Not much new food here, but some new drinks.

We have been exploring the weird Asian stuff at H-Mart and came across a fun drink packaged in a nice glass . . . baby bottle. Oh those wacky Japanese and their infantilistic subcultures.

The container is too nice to throw out. So I’m looking for stuff one might want to drink from a baby bottle.

Tanqueray & Tonic? Margarita? Campari Spritz? Hey, no more spilling drinks, and it’s harder to over-drink through the nipple.

I also went to the liquor store, for the first time in years. In Oregon, hard liquor is sold at specific stores, not everywhere as in other states. Normally SWMBO fetches the booze, but this time I went and, wow, I’d forgotten how many different ways there are to get drunk.

Or not, because non-alcoholic cocktails are really a thing and I picked up little cans of various elixirs advertised to banish negativity, spark creativity, pronote goodwill, and so on, all in a vintage syntax and graphic design. Pretty tasty too.

It seems like fewer people are drinking today, with nearly every booze company from craft brewery to international distilled spirits to French winery reporting down sales for the second or third year in a row. It is partly economic, but partly not, given the $13 mocktails popular in lounges here. I wonder where this is going. I drink a lot less myself these days, but that’s just aging and being busy. I still enjoy a cocktail, in a baby bottle.

Re plucking birds. For years I plucked pheasants. Then a friend told me how to skin them

Cut skin round 'wrists' and 'ankles'. Cut down the front. Take off the whole skin like a jacket. Obviously you lose the skin but on small game it's not that exciting. I wouldn't skin a chicken, goose or duck.

[Shameless plug, independent author]

Speaking of birds...

It seems like fewer people are drinking today,

That is very true! They had a wine tasting party here, sponsored by our HOA....no one wanted to attend. They had to cancel it.

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My contribution is tried and true. I purchased a ton of little bags to give to my Dentist, Gym check-in people....you know....everyone you encounter everyday and want to "appreciate"! 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄

And....I'm on my 2nd bag....they are delicious!!!!!! 🎄 🎄 🎄 🎄

You gave hard toffee to the dentist, you minx!?! There was a scandal when I was a kid because the pediatrician was giving lolipops and kids were coming to the pediatric dentist, down the hall, sucking on them....

I’m with you, though: For tips it would be inappropriate to give cash for, I often give these Maisie Jane's herb and garlic almonds. The pretty packaging keeps them fresh and they're a little sweet.

On the nut theme, my new favorite—though messy to the hands and maybe better served in a little funnel of parchment—is Octonuts Korean BBQ Roasted Almonds. It doesn't come in small bags, that I know of, though. (I can make my own flavored nuts, but can't think of any reason why I should except for company. The only snack items I'd rather make are kale chips. I've never met a commercial one that I considered worth eating and mine are fantastic, even though a high effort for a gone fast nutritionally nil thing.)

😂 That's what my husband said...."Your giving those to the dentist!!!!" 😂 At the gym I gave a guy/employee with a HUGE family a 17# turkey. Another guy who fixes the equipment, his granddaughter he brings to work with him, she's 3....a cute little TY German Shepherd Dog stuffie. Otherwise I didn't do a LOT for Christmas gifts. Everyone's too old to believe in Santa. 😂

Hubby bought a bag of these almonds with the chocolate powder on them .....for himself!

Another snack I could make but don't see an upside to bothering is Joyful Bakery Seeded Parmesan Flats. They're thicker than tuilles, crunchy, and have a lot of seeds, nothing weird. Nothing exotic, but really satisfying as snacks go.

There's no more useful snack, IMO, than hard boiled eggs. I have a little automatic egg maker, so there's no reason not to start a new batch when the egg container goes empty. :)

Oh, I hear that! My downfall are Moravian ginger cookies, which are really molasses cookies, but they don't freeze. So I didn't make them. Because I'd eat them. ;)

Your chicken plucker sounds awesome. My mother used to occasionally tell funny stories about proecessing chickens, especially "chicken plickin'". Whereas, when I was a kid, the pre-plucked birds still had a few feathers, and I couldn't pull most of them, especially from the turkeys, so my father gave me pliers to use. That worked. ;)

Of course, good protein snacks are meat. I used to make a lot of meatballs and keep a small container in the fridge, with more in the freezer. Excellent rab and go. I had stopped going to the butcher during the pandemic, and the hermetically sealed packets from the Farm don't inspire meatballs. I also used to cook shaved beef with spicy barbecue sauce and put them in a container for snaking. Also butcher issues. But great little snacks, both, for protein seekers.