expensive

While I'm all for living small and beautifully, sometimes my curiosity gets the better of me, and I wonder what it would be like to live large — really, really large. In reality I have no interest in living in a house much larger than 1,800 square feet. It's just too much upkeep for me, not to mention the environmental cost of living in a big house. Still, when I saw photos of an Upper East Side mansion on the market for $75 million, my interest was piqued. What exactly does this exorbitant amount of money buy?

To find out, read more

On Friday afternoon I was in the ice cream aisle at my local grocery store. Since food is incredibly pricey these days, I was searching for the cheapest vanilla ice cream. As I reached for what I thought was the cheapest, my bff pointed out that it was actually a smaller container with a more expensive price tag! As we all know, ice cream cartons aren't the only items on grocery store shelves that are shrinking, and Time magazine reports on the growing trend:

Soaring commodity and fuel prices are driving up costs for manufacturers; faced with a choice between raising prices (which consumers would surely notice) or quietly putting fewer ounces in the bag, carton or cup (which they generally don't) manufacturers are choosing the latter. This month, Kellogg's started shipping Apple Jacks, Cocoa Krispies, Corn Pops, Froot Loops and Honey Smacks containing an average of 2.4 fewer ounces per box.

Other brands that are offering consumers shrunken products at unchanged prices are Tropicana, Wrigley's, Hellman's, and Country Crock. Have you noticed any of these smaller products at your supermarket?

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With the arrival of British Burger King's bling burger, the world just got a little more ridiculous. At £95 (about $200), this burger puts New York's $175 burger to shame. The burger will enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's most expensive hamburger.

Japanese wagyu beef, white truffles, pata negra ham, onion rings made from Cristal batter, pink Himalayan rock salt, and an organic white-wine-infused mayonnaise are the ingredients that make this burger incredibly pricey. While it's obviously excessive, all the proceeds will be donated to charity so what do you think of the bling burger?

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The indulgent world of haute cuisine just got a little more luxurious: Yesterday the Wall Street Burger Joint started serving a $175 hamburger. What makes it so special is the use of high end ingredients such as kobe beef, foie gras, exotic mushrooms, and golden truffle mayonnaise. The entire burger is topped with a generous dusting of gold flakes.

While the creation of absurdly expensive dishes is nothing new, I find it interesting that this burger's debut happens to be in the middle of an international food crisis. I couldn't afford to taste this burger myself, but if dining with a high roller, I would definitely indulge in this extreme excessiveness. I might even ask the chef to add imported aged cheddar! If you're going to go over the top, might as well do it in style. Still, there is something as too much. What do you think about this burger? Is it overly outrageous or divinely fabulous?

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I was recently at the new Oxbow Public Market in Napa, where I came across a little organic scoop shop from Three Twins Ice Cream. While the ice cream is smooth and delicious, it was actually the absurdly expensive sundaes that caught my eye.

I asked the gal behind the counter if they've ever served an expensive sundae, and she said not yet, but she was sure it was bound to happen someday. The sundae costs $3,333.33 and consists of a banana split made with syrups from three rare dessert wines, served with an ice cream spoon from the 1850s. If you give them a day's notice, they'll even have a cellist play while you eat it. If you think the cost is too absurd — it is on the "absurdity" menu, after all — maybe it'll help to know that 1/3 of the price is being donated to a local land trust.

If, however, you think this is too tame to be considered the world's most expensive ice cream sundae, then perhaps the $60,000 "World's More Expensive Most Expensive Ice Cream Sundae" will pique your interest. To find out what all that cash will buy you, read more