So trivial, yet it really ticks you off.

[p51]

Around here (Pacific Northwest, somewhat near Seattle), we have craft beer snobs. I can't stand talking to them. They go on and on about some rare stout that they found somewhere. Even when I tell them, "I couldn't care less about what rare micro-brew you found," they don't hear me say it and they keep on bragging about something that's annoying as can be...

 

[tonyb]

Craft beer aficionados are everywhere these days, as are microbreweries.

In my drinking days, I avoided "yuppie" beer. I was a bit snobbish in my anti-snobbery, truth be told. But I came to acknowledge that for the most part the high-priced swill really is better than the typical lagers you get from the big breweries. But I never made a study of it. I never learned the lingo. And if anyone cared to look down his upturned nose at me for my lack of knowledge, well, go right ahead. I got other things to worry about.

We get people around this joint who care a great deal about the most minute features of a leather jacket, say, or a fedora. I'm happy that such people exist. They do all this research so that those of us who would rather pass our time in other endeavors get the benefit of theirs without putting in the effort. But really, while I can appreciate why a thousand-dollar A-2 replica is a better jacket than one you might find at the mall (and that I'd rather have the former myself, given my druthers), I don't think that the fact that a guy has a really nice A-2 tells me anything about him other than that. He might be a real good guy, or he might be a real d*ck. I'd be inclined to think he belonged in the latter category if he got sniffy about someone else's leather jacket.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Craft beer-makers are in Germany, too. But, they can't overrun us here.

The media-hype about it was here 2013/2014, but now squibbed.

 

[GHT]

Am I really a Scrooge, or are there others who feel p***ed off by the corporate, advertising spendfest that nowadays passes for Christmas? What is it about how they manage to manipulate shoppers? We are lead to believe that giving money, as in bank notes, is crude and vulgar. Yet it's perfectly acceptable to give a stores vouchers, where the recipient can buy whatever their heart pleases as the said store. Well what are bank notes if they are not a voucher that represents the value of the denomination printed on them? For goodness sake, have you ever known anyone to return bank notes? My good lady gets her favourite fragrances, a novelty gift or two, this year it's three wonderful teapots that I came across, and she also gets a large stash of cash, as in, the filthy folding stuff that is deemed so vulgar. I told her to think not of money but vouchers that are accepted anywhere.

 

[sheeplady]

Am I really a Scrooge, or are there others who feel p***ed off by the corporate, advertising spendfest that nowadays passes for Christmas? What is it about how they manage to manipulate shoppers? We are lead to believe that giving money, as in bank notes, is crude and vulgar. Yet it's perfectly acceptable to give a stores vouchers, where the recipient can buy whatever their heart pleases as the said store. Well what are bank notes if they are not a voucher that represents the value of the denomination printed on them? For goodness sake, have you ever known anyone to return bank notes? My good lady gets her favourite fragrances, a novelty gift or two, this year it's three wonderful teapots that I came across, and she also gets a large stash of cash, as in, the filthy folding stuff that is deemed so vulgar. I told her to think not of money but vouchers that are accepted anywhere.

I have to agree. I've gotten a number of gift cards to places I simply don't go or shop. And I hate that I then must either pass it on, waste it, or go someplace I wouldn't otherwise go. (I'm not going to sell it.)

Store love them, because who spends exactly $25 in store?

Although, I'll take a gift card over some junk that I am certain I don't want.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Everybody knows Christmas is really run by some big Eastern syndicate.

 

[dh66]

This year I am hoping Santa brings me a hand crafted A-2, the locally sourced horsehide leather of which has been tanned with craft beer and organically dyed in fair trade coffee.

 

[2jakes]

This year I am hoping Santa brings me a hand crafted A-2, the locally sourced horsehide leather of which has been tanned with craft beer and organically dyed in fair trade coffee.

He deserves it

 

[swanson_eyes]

I suppose there are several "coffee cultures," and I certainly agree with you as to much of the Starbucks experience. Self- important 20-somethings insisting that the barrista make their grandes "just so," etc. And then taking up residence on the premises for hours with their laptops, not buying anything else so that other paying customers can't sit down.. don't get me started!

But rolling out of a sleeping bag in the mountain cold air at Glacier National Park, and taking that first taste of hot joe as you're trying to come to life.... it's about as Anti- Starbucks as it gets. That's a coffee culture I embrace.

I'm in between these two extremes. I do like my mocha just so, but I don't want to go out for it. Coffee is a solitary experience for me. That's why I've owned espresso/cappuccino makers for years.

 

[tonyb]

I'm in between these two extremes. I do like my mocha just so, but I don't want to go out for it. Coffee is a solitary experience for me. That's why I've owned espresso/cappuccino makers for years.

What's your choice of machine? I make a helluva good latte, mocha, etc., if I do say so myself. But it's really the machine.

 

[Stearmen]

Everybody knows Christmas is really run by some big Eastern syndicate.

Actually, the Syndicate is a bit farther north!

 

[swanson_eyes]

What's your choice of machine? I make a helluva good latte, mocha, etc., if I do say so myself. But it's really the machine.

I'm not picky about the brand, but it has to be pump, not steam. I feel you get more coffee essence (?) out of the grounds. I've had a couple of Mr. Coffees and they do fine. My DeLonghi exploded one day. The filter basket flew off and water poured out the bottom. That one was the more expensive Italian machine, go figure.

My mocha recipe is as follows: double shot, 1 cup steamed whole milk or half and half, 2 T Saco cocoa powder, 1 T Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips, sweetener/sugar to taste.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Haha!!

Germany:

Until 80's >>> old pipe-smoking-snobs
90's >>> scarf-wearer-snobs
2000's >>> wine-expert-snobs
From 2010's >>> coffee-expert-snobs

What will be next??

There are people around here selling eight-dollar toasted cheese sandwiches.

 

[Fading Fast]

There are people around here selling eight-dollar toasted cheese sandwiches.

If that sounds outrageous, never, ever step into one of NYC hipster-oriented food stores of even the old-line luxury food stores. There are plenty of normal people food stores and restaurants in this city where the prices are somewhat more expensive than most of the country as the cost structure is more expensive here. But as mentioned, there are some outrageously crazy places - $5 doughnuts (for one), $90 fruitcake (serves 8-10), cooked lobster $90/lb - that are fun, once in a blue moon, to walk through just to see the craziness.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Lobster prices never fail to amaze me with their hilarity. Live lobster sells in any grocery store here for about $5 a pound, and you can cook it yourself in a stock pot. Spend ten minutes picking the meat once it's cooked, mix it with five cents' worth of mayonnaise, spread it on a ten-cent hot dog roll, and sell it to a tourist for fifteen dollars.

 

[2jakes]

^^^

Also Maine Lobster Rolls With Whoopie Pie for only $99.99

 

[Trenchfriend]

@lizzie

"Ham and cheese-toast" is that, what we east-german people make normally at home, veeery often in the evening.

Our version:
-only one slice of cheap supermarket-toast
-a slice of cooked-ham
-ketchup
-and on top a slice of cheese

After grilling it, everbody can spread it with Worcester-sauce, standing by on table, if he likes.

Bon appétit!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Probably available in every german shopping center from Berlin down to Berchtesgaden:
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=bismarck+brötchen&FORM=HDRSC2

Mostly 1,50 EUR.

You can eat two, if you like.

 

[tonyb]

I have relatives in the mobile food and beverage business, specializing in espresso-based drinks. They work county fairs and horse shows and music festivals and such.

Bemoan it all we wish, but espresso drinks are now quite normalized in the American heartland. Proud potbellied red state rednecks in NRA caps line up for that stuff.

I suspect that if you were to have told any of those people 10 years ago that they would gladly hand over three or four or five bucks for an ounce or two of very strong coffee and a cupful of steamed milk they would have told you to go back to Seattle or San Francisco or wherever the hell it is where people throw away money like that.

 

[LizzieMaine]

@lizzie

"Ham and cheese-toast" is that, what we east-german people make normally at home, veeery often in the evening.

Our version:
-only one slice of cheap supermarket-toast
-a slice of cooked-ham
-ketchup
-and on top a slice of cheese

After grilling it, everbody can spread it with Worcester-sauce, standing by on table, if he likes.

Bon appétit!

That sounds very, very ,very tasty. Beats my nighttime snack of a bowl of All-Bran.