuprofen but the stress of selling drugs under the table was making her lose sleep. In fact, the only time she did sleep was when she passed out from drinking too much.

It had become a habit that she was trying to keep under wraps. Stupid things like spiking her drinks to make it look like she wasn’t slowly becoming alcoholic. Adding Kahlua to her coffee on her break. Putting a heavy dose of root beer schnapps in her favorite soda. Sometimes the occasional shot of tequila with her lemonade. And in the morning a screwdriver to ease away her pounding headache. Any excuse to drink was a good excuse to her.

If anyone noticed, then they didn’t say a word. However, Lavender had become pretty keen at keeping it hidden. There were mislabeled bottles stashed all over her house at this point. Luckily her friends didn’t have a habit of rifling through her cabinets.

Speaking of friends. She hadn’t spoken to Sweet Pea since Saturday after she woke up with him. She had been avoiding him, thinking it was easier that way. She hadn’t asked him to come over. Fangs was with her Saturday while Toni and Cheryl were with her both Sunday and Monday. Last night Fangs was with her again but she knew he had to watch his sister tonight. She also didn’t want to ask Cheryl and Toni again because she didn’t want to eat up all of the couple’s alone time.

Which left Sweet Pea.

She wasn’t going to call him. She had already made that decision. Instead she was going to heavy handedly pour her drinks tonight to try and get by without anyone. It needed to be his way. She needed to learn not to be afraid to sleep by herself. It had been three and a half weeks. No one was going to be with her all the time and she had to accept that.

As her shift came to a close, she had sold almost all of her product. It didn’t matter, James would be giving her more tomorrow after school when he pretended to be lovey-dovey with her. They were officially an item now. Well, to the outside world at least. They weren’t in Lavender’s heart and they never will be. She just had to buy some time as she figured out a plan that wouldn’t end up with her broken and beaten and tortured again.

She tucked her flask of Kahlua in with her bag as she stashed the Jingle Jangle in her locker to keep it safe. She double checked the combination lock, making sure it was secure before telling her manager a polite goodbye. Then she hastily made her way out of the coffee shop and to her car. Once inside she took out the flask and took a long gulp of the liquid, enjoying the strong aftertaste it left. A sigh left her lips as she threw it back into her bag and started the engine, making her way back to Sunnyside.

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender was alone in her trailer. The glass of root beer in her hand had been eighty percent schnapps and was now half empty. Her head span as she whimpered out a soft cry. How did she get into this situation? What exactly had her father done to the Ghoulies? How long was she going to have to work for them in order to pay back his debt?

The guilt was eating her alive. She never wanted to sell drugs and she felt like she was betraying the Serpents. She couldn’t even tell them the simple detail as to what they attacked her with (though Sweets figured it out, he hadn’t told anyone). How was she supposed to tell them that she was being forced to sell Jingle Jangle? Would they strip her of her jacket and send her on her way? Alone in the world with no one but James to continue to control her every move?

She found her finger hovering over an old text message conversation with Sweet Pea. It had been about a job they did months ago, nothing recent. A deep breath ran through her, sending a small shock of pain in her bruised ribs. She let the alcohol take the wheel as she typed out a half hazard message to him, asking him to come over.

An hour past and there was still no reply. She figured he was preoccupied with that annoying black haired girl that she couldn’t stand. It was just her luck too. The more time that slipped by, the more she drank. Her glass was empty and the world was fuzzy. This was better than nothing.

She heard her doorknob turn and her heart jumped into her throat. Had she forgotten to lock the door in her tipsy state? How could she be so stupid? The door opened and a giant filled the frame, looking more tired than he usually did.

Lavender blinked at Sweet Pea. She hadn’t expected him to come, especially after he didn’t answer her text. What was he doing here now? “I was doing a job for FP.” He said, not outright apologizing but there was a hint of it in his tone.

Her text had been garbled. Almost every word was so mistyped that autocorrect couldn’t even figure it out. Sweet Pea knew she had to have been drinking. He had suspected it at school as well just by the hazy look she had in her eyes half the time. He had even voiced his concerns to FP that night who said that he’d look into it but for the time being, keep an extra close eye on her.

Sweet Pea had known she would be alone tonight and he had planned on stopping by anyway. She had been expertly avoiding him since that day she came to his trailer and ran off, upset. He never found out what it was that she had come there for. Despite pretending like he didn’t care, he was at the very least curious. Word around school was that she and James were dating now, shouldn’t that make her happy? She’s been drowning herself ever since. Something wasn’t right.

“Rhodes…let’s get you to bed.” Sweet Pea said softly. It hurt him to see her like this. Perhaps everything that happened was finally crashing down upon her.

Lavender just nodded her head numbly. She stood up, stumbling a little before making her way to the bedroom. Sweet Pea followed her to make sure she wouldn’t throw up or pass out in some uncomfortable position. Plus, he missed being in bed with her. Not that he would tell anyone that.

She stripped off her shirt, too drunk to care about being modest. That’s when he saw them. The yellow and brown hand shaped bruise around her upper arm and the new light blue one around her wrist. She had been wearing a long sleeve shirt since it was colder outside now, it covered the marks perfectly.

Sweets gently grabbed her forearm, holding her arm out between them. Rage filled him and he had to remind himself not to simply explode on her. “What the hell is this?!” He asked, looking over the bruises, “did that bastard do this to you?” His voice was raised louder than he had intended. She flinched at the harsh sound, trying to pull away from him.

He let her go to give her space, Lavender fell into a heap onto her bed. Tears were trailing down her cheeks. “He’s a Ghoulie.” She muttered low, hoping he wouldn’t hear her but needing to say it nonetheless.

Sweet Pea knelt down in front of her, trying to look less threatening. He knew his size could be intimidating, so maybe getting closer to her would help ease her obvious nerves. She held her breath, waiting for him to react.

“Was he one of them…?” He asked, not needing to be specific for her to understand what he was asking.

Lavender nodded her head weakly, biting her lip to keep a sob inside. He had a very mixed look on his face. Anger, hatred, confusion, worry, and soon enough the shock value wore off. He reached out and cupped her face, wiping the tears away. He wanted to say he was right. He wanted to tell her that she should have listened to him. But Sweet Pea knew that those weren’t the things she needed to hear.

For whatever reason she was now dating one of the men that raped her, and he wanted to know why. “That’s why you came to my trailer the other day. You found out.” He said, not really needing an answer because it was the only reason he could think of for her coming to him.

She leaned her face into his hand, finally letting out a tiny sigh. “Yes.” Her eyes closed for a moment, their heart to heart was sobering her enough to think straight. Once her eyes opened back up they were focused on him. “Please, you can’t tell anyone.” Her good hand grabbed his wrist that was by her face, “promise me, Sweet Pea. Promise you won’t tell FP or Jughead or Fangs. He will hurt me, worse than before. Please…” Her voice cracked and more tears came out before she could say any more. His heart broke for her, seeing her like this, knowing the looming threat that was now over her head.

“I’ll kill him.” Sweet Pea said, his anger more evident as he leaned up to bring her shaking body into his chest so that he could hold her close. “No one is going to lay another hand on you, Shanna. I promise.” He had never used her real name before. It felt so foreign to her. His sincerity something totally different than what she had ever seen from him.

Her arms looped around his neck to hold him close, sniffling into the crook of his neck as he simply held her in any attempt to comfort her. In unity there is strength, the words echoed in her head. Was Sweet Pea just being a good serpent or did he actually care?

“You were right.” Lavender mumbled, her lips brushing against his skin. He tensed at the sensation, trying not to think about it. “You and Fangs tried to tell me, but I didn’t listen. Why am I so stupid? How could I think anyone would want me after what happened?”

She shuddered as she held in another cry. Sweet Pea rubbed her bare back, her skin soft and smooth under his calluses. “Guys still want you, Rhodes. You broke a lot of hearts when you came out as being that ghoul’s girlfriend.” Sweet Pea said, thinking to himself that one of those hearts had been his. He was not about to admit that to anyone though. Not now, not ever.

Several other serpents were upset that she was dating someone. Other students they went to school with were annoyed that she didn’t spurn the new kid’s advances like she had everyone else’s.

A sarcastic laugh left her lips. She didn’t believe him. He was just trying to make her feel better, though she appreciated the effort. “Can you stay with me tonight?” She braced herself for his reaction. She had been giving him the cold shoulder for the past four days. Now here she was crying on his shoulder. She didn’t expect him to give in to her, not after how she had been treating him.

“Yea.” Sweet Pea said softly as he pried her off of him. “Just finish changing clothes first. I’ll be right back.”

He left her room, making her feel empty as ever inside. She took off her bra and pants, finding an oversized T-shirt to slip on as she crawled into bed. Sweet Pea came back in not even five minutes later in a tank top and gym shorts. He laid down beside her, pulling the blankets up over them both. His arm found her waist and he pulled her close to him so she could breathe in his scent. A deep sigh left her as she closed her eyes, sleep finally overcoming her now that she felt safe.

*~~~~~~~~~~~*

Lavender and Sweet Pea both groaned at the sound of her alarm going off. His face was between her shoulder blades, eyes squeezed shut in an attempt to try and fall back asleep. She reached over the best she could to slap the snooze button. His arms were tight around her waist, making it difficult to even reach the clock.

“We have to get up.” Lavender said, feeling his grip get even tighter as he pulled her close against him. Sweet Pea clearly had other plans.

She weighed the options in her head. Stay here all day with Sweet Pea or go to school with James. One sounded amazing but if she didn’t show up James would get suspicious. He may even come looking for her, and if he found her here with him? She was afraid of what he’d do. Plus he needed to give her more Jingle Jangle to sell at the coffee shop in the afternoon.

Thank god she hadn’t told Sweet Pea all the details. She was drunk enough to let it slip that he was a Ghoulie but not much else.

“Let’s play hooky.” Sweet Pea countered, hoping she’d stay in bed with him just a little longer.

“I can’t. He’ll come looking for me…” Lav said softly. He instantly pulled his arms out from around her. He didn’t want her to get hurt more because of him. An annoyed sigh came out of his mouth as he sat up and rubbed his eyes groggily.

Lavender got up and started picking out her outfit for the day, looking for a sweater to put on to cover her new bruises. “We have to tell Fangs.”

“Absolutely not.” Lavender snapped back. “I shouldn’t have even told you! Besides, you promised me you wouldn’t.”

“I’m surprised you remember anything considering how much you probably drank yesterday.” Sweet Pea replied sourly, watching her go through the clothes in her closet.

She glared at him over her shoulder, “what was that?”

Sweet Pea got out of the bed. “You heard me. You think I haven’t seen that flask you keep in her locker? Or the smell of booze coming off of you almost twenty-four seven. How about the fact that I could even barely comprehend the text you sent last night because you were too drunk to type straight? You need to stop.”

“You don’t need to tell me what to do, I get enough of that from him.” Lav replied, starting to get angry at her minor blossoming alcoholism being called out.

His anger flared at being compared to a boy that was abusing her. “Don’t you ever do that. I’m nothing like that stupid fucking ghoul!” His fists were clenched, she noticed and quickly backed away from him. Her reaction only made him angry, “Do you think I’d stoop to his level? That I’d hurt you?”

“You already hurt me!” She pleaded back at him, talking about how she felt when she saw him with Kitty or when he made a comment about her being stupid. There were plenty of times he had made her feel horrible. Just because he didn’t put his hands on her, didn’t mean he was innocent.

Sweet Pea’s eyes widened at the desperate sound of her voice. That’s right. Fangs had told him before that he made her feel like shit. That must have been to what she was referring to. He didn’t have a response to that, not a good one at least. “Lav, I’m-“

“Just get out!” She said, not wanting to hear it. It hurt too much to say it out loud, to confess to him how she often felt when he said something snide to her. Especially after her attack. She was so much more sensitive now it seemed.

He didn’t fight her, instead he walked out still clenching his fists. Another day, another fuck up. Why couldn’t they just get along?

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michellelewis7162 · 5 years

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Dining Establishment Duplicate Recipes as well as Restaurants Kinds as well as Characteristics

Best dining establishments Charlottesville replica recipes is merely an expression that defines dishes that copy those of a specific restaurant or even restaurants. Words, counterfeit, specifies anything that might appear like or copy that of a authentic or even genuine write-up. To copy or copy an authentic source is actually a testament to the reputation of that resource for the high quality it delivers. No one would even help make the effort to copy or steal it if it was certainly not of high quality. It has actually likewise been actually said that the replica of everything is a form of sweet talk, but not every imitation is actually precisely complementary. https://www.google.com/maps?q=Shebeen+Restaurant+Charlottesville&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwitpOrD1J7lAhUhh-AKHXsgAeQQ_AUIEigB

Food is form of boring because the simple types are the same. There may be actually certain wide arrays to some extent and long times very publicized as an upper hand to market it, nevertheless, chick is actually chick, beef is actually beef, broccoli is broccoli etc right? Exactly how these get prepped as well as created to become provided however, is what definitely makes the variation. Charlottesville Restaurant

Dishes for these foods items have actually been passed on by means of the productions utilizing the basic types of preparation coming from the frying pan, stoves and grills, to steaming pots and currently microwaves. Keen thought and objective to introduce brand-new blends of dressings, marinates and flavors to these standard techniques assist to enrich the flavors of these general foods items. This is actually, possesses and also are going to remain to be goal of lots of folks and also certainly with dining establishments to help specify their style and also food items other than others.

This may be actually a crazy representation, however highlights the points pointed out above. When I was maturing, I might certainly not stand up the taste of cauliflower. I observed no purpose for this meals. To me, it was actually an useless veggie that used up area on our earth. I am actually certainly not joking! Later, when I really operated in an evening meal nightclub, among the starters our team offered was deep-seated fried cauliflower along with an edge of cheese sauce. Ever before due to the fact that at that point, cauliflower has ended up being one of my favorite meals and in all of the traditional ways, from biting to steamed and I still adore the deep fried approach. If it were actually not for that deep-seated deep-fried dish, I might certainly never possess possessed the enjoyment of enjoying this now tasty and also well-balanced food items.

I assume it is actually necessary to acknowledge Charlottesville best restaurant themselves, whether they be actually a prompt meals, independent, mommy as well as stand out, huge establishment style or even 5 star, all take in thousands of individuals every time throughout our country. It is actually real though that several of these bistros have functioned challenging to cultivate their very own trademark approaches, recipes as well as themes to establish on their own apart.

There are 960,000 locations countrywide that worker about 12.8 thousand folks and also acquire this, of the dollars spent on food items in the U.S., 49% is actually shared along with the restaurant field. It is likewise goes to reveal why bistros are actually certainly a legitimate authorization and also why a person might go out of their technique to copy a dish or imitate or pair of.

If you were actually to decide on any one of your favorite bistros Charlottesville or also one that may only be beginning up, this very same simple summary will administer. The dining establishment may advertise the new release to permit the public understand it has a great new recipe to come in as well as make an effort out. If the social likes it, the restaurant possesses yet another source of brand-new income.

Think it or even certainly not, restaurants themselves may be looked at among the greatest duplicate feline performers out there certainly yet in a manner that does not attempt to make a precise duplicate, They will move on in such a way that might make use of the exact same label of the food, however take pride in on their own to create their own attract attention in a different way through adding their own trademark touch and right to what else might be included besides the entree to assist set it apart coming from others.

Except offer your personal style of company, VA bistros generally steal each various other on the overall operating layout of exactly how the customers are offered as well as cared for right to consisting of "similar" items being specified on the food selections. They all maintain a vigilant eye on one another to see what is working well and also might modify a food selection, approach of company, price or whatever the case might be to accommodate present consumers as well as get brand new paying out consumers to invest cash in their facilities. It is a steady find saw war.

No matter of these bistros in 22903 duplicating and taking on one another for our dollars, they accurately are actually bench to which our team match up the flavor of our favored foods items to They proceed push one another in developing recipes, methods as well as signature menus that maintain our team going back for even more. Our company all have our preferred food selection items and also while a single person may favor one bistro over one more for a particular entree or appetizer, the reality is actually, they all are actually an authentic article and precisely worth the initiative to copy.

Only a notice, in relation to businesses (particularly non-restaurant) some need to take steps as well as go even more and also receive patents or even licenses on their inventions to aid defend all of them coming from being copied. With bistros, it is actually a little more durable as acquiring patents as well as licensing on meals is a lot extra hard and also certainly not fairly the like accumulating a brand-new technical development like an I-pad. Dining establishments may need to have to possess some lawful assistance and agreements set up along with their employees to certainly not surrender any sort of keys to their trademark methods effort to keep their techniques in-house need to a worker decide to leave behind. There have actually been some litigation where a chef or gourmet chef leaves behind as well as begins a new restaurant making use of the exact same signature approaches however phoning it another thing and also properly ... even more funds invested to acquire it straightened.

As time go on, there have actually been actually a lot of others that have attempted to replicate a bistro recipe from supermarket food items providers, straight down to excellent ole Mom. Inquire all and also most would certainly concur that the activity might certainly not be actually thus effortless to create. There are actually those that formulate recipes that are identical as a whole yet lack that signature flavor of a certain restaurant. Possess you ever before tried to produce something merely like your favorite restaurant as well as while it appeared ok, it simply really did not very try the very same as what TGIF or even Olive Garden serves? I recognize I possess as well as it felt like all the attempt was alright, however the end result, on a scale of 1 to 10, was actually perhaps a 6 at finest. To receive a 9 or even 10 merely seems impossible as well as you are far better off quiting as well as only visit the bistro as an alternative.

As there is actually with everything worth while, there are those couple of individuals who carry out try to mimic these dining establishment dishes to the Nth degree. There are actually additionally those that are just great cooks and also by means of their experience and also user-friendly attributes are capable to develop in on the authentic restaurant recipe. I have some expertise cooking food as well as can easily comply with a dish, but, I absolutely am certainly not a dining establishment recipe hacker.

If it is actually a challenging task to make an effort to replicate or even copy a prosperous authentic article then why carry out others attempt to copy it?

It frequently times can be actually associated to loan and a person else yearning for to obtain in on the action. Some might also appear to bring in enhancements on the initial. Think regarding this, comedians can obtain even more laughs if they are actually good at copying some one else?

Equally as is actually performed with plenty of other points that are actually created, there is actually regularly a team of these intrigued individuals that just like to accomplish factors themselves. These folks will definitely walk out of their method to copy favored dishes coming from every one of these dining establishments. I would certainly venture to say that if one were to question most of these DIY (Do It Yourself) people, it will be actually primarily in an attempt to be able to spare loan as a major reason at first. Always remember earlier I mentioned that 49% of the buck devoted on food items is discussed in the dining establishment sector? That is actually a bunch of dough that can easily save!

Funds or the spending of it, is in fact how and also why I started to remember of these dining establishment counterfeit dishes. I have been examining our family investing routines and also when examining groceries vs. dining, I was actually pretty stunned. Eating in a restaurant has come to be a practice for us and also while it is actually one that we do delight in, it is additionally one that has been actually building up considerably. This is what began that flickering of the outdated light bulb for myself and also my household.

, I recognize the effect of finding out exactly how to perform one thing your own self can as well as has actually conserved me an excellent quantity of loan. It has actually helped create a distinction in smarter costs as properly as sparing funds even if I perform not do something myself.

Recognizing that my family has actually developed this routine of dining in restaurants greater than consuming at home, getting all of them to eat common property cooked dishes regularly is actually not going to be to quick and easy. The flickering light bulb minute or tip stated earlier was to observe concerning receiving some recipes coming from the bistros that I can prepare at home along with the idea of saving some amount of money initially. I likewise began to find how we have shed contact with the skill of cooking food. Our company sure possess all become professionals of the microwave, but the remainder of the kitchen area starts to acquire a little bit of sketchy.

So the adventure began looking for restaurant dishes. Most dining establishments perform certainly not provide out their recipes as well as why would certainly they? They could lose a gain consumer if they did. I do find some restaurants that are selling several of their food selection products in the supermarket greater than before, yet form of limiting it to just a handful of items. I have also reviewed an individual that would certainly inquire the prepares for their recipes as well as exactly how some could spill the beans every now and then, yet again, relatively minimal results.

I bear in mind once my wife and I went to a Denny's dining establishment behind time one evening and the amount of we appreciated their marinara dressing used with the mozzarella adheres our experts had purchased. Our company talked to the waiter about it and she performed talk to the prepares about that, yet they really didn't know a lot regarding it and our company thank her for making an effort. When our team obtained the inspection, our team also got an unexpected shock. She took out a sizable suction secured plastic bag of the marinara sauce from what seemed directly coming from their food supplier. Our team failed to obtain the dish yet we sure received a large volume of dressing to carry property. It does pay to inquire as well as while you may or might certainly not acquire a dish straight you certainly never recognize what might occur I think.

There are actually obviously a good amount of publications, a lot of posts on-line as well as numerous sites all declaring either access to or having themselves, dining establishment keys and copycats dishes for numerous beloved American bistros. Whew, it type of makes my head turn a little, yet so as to aid me obtain this pursuit of mine it has deserved the effort. A lot of sites are suggesting the exact same essential authentic resources (recipe hackers) of the replica or even imitators dishes as well as in my adventure this is normally a good tip as a practical spot to start.

There is regularly somebody who highlights their expertise and also finding of factors that have possessed influence on their life with exactly how and also why they did it. Lot of times they get back at further into it as well as start marketing their efforts to create some additional profit. It may be actually the result of a good friend or even family members member that joys all of them on, but if it is actually flourished and the high quality is there certainly, it most of the times finds enough attention to make it worth the while. Plus, there are always others that have like enthusiasms. It truly comes to be a win-win for everyone and also can spur on a lot more ideas and expertises from others who are actually interested.

As along with anything, one needs to dip their toes in as well as get a feel for it of course. I have actually been actually trying out several of these imitation restaurant dishes sources as well as have been definitely amazed. I have been finding out a great deal more than 1st thought and feelings and it has been a ton of enjoyable to beat it off. People who have created these copycat recipes have actually really carried out a wonderful work. My journey is to conserve some amount of money naturally, but creating a number of these recipes is actually additionally a fantastic method to know just how to cook. Deal with it momentarily, one can in fact discover just how to cook an appetizer, entre or pudding that they know is proficient at their beloved dining establishment and also obtain excellent outcomes for their effort right away from the gate. I do not understand about you, but I obtain a wonderful sense of success when taking some time to learn one thing as well as it operates out.

Must you receive the craving to try these counterfeit or top secret dishes of the restaurants, I think you will definitely be actually additional than pleasantly amazed. I know I have been. If you would like to spare some funds, learn how to prepare or even merely to find among your favored dining establishment dishes, you won't regret it.

I have actually not attempted any of the "700 FREE restaurant recipes" type of sources online. It is actually really quite fabulous what some have featured along with the dish publications they are actually ensuring.

Like everything, perform spend some time to evaluate prior to bring in any acquisition naturally, once you do acquire your feets moist possess some exciting and also be prepped to become blown away along with the outcomes.

When franchising, various kinds of aid are actually accessible. Independent dining establishments are relatively simple to open. All you need to have is actually a handful of thousand bucks, an understanding of restaurant operations, and a tough need to.

Dining establishments happen and go. Some independent restaurants are going to expand into little chains, as well as bigger companies will certainly acquire out small establishments.

As soon as small chains show development and also level of popularity, they are likely to be actually gotten through a bigger firm or is going to have the ability to acquire finance for growth. An appeal for the starting restaurateur is actually to notice huge restaurants in large areas and to believe that their effectiveness may be reproduced in secondary areas. Going through the dining establishment examines in New York City, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., or even San Francisco might give the impression that uncommon dining establishments could be duplicated in Des Moines, Kansas City, or Main Town, USA. As a result of demographics, these indigenous or even high-style restaurants will definitely certainly not click in small cities and also communities.

Will certainly go for training coming from the base up as well as deal with all regions of the bistro's function Franchising entails the minimum economic risk in that the dining establishment style, consisting of property marketing, food selection, as well as style programs, already have been examined in the marketplace. Franchise business dining establishments are actually less likely to go belly up than private dining establishments.

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faizrashis1995 · 5 years

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Five Benchmarks for Writing Dialog that Sounds Great to Alexa Customers

Great Alexa skills depend on written prompts. In voice-first interfaces, the dialog you write isn’t one component of the user interface—it is the interface, because Alexa’s voice is the primary guide leading a customer through your skill.

But if you don’t have a background in writing, that’s okay! Any skill builder can improve their written dialog so it successfully serves the customer. This post covers five benchmarks your Alexa skill’s dialog should meet, and specific techniques for how you can get there.

Benchmark 1: Avoid Jargon and Ten-Dollar Words

Customers love low-friction interactions, and the individual words in your dialog can be a huge part of keeping the interaction simple and easy. Informal language is faster and less burdensome for a customer to process, so they can follow a voice interaction without pausing to respond.

Here are some examples of commonly used jargon or overly formal words, along with alternatives that could be used instead:

Jargon: “You can default to a stored method associated with this account, or override it by selecting an alternate method of payment.”

Simpler: “You can use the credit card on file, or add a new card.”

Jargon: “I can submit a request for a customer service representative to return your call.”

Simpler: “I can have an agent call you back.”

Jargon: “Would you like me to submit your order for processing?”

Simpler: “Ready to finish your order?”

Jargon: “The transaction attempt was not successful.”

Simpler: “Hmm. Something went wrong with your payment.”

So, what are some techniques for replacing jargon with clearer language? First, fresh eyes are valuable here. Find someone who’s not an expert in your skill’s content, and ask them to read or listen to your dialog and point out words that feel unfamiliar to them. Second, once you’ve identified some clunky words, find synonyms that are less formal. (Don’t be afraid to dust off that thesaurus!)

Benchmark 2: Apply the One-Breath Test for Concision

Remember that your skill’s dialog will be spoken out loud, one word at a time, so excess words in your prompts quite literally add time to the interaction. A useful guideline is that a prompt should be about as long as a human could say in one breath. It’s a great idea to read your dialog out loud or have a colleague read it to you.

If you identify some prompts that don’t pass the one-breath test, here are some ways you can shorten them:

Cut filler words, like “very.” Keep an eye out for words that don’t change the meaning of a sentence or add information; you can eliminate these.

Look out for wordiness around verbs. For example, “I’d like to be able to help you” can be shortened to “I can help.”

Find information that customers don’t need. For example, if a prompt contains a date, like “Your order will be ready on August 2, 2019,” you can usually omit the year.

There are concrete techniques you can use to make sentences concise. First, make sure each sentence passes the one-breath test by reading it aloud. Next, if you find sentences that don’t pass the test, cut your sentences down by challenging yourself to omit 2-5 words from every line of dialog in your code.

Benchmark 3: Introduce Variety into Your Dialog

Humans use a lot of variation in the way they speak. In contrast, voice experiences that repeat the same phrases don’t sound natural to the human ear. You can avoid repetitive dialog by adding randomized variations to your dialog.

Look for the skill dialog that your users will hear the most often, starting with the greeting. Imagine a skill that allows you to order groceries called Grocery Store. If you heard “Welcome to the Grocery Store!” with every launch, you’d grow tired of this greeting.

As a skill builder, you could provide randomized phrases so that customers might hear one of several responses upon launch. For example:

Thanks for stopping by the Grocery Store.

Hi, you’ve reached the Grocery Store.

Let’s fill your cart at the Grocery Store!

Another opportunity for variation is confirming a purchase, or congratulating a customer for completing a task. For example, if you have a skill that sells cupcakes, you could randomize phrases that confirm the purchase:

You’re all set! Treats are on the way.

It’s cupcake time! Your order is complete.

Sweet! You’ve successfully ordered your cupcakes.

It’s important to keep aspects of the flow consistent; your skill shouldn’t feel radically different or unfamiliar each time. But creating variation is an important way to keep your skill interesting and fresh, especially for skills a user might open every day, like skills for weather, exercise, or news.

To make sure your dialog isn’t overly repetitive, you can add a few simple techniques to your process. First, take a look at your list of dialog lines and identify 3-5 prompts that your customers will encounter each time they use your skill. Next, write 2-5 (or more!) variations for each of these lines. It’s a good idea to ask a few friends or colleagues to help you brainstorm, as you may come up with more creative variations as a group.

For more guidance, check out the Alexa Design Guide’s section on adding variety in repetitive tasks, and using adaptive prompts.

Benchmark 4: Try Contractions and Informal Phrasing

General advice for Alexa dialog is “Write it the way you say it.” People use lots of contractions when they speak, such as:

“I’m” instead of “I am”

“I’d” instead of “I would”

“Don’t” instead of “do not”

“Can’t” instead of “cannot”

“I cannot help you with that” sounds much stiffer than “I can’t help you with that.” Because your skill’s dialog should be casual and conversational, for most situations, the contracted version is preferred.

Humans also use short phrases; not every line of dialog has to be a complete sentence. This keeps your prose natural, and contributes to concise sentences. For example:

“Done!” instead of “This purchase is complete.”

“Ready?” instead of “Do you want to continue?”

“Got it, four adult tickets to next week’s choir concert!” instead of “Okay, I will place an order for four adult tickets to go see the choir concert taking place next week.”

With just a little extra effort, you can make sure your dialog sounds casual and easy on the ear. First, circle all of the verbs that could be turned into contractions. Reading out loud can help you identify these places, too. Next, you can identify dialog that can be turned into shorter phrases. Some good candidates for phrases are prompts that end with a question and confirmation phrases.

Benchmark 5: Use SSML for Better Pacing

When customers listen to a long string of dialog without meaningful pauses, the words can bleed together and create confusion. It’s a great idea to employ synthetic speech markup language (SSML) to adjust aspects of Alexa’s speech so it sounds even more natural to a human ear.

You can use SSML to do lots of things, from tweaking a word’s pronunciation to adjusting emphasis on a specific syllable. But perhaps the simplest SSML tag with the biggest impact is the break time tag, which represents a pause in speech. Sometimes adding even a few milliseconds of extra time can help your customer comprehend the prompt more easily.

For example, you can use SSML to add time between menu items:

<speak>

There are three house plants I’d recommend for your apartment: elephant ear, <break time="600ms"/> peace lily <break time="600ms"/> and spider plant.

</speak>

You can also add a lengthier pause between sentences, usually to indicate a transition between content and a next step:

<speak>

You answered a total of 14 questions right!

That beats your all-time high score of 12 correct answers. <break time="1s"/> Want to play again?

</speak>

To identify places where a pause is useful, listen to each prompt being read by Alexa. An easy way is to paste your dialog into the Voice & Tone speech simulator, located in the Test tab in the Alexa developer console. If a sentence seems rushed, add some break time tags and listen again to fine-tune. You can experiment with adding pauses of varying lengths, from 300 milliseconds to one second.

Benchmark Checklist

If you’ve done all of these things, your dialog will be crafted for a natural, concise, easy-on-the-ear customer experience.

Eliminate jargon by asking for feedback from someone who’s not an expert in your skill’s content.

Perform the one-breath test and, if you need to, cut 3-5 words from every sentence.

Identify 3-5 prompts that will be commonly encountered and write at least two variations for each.

Where you can, reduce your verb phrases to contractions and shorten some sentences to phrases.

Listen to Alexa read every line and add spacing between phrases and sentences.

In general, the best way to confirm you’ve got great dialog is to read it aloud. Better yet, read it aloud to a friend or colleague who represents your customer base. Check to make sure they had an easy time understanding and responding to your prompts, and use their feedback to tweak your dialog until it has a conversational tone that’s easy to comprehend. Taking the extra time to scrutinize your dialog will help you craft a skill experience that’s conversational, intuitive, and frictionless for your customers.[Source]-https://developer.amazon.com/blogs/alexa/post/d92c7822-d289-44fd-a9fe-9652874fc3c9/five-benchmarks-for-writing-dialog-that-sounds-great-to-alexa-customers

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benjamingarden · 6 years

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One Year of Eating Locally Challenge

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Last year I wanted to try to switch to primarily eating local, in-season, meals. Unfortunately, I was just so busy splitting my time between my "day" job and our business, that it felt too overwhelming to try and start something new. But, with May's change your life challenge of getting out of your comfort zone, it's time. Some of you may be asking why and I wanted to give a bit of background on this. I don't see myself as frugal, although I would like to be and strive to be, in many aspects of my life. One of those areas is groceries. I previously shared with you that years ago, when I discovered the concept of meal planning, I also discovered it was a great way to help reduce grocery cost. And it is! Then, we went to a one-income household and I decided to challenge myself in reducing our food costs to $60.00 a week (dividing the annual cost by 52 weeks so that $60.00 is the average) as a means of ensuring financial success. Because that was a bit tighter than we liked, we then moved the bar to keeping our food costs under $100.00/week. And now I've set a new goal. Eating primarily locally grown and raised ingredients.

First was the book by Barbara Kingsolver, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, which I read a few years ago. Then were the videos such as Food, Inc. I just finished the book Blessing The Hands That Feed Us, by Vicki Robin. In that book she referred to an article written by Rebecca Thistlewaite titled: Do You Have The Balls To Really Change The Food System? All of this has made me think. For so many reasons it just makes sense to try and buy as much from local farmers as possible. Some of them include:

To help maintain farmland (and green/open space) in your own community. If farms can't survive, the land may become strip malls, apartment buildings or developments. Purchasing directly from a farmer, rather than a faceless mega store, makes you think about and appreciate farmland. It's no longer invisible and someone else's responsibility.

To eat fresher food. Local food spends less time in transit (it's usually picked the day of distribution and transported to a local farmers market or CSA drop-off) AND you're eating what's in season for your area.

To reduce oil consumption. According to Dawn Gifford of Small Footprint Family, if every U.S. Citizen ate just one meal a week composed entirely of locally and organically raised produce and grass-fed meats, eggs or dairy, we could reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.

To strengthen your community by supporting your local farmers.

To eat food that is likely safer. It's provided by farmers you can meet, in conditions you can see for yourself. The safety of food continues to be a concern and I believe will only get worse. There's the worry of what is being put on/in the food itself to help it last in transit and look good, as well as the worry about salmonella or other dangerous bacteria coming into contact with your food and making you and your family sick.

To vote with your dollars and support humanely raised animals. If you're not vegetarian, taking a stance against the industrial production of meat.

There's also the concern about our current food system eventually collapsing. Vicki Robin says this about relational eating (eating locally and, therefore, forming a relationship with those who you purchase food from rather than it being a faceless producer): Relational eating, being an "eater-in-community," can settle our fears about being fed on every level. When you have no relationship with food other than the megamart, you seem well supplied but are helpless without that store. When you stand in the middle of a living food system, growing some, trading some, buying some local and some from afar, you have more power to assure that you are fed - and fed well. Relational eating doesn't necessarily mean local food, it means that you, the eater, understand your place in the world. Yes, I currently shop at the farmer's market, seek out local meats when I can and choose meals made with local ingredients, if offered, from the restaurants menus. But it's not enough. I'm not making it a point to buy as much as I can locally and then the remainder from other sources. So that, my friends, is what I'm going to challenge myself to do. I have no idea what this will cost us. Yes, food produced by local farmers certainly costs more than buying that which is industrialized. Once we raised chickens for meat for the first time ourselves, we certainly had a very good understanding of the costs. For those of you who grow a garden and deal with the planting, weeding, watering and lost crops, you understand the expense of fruit and veggies. The fees associated with certification and licensing can be enormous for small farms. All of this goes into what it costs to produce the food they bring to market. But I also believe that if food is cheap, it makes it much easier to justify waste. According to Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland: "we don't eat 25% of the food we buy. We throw away $2,200 each year in uneaten food, from spoilage and plate waste". I can see how this is true - I have certainly noticed this with our own food patterns. Eating locally, to me, is as much about supporting our local farmers which is investing more dollars in our local food system as it is about lessening the amount we spend to fund the industrial systems we don't agree with. It's voting with our dollars and every single person can make a small difference. By not purchasing ground burger, for instance, from the grocery store, and instead from a local farmer, you are choosing not to fund inhumane treatment of farm animals and the practice of adding pink slime (a slaughter byproduct added to some ground beef) to your meat. Does that mean we will eat 100% locally? Nope. There's too much that we choose to consume that is just not available and/or can't be grown or produced here. I like rolled oats for breakfast, rice with my meals, citrus fruit, bananas in my smoothies, coffee every single day, coconut milk as a non-dairy creamer, etc. My goal is this: To continue raising and growing what we can. What we can't grow or raise, to purchase all of our food items locally, regardless of cost, first and then look to the rest with an eye out for regional items and fair trade, where applicable. This will absolutely change the way I plan menus as we still have a budget that I would like to stay in. It will likely include cutting down on meat and/or reducing the amount in a meal which will not go over well with my meat-and-potatoes-loving husband.....

Some of the items I know we can find locally year-round include: - Fruits & Veggies - Meat - Seafood (it's regional not local as it's from the southern part of the state) - Honey - Maple Syrup - Milk and milk products - Cheese (cow, sheep and goat) - Dried Beans - Mushrooms - Jams/Jellies and other preserved foods I'll share with you what we purchase locally, the costs, and our meal plans.

Eating locally goes hand-in-hand with eating real foods. Thankfully, we do this, for the most part, on a daily basis. As you know, I make most things from scratch so this is one transition that won't need to happen. How about you? Have you ever tried to purchase the majority of your food locally? Have you ever challenged yourself to eat, even for a week, what you can get at your local farmers markets? I certainly anticipate some challenges in trying to eat primarily local grown/raised. One is trying to create recipes that don't use exotic or out of season ingredients. Another is trying to find many ways to use the little variety available in winter and spring. And lastly, thinking ahead to buy extra fruit and veggies that can be preserved to eat later on in the year when we need options. I also have no idea if it will be more expensive compared to what we've been typically spending. I will share it all here.

How about you - have you tried eating locally? If so, what were some of your challenges?

One Year of Eating Locally Challenge was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)

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benjamingarden · 6 years

Text

One Year of Eating Locally Challenge

To strengthen your community by supporting your local farmers.

To vote with your dollars and support humanely raised animals. If you're not vegetarian, taking a stance against the industrial production of meat.

How about you - have you tried eating locally? If so, what were some of your challenges?

One Year of Eating Locally Challenge was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)

0 notes