Blow That Dough! -2021

[audreyh1]

If I had a source of Jamon Iberico de Bellota in town I’d be going over there to get my slices too!

European charcuterie is pretty limited here except I can usually find decent Spanish chorizo.

P.S. Knew oiseaux, didn’t know oiseux - had to look it up. Clever!

[54andchange]

Traded in a 2010 Ford Escape for $3,000 and replaced it with a BMW X5 plug-in hybrid, Used of course! First time ever I've had the highest trim level of any vehicle, still discovering every day many new automated systems and features one month in. Gadgets galore with so, so many things potentially to break in the future. It's project time: DIY install of a 240 volt outlet in the garage for a Level 2 charger. Time elapsed since I have purchased any gasoline...one month!

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chuckanut Europeans in general have a higher standard in food that we Americans do. They won't accept poor food as readily as we do. I have come to believe that while the best American foods are as good as the best European foods, the European bottom level is higher than our bottom level...

I have to agree with this. And the food does not have to be so expensive. When I initially went to only restaurants, wondered how Europeans could feed themselves with food so expensive.

On longer trips recently when we had almost 2 months to fool around and stay in Airbnbs, I discovered the joy of just visiting their markets to see what was available. Not all food items are expensive, and their markets have sales like we do, although meats in general are quite more expensive.

And I was shocked at the price of potatoes in Florence. Why? Had to take some photos for a record of it. I will have to look for that photo.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euro Yes, I sure have. It’s great. That was actually my point: the difference between Hershey and real Dutch (or Italian, or even French or Swiss) hot chocolate is so big that it is really quite obvious even to the casual observer. On the other hand, while there definitely is a difference between good and top of the line Jamon, the differences are really pretty subtle, unless you have an exceptionally discerning taste. That’s why I predicted that if you expect that big of a difference, then you will likely be disappointed. Kind of like the difference between a very good and a top level bottle of wine.

Got it!

I'm the one who never understood it when my big sis used to tell me "Your taste is all in your mouth." I would always answer "And your point is?"

[NW-Bound]

You know, in the matter of expensive food, if I can taste the difference, great. It's worth my money then.

If I cannot taste the difference, or if the difference is not that great, it's fine too. I don't have to pay more with my pedestrian taste, and why is that a bad thing? I am not trying to impress anyone.

Either my palate is getting dull, or I don't care that much anymore (a sign of getting old?), but XO cognac does not wow me as it used to. I can drink moonshine now, and it does not bother me.

PS. I hasten to add that my palate is not getting dull because of Covid.

[RetireeRobert]

Contemplating blowing some dough on a round the country train trip---if I can ever get my covid shots. Will get a sleeper compartment. Do some layovers for 3 or 4 or 5 days at interesting looking cities I have never been to.

[GravitySucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireeRobert Contemplating blowing some dough on a round the country train trip---if I can ever get my covid shots. Will get a sleeper compartment. Do some layovers for 3 or 4 or 5 days at interesting looking cities I have never been to.

Enjoy!
I did an USA Rail Pass trip after I retired and looped the West. It was a great trip.

[RetireeRobert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GravitySucks Enjoy! I did an USA Rail Pass trip after I retired and looped the West. It was a great trip.

Do they still do the "USA Rail Pass"? When did you do your trip?

One thing I wonder about is how hard it might be to book "sleeper" compartments if I break up the trip into too many segments.

[euro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound You know, in the matter of expensive food, if I can taste the difference, great. It's worth my money then. If I cannot taste the difference, or if the difference is not that great, it's fine too. I don't have to pay more with my pedestrian taste, and why is that a bad thing? I am not trying to impress anyone. Either my palate is getting dull, or I don't care that much anymore (a sign of getting old?), but XO cognac does not wow me as it used to. I can drink moonshine now, and it does not bother me.

I agree completely! I definitely do not need to ever buy a bottle of wine that costs more than $10-12 because I simply cannot tell the difference. Yes, I HAVE tried $500 bottles and no, I definitely could NOT tell it from a $12 bottle. So, as you say: I can drink much cheaper stuff and still be happy! I definitely CAN tell the difference of a $10 dollar bottle and a $1.50 bottle though...

[corn18]

Quote:

Originally Posted by euro I agree completely! I definitely do not need to ever buy a bottle of wine that costs more than $10-12 because I simply cannot tell the difference. Yes, I HAVE tried $500 bottles and no, I definitely could NOT tell it from a $12 bottle. So, as you say: I can drink much cheaper stuff and still be happy! I definitely CAN tell the difference of a $10 dollar bottle and a $1.50 bottle though...

I can tell you that a $12 bottle of wine properly paired with the right food is 1,000 times better than a $500 bottle of wine paired with the wrong food. And if you don't store expensive wine properly, it will turn into $1.50 wine.

Now a $400 bottle of Redbreast 21 Irish Whiskey is a treat. And so is a $3,000 bottle of Louise XIII. I got to try a lot of good stuff when I was an EA type guy for a billion dollar boss. He liked fine liquor and let me put it all on my expense report.

[jollystomper]

Our current top 5 non-travel related "blow that dough" plans for 2021 - lets see if I can actually achieve them:

1. Renovate our 1/2 bathroom. Good news is, it is a small job - bathroom is only 4' x 5', no changing of the plumbing which was redone last year. Just tear out and replace existing toilet, wall and floor tile (and redo drywall behind the 4' high wall tile), and vanity. We already have the tile, enough from what was left from renovating our other 2 bathrooms. The bad news, it is a small job; my contractor friend who redid the previous 2 bathrooms (and a GREAT job) is my preference but he is busy so may be a challenge to get on his schedule. I am willing to be his "demo" assistant and help tear out and haul away the existing stuff, so we'll see.

2. Get a fireplace insert. Our existing fireplace is nice, but burning wood is more decorative than efficient. As a result we have not used it much, and not at all for over 5 years and not since we last had it cleaned. So time to make use of it and getting an insert installed (as well as a new chimney liner) is on the table.

3. Better golf clubs. My current ones are a "beginners" set (Callaway Strata) and are 8 years old. Since retiring I have been playing a lot of rounds with them so they are getting a beating. Right now I am considering going the full lessons + fitting route at one of the nearby chains to at least identify the best type of clubs for me.

4. Replace one of our cars. There are no issues with our older cars other than they are 2011 Toyota models that we bought used in 2013. DW will be fully retired as of May, and her Corolla still has less than 60K miles on it; she loves the car so we will stick with this one, though I am seeing very good prices from Carmax on it. The Camry has $126K miles so it is a likely candidate.

5. Replace the carpet in our master bedroom closet area. I replaced the bedroom carpet with laminate flooring and we love it. We had bought enough to do this area but instead decided to do the 2nd floor hallway because it was easier. There is still some left but the area is L shaped with a walk-in closet and 2 other closet, so figuring out the laminate pattern and cutting will be a pain. I am looking at a easier method, maybe vinyl times is an option. The area is between our bedroom and the bathroom so something that is good in a damp environment and easy to install is desired.

[Koolau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireeRobert Do they still do the "USA Rail Pass"? When did you do your trip? One thing I wonder about is how hard it might be to book "sleeper" compartments if I break up the trip into too many segments.

Went west on one of those $150 (or whatever) with 3 stops (or whatever.) ca. 1985? We did the seats at night - first night, couldn't sleep. Second night, couldn't wake me with, well, a train wreck. BUT friends who went with us did the sleeper car and wanted to give it up after night one. Made them sick bouncing around all night. YMMV

[RetireeRobert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau BUT friends who went with us did the sleeper car and wanted to give it up after night one. Made them sick bouncing around all night. YMMV

I and family did do the Empire Builder back to Chicago in 2001. Somewhere I had read to try to get a compartment in the middle of the car, and not at the end. Since we booked three compartments, we got two "middles, but one "end". One night my wife went to bed early and locked me out! So I went to take the upper bunk in my son's "end" of car compartment.

Well, the advice to get a middle of car compartment was right on. That room was smooth riding. It was away from jerking moves caused by joint to next car in the train. The "end" compartment on the other hand had lots of bouncing and jerking, I figured because being right next to the coupler to the next car, and also over the wheels rig on that end of car.

The middle of car compartments had the most "even" riding part of the car, isolated from bounces over wheels and isolated from jerks from car couplers.

One more thing, the upper bunk in the end of car was like trying to sleep in a tin can with someone drumming on it!

[RobbieB]

I put my fireplace insert in 4 years ago. Did it all myself, including the insulated SS liner. About $2500 total. Don't use it much here in the central valley, but when I do it's easy and sweet! Not to mention the furnace doesn't run.

And that's why I did it. Got tired of the furnace running more with the fireplace burning as all the heat would go up the chimney!

[RetireeRobert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RobbieB I put my fireplace insert in 4 years ago. ...... Got tired of the furnace running more with the fireplace burning as all the heat would go up the chimney!

Smart thinking. When we built our house I wanted a wood burning fireplace.

After much study on the subject, and knowing we would be living at about 1000 feet elevation and cooler temps, I opted against just a run-of-the-mill masonry fireplace as was common. Opted instead for an EPA approved high efficiency "sealed" firebox with glass doors to seal shut. (Lennox Montecito Estate model). It has its own outside air supply for the firebox, and has grills at bottom and top of firebox so room air can circulate around the hot firebox and emerge back into the room and warm the room up. It puts a net "heat gain" into the room, as opposed to drawing the warm room air into the box and up the chimney, thus "net cooling" the house.

[Out-to-Lunch]

Quote:

Originally Posted by oiseux BTW, not FIREd yet but am looking for ideas in this thread as we learn to loosen the purse strings.

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 P.S. Knew oiseaux, didn’t know oiseux - had to look it up. Clever!

OMG! I totally read a non-existent "a" in there, i.e., I "saw" oiseaux, even though that wasn't what was written!

Yes, after Mr. Google informed me, that is indeed clever.

[GravitySucks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RetireeRobert Do they still do the "USA Rail Pass"? When did you do your trip? One thing I wonder about is how hard it might be to book "sleeper" compartments if I break up the trip into too many segments.

They do. https://www.amtrak.com/rail-passes
I went in 2013.
Syracuse-Chicago-SantaFe-Flagstaff-LA-San Francisco-Denver-Chicago-Syracuse
I didnt get a sleeper just slept in my chair. All but one leg I had both seats to myself. Pretty comfortable. I did look like a hobo by the time I got to Denver though.

[RetireeRobert]

Quote:

Originally Posted by GravitySucks I didnt get a sleeper just slept in my chair. All but one leg I had both seats to myself. Pretty comfortable. I did look like a hobo by the time I got to Denver though.

Having been retired for 20 years, I "already" look like a hobo. So that shouldn't be a problem.

Thanks for the other info.

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by corn18 I can tell you that a $12 bottle of wine properly paired with the right food is 1,000 times better than a $500 bottle of wine paired with the wrong food. And if you don't store expensive wine properly, it will turn into $1.50 wine. Now a $400 bottle of Redbreast 21 Irish Whiskey is a treat. And so is a $3,000 bottle of Louise XIII...

Talk about Louis XIII, this came up in a dinner with my kids. My son and my son-in-law said that for my next birthday, we would go to the Brazilian steakhouse Fogo de Chao, where they sold Louis XIII by the shot for $250 or something like that. Each of them would buy me a shot after dinner.

I told them that it would not be fun to drink by myself, and why would I not buy a whole bottle, have a dinner at home, then share the bottle with everybody. I have two brothers who are also cognac drinkers, and we have converted the husbands of my nieces to cognac drinkers too. We would have a hell of a party, with 7 drinkers to share the bottle after dinner.

Later, when we were by ourselves, my wife told me I should not announce something like on the spur-of-the-moment and to make a dare. She reminded me that I said I now did not even care about XO, which I still had about 1/2 dozen bottles of various brands in the liquor cabinet, so why waste money on a Louis XIII. I guess she did not want me to spend $3K on a bottle.

Hmmm... A Louis XIII does not break the bank, but then a frugal guy like me hates to throw money away on something that may turn out to be a disappointment. So what should I do?

By the way, it's Louis and not Louise. The first is a male name, while the second is female.


PS. In our visit to the town of Cognac a few years ago, I made an appointment to visit Remy Martin, the maker of Louis XIII. They showed us their most secretive cellar where all the Louis XIII came from. No photo taking allowed inside this cellar. Big deal, I thought, as it was just like their other cellars.

[Helen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound Hmmm... A Louis XIII does not break the bank, but then a frugal guy like me hates to throw money away on something that may turn out to be a disappointment. So what should I do?

If you can afford it, I say go for it. It will be a once in a lifetime treat that you will share with family members. They will always remember it.

Or you could compromise and throw a clambake or something everyone can enjoy.