OT: Anything Goes 41

[ChiHawks10]

Yeah now that I got a pellet grill and smoke my own ribs, I've realized how insane rib prices are. I got a wonderful rack of ribs at Aldi's for like $8 last week. There was enough meat on that thing to last me 3-4 meals.

Places charging $30+ for a full rack is just stupid. They probably pay just a couple bucks per rack, if that. I can smoke them for around $5-7 per rack at retail prices... make enough to last 2-3 meals for our whole family, and it takes spending about 30-40 mins of prep, and 4-5 hours monitoring the smoker, spritzing, saucing, etc. I can season them how I want, sauce them if I want, mix it up with different sauces, smoke them to the doneness we prefer, etc. It's just silly to think about how outrageous the prices are from bbq joints for what you're getting. And that's not just ribs. Brisket, pulled pork, it's all the same.

I buy pork shoulders for like 99 cents a pound, and they're usually 8-9lbs. I spend 45 mins of prep time, and have like 5lbs of finished product done how my family prefers it. One pork shoulder usually nets us like 5-6 different meals at different points, since we usually eat it the night it's done, then I vacuum pack and freeze it the next day. Later on I'll warm it up by boiling the vacuum bag for tacos/carnitas, put it in my chili, add it on top of burgers, etc. As opposed to some place charging $12-15 for a pulled pork sandwich, or 5-6 ounces of loose pulled pork. BBQ joints might be one of the dumber places people spend a ton of money on food. It's all cheap cuts of meat that just take a long time to cook. I get paying for their time that they put into it, but it's still cheap cuts of meat, and once you know what you're doing, it's bordering on 100% effortless to make it.

As it stands now, I can put a pork shoulder on my smoker overnight, sleep the whole time it cooks, pull it off later in the morning, rest it for 4-5 hours, eat it for dinner, then vacuum pack and freeze whatever we don't want to eat over the next day or two. Almost no effort goes into it once you have things down to a science.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

It was an entire season of setup/planning for the actual war to ensue. Sure, a bit of a let-down, but necessary, IMO. Game of Thrones rushed a lot. It's actually kinda nice to see that HotD isn't rushing everything.

The only problem I have is it will be 2 years before next season

f*** HBO for that!

 

[ChiHawks10]

The only problem I have is it will be 2 years before next season

f*** HBO for that!

I kinda get why this time around. Like... the sheer amount of work that is going to go into the massive battle scenes, dragon fights, etc is crazy. Like... these two seasons were purely setup seasons for a civil war that lasts years. I don't get the delay between season 1 and season 2(outside of the strikes), but I do get the delay between 2 and 3.

 

[Crow]

Hockey fans really are some of the f***in nicest and coolest people I’ve met. They love talking hockey and they’re generally such pleasant people to be around.

Met a dude from Edmonton the other day at work and we shot the shit for a half hour or so. I’ve had a ton of these interactions.

Hockey is the best sport on planet earth. LOVE IT.

Hockey does indeed bring people together. I met a Finnish guy at a bar in rosemont and ended up talking hockey with him for a couple hours. Without a love of the sport in common I can’t imagine we would have had too much to say at all.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Places charging $30+ for a full rack is just stupid. They probably pay just a couple bucks per rack, if that. I can smoke them for around $5-7 per rack at retail prices... make enough to last 2-3 meals for our whole family, and it takes spending about 30-40 mins of prep, and 4-5 hours monitoring the smoker, spritzing, saucing, etc. I can season them how I want, sauce them if I want, mix it up with different sauces, smoke them to the doneness we prefer, etc. It's just silly to think about how outrageous the prices are from bbq joints for what you're getting. And that's not just ribs. Brisket, pulled pork, it's all the same.

I buy pork shoulders for like 99 cents a pound, and they're usually 8-9lbs. I spend 45 mins of prep time, and have like 5lbs of finished product done how my family prefers it. One pork shoulder usually nets us like 5-6 different meals at different points, since we usually eat it the night it's done, then I vacuum pack and freeze it the next day. Later on I'll warm it up by boiling the vacuum bag for tacos/carnitas, put it in my chili, add it on top of burgers, etc. As opposed to some place charging $12-15 for a pulled pork sandwich, or 5-6 ounces of loose pulled pork. BBQ joints might be one of the dumber places people spend a ton of money on food. It's all cheap cuts of meat that just take a long time to cook. I get paying for their time that they spend putting into it, but it's still cheap cuts of meat, and once you know what you're doing, it's bordering on 100% effortless to make it.

As it stands now, I can put a pork shoulder on my smoker overnight, sleep the whole time it cooks, pull it off later in the morning, rest it for 4-5 hours, eat it for dinner, then vacuum pack and freeze whatever we don't want to eat over the next day or two. Almost no effort goes into it once you have things down to a science.

Yeah I don't know if it's because a good amount of people don't have smokers or some sort? I just always thought ribs were crazy expensive until I actually started buying them myself. Though I guess the same can be said for something like steak. It's expensive in the store too, but not nearly as much as restaurants charge. I guess it's just for the convenience and fact that most chefs do cook those better. There is a big difference between a decent steak and a very good steak. I feel like ribs have a wider variance of what tastes really good.

 

[ChiHawks10]

Yeah I don't know if it's because a good amount of people don't have smokers or some sort? I just always thought ribs were crazy expensive until I actually started buying them myself. Though I guess the same can be said for something like steak. It's expensive in the store too, but not nearly as much as restaurants charge. I guess it's just for the convenience and fact that most chefs do cook those better. There is a big difference between a decent steak and a very good steak. I feel like ribs have a wider variance of what tastes really good.

Yeah, a good steak is different than bbq. Steaks, depending on grade and cut, range way up and down in price, and for good reason. Much of the time, you're paying for the grade/cut of the steak, and not so much the preparation. There's not much meat easier to cook than a steak, honestly. For the most part, the meats used to make all your standard bbq dishes are extremely cheap cuts. The "scraps" from the animals, basically. It used to be these were all the cuts that butchers and meat processors sold dirt cheap to the poor, who then figured out ways to make them good by cooking them over long, extended periods of time until they were tender enough to eat. They were cheap, and provided a ton of meat/meals for low cost. Just toss them in a pot with some veggies, herbs, and water, then let them cook down for hours and hours, and you have stews and such that go a long way to feed a lot of people for very little money. The BBQ joints still pay low costs for these cuts of meat, but charge outrageously inflated prices. I generally refuse to buy BBQ from places for that reason. I do it myself. I know the amount of work that actually goes into it, and I know what I pay for the meat at retail prices. Knowing those things, it's basically criminal the amount that a BBQ place will charge for their food, especially when you consider how much cheaper they get these already cheap cuts of meat buying in bulk/wholesale.

 

[OhCaptainMyCaptain]

Yeah, a good steak is different than bbq. Steaks, depending on grade and cut, range way up and down in price, and for good reason. Much of the time, you're paying for the grade/cut of the steak, and not so much the preparation. There's not much meat easier to cook than a steak, honestly. For the most part, the meats used to make all your standard bbq dishes are extremely cheap cuts. The "scraps" from the animals, basically. It used to be these were all the cuts that butchers and meat processors sold dirt cheap to the poor, who then figured out ways to make them good by cooking them over long, extended periods of time until they were tender enough to eat. They were cheap, and provided a ton of meat/meals for low cost. Just toss them in a pot with some veggies, herbs, and water, then let them cook down for hours and hours, and you have stews and such that go a long way to feed a lot of people for very little money. The BBQ joints still pay low costs for these cuts of meat, but charge outrageously inflated prices. I generally refuse to buy BBQ from places for that reason. I do it myself. I know the amount of work that actually goes into it, and I know what I pay for the meat at retail prices. Knowing those things, it's basically criminal the amount that a BBQ place will charge for their food, especially when you consider how much cheaper they get these already cheap cuts of meat buying in bulk/wholesale.

I will say, I was out in Tennessee a few weeks ago, and I went to a few local places that didn't have outrageous prices. Still overpriced, but I didn't have a smoker, and I was wanting to try some new BBQ. There was a little ma and pa shop in particular that was reasonably priced and easily the best of the bunch.

 

[ChiHawks10]

I will say, I was out in Tennessee a few weeks ago, and I went to a few local places that didn't have outrageous prices. Still overpriced, but I didn't have a smoker, and I was wanting to try some new BBQ. There was a little ma and pa shop in particular that was reasonably priced and easily the best of the bunch.

Yeah, I can understand it if you're out of town or something like that, where you're already paying out for all your meals, rather than cooking. I'll try a BBQ place that is raved about if I visit somewhere. I just try not to do it very often because it's so outrageously priced. I can count the BBQ places I've bought food from in my life on one hand.

 

[Ben Grimm]

Report on Dolton's finances reveal misused funds, significant debt

Findings from an investigation into Dolton's finances led by former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot were revealed in part Thursday night, showing a widespread of pattern of misused funds and significant debt.

www.nbcchicago.com

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Went up to Madison and Wisconsin Dells for a late summer vacation before my son started school again. As usual, we did a license plate game to keep track of every state and province, and ended up getting 40 states plus BC, Saskatchewan, a load of Manitoba's, Ontario, and New Brunswick. Decent haul for only two states driven in.

And then yesterday in Bloomington I randomly saw an Alaska license plate in the wild, so I snapped a quick pic for my son and he was shocked as well. Must be some Alaskan that came down to attend ISU or IWU. That'd be a "fun" 59+ hour drive.

We're all cool cats, we know. It's actually a good driving trick to stay alert and awake, too.

 

[Putt Pirate]

will be in town for the PJ show at Wrigley this weekend.

 

[Sarava]

I'll be there tonight and Saturday for PJ at Wrigley.

Umm what the hell happened with parking pricing at Wrigley? Spot Hero has everything like $160 - $250 anywhere near the park.

In the past I've parked on the street around Ashland and Addison. Is that still viable? I haven't been to Wrigley since the 2018 PJ shows and was caught off guard by the pricing being like 4x what I remember.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

I'll be there tonight and Saturday for PJ at Wrigley.

Umm what the hell happened with parking pricing at Wrigley? Spot Hero has everything like $160 - $250 anywhere near the park.

In the past I've parked on the street around Ashland and Addison. Is that still viable? I haven't been to Wrigley since the 2018 PJ shows and was caught off guard by the pricing being like 4x what I remember.

Capitalism baby!

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Wrigleyville is basically the epitome of the notion that the only thing better than money is more money.

 

[TLEH]

Went up to Madison and Wisconsin Dells for a late summer vacation before my son started school again. As usual, we did a license plate game to keep track of every state and province, and ended up getting 40 states plus BC, Saskatchewan, a load of Manitoba's, Ontario, and New Brunswick. Decent haul for only two states driven in.

And then yesterday in Bloomington I randomly saw an Alaska license plate in the wild, so I snapped a quick pic for my son and he was shocked as well. Must be some Alaskan that came down to attend ISU or IWU. That'd be a "fun" 59+ hour drive.

We're all cool cats, we know. It's actually a good driving trick to stay alert and awake, too.

Did you get Vermont

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Did you get Vermont

We did not. Got the rest of New England other than Rhode Island, though.

Big winner was an Oneida Nation plate. Think that was the first tribal plate I’ve seen.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Accepted a position today with Union Pacific as a terminal manager it's been a tough go health wise but I'm doing well and back to working in my career field.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Accepted a position today with Union Pacific as a terminal manager it's been a tough go health wise but I'm doing well and back to working in my career field.

Congrats

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Best part is I work three twelve hour shifts then I'm off for three days I'm off half the year starting around six figures I've been working at two restaurants to pay my mortgage I really needed this win.

 

[No Fun Shogun]

Nice. 'Grats.

 

[Mrfenn92]

Best part is I work three twelve hour shifts then I'm off for three days I'm off half the year starting around six figures I've been working at two restaurants to pay my mortgage I really needed this win.

Can’t beat that time off. I’m 5 days a week working 7:20 to 2. Can get a lot done.

 

[Putt Pirate]

Well, was supposed to be in Chicago for PJ but United f***ed me today and my flight was cancelled at 6am. Wtf?! So tried to move to other flights and no dice….all full. So, $1200 in tickets going to waste. Never again will I go to a show that requires a flight. Ever. Burned for the last time.

 

[Pez68]

Best part is I work three twelve hour shifts then I'm off for three days I'm off half the year starting around six figures I've been working at two restaurants to pay my mortgage I really needed this win.

So stoked for you man. That's f***ing awesome.

 

[belfour30]

Accepted a position today with Union Pacific as a terminal manager it's been a tough go health wise but I'm doing well and back to working in my career field.

Congrats!

 

[Sarava]

Well, was supposed to be in Chicago for PJ but United f***ed me today and my flight was cancelled at 6am. Wtf?! So tried to move to other flights and no dice….all full. So, $1200 in tickets going to waste. Never again will I go to a show that requires a flight. Ever. Burned for the last time.

Ouch. Sorry man. Join the 10 club and you wont have to pay $1200 for PJ tickets.

Just got back...saw Pearl Jam 3 times this week. Monday in Indy, then Thursday and Saturday at Wrigley. Great time at all shows.

And for the parking I mentioned a few days ago...we ended up parking on Addison right by the brown line station and walked it to Wrigley. So parking was free and I got some extra exercise.