It Costs HOW Much?

Danny: (Pointing in the butcher's case) What's that called?

Me: A standing rib roast. I've never made one as Papa is the only one that would eat it, and I'd be afraid of ruining something that costs ten dollars a pound.

Danny: How much?!

Me:  Well, that's a sale price, it usually costs more.

I could see him doing maths, figuring the approximate weight of the roast, and I watched as a look of I dunno...not horror exactly, but disbelief started to take hold. Danny is a kid that never spends money, almost never asks for anything, and is frugal to a point where I think he's channeling my grandmother. In his ideological field, no one buys sixty dollars worth of a dead cow. He just can't get his head around it.

Danny: Well I guess I'll be staying vegetarian then.


Danny is keenly aware of what things cost, as we've been doing a weekly grocery journal for staple items since he began school. I can't count how many times he's looked at a "sale" price only to announce to everyone in the aisle that it is, in fact the same price as always. Just because it is featured in a circular does not mean it is on sale.

I didn't buy Mr. ETB a standing rib roast, but I did get him a duck-not for the holiday, but "just because" it is his favourite. We're having a"Massachusetts Turkey" for Thanksgiving-a baked, stuffed cod-a tradition we've had for several years now.

Is there anything so expensive you've never prepared it for fear of ruining it?