robyn

Why don't you just go to a synagogue for a couple of hours tonight or tomorrow? If that's too tough a ticket (sometimes they are) - try Hillel House. That way - you'll have one of the most important parts of the holidays. Maybe see some people you know - or meet some new ones. BTW - I read your web site and noticed where you are. One of our nieces started at Ann Arbor this year - and my husband and I are very proud of her. Robyn

You know - that really brought some tears to my eyes. If I hadn't read this thread - we would have walked into the nursing home to pick up my FIL to go to the doctor tomorrow - and only then would I have realized it was erev Rosh Hashanah (although my FIL isn't Jewish - he's in a Jewish nursing home - and they would be setting up for holiday services). I would have felt like a real dummy. Anyway - big thanks. And the best to you and your family. And don't forget the people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. I think a lot of people will need (and get) rabbinical dispensations tomorrow night. Robyn

It's probably too late for an apple recipe for the New Year. But if you'd like a wonderful sweet potato/apple recipe for Thanksgiving or some other holiday - I'd be glad to share it. Robyn

I just want to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy and healthy New Year. It's terrible - but I had forgotten about it almost completely. Between my FIL's cancer surgery 3 weeks ago - the hurricanes - and the doctor's appointments this week for the new cancer appearances for my FIL - well this isn't the best holiday week I've ever had! But I hope all of yours are better. And I will read this thread and perhaps make a belated New Year's meal in a couple of weeks (better late than never <sigh>). Better yet - I will do a combo New Year's/Thanksgiving meal - because I'll be having a ton of family visiting. Sounds like a weird idea - but I hate to miss making my favorite New Year's dishes. Robyn

What part of the woods here do you frequent (I see you live in Jacksonville)? If you eat at BB's - or Bistro Aix - or Matthew's - or Medure's - or Cafe Carmon - or lots of other places - you're not going to find grits and greens - tea with sugar water - crystal's hot sauce - or Duke's mayo. They're not world class restaurants - after all - Jacksonville isn't a world class city - but they're pretty good. By the way - I've found that many of the old "southern" places here - including the "fish camps" - to be of uneven - and frequently - no quality (there are of course some exceptions). Not to mention that I was afraid to go to some of my favorite mom and pop "southern" places after Hurricane Frances because I was sure they wouldn't throw away half-defrosted/semi-warm refrigerator food. In fact - there was a Florida Times Union piece where a local restaurant owner was thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have to throw away all his food because he only lost power for a little less than 24 hours . In contrast - a place like Biscotti's wound up trashing everything (sad - but the right thing to do). So to me - "old-fashioned" isn't always better. Far from it. Also BTW - you can get unsweet tea if you ask for it in restaurants that serve iced tea (most restaurants have 2 pitchers - sweet - and unsweet). I know there are people who think the south should be like a museum - but those are the same people who think the transformation of the lower east side from an area of huddled masses to urban chic is "awesome". I have lived in the south for over 30 years - and am glad we've resisted the idea of simply being a quaint tourist attraction for people who like to think they're slumming when they eat a mess of greens. Yes - it's true that a lot of people who settled here came for the weather (that's been true for over 100 years now). But we wouldn't have world class doctors at Mayo Jacksonville if they didn't prefer Florida winters to Minnesota winters. Robyn

In light of Hurricane Ivan - and potential Hurricane Jeanne - I just want to say that if any of you need anything - and you think I can be of help - please get in touch with me by email. I can give you my home phone - cell phone - fax - etc. - and will be glad to do what I can. After Hurricane Andrew - I spent 2 weeks helping to run a volunteer on-line emergency bulletin board. We spent a lot of time simply getting family members in contact with one another (sometimes people have to evacuate - and have difficulty getting in touch with their families). Please note that if you need chain saw work - I am not your girl . For those of you in areas that might be affected - this is the most important web site. It's a streaming list of all local advisories. You can search through the list by looking for your county/parish name. The same info is available on weatherband radio (and you should get a battery operated one if at all possible). And for those of you who haven't been through the drill before - please please listen to your local officials in terms of evacuation recommendations. Sorry this isn't about food - but most people here live to eat - so it's important to get through hurricane season alive and in one piece! Robyn

These are all good ideas for various serving situations - although I don't think I want to put the cooler on the Thanksgiving table - no matter how well it works . Since I've never used a chafing dish - I have a question. On one of the web sites I saw - it said remember to designate someone to check the water level every once in a while. That implies that the water evaporates - and when the water evaporates - you can wind up burning the food (or worse). So what exactly do you have to do if you're planning to leave a spread out for about 3 hours? We don't have these family gatherings too often - and - when we do - no one is that attentive (at the last one my SIL almost burnt down a wall when some candles started a fire). FWIW - I do have a spot where I can plug in an electric warming tray that is "out of harm's way". Robyn

We went to a place in Beverly Hills a few years ago that was like that - Reign (owned by a famous athlete whose name I've forgotten ). Don't know if it's still there. The food was pleasant (decent but overpriced fried chicken with the fixings) - but it was basically a "scene" restaurant (beautiful restaurant and beautiful people). It was great fun. I don't think I've ever seen so many buff good looking (straight) guys and beautiful women in one place at one time before. I think the reason you don't hear much about the food at places like this is people (including me) are using all of their energy to "people watch". Robyn

We find places like that from time to time (when we're in the mood for them) - places that have been there forever. A Sunday "brunch" at Pine Needles resort near Pinehurst North Carolina comes to mind. And there's a little chain in Florida called Holiday House. Most of the places are dumps - but the original location in Deland is quite nice (the food is served cafeteria style except for dessert but it's "white tablecloth"). Of course - a lot of the country clubs are still around....Robyn

I like the idea of the camping stove with the stovetop percolator. No way to get either here now. But I've made a note for my "presents for the house" holiday gift list. They should be back in stock then. On another note - for those of you who might be building or doing an extensive remodel in hurricane country in the future - I recommend using permanent easy to close shutters or impact windows (these or similar are required in parts of Florida now). I've had the former in the past - now have the latter. Makes hurricane preparation a whole lot easier. In the grand scheme of things - they're more more important than having a Viking stove . I hope that everyone who might be affected by Ivan winds up ok. Robyn

Fingers crossed we are finished with hurricane threats. I'm looking foward to Thanksgiving. Big family gathering. I'm used to cooking a lot - but not for a lot of people (usually I have a lot of leftovers). This will be the first time. I'd like to put out a spread where things like veggies will stay warm. Any recommendations? I have a lot of catalogues - including professional cooking catalogues - and the chafers-small steam tables-etc. are expensive as well as ugly. The new All Clad line isn't ugly - but it's out of the ballpark in terms of expensive. I've been looking at the Maxim warming tray - price is right - but will it do the job? What applicances do those of you with experience recommend? Robyn

Perhaps I'm just an old fart. After coming home after Andrew (4 days later - just to take a peek) - the smell of the rotten stuff in the fridge/freezer was enough that I simply don't keep a lot in those places during hurricane season these days. As for the lack of electricity/AC - I can't take it for more than a day or two in August. As a practical matter - our place in Miami was without power for almost a month after Andrew (we stayed in a hotel with power) - friends further south went for almost 6 months (they either got commercial whole house generators or left). Today - there are tens of thousands of people here in north Florida who've been without power for a week. I suppose there are some people who can take it - or enjoy it. I'm simply not one of them. Robyn

Cold coffee - yuck . I can't even take the traditional summer iced coffee here. Minneapolis - can't imagine a place that has less in common with Florida climate-wise. We've been up there from time to time to visit friends in Minneapolis - and get some health care stuff in Rochester - but only May-September (which I think is a very beautiful time of year there). Robyn

What part of Florida do you live in? All but the largest commercial sized residential generators are unsatisfactory solutions unless you're dealing with a relatively short power outage (unlikely unless you basically have a tropical storm) or can endure sleeping in 95+ degree heat. After over 30 years in Florida - I can say that the best hurricane survival skill I've developed is making evacuation reservations - and the second best is knowing when to leave ahead of the hordes. By the way - the first sounds easy - but it isn't. You don't want to evacuate into a problem area. Ivan looks particularly troublesome for people who might have to evacuate - because so many areas are still suffering from the effects of Charley and Frances. Robyn

The east coast of Florida is looking ok tonight. At best a little messy. Bigger problems for the panhandle and folks inland who will flood if there's much more rain. Thanks for your thoughts. Robyn

I do have instant coffee on hand. Better than nothing. Robyn

What purpose do the eggshells serve? Just curious - because I think the last thing on my mind before/during/after a hurricane would be washing and crushing egg shells . I think hurricanes are possibly fun when they're not very big and you're a kid and you get off from school. I recall a couple like that from my youth. The first I remember enduring as an adult was Agnes when I lived in Philadelphia. Caused a lot of flooding. And after we moved to Florida - we wound up evacuating for many major storms - but only got smashed once - by Andrew. I think that as the population has grown in the coastal areas of the southeast - and politicians have gotten more nervous about casualties - the evacuations have become a total PITA. On the other hand - the only thing worse than evacuating for nothing is evacuating and coming home to find your house/neighborhood destroyed. And evacuation certainly beats the possibility of serious personal injury or death. Robyn

Actually I don't have a chafing dish (never had a need for one - I've been looking at them recently because I have a lot of people coming for Thanksgiving this year). My biggest concern has been the most efficient way to boil water (I can of course boil water on the grill - but I don't want to use a half tank of propane to do it). The combination of the percolator to boil water and french press sounds like a good solution. Robyn

Those stovetop percolators are usually sold in camping stores/sections of stores here. They're totally sold out - and some salespeople said they don't expect to get them for months! Sounds like an item to buy as a holiday present - maybe online. Hurricane season ends 11/30 - and demand should ease up by then. You can use it as a percolator - or to boil water to use in some other coffee making device. I'm familiar with inverters - but concerned about using them. First we'd have to undo all the hurricane do-dads on the garage doors (we have a series of metal bars and bolts and pins that lock the garage doors and prevent them from blowing in). Then move the car out of the garage (don't want to kill ourselves). And one of our cars has a nasty habit of choking if we only drive it a few yards. So we'd have to waste gas to get a cup of coffee. I really love my coffee but you don't want to waste gas after a storm. Overall - I like the percolator idea a lot better. Robyn

I've lived in the southeast (Florida) for over 30 years - and traveled extensively in other states in the southeast both on business and pleasure trips (I've also traveled extensively in other parts of the US). I think that talking about cooking in general in the "southeast" makes about as much sense as talking about cooking in general in Europe. Nuevo and old Latino food - Floribbean food - BBQ - low country cuisine (old fangled and new fangled) - well they have about as much in common as kidney pies and borscht. And I'm just talking about several cuisines in the deep south - while you're also talking about places like Tennesee and Virginia. And I kind of shake my head when someone talks about something like Gullah traditions. How many people in the south are Gullah - a couple of thousand? And how many Cubans are there - a couple of million? For that matter - how many people who live in the south were born in the south? A lot less than 50% - and my guess is less than 25%. I think you're trying to enshrine something that simply isn't here in a dominant way. Life here is - if nothing else - dynamic. Robyn

Apart from coffee - figured anyone reading this thread would be interested in the hurricanes themselves. This is a great graphic which shows both projected storm course and wind speeds. It's a few hours slow in updating compared to the NHC stuff - but it gives you a good idea what you might be in for. Back to coffee discussion tomorrow. Robyn

OK - I admit it - I'm a JAP. Two days without power and I'm on a plane out of here. Still - I think I ought to be able to cope for a day or two. We have a BBQ - and we did manage ok for a little over 24 hours this weekend. Except for coffee (I have a grill pot which is more suited to baked beans than boiling water). I'm not the only one. Newspaper articles said people without power were lining up at Starbucks and other places with power to get coffee (even though they didn't have cream or half and half or anything like that). So I'm not alone. Any tips on making coffee when you lose power? Or any other helpful hints when your only cooking source for everything is your BBQ? Fingers crossed that no one needs these hints. Robyn

I suspect this has been mentioned upthread (probably by me). The Supreme Court of Israel - which is the third largest world producer of foie gras after France and Hungary - has banned foie gras production. The ban won't take effect until March 2005. And the 2 year "waiting period" is designed to allow the industry to adopt more humane production methods. For what it's worth - I like foie gras - and don't feel strongly about the production methods. But if it disappeared from my life - I don't think I'd spend a lot of time missing it. Robyn

After going through a tropical storm - and 2 close encounters with major hurricanes - in the last 3 weeks (although a lot of people in Florida weren't as lucky as I was) - I can say - yes - you have to say more. In a way - what has happened here in the last 3 weeks is good. Efforts to strengthen building codes in Florida in recent years have been fought tooth and nail by the building industry - the "good ole boys" who think you ought to be able to build anything the way you want to build it - no matter how poor the construction. I suspect Charley and Frances will put a big dent in those campaigns. Unless the only topic that can be discussed here in this forum is design (and I'm not aware of any such rule) - I think that building codes and structural integrity matter for people who live in calamity prone areas (and that's just about all of us if you take things like hurricanes - earthquakes - floods - tornadoes - etc. - into account). In the last 3 weeks - structures in Florida built to stringent codes fared relatively well. Those built to lesser codes didn't. And it's not strictly a question of an individual "assuming the risk" since just about everyone has insurance through private insurance companies - state pools - federal flood insurance - or - as a last resort - begging FEMA to bail them out. So when construction isn't up to snuff in terms of dealing with the particular hazards in a particular area - we all wind up paying for the deficiencies eventually. I won't say more in this thread. I just want it known that I don't agree with your POV. Robyn

Well - we have our power, phone and internet back (better than a lot of people here in Florida). Lots of tree debris. No other damage. Still under tornado warnings. Am reconsidering our trip to Sarasota. How do things look in Orlando - Tampa and points southwest? Flooding - road problems - gas problems? I already know about Ivan . I hope all of you out there are ok - and I will share one cooking tip from this storm. I bought a 1 quart 2 handle non-stick "grill pot" from BBQs Galore before this storm. It was "guaranteed" to stand up to use on the grill - and it did. So we had hot beans with our hot dogs. Between Charley and Frances - seems like I lost a few weeks (although my husband and I are getting pretty good at moving patio furniture). Let's hope that we can all get back to normal soon. Robyn