CCE
(Keyrock the unfrozen caveman lawyer; your world frightens & confuses me)
21
Interesting thread, and interesting replies in thread, all of y’all.
My own experience is that I often lust after “that thing” that is better than the “that similar thing” that I already have that is at least 90% as good as the better thing.
But I seldom buy the better thing. That’s because before we got married over 25 years ago, my wife and I agreed to discuss purchases. She talks me down from that one thing, I talk her down from some other one thing (most often it is her talking me down, though).
As a result, I seldom buy that “next best” thing unless I can pretty clearly set out to her why buying that newer/more expensive thing is worth the cost and gifting the older 90% performance guy to one of our older kids or Salvation Army or the like.
In general, 90% has been good enough for me. There was a longish thread here about appliances we have on-counter or in-cabinet, how often used, and what we viewed their utility on a 1-10 scale. Although I do indeed have some low-utility stuff (crap), mostly it’s useful and tends to be “good enough”.
I have a similar agreement with my wife. It has, so far, worked well for 47 years. I have no interest in changing it, but she seems to enjoy my cooking enough to be enthusiastic about additions.
I am going to add a bit more than what I said earlier. We live in an era where most of us earn significantly above than minimal survival needs. This means we have extra purchase power.
Someone may look at your kitchen knives collection and be surprised, but that simply means you two have different priorities and have different means to enjoy life. Some people like to get the latest iPhone every year. Some people love to detail their cars every 4 months. Other people buy expensive basketball shoes 2-3 times a year. I can promise you that for every person who does not understand why you spend money on “A”… he/she is spending money on “B” that you cannot understand,
As long as what you buy bring you joy and you are not hurting others, then there is nothing to worry about.
Where I draw the line, Chem, is that, as a home cook, you have to think it through–I calculate a SEU (subjective Expected Utility)–and you must actually use it in your home kitchen.
Ray, you’ve seen through me. For 30 years we’ve scoured markets in both coasts, Britain and France, and I’ve hauled home my share of wonderful toys for which I’ve rationalized a need. Sometimes even a use!
My quest was for a certain style of Gumbo spoon. I kept getting outbid. I just checked eBay; they’re now going for about 4x what I paid. Guess it’s a better investment than Bitcoin …
Part of thinking through an upgrade is anticipating where it goes, when you’ll use it, and how you will maintain it.
Another part is repurposing what you already have.
Every new knife I buy has a grabbable location I’ve reserved for it–which has been occupied by one you need to repurpose. I make my new knife prove it’s worth, side by side with “not as good.”
My 35 year old nakiri was an obvious candidate for an upgrade. There were several knives that I considered, but didn’t buy–for quite a few years. Then I had a “shootout” between two candidates that I would keep irregardless, but chose the winner to take my nakiri’s slot. That sent my nakiri into retirement as an emergency backup–but have now found a new slot and a new purpose for it.
Another knife I bought as a replacement didn’t do as well in a side by side, didn’t get the slot I had created for it–and was given away to a friend.
Upgrading can lead to some difficult decisions about your other knives.
They are a rounded soup spoon as opposed to oval. I refer to them as a Chili spoon because that is what I had it served with at a Soup and Sandwich shop.
Yours is the story of many of our searches. We’d find a single charming item. All subsequent pieces offered at many multiples of the first’s cost. Our good and bad luck at being seduced by the first seller’s mistake or lack of knowledge.
I don’t see any bargains these days on eBay for this type of silver - I’m done buying; I just like to check occasionally and see how the market is going. The sellers absolutely know what they have, and the selection is sparse. I wonder if things are just getting sold for scrap. That would be like melting history.
Your antique spoons are absolutely beautiful.
Traditionally yes, gumbo spoons are larger/deeper.
I recently went to shop for soup spoons and some were larger and much deeper than a traditional soup spoon.
The ones that I spotted could almost double as a serving spoon !
Everything is supersized now.
There’s such a thing as too much of a good thing! These are pleasant to eat with; they’re not shovels. I have quite a collection of flatware - stainless and (old) sterling - but it not only has to be appealing to the eye, you have to be able to actually eat with it. The smaller round soup spoons are from my mother’s silver. She had both round and tablespoon-shaped ones, and, being a proper Southern bride, iced tea spoons…
I agree, those king sized spoons that I saw remained in the store…lol a shovel is an accurate description.
Ooh, I know what dessert spoons are ice tea spoons are new to me.
You are very lucky to have your mother’s silverware.
I have 2 long handled spoons that I bought for ice cream sundaes, suppose that they could double for iced tea or a latte as well.
