... without being too extravagant. After last week's discussions, Ms. Blue decided to do an experiment. So Ms. Blue suggested to her generous southern boyfriend to come over to her place this past Saturday and then suggested we eat in. So.... the unsuspecting boyfriend simply said, "uh... okay".

Saturday morning Ms. Blue ventured to the grocery store with a list of the components of a modest menu. Here's what the dinner came to.

London Broil $13.50

Loose potatos about a buck a piece.

two ears of corn $1.00

Tobasco sauce 3.59

butter 2.59 (okay, so I ran out of butter, but I had to add it in)

Horseradish sauce (to put on the steak. This is Troy's favorite) 3.59

Chips 3.59

Salsa 2.99

Coconut shrimp (prepared) 45.85

Wine (two bottles of Shiraz) 30.00

So the total is.... drumroll please....

$ 75.85!

Now if we count the stuff Troy brought with him, it would be a lot more.

The look of delight on Troy's face...

Priceless!

What, no salad? And you already got a priceless look on his face??? You should marry that boy! :-P

There are places I go where I can drink bascially as much as I want and never get charged more than $20 too. Of course, I know the bartenders so I tip them $20-$30.

I agree that 80 bucks is plenty if you know where to go or how to cook.

$80 !!!

You do know that 99% of the food in supermarket trash bins is only just past its sell-by date ?

big_macs:

What, no salad? And you already got a priceless look on his face??? You should marry that boy! :-P

Hee hee! I told you, this was a "bare bones" meal. Yes I should marry that boy.

Had to jump off, because I'm at work and someone needed something. But I didn't get to put down the stuff he brought.

He brought with him two 12 packs of beer (because he couldn't decide which one he wanted to bring)

A bag O' limes (for the Corona).

Cheese and crackers.

Cold shrimp (he didn't know I had coconut shrimp.

So we ended up with a lot of leftovers. Yeah... that boy's a keeper! :)

its yggy:

There are places I go where I can drink bascially as much as I want and never get charged more than $20 too. Of course, I know the bartenders so I tip them $20-$30.

I agree that 80 bucks is plenty if you know where to go or how to cook.

But of course, Yggy. I've eaten out at plenty of places for under $80.00 (for two). But you don't get as much food as we had. :)

And no, neither of us are fat either. Hee hee!

Your purchases add up to more then $75.85. Am I reading your post wrong?

dumb_blonde:

Your purchases add up to more then $75.85. Am I reading your post wrong?

Oops. The coconut shrimp was $13.00 not $45.85. The $45.85 was a subtotal and I accidentally typed that in the post instead of the $13.00. I thought I was being careful.

in NYC for 80 bucks. A lot of wine would run that tally up. Where I really make up the savings is the before and after drinks.

On Saturday night, I had a shot of Jameson (really, it was 2 oz.), and then a beer, and then another round of those, and then about 4 more beers. My girlfriend had about 7 sloe gin fizzes. Our tab was $18. The tab would normally retail for, what...well, I had over $50 worth myself at most other places. Her's would've been over $50. That's a savings of like $80, so, you see, dinner's free! 

your honor, i won't dispute the cost of the london broil - weight, quality, and local store ambiance can drive the price anywhere. but i do object to the following:

potatoes at a dollar each? they're a dollar a pound here. you eat a 1 pound potato per person?

corn at 50 cents each? i guess. but they were 5 for $1.00 here last weekend

butter at $2.59 - you at a whole container at a meal for 2?

i'm going to disallow the $46 cocoanut shrimp entirely, since it was evidently "purchased prepared" rather than cooked from raw shrimp.

you did say supper for 2, right?

*sigh* if only we had those connections. The only connections I had were the occasional free passes into a club. But hell that's not half bad either. :)

BA, you live in Baltimore, right? Things are cheaper down there, I've been there.

I had to buy butter, because I was running low. Even if we took the butter out of the equation, It would still be roughly $73.00.

I'm pretty sure potatos are $1.40 per pound here. They were pretty big potatos. Troy's a strapping 6'4" 225 lb boy!

hmm, I had a friend over this weekend too...

2 NY strips from Lobels - $75.00

1 bottle Penfold's 04 RWT Shiraz - $65.00

1 bottle Zyr vodka - $32.99 (ok there was some leftover)

1 box shallots - $2.00

Brocoli rabe - $2.75

yukon golden potato - $1.50 for 3 large (cubed and sauteed)

Miss Grimble cheescake - $16.00

And we laughed and had a great time... isn't that what counts?

*Looks rather forlornly at the bowl of sodden cornflakes sitting beside his computer*

Ummm, any chance I can wrangle an invite this weekend Ms. Blue?? I'll even bring the salsa!

I try hard not to look at receipts when we entertain....

In a couple of weeks, we're doing dinner for a total of six people. The menu:

1. A raft of lamb chops, plus a couple of chicken breasts. (on the barbecue)
2. Warm salad of baby potatoes with bacon, balsamic vinegar and fresh herbs.
3. Roasted French green beans with olive oil, kosher salt and toasted pine nuts.
4. Green salad with sorrel, baby whatever-looks-good-at-the-gre­en-market.

We haven't figured out dessert yet, but we're thinking blueberry panna cotta with a pomegranite/blood orange reduction.

The last time we were six for dinner, we drank 5 bottles of wine over the course of the evening.

Like I said...I try not to look at the receipts.