I went over the border into Germany with our friend Rammy a couple of days ago, and I bought myself a "Vay-bah" (that's how you say Weber in German) gas grill. Now don't get me wrong, I love my Weber charcoal grill. But, Mrs. TBF and I just thought that it might be nice and convenient to have a gas grill on the balcony for quick use during the week. I'm still going to use the old kettle grill. As a matter of fact, I already had a little talk with the old grill on the roof garden and told him that he's still going to get a lot of use (I get kind of lonely when Mrs. TBF is out of town).
Anyhooo...Rammy and I drove over to Lorrach to this nursery/garden and patio furniture store called Schmitt, and checked out what they had to offer as far as grills go. As it turns out, they have a big Weber section with all sorts of grills to choose from. Rammy pointed out the grill that she had in mind for me to buy, and I ended up telling her that it was "...a grill for fags" (sorry...very politically incorrect!). I mean, this grill had probably enough capacity to BBQ a chicken breast - and that's about it. But let's not pick on Rammy - she's only about four-foot eleven and I'm sure she doesn't really quite understand the sheer volume of grilled flesh that it takes to feed TBF.
I ended up opting for the second largest of three in the Weber Genesis line. I blew by the low-end model because it just didn't offer enough in the way of BTUs as far as I was concerned. The second and third models are basically the same. The only difference is that the top model is completely made of stainless steel (and it's 600 Euros more expensive than the middle model). I kind of hemmed and hawed, and then I asked the salesman what he thought. He said that he would save the 600 Euros, and then put it into accessories.....SOLD!!! I walked out of there with the grill, a cast-iron searing plate, a grill brush, a nice cover, and a "free" grilling cookbook written in German that the salesman gave me "...so that you can practice your German!" All this set me back ONLY 1,117 Euros. I don't even want to think about how much less this stuff would cost in America.
They did have an incredible stainless steel grill that wasn't a Weber which cost something like 4,800 Euros. So see Mrs. TBF??? I could have bought that one instead which means that I saved us about 3,700 Euros. I'm always looking out for us!!!
The grill is still in the car. I'm going to take it out later today, assemble it in the garage, bring it up in the elevator, and then set it up on the balcony. Then begins the ordeal of trying to figure out where I can buy some propane around here. At the very latest, we should be up an grilling by early next week!!!
3 comments:
That is unbelievable! Your new Vay-bah puts my little 70 CHF charcoal grill from OBI to shame... I'm very jealous
For all of you American's wondering, this Monstrosity of a Man just spent $1398.14 USD.... ON A GRILL! I don't know whether to admire him or send donations. Having eaten many a BBQ at their many homes TBF knows his way around a grill. I always worry about the gallons of sweat he produces while grilling, however, maybe it adds to the 'flavah'.
Correction...I paid the equivalent of $1,398.14 for the grill, a cover, a brush, and a cast iron searing plate. The price of the grill was 755.16 Euros - 899 Euros minus the 16% V.A.T. which I was refunded because I exported the grill out of Germany. Today's exchange rate is 1.247 U.S. dollars to the Euro. That means I paid the U.S. equivalent of $941.68.
I just checked amazon.com and found that the suggested retail price for this grill is $699 PLUS TAX.
That means that the approximate price for this grill in the U.S. is about $750.
Yes, it's more expensive here than it is in the U.S....but, it's not that much more expensive considering that it has to be exported to Germany from the U.S.
Admire me and send a donation to your favorite charity!
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