I would not ever buy a sock made by another maker than Darn Tough as long as I live. I even saw a bumper sticker advertising the company on a car a few while ago…bit excessive, but if it keeps them in business, and vigilance about counterfeit products alive, then good for them.
About Barilla…yeah, that was an entertaining (barely) video made by some moron and his “wife.” Or whatever their story was supposed to be. Curious he cannot speak any Italian.
I’ve heard Barilla brand dried pasta praised last, probably when I was twenty or so years old, by friends who worked as dishwashers or cooks in restaurants. It is and has always been the garbage barrel of pasta. De Cecco is a brand that is reliable.
Snob? Do not wear inappropriate clothing for the occasion. Ditch the wool knit watchcap, fella with the fake Italian wife. Unacceptable. When the sun is clearly shining above…who do you think you are, Tom Wolfe or some shit?
We were staying at some hotel that had a “free beer” happy hour for guests. We went after a long day. And bought beer because we’d rather pay for the good stuff than drink swill.
A beer lovers bar I frequent had a big anniversary party a few years back. They sold so much Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, that Bell’s sponsored the party and gave the bar kegs for free.
Pennsylvania liquor laws prohibit free alcohol, so they offered pints for ten cents.
So, of course I stopped at the bank and got a roll of dimes. Broke the roll open and splashed fifty dimes onto the bar, “beer for everyone!”
I don’t think so. I used to work in an office with about 20 people, of whom half loved the dark stuff. So people would pick up licorice when then traveled, or visited a specialty shop. We had a lot of different kinds.
I’ll have to see if the international candy store has some - looks yummy.
I’m definitely a tea snob, so allow me to recommend the best black tea in the world* to you: David’s Tea Nepal Black. As a brand, David’s has a lot of flavored nonsense, but their straight black teas are quite good and Nepal Black is absolutely the best of the best: smooth, rich, almost chocolately and not a hint of bitterness. I order it direct and get it delivered.
My absolute favorite brand of tea is Mariage Freres, from Paris. A super old-school tea shop that hearkens back to the good old days of colonialism (that’s a joke, son). Their Paris Breakfast is wonderful, and if you like oolong their Milky Blue is really out of this world, like no other tea I’ve tasted. They have like a million varieties and I have not yet tried them all. Used to be that you had to go to Paris or London to get it, but now you can get a few varieties on Amazon, luckily.
Well, I don’t routinely wear socks wiwth sandals, but when we’re looking at a long driving day, I have the oh-so-lovely combo of compression socks and my sport sandals if it’s warm enough.
My daily-wear socks (when I wear them at all; as I telework, there are days when I don’t wear any footwear at all even in the winter) are plain white cotton-based Gold Toe socks - because I can a) buy them in bulk, and b) they make them for larger feet, not just “one size fits everyone but you”. And like some rich guy or another who has a closetful of identical suits, to save on choice, I just have a drawerful of these. We may try to make them go in pairs when doing laundry but if there’s a mismatch, the singletons go in the drawer, and once a year I will empty that out and pair up the lonelies.
Darrell Lea and Wiley Wallaby are both widely available at local retailers such as the CVS and Walgreens nearby. Darrell Lea seems to actually come from Australia, and is (in my mind at least) the “original” stuff marketed in the US. Wiley Wallaby is clearly cashing in on the “Aussie licorice” fad, but is made in Minnesota. It is Australian-style, in that the pieces are big, chunky and soft like Darrell Lea. Kookaburra, which I have not tried, originated in Australia but I think is now made in the US.
I will still eat other brands - I have fond memories of Switzer’s, which is on the chewy side compared with the stuff from down under, but I enjoy chewy stuff. It’s hard to find - I googled it, and apparently it was owned by Hershey for a while and they dropped it in favor of Twizzler’s. Which I will ALSO eat but it is NOT as good.
I actually found a place online that does very similar sandals to what I described - even to the point of working from tracings if you prefer (for a surcharge). It’s very, very tempting. With the surcharge it’s a bit more than I spent on my SAS sandals last year, but not outlandishly so, and these can be refurbished.
I’d just like to get some props for trying very hard to not be a snob about anything.
Which, in my case, comes with a price…
Back in my twenties, when my friends were spending ‘beaucoup bucks’ on top-of-the-line audio components, I discovered that if I listen to a really good stereo system long enough… I get spoiled.
So I made a concerted effort NOT to get spoiled, and to buy “Very Good But Not Excellent” components.
And a side effect of that is that the friend who spent a ton on a Marantz 2285B (holy crap, don’t try to buy one today… over $3k!) had to wait until he paid it off before he could buy albums to play through it.
Whereas I researched mid-level receivers and found a Harmon Kardon 330B. It sounded almost as good (hey, it’s still at 1/10 the cost of the Marantz…) and I had enough left over to buy a dozen great albums.
And I try to do the same thing with wine, beer, cars, bikes… find something with enough quality to satisfy, and don’t drive/drink the really good stuff more than occasionally, as a treat.
If you ever get the chance, eat an Ashmead’s Kernel. Amazing fragrance, unparalleled taste, and ugly as can be. It is one of the ancestors of Cox’s Orange Pippin and Gala. You will probably have to search for a source of grafting wood and grow your own, as it is quite rare.
I’ll have to ask my friends who gave me the Cox’s Orange Pippen whether they have any of those. I know they planted some additional trees just a few years back.
– only that one style? I don’t think that “one fully adjustable strap” would work for me. I need to be able to let the front strap way out and tighten the back one way up.
