Blow That Dough! - 2019

[sallie50th]

Best Motto

My friend gave me a framed motto, & I have taken it to heart:
DO MORE OF WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY!

I now strive to perfect the art of self-indulgence.

 

[Mr. Tightwad]

$402 on my kids textbooks

 

[Philliefan33]

$402 on my kids textbooks

That’s a bargain!

 

[HawkeyeNFO]

Building a new house this year. mid-six figures

 

[RockyMtn]

14 day mediterranean cruise in October on Seabourn Cruise line. All suite ship. $15k before airfare which will probably be another $11k for biz class. Probably a few days in Paris on the front or back end. Probably $29-30k when all is said and done.

 

[corn18]

55mm Laco Nav B-Uhr pilot watch, limited edition. Been looking for one for a while.

$2800, so it fits the blow category.

 

[Winemaker]

DW and I were tired of our 2 couches and gave it them to the kids. We have been looking around trying to get a feel/idea and have had a few "designers" stop by to chime in. We stopped at the King of Prussia Mall near Philly 2 weeks ago, and about choked on the price of an handmade Italian leather couch that sold for $16,000! Then I had to add 5% for freight/shipping! Boy am I glad the dollar is strong! I haven't paid that much money for a car in the past 12 years!!!

No, we didn't purchase.

 

[W2R]

DW and I were tired of our 2 couches and gave it them to the kids. We have been looking around trying to get a feel/idea and have had a few "designers" stop by to chime in. We stopped at the King of Prussia Mall near Philly 2 weeks ago, and about choked on the price of an handmade Italian leather couch that sold for $16,000! Then I had to add 5% for freight/shipping! Boy am I glad the dollar is strong! I haven't paid that much money for a car in the past 12 years!!!

No, we didn't purchase.

Well you need to go right back there and purchase it! I absolutely love my $2,000 Italian leather easy chair with ottoman that I bought four years ago (commercial photo of it below), and to me it has a lot of value. Some day I might buy the matching sofa.

 

[Winemaker]

That's a nice chair, and that's what I'm looking for, I think. DW will tell me what I like!

But you got 2 pieces with your $2,000.

 

[W2R]

That's a nice chair, and that's what I'm looking for, I think. DW will tell me what I like!

But you got 2 pieces with your $2,000.

Yes I did, so maybe it isn't as high quality as the sofa you looked at. But it sure is sturdy and durable.

I am sure you and your DW will be able to find a compromise solution of some kind. Being single, all I had to do was to find what I wanted and then pay for it, which was easier because I didn't have to work out a compromise.

I just went to the website of the store where I bought it (Hurwitz Mintz here in New Orleans), and they don't carry it any more. So they don't carry the sofa either, any more. Oh well! One less expense for now. I'd rather have a mismatching sofa than to give up this chair which I value greatly.

 

[Bestwifeever]

Well you need to go right back there and purchase it! I absolutely love my $2,000 Italian leather easy chair with ottoman that I bought four years ago (commercial photo of it below), and to me it has a lot of value. Some day I might buy the matching sofa.

What a beautiful chair and ottoman! The best seat in the house! We also have a (less-nice) leather easy chair and ottoman and having the ottoman makes me feel rich for some reason.

 

[W2R]

What a beautiful chair and ottoman! The best seat in the house! We also have a (less-nice) leather easy chair and ottoman and having the ottoman makes me feel rich for some reason.

Thank you! I love my chair so much. Nobody else gets to sit in it (like Archie Bunker's chair, in that respect). And, I never sit anywhere else in my den. I much prefer an ottoman to a Laz-y-Boy mechanism because I seem to have a talent for jamming the latter beyond repair.

Previously I got a cheap sofa, loveseat, chair, and ottoman, all for $949. I still have the sofa and loveseat, but the chair only lasted a couple of years. Since most of the wear and tear for me is usually inflicted on the chair, I bought the above sturdy and comfortable one as a big splurge in 2015.

This was RIGHT before my Dream Home came on the market, just a week and a half later. When I saw the For Sale sign in front of my Dream Home, the first words out of my mouth were an anguished "Oh no, why NOW?" because I had just spent so much on that chair. But it all worked out nicely.

 

[audreyh1]

Stumbled onto the Costco Traeger display a couple of weeks ago and bought me the entry level Junior Elite 20. That wasn't really much of a splurge. But if I get hooked I'll probably splurge on a larger one.

It's done some very nice cooking so far. Some outrageously delicious food! - baby back ribs and a smoked chicken.

I was in the market for a smoker, just hadn't really considered a pellet grill before.

 

[Scuba]

DW and I were tired of our 2 couches and gave it them to the kids. We have been looking around trying to get a feel/idea and have had a few "designers" stop by to chime in. We stopped at the King of Prussia Mall near Philly 2 weeks ago, and about choked on the price of an handmade Italian leather couch that sold for $16,000! Then I had to add 5% for freight/shipping! Boy am I glad the dollar is strong! I haven't paid that much money for a car in the past 12 years!!!

No, we didn't purchase.

Italian furniture is very expensive but nice quality. Natuzzi makes quality modern looking sofas. They are still quite expensive, but probably not $16K. Of course it depends on the size, style and color you want.

We paid a big premium for our dining room chairs which are upholstered in leather because of their style (also Italian). The leather they use is the same leather that goes into Ferrari’s so they were pricey, but we were able to get the unusual color we wanted. They are very comfortable and stylish too.

I think letting DW choose the sofa is a good idea. [emoji6] If you’re up for spending big bucks and you like modern style, check out Roche Bobois. They have some very nice sofas and sectionals. Long lead times as everything comes from France.

 

[Global Wizzo]

So far $$

This was going to be a slower travel and expense year. Right!
First trip to Banff. Rock from the mtn got the roof corner on a new rental. Few $$ there. DW found another arctic coat and another 1k.

Trips between now and Apr include Beijing, Tucson, Italy with multiple stops and Nashville. Got another Beijing trip in October and Orlando, then a Dubai trip in Nov. thinking about Sydney for New Years.

2018 found us in 15 countries and some of them up to four times.

Guess we aren’t slowing down.

GW

 

[Global Wizzo]

Not slowing down

This year was supposed to be a lower travel year. Right!
First trip to Banff. Rock from the mtn got the roof corner on a new rental. Few $$ there. DW found another arctic coat and another 1k.

Trips between now and Apr include Beijing, Tucson, Italy with multiple stops and Nashville. Got another Beijing trip in October and Orlando, then a Dubai trip in Nov. thinking about Sydney for New Years.

2018 found us in 15 countries and some of them up to four times.

Guess we aren’t slowing down.

GW

 

[Ronstar]

Stumbled onto the Costco Traeger display a couple of weeks ago and bought me the entry level Junior Elite 20. That wasn't really much of a splurge. But if I get hooked I'll probably splurge on a larger one.

It's done some very nice cooking so far. Some outrageously delicious food! - baby back ribs and a smoked chicken.

I was in the market for a smoker, just hadn't really considered a pellet grill before.

Nice smoker! You might not need a bigger one. I bought a separate generic grate and created a 2nd level by resting the 2nd grate on 4 opened cans of pork n Beans (with bacon added) sitting on the 4 corners of the lower grate. I had a slab of ribs on each level and cooked up the beans at the same time.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

We just had an emergency large vet inpatient visit that will probably be in the mid- to high four digits. There goes our discretionary spending for a while! #BlowThatDough

 

[audreyh1]

Nice smoker! You might not need a bigger one. I bought a separate generic grate and created a 2nd level by resting the 2nd grate on 4 opened cans of pork n Beans (with bacon added) sitting on the 4 corners of the lower grate. I had a slab of ribs on each level and cooked up the beans at the same time.

Thanks!

I could easily have done two racks of ribs (and wish I had! as we gobbled up that rack in two meals). And supposedly you can do three with a rib rack.

There are a couple of features not available on this unit. So if I do quite a bit with it I'll feel justified in upgrading.

 

[Ronstar]

^ yes 3 racks of ribs will fit - 2 on top - 1 below with the cans. I don’t know if you’ve checked out Traeger’s website- they have a lot of good recipes. I’ve done the midnight brisket a few times. And I’ve used the 3-2-1 rib recipe. Good stuff.

 

[Winemaker]

Italian furniture is very expensive but nice quality. Natuzzi makes quality modern looking sofas. They are still quite expensive, but probably not $16K. Of course it depends on the size, style and color you want.

We paid a big premium for our dining room chairs which are upholstered in leather because of their style (also Italian). The leather they use is the same leather that goes into Ferrari’s so they were pricey, but we were able to get the unusual color we wanted. They are very comfortable and stylish too.

I think letting DW choose the sofa is a good idea. [emoji6] If you’re up for spending big bucks and you like modern style, check out Roche Bobois. They have some very nice sofas and sectionals. Long lead times as everything comes from France.

Yeah, it was a Natuzzi. Yes we like nice things, but $16,000 is a an obscene amount to spent on a light colored leather couch with a glass of red wine. If she let's me drink anything hile sitting on any couch. The first couch we ever bought was a Ethan Allen sleeper and it's downstairs in the cellar with the wine. DW reupholstered it about 5 years ago. It's 36 years old, and we might be due.

 

[audreyh1]

^ yes 3 racks of ribs will fit - 2 on top - 1 below with the cans. I don’t know if you’ve checked out Traeger’s website- they have a lot of good recipes. I’ve done the midnight brisket a few times. And I’ve used the 3-2-1 rib recipe. Good stuff.

Yes, I have been reviewing the Traeger site and cookbook recipes plus watched a bunch of videos.

The rib recipe I did was 3-2-1 and it was indeed truly awesome.

Which model do you have?

I'm a little nervous about brisket. I'm thinking I might want a larger hopper plus I'd like to have the pro controller which is not compatible with my unit. Temperature "control" on my unit is wild and crazy, although that doesn't seem to interfere with the look or taste of the food.

I once had my fire go out on smoke after a couple of hours and that's a pain to rectify. I think it's because I lifted the lid to brush with apple juice about when it was dropping to it's lower temp and I think that interfered with the induction fan stoking the fire to raise the temp again and it couldn't recover. It's a bit finicky.

Thanks - I'll check out that Midnight Brisket - since it uses a flat. I don't think we can handle anything over 8 pounds.

I'm motivated to do a tri-tip. Love that cut and I bet it would turn out awesome on a Treager.

 

[Winemaker]

Yes, I have been reviewing the Traeger site and cookbook recipes plus watched a bunch of videos.

The rib recipe I did was 3-2-1 and it was indeed truly awesome.

Which model do you have?

I'm a little nervous about brisket. I'm thinking I might want a larger hopper plus I'd like to have the pro controller which is not compatible with my unit. Temperature "control" on my unit is wild and crazy, although that doesn't seem to interfere with the look or taste of the food.

I once had my fire go out on smoke after a couple of hours and that's a pain to rectify. I think it's because I lifted the lid to brush with apple juice about when it was dropping to it's lower temp and I think that interfered with the induction fan stoking the fire to raise the temp again and it couldn't recover. It's a bit finicky.

Thanks - I'll check out that Midnight Brisket - since it uses a flat. I don't think we can handle anything over 8 pounds.

I'm motivated to do a tri-tip. Love that cut and I bet it would turn out awesome on a Treager.

I used one of these on "vacation" this summer several times.. Not a bad unit, but the fire went out once when the pellets did not all flow out of hopper. Perhaps the slow feed allowed the easy pellets to fall and enter the feed auger, but the angle of repose did not allow them to empty. No fuel, no flame.

 

[Ronstar]

I used one of these on "vacation" this summer several times.. Not a bad unit, but the fire went out once when the pellets did not all flow out of hopper. Perhaps the slow feed allowed the easy pellets to fall and enter the feed auger, but the angle of repose did not allow them to empty. No fuel, no flame.

That has happened to my Traeger a few times. But it hasn’t happened since starting vacuuming out the ash/ partially burned pellets in the pot area where the pellets are burned - before I start the smoker.

 

[audreyh1]

That has happened to my Traeger a few times. But it hasn’t happened since starting vacuuming out the ash/ partially burned pellets in the pot area where the pellets are burned - before I start the smoker.

Interesting.

So far my firepot has been pretty darn clean after running the shutdown.