Overspending for no reason

[MarblesMom]

I used to live in this world... and now, I am ashamed/overwhelmed when reading about it.

Life can be so much simpler (not at the Naugler Level™) but still enjoyable without a $200 night out for champ and fries.

[Chicken bones]

Not necessarily directly related, but if this was paid for by credit card, it may not have given the diner aso much pause for thought: this study shows our brain don't feel the negative effect of literally "lightening our wallets" when we pay in credit as when we pay in cash.

http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/2008/06/10/credit-cards-and-the-brain/

But yeah, those bottles of wine better have been good

[MatthewDuggar]

Well at least they get complimentary coffee OR tea if they keep the receipt (in the same month)!

[samira_catlover]

Uhhh.  Excuse me?  Who in heck goes to Johnny Rocket to do a major celebration?

Sheesh, You can go to White Castle for a whole lot of sliders, and celebrate later.

[bashfulpixie]

It's not Johnny Rocket.  It's Melrose Umbrella Company.  Johnny Apple and the Rocket are cocktails (I think)

[ScreamingIzzy]

I realized I was old the day I suggested we drink before we went out and after we got home, because the markup on booze in the hospitality industry is ridiculous. 

I could buy a metric shit-ton of wine for $179.85.

[Maggie Mae]

What I don't understand is the instagram lavish lifestyle bloggers. The ones that do this kind of thing and ALWAYS include the receipt so you know how much they spent. New money. Sheesh. STFU about it. No one cares how much you spent on booze and it does not make you "cool" to brag about how wealthy you are. Nor how much your aquarium cost. 

 

[Geechee Girl]

This is a hipster joint with an overly complicated curated bar menu. They "farm" their own ice. 

http://www.lamag.com/liquidlablog/the-seven-things-you-need-to-know-about-melrose-umbrella-co/

[Maggie Mae]

13 minutes ago, Geechee Girl said:

This is a hipster joint with an overly complicated curated bar menu. They "farm" their own ice. 

http://www.lamag.com/liquidlablog/the-seven-things-you-need-to-know-about-melrose-umbrella-co/

Ugh. 

The only time I've heard of "farming" ice is in the context of ice climbing. Something tells me this about "artisan" ice which is just a really stupid thing to waste energy and money on. I don't think I can roll my eyes any harder at that guy who "beamed" while talking about their ice machines. 

TBH I'm so over this trend of Prohibition themed bars and putting in a"speakeasy."

How is the building "brighter, more spacious" and lit by candles?   This entire article makes it sound like it's something thought up by the creaters of "The League" as a joke. 

[EyeQueue]

Whoever came up with the idea of "farming ice" for a bar needs to be punched in the throat.

It's probably the same chap who convinced everyone tonic water tastes good.

[mallallory]

I live in LA and want to know where the hell they are "farming ice."  I have this image from Frozen and would love to go watch (and snark on) the hipsters sawing great blocks of ice.  The price of the cocktails on that receipt is actually quite good for this area, I wonder if they're full sized drinks. 

[Maggie Mae]

1 hour ago, EyeQueue said:

Whoever came up with the idea of "farming ice" for a bar needs to be punched in the throat.

It's probably the same chap who convinced everyone tonic water tastes good.

You shut your mouth with that blasphemy.  Tonic water is delicious with the right proportions of gin, ice, and lime. And, of course, sun, sunscreen (because skin cancer is no joke) and ambient temperature. But, yeah, it's pretty gross if you just drink it alone. Or in January  in the Northern Hemisphere. 

[pamplemousse]

On 5/27/2016 at 10:23 AM, ScreamingIzzy said:

I realized I was old the day I suggested we drink before we went out and after we got home, because the markup on booze in the hospitality industry is ridiculous. 

I could buy a metric shit-ton of wine for $179.85.

No kidding. The other night, my sister and I took our nephew and his wife out to a very nice place for dinner.  Nephew's wife (who suggested we go there...she has champagne tastes) remarked that the prices they charged for glasses of wine were what she could pay for a bottle of the same or similar wine in stores.  That restaurant also charged $45 for a serving of Johnnie Walker Blue Scotch (or whatever that stuff was called)...insane.

22 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

You shut your mouth with that blasphemy.  Tonic water is delicious with the right proportions of gin, ice, and lime. And, of course, sun, sunscreen (because skin cancer is no joke) and ambient temperature. But, yeah, it's pretty gross if you just drink it alone. Or in January  in the Northern Hemisphere. 

Sis used to swear by tonic water to relieve period cramps. Not much else helped her. Plus, she just really likes it. I don't care for it, but to each his or her own.

[EyeQueue]

51 minutes ago, Maggie Mae said:

You shut your mouth with that blasphemy.  Tonic water is delicious with the right proportions of gin, ice, and lime

OK, I do have to admit that my only experience with it was the week before last, and i was a cheap ass brand, and I had it with vodka. I've heard that I need to try a better brand and have it with a good gin, since the floral notes of the gin apparently complements it better.

[Ais]

Apparently gin and tonic is the only drink which has the alcohol as a mixer...in colonial India they used tonic water to ward off malaria (because of the quinine content), people then mixed it with gin to hide the horrible flavour. 

[ladyamylynn]

I think I've mentioned before that I'm pretty into Champagne. Y'all would be truly appalled if you saw receipts from from of my nights out.  Believe it or not, Champagne and fries are a killer combination! Anything fried, really. I had a Champagne and fried chicken party at my place on Sunday night. That being said, assuming this is Mumm's actual Champagne and not a bottle of Mumm Napa Sparkling, the markup isn't TOO insane- the bottle retails for about $45, so it's a little over 100% markup over retail, which is on the high side of standard. Quick tip, the by the glass on most wines will be roughly equivalent of the wholesale price of the entire bottle which is why I'm assuming it's the real deal not the Napa stuff. 

Adding this to my list of places to potentially check out next time I'm in LA!

[Geechee Girl]

@ladyamylynn I wouldn't turn down your invitation if you're treating.   We'll both walk into the this bar purse first, BAM!

[princessmahina]

On 5/30/2016 at 8:42 PM, pamplemousse said:

No kidding. The other night, my sister and I took our nephew and his wife out to a very nice place for dinner.  Nephew's wife (who suggested we go there...she has champagne tastes) remarked that the prices they charged for glasses of wine were what she could pay for a bottle of the same or similar wine in stores.  That restaurant also charged $45 for a serving of Johnnie Walker Blue Scotch (or whatever that stuff was called)...insane.

Sis used to swear by tonic water to relieve period cramps. Not much else helped her. Plus, she just really likes it. I don't care for it, but to each his or her own.

Was the tonic water mixed with gin? I'd happily drink the menstrual pain away if given enough alcohol and the opportunity. 

That's an interesting cure though. I'm interested to try it. 

[pamplemousse]

2 hours ago, princessmahina said:

Was the tonic water mixed with gin? I'd happily drink the menstrual pain away if given enough alcohol and the opportunity. 

That's an interesting cure though. I'm interested to try it. 

Nope. She stopped drinking gin the night she misinterpreted advice she heard about holding some in her mouth to relieve a killer toothache. She thought she was supposed to drink a whole big glass of it and ended up needing to have my other sister hold her head up over the toilet while she puked it all up so she didn't fall into the bowl and drown.  That unfortunate event happened long before she went through menopause. 

[Howl]

Farming ice?  A special mini bar for "more involved" cocktails?   The place next door is a grilled cheese eatery?  Tip of the hipster spear, as they say.   To paraphrase, work hard, then spend hard.  Or just have a trust fund.  

(Still don't have a handle on how one "farms" ice).

[MatthewDuggar]

21 hours ago, Howl said:

Farming ice?  A special mini bar for "more involved" cocktails?   The place next door is a grilled cheese eatery?  Tip of the hipster spear, as they say.   To paraphrase, work hard, then spend hard.  Or just have a trust fund.  

(Still don't have a handle on how one "farms" ice).

Pour some highly priced bottled water into antique ice cube trays.  Stick them into a Maytag freezer resembling a turn of the century "ice box".  When they look solid, carefully remove one for testing and place into a sample of some sort of other "crafted" beverage.  Once the panel of six other hispters of varying talents gives a thumbs up, you're done.

(I'm guessing)

[Howl]

Sounds right, @MatthewDuggar.  Is the term "artisanal" now out of vogue? So 2014?  Because farmed ice sounds so very faux artisanal.  

[LadyCrow1313]

9 minutes ago, Howl said:

Sounds right, @MatthewDuggar.  Is the term "artisanal" now out of vogue? So 2014?  Because farmed ice sounds so very faux artisanal.  

I've got a dirty mind. I always think of "art is anal" when I see the word "artisanal". 

[RoseWilder]

What I find obnoxious here isn't that they spent a lot of money, but that those people posted the receipt online. Why? What was the point of that other than to brag?

I don't see anything wrong with people spending money on expensive things if they want to. It's their money and they have every right to do what they want with it. My Dad's whole family judges my Mom really harshly because she likes to have nice things. They buy something cheap and keep it for 40 years and my Mom buys quality items and replaces them when they wear out. They judge her EVERY time she gets a new car, a new piece of furniture, or goes on vacation. Now they've started judging my sister for buying designer handbags. My sister worked her butt off going to school to get three degrees and if she wants to buy expensive handbags with the fruits of her labor, what's wrong with that? But Dad's family keeps talking about how shallow and frivolous she is. I personally don't think it's shallow or frivolous or wrong to buy expensive things as long as you're not using money that's supposed to be used to pay the mortgage on it. 

[MatthewDuggar]

56 minutes ago, Howl said:

Sounds right, @MatthewDuggar.  Is the term "artisanal" now out of vogue? So 2014?  Because farmed ice sounds so very faux artisanal.  

Yes, I and I rarely see "deconstructed" anymore either.  
As in "Our kitchen-curated Uzbekistanian-sourced Vanilla bean yogurt placed with Vermont maple infused waffle crisps, surrounded by a reduction of hydroponically grown strawberries and a dallop normandy-sourced creme-fraiche aioli. The deconstructed strawberry sundae!!"