Getting what you pay for

A couple months ago I was discussing with friends the phenomena of seeing an item you don't want over and over and then when you want that item, you can't find one anywhere. I was considering this little quirk of fate when I was trying to find an apple slicer. You know those circular cutting devices that looks like a wagon wheel and when you shove it down over an apple it slices and cores it at the same time? I'd seen them hundreds and hundreds of time and had no interest in them because I am not really much of an apple eater. Then when I began to eat apples on a daily basis in an effort to get more fruit into my diet and wanted an apple slicer I couldn't find one of those SOBs if my life depended on it.

So I told M about it. And M, being as she's my bestest pal, got on the find-an-apple-slicer mission immediately. She didn't have to look too far - just to Williams-Sonoma. Hey, I'm thinking one from Walmart or Giant or Costco (except at Costco would you have to buy like 20 of them?) was going to be fine but she had to get me the best. It's just her way.

Now I don't like to brag and I don't mean to say this to embarrass her but that apple slicer retails for $18. I'm thinking it was going to be like a $3.99 number - $5 at the most. Wrong. This Cadillac of apple slicers tears up an Andrew quite well and gives you only enough change back to make a phone call.

Paying a premium price for what she wants is something that I tease M about. This all started when one afternoon she told me that she was at the mall and desperately wanted a snack. As she was trying to avoid eating sweets she was actively searching out fruit but wasn't coming up with lots of choices...until she came to Godiva Chocolates. There they were dipping huge, HUGE strawberries in chocolate. She asked if she could buy three of these delights to satisfy her snack craving but requested that they not be dipped in chocolate. Just give her the plain strawberries. Of course they were happy to oblige M's request and they sold her the three strawberries...to the tune of $12. Ever since that day if she goes a little bit overboard I tease her about it without mercy and liken whatever she's done to the strawberry experience.

Let me say though, to be fair to M, she's not like this all the time. These are rare, rare instances. Normally she's excellent at sniffing out bargans and finding sales and she can get a lot for her shopping dollar. I don't want to say she squeezes a penny so hard she makes Lincoln scream but she does give George a good twist before letting him go.

Back to the apple slicer...

I got the apple slicer about six weeks ago and it's fabulous. And I can see why it was pricey. It's a heavy duty slicer and while I wouldn't say it could slice through rocks, it does whip through some pretty firm apples with little effort.

So one day while washing it I noticed the name of the maker of the apple slicer. Leifheit. It's a German company. My apple slicer was made in Germay. Oh my aching irony!

So where have the good apple slicers gone in Germany when I've searching for them? Evidently they're shipped out to America where they sit waiting to be purchased and shipped back to their Vaterland.

Wonder what my apple slicer would do to a $4 strawberry...