The wifely-unit is again upon me about what she considers an unwise purchase. Namely a 12-inch All-Clad stainless fry pan. Yes, I could use a cheap, $35 skillet, but I don’t want to! Besides, this pan will last a lifetime and at $125 a pop, I feel it’s worth it.
The money spent isn’t gonna bust us. She just thinks it could be spent better. This from the woman with 42 gazillion different brands of shampoo, conditioner, hair straighteners, hair curlers, hair setters, etc.
I feel there are some products which make a job easier, more fun or desirable. My top three?
Calphalon and All-Clad cookware
Wustof knives
100% Egyptian cotton towels.
What do you buy, that you shouldn’t, but you can’t help it?
I think Calphalon is overrated, but I can’t afford the nice stuff, anyway
I agree 100% on the knives though. I couldn’t live without mine.
My list:
Whole coffee beans from a local (non-Starbucks) coffee shop that actually knows what they’re doing.
I won’t buy any American beer (luckily, I don’t buy beer that often). I mean, give me a break, how do people drink that piss? I won’t even accept it when it’s offered to me for free.
Likewise, I will not buy crappy wine. This usually means it doesn’t come from a grocery store. I’ve had lots of friends who would try and buy some wine for dinner on occaision, and we ended up with a $6 bottle of… well, blech. I always imagined them going somewhere and asking for the freshest bottle of wine.
I’d KILL for a decent frying pan. I’m gonna go git me one in the next couple weeks.
I second the stand against cheap wine. Yes, I’ll drink it if I have to, but I much prefer a $10 bottle as my every day wine. I HATE when the store I’m in doesn’t carry decent wines.
I also hate when someone tries to pass off a Jewel Chocolate Cream Pie for a Baker’s Square French Silk. I can see RIGHT through those cheapskates!
Within a month of purchasing that All-Clad, your wife will understand. There simply is no comparison between an All Clad frying pan and a $25 frying pan.
I also agree with TeleTronOne. Although All-Clad and Calphalon are in the same price range, they really aren’t comparable. Calphalon’s gonna be better than your typical pan, but All-Clad is the better product.
I guess I can’t add much to this post. Like you, I believe All-Clads, good knives (I use Henckel, but Wustof are just as good from what I can tell), and nice sheets are a necessity. I also love the good wine thing. Why drink it if it’s NOT good? Not like a decent wine is more expensive than a bad wine - I’ve had plenty of good $5-$10 bottles.
Perkins (a chain of diner-like restaurants with attached bakeries) makes a very similar french silk pie. The only difference is that the crust is slightly more crumbly (and I think a little sweeter).
And finding the smashing pumpkins shirt that has the SP heart on the front and “This Is A Smashing Pumpkins Shirt. Rather than asking me why I’m wearing this ask yourself why you are reading this? the message is there is no message. one million souls tossing down their hard earned lettuce for a slice of the hot rock indie alternative pie. i’ve sold out. how about you? everyone’s doing it even if they say they’re not. don’t ask me cause I don’t know. rock saves. it’s the next big thing. have you heard the next big thing? i’m part of the revolution. it’s all coming down soon. hope you’re there.” on the back.
Calphalon - though usually at a discount or by using Christmas gift certificates. I’m weak, what can I say? (Plus I’ll admit to an unreasonable bias against shiny metal pans, especially since I suck at cleaning them promptly and the ones I’ve had always end up looking a fright with spattered oil, etc., scorched onto the outside and inside.) I had been using a set of T-Fal pans that was a gift from my inlaws, and got rid of those after getting enough Calphalon pots and pans. The difference is astounding. I’d wondered why I was so bad at gently browning and similar things, but the heat transfer with the Calphalon is so much better.
More cookbooks. I think I’m up to 50, or close. I get hardcover when I can.
Bed Head brand Control Freak conditioner and serum. Normally I’m a real bargain-hunter for excellent but inexpensive shampoos, cosmetics, etc., but I can’t help it. I love this stuff, and it manages to keep my hair in some modicum of non-frizziness.
I’d say wine but I’ve found enough good $10 or less bottles that I can have a decent selection of “everyday” wine around the house.
I’m keeping an eye out for Global knives, which I’ve seen highly recommended, but I just got a Chicago Cutlery 8" chef’s knife which I love, and it was dirt cheap so I won’t complain even if I do have to replace it in a few years or whatever.
No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t convince the SO that my recent purchase of two 12 inch non-stick sautee pans for an insanely low $29 was a MORAL IMPERATIVE. Apparently all future requests for cookware have to be submitted in writing (triplicate… the yellow copy is mine to keep) three weeeks in advance before it will be summarily vetoed and tossed.
My other vice is fleece and outerwear stuff from some of the outdoor warehouse outlets. It doesn’t matter that I already own enough clothing to start my own REI… an expedition weight Marmot fleece jacket for $24.95 is just too good to pass up!
My wife couldn’t understand why I bought a smoker ( a real one, with an offset firebox, not a bullet type) when we had a perfectly good gas grill. She understood when the first rack of ribs were taken off.
I guess I’m pretty cheap. Except we just bought a bunch of Stickley furniture that I absolutely love.
My wife has her share of Calphalon, and swears by some kinda air thingy cookie sheets that I am ordered to never immerse. And she does prefer Godiva.
Tele - you might want to consider limiting your comments about American brew to the mega breweries. To blanket diss relatively major brands like Sam Adams or Anchor, or any number of more local brews would be pretty ignorant. Same goes for blanket endorsement of all brews foreign.
Right now I’m really enjoying the Sam Adams Winter Lager that we have in the house, and Goose Island really hopped up their Christmas brew this year.
I want a smoker. A real smoker. My husband’s birthday is coming up- I’m sure he wouldn’t mind if somebody bought one for him (me).
I have Henckels knives, and they’re perfect, and two small All-Clad pans, and they’re perfect, too.
Things I shouldn’t buy, but have to:
Books- yes, the library is close, but it’s not the same as knowing that a book is yours, and you can dog-ear the pages without getting into trouble.
Fabric- nothing else feels like silk, and Little India is very close, and shucks, they sell silk for $12.99/yard! How can I say no?
Very old clothes- preferably 1930’s or before. If I can find them cheap(ish), and in reasonably good condition, and the right size, I buy them. They’re an investment, dammit!
You’re right, of course. I should have made that distinction. I tend to prefer most foreign brews to anything American, but there are several decent microbreweries around. I will almost never drink anything that comes in a can if there’s an alternative, however.
Books- Ooo yes the books. I go to the library and get a lot out at a time, but I almost never seem to finish the ones I really wanted to read. So I get them again and again. My Grandma keeps bugging me to sell the ones she has in her basement, because they aren’t a necessity. Nor are they a good investment. but Grandma! books are my life!! Right now the Globe and Mail has a contest for a $25,000 library. That’s right. $25,000 worth of books that you get to pick yourself. I’d die of happiness if I won that.
If you’ve got an outlet shop near you, you can often get AllClad, Millenium, Emerilware (rebranded something I forget at the moment), Calphalon, etc at a discount.
Yeah, they’re rejects, but often the issues are cosmetic.
Now that I’ve got twin boys, my 12" bigass skillet that I use for all my sauces, gumbos, etc. is now a couple of inches too small, as it my 4 and 6 qt. pots.
I’m a complete Calphalon slut. I started with a nice hard anodized professional set then when I found an anodized commercial set at Costco I bought it and gave the first set to my parents.
A good frying pan is worth its weight in gold but no one pan is perfect. I mostly alternate between my Calphalon 3 quart sauté and a deep cast iron Lodge “chicken fryer” skillet.
Another vote for good books. I had to have the Harry Potter series in both hardback and paperback. Hardback for home and the bookshelf, paperback for reading at the pub.
Name brand stuff.
I can probably get something similar that is just as good, (watches, purses, clothes, frying pans), but I can’t help it. I am obsessed.
