Mason shook his head. "She is a very bright young woman, or else I telegraphed my punch pretty badly. She started taking defensive measures even before I'd ordered the first drink."
"What were the defensive measures?" Della Street asked. "I might have occasion to use them sometime."
"Crackers and butter," Mason said, "and lots of butter. She'd eaten about five squares before I got the first cocktail into her. After that, I knew it wouldn't be much use."
-- The Case of the Empty Tin, by Erle Stanley Gardner, p. 119.
Did that ever take me back. Right back to Totah's Restaurant. Mother and Dad would have a wedge of iceberg lettuce with dressing on it before the main course arrived. My sisters and I would eat crackers spread with butter as our appetizers. Or just the butter if there weren't any crackers. It came on squares of card stock, a pat of butter with a square of waxed paper atop it. We'd peel off the paper and stick on the back side of the card stock square. But if it didn't say BUTTER in blue ink on the wax paper, we didn't bother with it. Butter in a restaurant was a treat. Eat dessert first!