Day: June 25, 2011

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I Do Love It When a Plan Comes Together

So, this was to be the summer when we purchased a new fridge. The one we have has served us well, but it entered this house two owners back and has definitely reached the effective end of its service life.

The glass shelves are still good, though. *heh*

So, we looked around, doing our due diligence, researching options on the web, and selected one from a Big Box home improvement center, the same one where we bought our Whirlpool washer/dryer set and nice Bosch dishwasher last summer. Yes, we would like to have purchased a new fridge last year, but we prioritized things a bit, ran the numbers and decided not to spend the cash that way last year. Instead, we lump summed out of our mortgage.

Now, with more than enough cash on hand, we decided to purchase the fridge we’d selected in July. Then, two days ago, my Wonder Woman noticed that it had gone on sale “through June 27” for $300 off the price we’d decided was our sweet spot. So, we went in to make the purchase and arrange delivery, instead of ordering online (because I needed some plumbing and electrical supplies and because I like making sure the salespeople there get their commission. Makes ’em glad to see me coming *heh*. It was no surprise they had none in stock. No problem as they could order it in. But while we waited for the salesperson to finish up with another customer, we looked around a bit anyway.

Oh. Wait. My Wonder Woman saw a fridge that had been on my own short list but t aprice point we didn’t want to (not couldn’t but didn’t want to) pay. The manufacturer was running a (apparently, “Gotta clear out our inventory!”) special: $610 off, placing it, with nearly 8 cubic feet more storage and a couple of other gewgaws and gimcracks, at juuuust under the one we’d come to purchase.

Got it. The four year extended warranty was also less. Got that. The plumbing kit for the icemaker (to replace the old, old line now semi-installed *heh*) was also less. Heck, with the savings on the bigger fridge with more doodads (features), etc., my additional plumbing and electrical supplies only brought us about even with what we’d been planning to pay for the fridge alone.

Not too shabby.

I love it when a plan comes together. I’m also thankful that “lucky” can still beat “planning” every now and then. 🙂

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This One’s Almost a Recipe

*heh*

I made a new BBQ sauce the other day.

    3 Roma tomatoes, quartered
    1/2 large Vidalia onion, roughly chopped
    2 cloves of garlic
    1/4 C balsamic vinegar
    1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
    3 dime-sized dollops of AwesomeSauce–edit: I noted and linked the –wrong hot sauce; it’s Dave’s Insanity Sauce–hot sauce

Put everything but the vinegars a in a food processor and whir away until all is very finely minced.

Dump that and the vinegars in a saucepan, then add the Dave’s Insanity Sauce and stir. Bring it to a boil, then back it off and let it simmer a while. How long? I dunno. I think I let it go about 30 minutes. Oh, I added a little olive oil, which I didn’t bother to measure–probably 3 tablespoonsful–to the saucepan before adding the other ingredients.

Meanwhile, microwave a pint jar full of water until the water’s boiling well. Just before th next step, pour some of the boiling water to cover a lid (use a lid-and-ring Ball-or-Mason-type jar). It’s not going to really be water bath canning, cos it’s going straight into the fridge, but this will lessen the chances of contamination with something nasty.

When you think it’s pretty well come together and the tomatoes, especially, are cooked, dump it all back in the food processor and whir it until it’s smooth. Dump it, still hot, into the hot jar, cover with the lid and screw down the ring. Refrigerate. It’ll keep just as long as it takes to use it up, I suspect. It went very nicely on last night’s grilled burgers (just for Son&Heir and I–my Wonder Woman doesn’t partake of Holy Hotitudinousness *heh*).