Comments on: The Best Things in Life Can Be Pricey

By: Bacon-Flavored Chocolate | Cosmic Variance

Bacon-Flavored Chocolate | Cosmic Variance — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 15:21:45 +0000

[...] is my favorite chocolatier (if you know what I mean). Not only do they blend excellent chocolate with a wide variety of exotic spices to create [...]

By: Julianne

Julianne — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 01:09:33 +0000

Instead of buying costly liquor, gargle with raw sewage once a day and then hit youself in the forehead with a ball peen hammer 50 times in a row.

The sewage-hammer maneuver doesn’t look as suave in a bar, however.

By: mclaren

mclaren — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 00:23:50 +0000

With all due respect, single malt scotch whiskey tastes like paint remover, regardless how elaborately or expensively it is produced. For that matter all hard liquor tastes like paint remover.

Anyone who wastes money on expensive liquor has gotten duped. Instead of buying costly liquor, gargle with raw sewage once a day and then hit youself in the forehead with a ball peen hammer 50 times in a row. You’ll save yourself immense amounts of cash and accomplish the same thing.

By: Physicists on chocolate and wine « Decoherent Rambling

Physicists on chocolate and wine « Decoherent Rambling — Sun, 21 Jan 2007 03:13:35 +0000

[...] Hehe, rigorous anecdotes… (from Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance) [...]

By: KL

KL — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:55:36 +0000

Oh, and here’s my contribution:

http://www.johnandkiras.com/site/Welcome_business.htm

Their biodynamic ginger one was amazing.

By: KL

KL — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:43:31 +0000

> But the relevant point here is: paying a lot of money really does buy you quality, sometimes.

Or paying in terms of time. Ever tried making chocolate yourself?

By: spyder

spyder — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:20:30 +0000

There are people out there â€” I won’t name names â€” who harbor a lingering suspicion that anything more upscale than a good Hershey’s chocolate bar is just an exercise in name recognition, totally divorced from considerations of quality. And that kind of talk makes my sensitive elitist-snob blood boil.

Since i stopped drinking (now sixteen years ago) i have had to take my “holic” needs away from great Scotches and superb wines (and indeed there are amazing and expensive qualitative differences in both of those beverages) and put them towards chocolate and ice creams. As with any palate, it is a matter of personal taste and preference, but the essential underlying constructs are the same. The quality of the cocoa bean (and SA is better than Africa–African child slave labor is what drives the price of cheap inferior beans), the quality of the sugar, and most importantly the quality of the butter/dairy sources. Chocolate makers in different countries have used regional recipes for the last 500 years or so, and while some prefer the European taste, i am happier with the recipes created in the Americas, long before the bean went east.

That being said, find a chocolatier who uses a chocolate made in the way you prefer, then work through their selections. From Europe i prefer the Italian Vente rather than the versions from the North. From the US, i am a CA boy and really enjoy the work of some of the Sierra and Gold Country studios (yes chocolatiers are artists working in studios). I passionately recommend you find a sample of one of my favorites (and yes, i used to live in the same small town for 15 years) DeGroot’s The Truffle Shop in Nevada City, CA. The Chocolate Oblivion Torte is to die for, and if you like quality Scotch, try the Highlander Truffle.

By: J

Thu, 18 Jan 2007 06:25:19 +0000

When my (now) husband and I were shopping for my engagement ring we discovered something like this, too. We both really enjoyed the process (maybe he liked that I did NOT want him to spend two months’ salary!) and we found that we quickly learned to tell the relative qualities of diamonds. Maybe it was a slow day or something, but one jeweler saw that we were into it and showed us some nice 1/2 carat ones of about the quality we were looking for… and then he brought out the $5000 one just so we could see it. The quality that a diamond has to be to cost $5000 (quite a few years ago!) at 1/2 carat is amazing, and this one was stunning. I don’t know how to describe it other than that it was like a frozen droplet of pure deep space. We really appreciated the chance to enjoy something like that… and we bought a perfectly nice much cheaper diamond that’s still on my finger right now!

By: Jack

Jack — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 01:11:08 +0000

Actually, the curve is more exponential than logarithmic. A BMW is probably only 30% more expensive than the Japanese “equivalent”, but it is many times more satisfying.

What a joy to see political correctness thrown to the winds just once! Hurrah for money and the pleasures it brings!

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Wed, 17 Jan 2007 23:21:58 +0000

I’ve never tasted a $300 bottle of wine – now I am salivating…

Some See’s Candy stores honor a discount for teachers. Just show them your university ID and get the discount!