hwilson41

Heard on TV this morning that Pepco has brought in over 700 lineman and other repairmen from as far away as TN. Maybe the outage will be short this time. Then again, there are lots of fun things you can do in the dark, as long as you don't run out of beer and wine . THW

We've had an impenetrable cloud cover over Fairfax since at least 5:30 this morning. Slightest sprinkle, but no real rain...yet. Within the last hour or so, the wind swung around from N/NE to E/SE. Light gusts so far, then an eerie calm between gusts. The whole scene is a little spooky. When I was a kid in Texas, the sky would turn green (really) just before the big blows. At least we don't have a green sky yet . BOL to all. THW

Varmint; I need these! Should you make them, Tell All. Second that motion! Sounds delightful. Do you caramelize with white or brown sugar? Please share. Re hurricanes, daughter and son-in-law live in My Blue Heaven (aka Chapel Hill for you Dukies) and at last communication (about two hours ago) all seemed pretty innocuous. Anything hitting the fan yet? THW

Vengroff; {snip} Thank you VERY much. I'm sure I wasn't expressing my quandry very well, but you managed to break the code anyway. Of course, now I feel like the village idiot for not being able to figure that out myself, but c'est la vie . Thanks much for the help. THW

Tommy; I guess I'm a little thick, and probably not explaining my problem very well, because I still can't get this right. The part that quotes your message looks fine, but how did you insert the reference to my earlier post, as in "QUOTE (hwilson41 @ Sep 17 2003, 06.22 PM)" in the heading line beside the word "QUOTE" above the quote? I know to use the quote button to put the quote in the box, but I can't figure out how to put the "(hwilson41 @ Sep 17 2003, 06:22 PM" in the heading line. Sorry to be so dense. TIA. THW

Wow, obviously I'm not the only one taking Isabel seriously . Sherribabee; Excellent idea. I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of that. Heather; Do you have comprehensive insurance on the cars ? If so, you're probably OK. jhlurie; I grew up in Texas (Ft Worth). Half an inch of snow would close the schools...probably for two days. Amusing to folks that live up north, but not a bad deal if you're a high school student . Update on school closings: some of this has not been verified from other sources, but my understanding is that Montgomery, Prince William, Fauquier, and Loudoun are closed. Of course, Fairfax will wait until 5:00 am tomorrow morning to announce, because that's their way (spouseperson is a Fairfax County teacher) . Good luck to all. This one could be a bitch, but I hope not. THW P.S. Would somebody please tell me the code required to get a reference to the quoted post after the "Quote" title rather than into the body of the quoted message (see the most recent post by Al_Dente)? I like to think I'm fairly computer literate, but don't know beans about html, which I suspect is my problem. TIA.

Sextons; Yeah, but you've got the Inn at Little Washington. You could eat there every night with Patrick O'Connell, et al. Four star food, and you'd only need a small second mortgage to pay the bill...well...maybe a medium sized second mortgage . I presume you have to go to Warrenton to do your supermarket shopping? I tried to circumvent buying water by buying empty plastic containers and filling them with water, but none to be found. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places. Good luck, anyway. THW

Basilgirl; As of yesterday afternoon, the Radio Shack at Kamp Washington in Fairfax (intersection of Rt 29/50 and Rt 236) still had some D cells (it's in the same shopping center as Borders). Might be worth a call, although they may be long gone by now. Giant also still had Sierra Nevada yesterday. BOL. THW

Malawry, I'm in Fairfax, and I had to go to three supermarkets yesterday before I found water. Finally found some in 2.5 gallon jugs at the Giant on Jermantown Rd near Fair Oaks mall and bought 10 gallons. At this point, we've accumulated the following: 1. 10 gallons of water; 2. enough candles to start a new Catholic church; 3. enough batteries to stock a small Radio Shack; 4. more canned tunafish that I hope I'll ever have to eat; 5. two gallons of milk, two dozen eggs, and two lbs of bacon; 6. a LOT of beer and wine ; 7. static rope from REI to tie the patio furniture to backyard trees. There are at least two jokers in the deck that have me concerned. First, Isabel hasn't really gotten into the Gulf Stream yet, and the energy from the warm water could really spin her back up. Second, essentially the same thing could occur on the trip north. Last I heard, supposed landfall is around Cape Hatteras, maybe a little farther north. Once she gets to about the Tidewater (Norfolk, etc.) latitude, if she takes a slight eastward turn, there is a ton of warm water in Chesapeake Bay to feed her again, and things could get very interesting. If we're lucky, Isabel will only be a ho-hum tropical storm with a lot of rain by the time she gets to the DC area, but don't bet the ranch (or your life) on it. THW

OK, as all can see from the last post, I haven't yet broken the code on how one gets the reference line to the previous post up beside the "Quote" rather than in the body of the quote. Would someone be so kind as to explain how this is done? TIA. THW

Mcdowell, I would argue that chicken fried steak, correctly served (my definition of "correctly", of course ) probably originated in Texas. When I was growing up there, chicken fried steak was invariably served slathered in homemade cream gravy, and lots of it. No wallpaper paste, mind you, but the real thing made with bacon drippings (or lard), flour and whole milk (oh, shit...I'm drooling on the keyboard). Usually, although not always, accompanied with French fries, and sometimes coleslaw. Outside of Texas, you're taking your culinary life in your own hands if you order chicken fried steak. I was exchanging emails a while back with a cousin-of-a-cousin who is also a native Texan (now transplanted to PNW), and she decided on a trip back home to get adventuresome and order chicken fried steak outside of Texas - in New Mexico, to be precise. The steak was served with...Ranch dressing!!!! Not a mistake she'll ever make again. THW

If a newbie might be allowed to chime in, Peechdogg has it dead on. This was a simple, country dish, made with whatever was available. In the days when this dish was created, nobody went anywhere to buy anything except maybe flour (made from your corn or wheat). You shot it, trapped it, or wrung its neck, skinned or plucked it, cleaned it, and into the stew it went. Bones came out later, after the meat was falling off (same with the original chili). And you wasted nothing. Liver, giblets, etc., all went into the stew. One suggestion I might add that hasn’t been mentioned, if anybody’s game (no pun intended ), a Have-a-Heart trap baited with a little peanut butter is a great way to catch squirrels. Then you get to decide when to do the butchering, and can feed the little bastards what you like in the meantime (you'll need a pretty fine wire mesh cage). Peanuts, old tomatoes, and of course acorns are prime candidates for squirrel fodder. And don’t forget to add the squirrel brains to the stew (these are also awesome with scrambled eggs, BTW). Lots of cheap protein, and in the cooking time usually associated with B stew, they will disintegrate and serve as thickener. I've got Bill Neal's cookbooks, and will try to do a bit more homework on this as time allows, but you folks are doing noble work on this. More power to you. Best to all, THW P.S. Just an aside from a newbie, this is probably the coolest site I've blundered into and the most fun I've had since I discovered......well, whatever .

Fifi; That is truly amazing. I'm a native Texan, and grew up eating barbecue, mostly from Angelo's on the north side of Ft Worth. I've never seen a smoke ring penetrate all the way through the flat. Then again, they smoke the brisket whole and then separate the point and the flat. Both Kiawe and Mesquite are genus Prosopis, although different species (I'm a wood guy), so once again you're on the right track. I too would have thought it would be overpowering. Maybe time for a trip to Hawaii, which spouseperson would think is a teriffic idea. Thanks for the info. THW

Chef; Fifi is just about dead on about the smoke ring. For real Texas barbecue, a 12 lb brisket should smoke 18 hours or so (rule of thumb is 1-1/2 hours per pound, but it varies from one to another). Usually done over hckory, always with indirect heat as you described, and temp between 200 and 225*. Some sort of chemical reaction (the physical chemistry of which I don't understand) takes place, and the outer ring of the brisket (sliced across the grain) will be darker and a purple-maroon color from the smoke penetration. 1/2" is considered a heavy smoke ring in most of the stuff I've read. I forgot about the color-preserving properties of the nitrates, and that and the shorter smoking time probably explain everything. Aside: I read somewhere a while back about a popular restaurant in Manhattan, supposedly serving "authentic" Texas and Carolina style barbecues. One patron who knew about Texas barbecue ordered some, and noticed the absence of the smoke ring. Upon insistent questioning, somebody finally admitted that they were soaking the brisket overnight in liquid smoke and then cooking it in a conventional oven This should be at least a class 3 felony carrying a minimum sentence of 12 months of nothing but Big Macs to eat. THW

I'm a newbie and just a lurker (only discovered egullet a few days ago), but this is as fascinating a site and thread as I've stumbled into in a long time. Question for Chef Fowke (to whom I'll add my hearty thanks for taking on this project): In the photos after "pastramization", there was no visible smoke ring on the brisket, unlike the Texas-style brisket I'm used to seeing. [Aside: absence of smoke ring is an acid test for fake "Texas style" brisket.] Is this just a fluke of the picture, or due to a difference in the smoking process? Thanks again for a job superbly done. THW