Blow That Dough! -2021

[street]

Ordered up 2 pounds of salmon, 3 pounds of Hamachi and a pound of fresh Bluefin Tuna from Catalina. More Sushi!

Two hundred fifty.

You got 6 pounds of sea food for 250. That would be about 42 bucks a pound. You are living life high. Good for you!

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

You got 6 pounds of sea food for 250. That would be about 42 bucks a pound. You are living life high. Good for you!

That was a bargain compared to the beef!

 

[audreyh1]

That was a bargain compared to the beef!

Yep!

As we polish off $26 of Hawaii sourced Ahi tuna.

 

[KCGeezer]

Or you could look at it as money saved. I imagine the BTD beef and seafood would be quite a bit more at a good restaurant. And you had the fun of cooking it yourself. I’m a glass half full kind of guy.

 

[JP.mpls]

Two dough blows to report:
- The deck and flat roof underneath it need to be replaced at my new old Florida townhome. I'm very capable of doing this work, and I have been making plans to start working on it after finishing up the restoration of the two bedrooms. Lots of other work to be done here too
A roofing crew just did a nice job replacing my neighbors, and I got a quote from that contractor.
I called him today, and said to get it done. Very out of character for me, and very much blowing that dough.
- My brother called this week, and said our father and step mother need new tires for their car. They have no savings, so big items blow them out of the water financially. My brother could afford to help, but he is so programmed to be frugal, that he is incapable. I want to help my father, and get my brother to start figuring out that he isn't taking it with him. I've been encouraging him to buy a townhome in palm springs that he wants. He needs to blow that dough too. Neither of us has children to leave it to.
I sent my father a check for the tires. It feels good.
Take care, JP

 

[ERD50]

well, i bought it in 2020 and the thread locked yesterday. It's and Emerald Guitar made in Ireland. I can only compare it to my high end taylors. The 4 Taylors are in the closet forever, the X20 is that good. unfortunately, Taylor has flooded the market with a buy one get one so my closet will stay full for a few years. This x20 cost me $2300 delivered in 7 days. It takes 4 months to have one custom made, which i do plan on doing.

Nice! I was not familiar with the brand (I'm not really a player, I own 2 guitars and strum a few chords now and then, but I'm interested in just about all things musical), so I had to do a little searching. Very interesting, I thought it was electric at first, but now I see that sound hole is at the top. On some forums, all this talk about "CF", I though they meant (CF) Martin, ahhh Carbon Fiber.

The general consensus from a little reading I did was that most people appreciate the stability of carbon fiber, but many feel this is the first CF guitar to have a top notch sound as well. Wood is a beautiful and wonderful material, but a guitar has a lot of stress, and people want to keep them for decades, and wood often isn't up to the task.

Being made in Ireland reminded me that I read that the Irish harps are pretty much expected to fall apart in a few years. To get the sound they want, they have to be light weight, and they just accept that they won't last. I recall one luthier saying that the best sounding guitar is one that is on the edge of falling apart!

-ERD50

 

[Luvdogs]

Finally got going on the master bath remodel of the condo. It was about 30 years since the last remodel but I had the shower redone (and failed-leaked) four years ago so hopefully getting it done "right" this time.

They started on Jan 4, gutted it, redid the shower really nicely and hopefully waterproof, all the other stuff, vanity was installed/measured for countertop and quartz countertop will be installed tomorrow.

Sink faucet and odds and ends probably Saturday and it will be DONE!!

This is my third bathroom remodel (plus the failed shower). Most have taken about three months (they lied on the timeframe) but this will be done in TWO WEEKS!!

As long as things continue smoothly will get them rolling on the 2nd bath soon.

 

[RobbieB]

Or you could look at it as money saved. I imagine the BTD beef and seafood would be quite a bit more at a good restaurant. And you had the fun of cooking it yourself. I’m a glass half full kind of guy.

Yup.

My wagyu on the barbee is way better than Ruth ever even dreamed about.

My sushi is better than the bar. They use ahi, I use bluefin.

So, I buy premium meat and fish and make better food than I can get at the restaurants (for twice as much dough) at home (during these covid times) and live large on the safe and the cheap.

Pretty good eh? I save dough by Blowing That Dough! Just have to have skills...

Live large, have fun and be happy!

 

[pacergal]

Inspired by RobbieB--went to our local meat and fresh fish place and picked up Snake River Farms American Wagyu Top Sirloin steaks and half of a Fresh Chinook Salmon, $100.94
Great meals coming up this week!!

 

[Palmtree]

We are several hours from the coast. A friend told us that a local specialty store just got in a some fresh dry scallops. Very rare to find them dry, fresh, never frozen. At $25 a pound, we are eating well tonight!

 

[RobbieB]

I bought a De Buyer mineral B skillet, 3mm 1% carbon steel especially for searing scallops. Heat to smoking hot (no oil) and place the oiled scallops on the hot pan. Make sure the vent hood works good and turn it to max. A couple minutes, lift with tongs, dip in oil and sear the other side.

Magnificent!

 

[pb4uski]

Why is it that every time I look at the Portal page and see that RobbieB is the last poster to the Blow That Dough! thread that I feel compelled to open the thread as see what is going on?

 

[audreyh1]

Cause he’s always got a spectacular recent purchase!

 

[ERD50]

Why is it that every time I look at the Portal page and see that RobbieB is the last poster to the Blow That Dough! thread that I feel compelled to open the thread as see what is going on?

It's a fun thread, IMO. It's nice to splurge once in awhile (and 'splurge' can mean just about anything, relative to your income). I like getting ideas about things I may not have even known about that I might want. Sometimes it's fun to see what other people are excited about, even if it's something I'd never buy. Kinda gets me out of my own world, and I see new things.

I like it!

-ERD50

 

[ERD50]

I bought a De Buyer mineral B skillet, 3mm 1% carbon steel especially for searing scallops. Heat to smoking hot (no oil) and place the oiled scallops on the hot pan. Make sure the vent hood works good and turn it to max. A couple minutes, lift with tongs, dip in oil and sear the other side.

Magnificent!

While you'll still want the fan on max, here's a technique I had success with while pan searing steaks recently:

We have a lid from another pan that fits our cast iron pan pretty well. So I get it super hot, add some oil, cover it, give it maybe 10 seconds for the oil to heat, throw the steak in and cover it. Check after a minute or so, flip when ready and finish the other side (these steaks were cooked to ~ 125F in a 225F oven(1)). I was afraid it would tend to steam it, but that didn't seem to be a problem with the high heat directly on the steak. Cuts the smoke way, way down.

I do scallops in a 'regular' teflon or anodized no-stick pan. For the size scallops we get from Costco (a bit bigger than a golf ball?), I don't seem to need super hot. It takes ~ 2 minutes/side to get them cooked through, so too hot and they might be burned rather than browned, and still raw on the inside? Maybe you are using smaller scallops that cook quicker?

(1) Sous-vide works well also, but I prefer the slow oven approach for steaks. Less fiddling about, and the heat dries the outside, so it sears up really nice w/o having to steam off all that moisture (so maybe less steaming than sous-vide, even uncovered?).

-ERD50

 

[RunningBum]

Bought 1st class tickets for a fall trip to Europe (hopefully). Still planning to remodel the den in Tudor style oak.

I'd love to see the pics of the den when the remodel is done.

 

[Blue531]

After I become a millionaire, I might blow some of that dough on a small condo at the beach, under $100k.

 

[bobbyr]

While you'll still want the fan on max, here's a technique I had success with while pan searing steaks recently:

We have a lid from another pan that fits our cast iron pan pretty well. So I get it super hot, add some oil, cover it, give it maybe 10 seconds for the oil to heat, throw the steak in and cover it. Check after a minute or so, flip when ready and finish the other side (these steaks were cooked to ~ 125F in a 225F oven(1)). I was afraid it would tend to steam it, but that didn't seem to be a problem with the high heat directly on the steak. Cuts the smoke way, way down.

what kind of oil to keep smoke down?

 

[donheff]

I made reservations for a high end Grand Canyon Raft trip leaving in late May of 2022. We had to cancel the same trip last May due to the pandemic. This is one of those fully supported trips on a motorized raft. We have so many people going we may fill two rafts.

I just transferred $ to checking to buy a 2018 Lexus SUV I have been leasing. It only has 15K miles on it and the blue book value equals or exceeds the residual. I'm not happy with the 2021 model and can't find another car that I really like. I will wait a year or so and then buy or lease the 2022 model of the same car or another similar car, preferably a plug-in hybrid.

 

[ERD50]

what kind of oil to keep smoke down?

The recommendation always seems to be a high temp oil, like canola or peanut, but we normally use Olive oil and Extra Virgin Olive oil for everything, so we just use olive oil. Works for us.

-ERD50

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

The recommendation always seems to be a high temp oil, like canola or peanut, but we normally use Olive oil and Extra Virgin Olive oil for everything, so we just use olive oil. Works for us.

-ERD50

+1. Same thoughts here.

 

[Time2]

I've been in the Sauna planning stages for a while. My son and I started building a couple days ago. We started with the floor, so far we have only framed, insulated, put in a vapor barrier and covered the floor. I'm buying framing materials for the walls today. I still have not found T&G Cedar that I'm happy with, I've been to Lowe's and Home Depot, still need to look further. I expect to spend $1200 to $1500, it could be more.

 

[Out-to-Lunch]

I've been in the Sauna planning stages for a while. My son and I started building a couple days ago. We started with the floor, so far we have only framed, insulated, put in a vapor barrier and covered the floor. I'm buying framing materials for the walls today. I still have not found T&G Cedar that I'm happy with, I've been to Lowe's and Home Depot, still need to look further. I expect to spend $1200 to $1500, it could be more.

Awesome!

IMHO, you want clear (i.e., no knots) T&G cedar. At least in my experience 15 years ago, you cannot find clear cedar at a big box store. You could probably order it from places that sell sauna "kits," without buying their kit.

I also splurged and bought clear cedar 2x4's for the benches. Forget about finding those anywhere but a specialty supplier!

 

[braumeister]

I've built them with both cedar and redwood, and find them both to be just as good. Got everything from sauna suppliers.

 

[donheff]

The recommendation always seems to be a high temp oil, like canola or peanut, but we normally use Olive oil and Extra Virgin Olive oil for everything, so we just use olive oil. Works for us.

-ERD50

+1 I used to keep some of the other oils around but not anymore.