Three Hundred Dollars for a Drink Mixer?! If You've Got the Budget: Go For It!

"Hot Products for Outdoor Entertaining"
Outside Views - Blog on Casual Living, (March 11, 2010)

"Our homes are expanding as our Patios are becoming a continuation of our residences. As the weather begins to warm it's satisfying to arrange those outdoor BBQ's with family and friends. Its time to get ready to create a perfect outdoor entertainment setting, whether it be for large family gatherings, small intimate get-togethers under the stars, casual entertaining or spur of the moment patio picnics. Before long you and your guests will be relaxing in the serenity of your own backyard.

"An outdoor kitchen complete with a grill can be the centerpiece of outdoor entertaining. One hot item that will certainly keep you cool is the Margaritaville® Explorer™ Cordless Frozen Concoction Maker™..."

Casual living says that they're "The Voice of the Leisure Marketplace". I'll let you decide whether or not they speak for you.

The post tells how wonderful the Margaritaville® Explorer™ Cordless Frozen Concoction Maker™ and Margaritaville Key West Frozen Concoction Maker are. There's a Margaritaville frozen concoction maker, too.

These are items I'm pretty sure my household won't be picking up.

Don't get me wrong: I have nothing against Margaritaville® products, Frozen Concoction Makers or other consumer versions of mechanical drink mixers. If someone wants to pay $299.99 for a Concoction Maker, and can do so while meeting their obligations: great.

Me? I'm the Easy Griller. My next big purchase is likely to be a new metal spatula for the grill. I could spend something like $20 on a fancy one: but I'm more likely to go with something like what Char-Broil sells for about $4.29.

The products extolled in that post are attractive: and may very well be worth getting. Particularly for folks who entertain.

The author showed a working knowledge of how food, drinks, and people work together:

"...Just as the kitchen tends to be a gathering spot during parties, your outdoor kitchen will also provide this same meeting spot. As you are grilling sumptuous recipes such as this Island Shrimp in Cilantro Tomato Blush, your guests will be standing close by visiting and enjoying the aromas that emerge from the grill...."

Except that, in my family, grilling is when my oldest daughter is likely to come out and spend some time with me.

And I don't, as a rule, do "sumptuous recipes." Flame-grilled burgers taste great on their own: and are something I can do without devoting a significant fraction of a day to food preparation.

But, some folks seem to enjoy the preparation as much as they do eating the food.

Everybody's not like me: which is just as well, particularly for the folks who manufacture and sell Margaritaville® products.

---

Sorry: I can't let this go without comment:

"...As the weather begins to warm it's satisfying to arrange those outdoor BBQ's with family and friends...." That apostrophe shouldn't be there. The writer obviously wanted to use the plural form of BBQ - which is BBQs, not "BBQ's".

That apostrophe is used for the possessive form of a word: like "the BBQ's lid." If there was more than one BBQ, it'd be "BBQs' lids."

I suppose I should be grateful that the words were spelled correctly.

More:

• "Pity Your Readers: Learn How to Write With Style"
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (July 13, 2008)
• "The Apostrophe: It's "EMPLOYEES ONLY" - Not "EMPLOYEE'S ONLY""
  Apathetic Lemming of the North (July 12, 2008)