Thanks for the Crepes

Sorry to say this, AlaMoi, as I have liked many of your posts and agreed with your food philosophy on many points, but you are talking out of your hat when you are telling folks what the law is for food service employees, even though you're technically correct. Have you read the stories about successful lawsuits against Walmart for forcing employees to work overtime without pay? The many successful ones against Mexican restaurants, especially with their indigenous personnel that were forced to work hours without pay? Recently I read about folks who were cutting up poultry who sued (I'm not looking it up for you). They want to be paid for time it takes to don protective gear to protect themselves from the sharp cutting instruments. These are the very tippy tip of the iceberg. Service people do what they are told or get fired, especially today. That said, way back in the 70's I worked at Bad Bob's nightclub in Memphis, TN when I was 15. I had a borrowed birth certificate, got a TB test from the health department, and I was good to go. This establishment paid their waitresses absolutely not one thin dime, NADA. You were allowed to work there for the tips, and they could be very good. The place had live music and alcohol. We were forced to tip out the bartenders who I am sure also got their own tips and I have no idea what wage. Please don't think it is so easy to enforce the law when you are just a powerless prole trying to survive, and that is what many service folks are. They can't afford legal consultation until the offense is so egregious it amounts to a class action suit that is done on percentage for the lawyers.

Everyone's food looks so good and inspirational, especially Shelby's catfish from yesterday, apparently, because we had it for dinner. Tonight we purchased fresh catfish from the Seafood Depot, a neighborhood fish monger. It was only $4.99 a pound, no worse than ground chuck these days. Interestingly, I found out that they source it from right here in Cary out of Fred G. Bond Park Lake. Many years ago, I used to go to the area that was later turned into a municipal park when it was still completely wild land. We had a path around the lake, and it was a beautiful walk. We even went fishing at times. I found a video on YouTube about catfishing on Bond Lake that does show some greenery scenery of our local part of our beautiful state, but watch it only if you can be patient and tolerate: 1. gratuitous shot of cute baby in car seat on ride into park 2. some of the worst videography I've ever seen, including, but not limited to headache inducing shaky-cam, several seconds of camera staring at board flooring on pier, etc. I almost quit myself, but if you persist, you'll see the automobile ride into the park, a pretty Lab romping in the lake and lots of successful catfishin' in 7-1/2 minutes, and a little slice of North Carolina. I had to fry the fish indoors, because the hurricane hasn't moved out of the area (but it is going, thank the weather gods), so there was moisture, intermittent rain, and falling branches from the trees on the deck, so that was a total no go. I set up the big electric thermostatically controlled Dutch oven first on the stove top so it could be under the exhaust hood. I anticipated problems with heat from the oven because I had it running too, and it's ancient, with not much insulation, so get's really hot on top. I put the fryer on a cookie sheet lined with a towel and wrapped the electric cord in foil to protect it from the heat, but apparently the heat from the oven messed with the thermostat. I set the control at 365 F like I usually do, and the indicator light went off, but the oil wasn't shimmery or fragrant. I knew it wasn't hot enough. It finally dawned on me what the problem was so I raced around, dug out an appliance extension cord (safe for heavy electrical loads) moved the fryer off the stove to a big glass trivet, put the electric cord with thermostat in the freezer for a few minutes and plugged everything back up. Worked like a charm and in a few minutes, I had shimmery oil and was in the frying business! This meal was so good I think we both may have hurt ourselves a little bit. I chopped onion, parsley, capers, tiny dill pickles, to make tartar sauce, but didn't make my own mayo when Duke's is so good. Thanks for the idea Shelby! We both agreed this was the best eating we have done in a while.

Kim Shook, Sorry your Cordon Bleu crepes dish was so disappointing. I always put homemade medium-thick white sauce with the cheese melted into it and a little white wine inside my crepes before baking lightly with no sauce over top, because we enjoy the cripsness of the crepes. It looks like you have baked a green herb into the crepes (chives or parsley?) and that is a great idea for savory applications! Shelby, If you would like to make crepes for the first time, I suggest you read through the eG Crepes Cookoff thread: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/89116-crepes-cook-off-23/ It is responsible for me making my first crepes in my lurking days here. I've made many subsequent others after I found out that you didn't need specialized equipment or magical skills to do it. Just a little swirly wrist action in a non-stick skillet you probably already own. They are versatile, and can easily go savory or sweet, and be refrigerated or frozen for later use filled or unfilled. Not sure if it's necessary, but if I freeze unfilled I stack with cut squares of waxed paper between each one so I can separate out just what I need while still frozen. They don't stick together in the fridge just stacked on top of each other, but I cool them on a rack before stacking. ElainaA, Those are my kind of fried potatoes. Home fries done right! I love rosemary with potatoes. I hope your head cold is all better soon. Leftovers for us, but we enjoyed them, and they didn't go to waste.

Wow, andie! They say it's the thought that counts, right? Unfortunately it sounds like there was little thought put into the gifts you mentioned. As for my gift of muscadine wine, I poured it out today and put the container through the dishwasher to be returned to the donor with a nice little thank you note. My husband sees this gentleman much more than I do. It expelled another burp of gas when I opened it, and when I emptied the jar I noticed that there was not only grape must in the bottom, but quite a bit of a beige substance that resembled what I see when proofing bread yeast. I think I may have failed to mention that this wine was gifted only a week after my initial gift of the grapes. Oh well, we cannot all be master wine makers, and this guy has a really good heart. There was thought behind his gift, and I really appreciate it. He's a sweetheart, and a true southern gentleman. I also found out he's a scientist, and that's where his doctor title comes from. The more I get to know him, the more I like him, so I'm not making fun of the wine in any way. I just didn't like it, but I really liked that he thought of me and spent the time and effort to share it. I brought him and my husband a couple of of freshly brewed iced teas last week when they were working in the heat to level out a place for a greenhouse he asked my husband for help in erecting. He seemed to really appreciate it and asked for more the next day and advice on brewing good clear iced tea.

Rainycatcooks, Welcome to eGullet! I think I would try your coconut vinegar (or oil?) in a salad I favor with canned mandarin oranges, thinly sliced red onion and crisp, fresh Romaine lettuce. Sorry, no clue on the espresso balsamic, although someone more creative than I might try it as a garnish with a cheesecake and strawberries.

Kim Shook, We too are under the threat of the hurricane ^(insert scared icon) so I hope we all come out of it okay. Most of our state is under flood watch, and I live on a major creek. Your dinners look lovely. I've been known to make creamed chipped beef too. Do you use the jarred stuff in the grocery aisle or the refrigerated Buddig brand usually found in the lunch meat section? My dad liked this dish as one of the few good meals on the navy ships he served on in the fifties and sixties, which sometimes included bread with flour weevils baked right into it. Last night's dinner was homemade ham and Swiss cheese crepes based on my memories of the Stouffer's version from years ago that they no longer offer with salad. We also had roast chicken and risotto with the French's onion/cream of mushroom soup green bean casserole recently. Another night we had heuvos rancheros. I just love this dish. My husband isn't a great fan (where's the meat?), but I try to eat hot dogs with him, so it evens out, I reckon. Also we are eating up that lovely watermelon I talked about here recently. I hope it's not the last we will see until next year, but I suspect that it is. Goodbye summer, hello hurricane season.

I'm sorry you couldn't eat your purchase, liuzhou. :-( Perhaps this is a better specimen for the aquarium than the dinner table? It certainly has the beauty to mesmerize while swimming behind glass in a tank. It was certainly educational and fun reading through the thread, though. It was interesting. Thanks.

Hi RaucusBacchus, Welcome to eG, and your peach chutney sounds good. You can always stir in hotter peppers before serving, if you like, and it will add to the texture too.

That fish is gorgeous! Thanks to everyone who participated in my education about the potential? food world. I must say that the eyes look a little flatter than I would strictly like for fresh fish, but they are definitely not the collapsed cloudy things we sometimes get offered on this side of the world. Can you believe, with teeth like that, the creature is considered herbivorous? Apparently some species munch up coral and excrete the undigestible portions as sand. That explains their crazy teeth, which are apparently self-renewing during their lifetime, like sharks. If anyone cares: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parrotfish https://www.google.com/search?q=parrotfish&espv=2&biw=1097&bih=546&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0CIkBEIkeahUKEwjuyrDRpJ7IAhUClYAKHdksD4c&dpr=1.75 Please, liuzhou, do let us know if you eat this very beautiful offering from the sea, and if you're okay after doing so, and thank you for another fascinating and educational contribution to eG!

lindag, That must have been a really large load of apple peels to mess with your disposer. Mine balks on the papery skins from onions and especially corn husks. If the population is so sparse where you are, you probably have more wildlife than I do, and I live smack in the middle of old downtown Cary. The population was 26,000 when I moved here in 1986, but it's over 150,000 now. I still have lots of birds, squirrels. raccoons, opossums, and I have even seen a few deer and owls recently. If I wished to compost food scraps for gardening, I would have to contain it in a wildlife-proof container. You would truly be surprised how quickly food scraps disappear if you have wildlife on your property. I put out watermelon rinds, and within a few days, they are eaten down to the skin, which then decomposes. It helps that I have mature trees and brush to provide privacy from neighbors and cover to attract the wildlife. My home also backs up to a stream. If your home is on a clear cut lot, you might not have enough wildlife for this idea to work for you, but if do have wildlife, stuff like your apple parings disappears in no time.

liuzhou, It's ironic that in our area we will have a "harvest moon", which means the moon comes closest to the planet than at any other time; it appears larger. Also we will have a total lunar eclipse on Sunday night. It must be the opposite on your side of the world. Thanks for your view on mooncakes, and because I also do not care for overly sweet and dense baked goods, I have ceased to covet them. I had done so for years.

Thanks Jaymes and ElainaA, Sometimes I think I may have Asperger's or something, so your advice is extremely appreciated. I never mean to offend people, but it seems to happen too much inadvertently. I can honestly praise the muscadine flavor of the undiluted wine/liqueur and just tell him it was too sweet for me. I just thought if it was a sacrifice for him because he had a lot of time in it, he might want it back, but I will adhere to your wisdom. If he indicates he wants it, fine, but if not, I won't mention it.

Last time I posted in this thread, I planned to have pizza and steak in the same meal for the first time in my life, and for the second time in my life in the same day. They're my favorite foods, but like the best laid plans, it didn't happen. It's actually a good thing, because even though DH ate his whole pizza, I had two slices left. The husband didn't get home until after dark the next day, so we had pizza in the oven with the some of the gargantuan bell pepper, Vidalia onion and pepperoni. The crust was the same batch I used in Kenji's stovetop skillet pizza, but I liked it this time. I was tender and tasty as usual. The next day, I fired up the charcoal grill before dark and cooked the 1.27 pound, 1-1/2" thick slice of rib eye along with the rest of the monster bell pepper, thick slices of Vidalia, a couple halved Roma tomatoes and some okra pods on the grill ala Marcella. I also boiled some dry commercial egg noodles inside at the same time, running back and forth. This was a very good meal, especially the grilled veggies. I wished for some eggplant and zucchini, both of which shine in this prep, but we'd have had even more leftovers. I lost one of the most desirable baby okra and a few of the smaller inner rings of Vidalia through the grill to the coals. My onion slices came apart even though I tried hard for that not to happen. My husband who is not usually a big veggie fan scarfed his grilled veggies down. The steak was tough again for rib eye but very flavorful. Disappointing to both of us in the toughness, but not flavor. I have another like it in the freezer. We had leftover steak at this meal. So today was steak, egg and cheese on cathead parsley and rosemary biscuits with homefries and North Carolina watermelon. For those not conversant in Southern-speak, a cathead biscuit is simply a delicious biscuit as big as a cat's head. In my home, the cat would be a a very large one. The steak was much more palatable after I chilled it and cut it as thin as possible across the grain with my trusty razor-sharp fillet knife. I did not heat the steak other than taking it out of the fridge, slicing, rewrapping, letting it warm at room temp and piling it on the hot biscuits with molten cheese and egg. I rendered some beef fat over very low fat in the egg skillet for a long time while doing the other prep. When I got ready to cook the eggs, I turned up the heat and added a little butter. The crunchy beef bacon was removed and snarfed up by yours truly as cook's treat, and Wow! Sometimes I give the coons beef fat trim. This was so good. I considered cheddar cheese, but I like moz or muenster with steak because it lets the beef flavor bloom better. I only had moz, so that was it, taken out way before the cook, thinly sliced and wrapped in a single layer so it warmed up before being placed on the eggs during the cook. I like to make sure the melted cheese on top of the eggs goes down on the cut biscuit surface, so it melds there instead of squishing out between egg or meat. I used 2-1/2 cups flour which usually gets me 8 cathead biscuits, but for reasons known only to the kitchen gods, I got only 7 today. I was using my usual ice cream scoop method, so I have not a clue why. (Kitchen Scale Manifesto?) They came out really, really good. What I call homefries are different from what some folks call them. I've seen the term applied to crosswise-sliced fried potatoes. Those are cottage fries to me, and what my dad preferred. Some people call parcooked grated potatoes that are then fried "homefries". These are hashbrowns to a lot of folks. To me, homefries are 1/2" diced raw potatoes fried in a little oil until very crispy on all sides. In order to get tender inside, there's time to brown the outside. The key to them is to line a bowl with layers of cheap paper towels, scoop the taters in with a slotted implement, season with salt and a little pepper, then roll and toss in the paper. This results in crispy, grease-free, deliciousness. Lots of restaurants in our neck of the woods offer them, but all I'm aware of are pretty bad. In a restaurant setting, it's not cost effective to cook potatoes from raw for 20 or 30 minutes until crispy and tender like they need to be. They boil them and then try (the operative word) to brown them within their constraints. They make no attempt to drain the grease which has been absorbed by the boiled, soft potatoes. That's OK. I know how to make them correctly. Lastly, the watermelon may very well be the last of the season for us. If so, it is a very worthy specimen. It's the most seedless "seedless" watermelon I have ever laid eyes on. No nascent brown seeds anywhere, and only a few sesame seed-sized white ones. Interestingly there were lots of empty holes where seeds would have been. It was one of those thin-rinded ones you run across rarely. The center core was mealy, flaky, fall-apart-under-the-pressure-of-the-knife sweet. Many of the flakes that fell off went to cook's treat.

liuzhou, I would have loved to have received your water buffalo milk and would have made mozarella di bufala with it! I even like persimmons as long as they have been hit by frost. Before that, they are pucker up, and spit it out. The value of a gift is totally in the eye of the beholder (recipient). I recently received a gift of muscadine wine made from grapes I had given to a neighbor in return for the use of his truck to go back to the Asian grocery (3 mile round trip) where I had walked up and found muscadines, and wanted to bring back a lot more while they still had some. The guy made wine out of them, and kindly sent me about 8 oz. or so. I tried it, and these were the results: "I just took a tiny sip, poured into a glass of course. When I unscrewed the top, it expelled gas in a whoosh, so perhaps the yeast is still alive and producing CO2? It didn't taste bad, like homemade scuppernong wine I've tasted. It has the beautiful floral muscadine flavor coming through, but it's very alcoholic. My neighbor friend says he estimates it's 30% alcohol, and it's very sweet. He had to have added a bunch of sugar. It's like a liqueur made from muscadines, and certainly not a bad one. If you like super sweet liqueurs, this captures the essence of the muscadine perfectly. I poured an ounce into a 16 oz. water goblet, added a short shot of vodka and filled it with seltzer. I now have a very pretty lightly still medium to quite sweet fizzy drink that unfortunately is just too sweet for me, and now it tastes like it smells a little bit when I'm using shoe polish, and the muscadine flavor is gone. I'm not going to finish the rest of it. I think the kindest thing to do would be to return the rest to him, explain it was too sweet for my weird palate, apologize profusely for my weirdness, and hope he enjoys it. Or throw it out and pretend I liked it? What do you think?" I quoted my own words above from the Muscadines thread, because it's been placed on topic watch, and I'd really appreciate some input into how to best deal with a labor of love food gift I just don't like and won't be able to use. Hopefully, this post is more appropriate in this forum. I don't want to hurt the fellow's feelings, but I definitely don't want anymore homemade wine. Muscadines specifically probably won't come up again, because this is the first time I've ever seen them commercially.

I decided to try Kenji's recipe for stovetop skillet pizza, and I have to say I was disappointed, although my husband enjoyed his. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/03/skillet-neapolitan-pizza-no-kneading-or-oven-recipe.html I did use King Arthur Flour's beer crust recipe for the crust, and reduced Kenji's recommended temps because I was using an old Wagner Ware cast iron skillet. The crust was tough and I did not like it. I also missed the slight browning of the cheese, which might have been corrected with a torch, but that wouldn't have saved the crust. In my defense for not following the recipe to the letter, Kenji does state it will work with your own preferred crust, and I have experience with blasting the heat on cast iron, and that will result in incinerated food. I resorted to this because it's still hot here and the only grill I have now is charcoal. I reserve the expensive charcoal for thick rib eyes of which I have one thawing out for tomorrow's dinner. We both agreed that we preferred the grilled result, but amazingly, the husband seemed quite happy with his which is the first one that came out, and the first pizza I had ever tried to stretch and form in the air. Needless to say, it was less than ideal. It had some sort of "head" appendage on a blobby body with stubby legs. The second pizza, mine was more normal-shaped, but way out of round. I froze the rest of the dough in 1/8 portions. Usually, I divide this dough in half. spread one portion on a large cookie sheet, freeze the other, and we eat half of it between us in one sitting, then polish off the rest as leftovers. I'll use this dough up as freshly made individual pizzas, but it will be made in the oven or on the grill. In fact, thinking and writing about this made me realize I have a thick rib eye thawing for tomorrow night's dinner. I just pulled a couple dough balls and a container of crushed tomatoes to go with. I'll grill the other half of the bell pepper on steroids I got from my Asian market, some Vidalia onion and go from there. My two favorite foods in the world are really good steak cooked just right and pizza the same. I've only had them once before on the same day, and that was a long ago birthday, and not at the same meal. I was already looking forward to tomorrow, and I just compounded that. I also have marshmallows to roast over the coals after dinner.

All the fresh muscadines have been scarfed up by yours truly. I ate a few of my frozen muscadines today for the first time, and I can attest that they are excellent frozen treats. They were quite messy eating them out of hand, so next time I'll spear them with a toothpick. The skin seemed to be tenderized a bit. Some complain about thick, tough skins, and even discard them. I'd never do that with something so flavorful and nutritious. The texture of the flesh is surprisingly creamy when frozen. I love these. Bonus: if I decide to make racheld's pie or something else cooked, that's still on the table for later. The neighbor I gave a bag of muscadines to for loaning his vehicle to go get them made wine and sent me about a cup in a jar. He's a Dr., most likely a Phd, because he's also a professor emeritus, and not an M.D., but I don't know. I haven't brought myself to question him if he did anything to kill the yeast after fermenting. I do know it was bread yeast, not brewer's, because my husband was sent to acquire it. Isn't it true that you're not supposed to ingest live bread yeast? I'm real tempted to throw this homemade wine out and tell him it was delicious.

I actually like Charles Shaw chardonnay and shiraz. A lot. If it weren't for them, this prole, wouldn't ever have wine at all. In flush times, I have had much more expensive wines, but I am very grateful for TJ's effort to bring wine to those of us who would have to do without otherwise. I got interested in it years ago, when I was able to afford more expensive stuff while shopping at TJ's. I had dismissed it in the aisle when I saw the price, but folks in the checkout lines were carting out case after case.

Jo Norvelle Walker, I'm glad I'm not alone in not caring for the Amy's brand of organic food products. I tried an "award-winning" recipe for tuna casserole that included Amy's organic white cheddar shells. Both my husband and I agreed that my regular recipe blew that one completely out of the water. Some people make fun of tuna casserole, but when, in a conversation, I discovered it's a favorite for my husband, I made it with my original recipe and it is one of his most requested and appreciated dishes. He's always excited when I make it. Dinner tonight was boiled shrimp with Old Bay, baked potatoes and creamed spinach. After dumping the microwavable plastic pouch of spinach into a glass bowl, covering with a glass plate, and nuking, I declined to eat any. I don't microwave anything in plastic. It looked soupy, gloopy, and smelled nasty. Husband liked it and will eat the rest. My homemade creamed spinach is much better. I do like Stouffer's spinach souffle, so I tried the creamed spinach because it was a gift from someone who was moving. Not recommended. The shrimp and taters were good. There are a surprising amount of vitamins and minerals in potatoes, so I'm not worried about missing those in the spinach dish, which was little spinach and lots of gloop.

Dinner tonight was deconstructed stuffed peppers. It's still hot here, so the dish was made on the stovetop with chopped peppers. I found the largest green bell pepper I have ever seen in my life at my Asian market. It weighed 1.03 pounds before I used half of it in this dish with 12 oz, ground chuck, a cup of raw white rice, a little onion, a 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes and juice, and a Knorr caldo de tomate cube of bullion. This was served with salad dressed with a mustard vinaigrette dressing I remember from the original Pancho's restaurant at 3600 E, Broadway St., West Memphis AR. The dressing has oregano in it. I have a huge container of Badia brand Mexican oregano, but can't bring myself to use it even in Mex dishes. It stinks, while the Italian version is fragrant? I guess I have an impaired palate? Or maybe I just prefer good stuff? A neighbor who's fixing to get evicted kept texting my husband with very irritating noises through dinner, which are unfortunately not a stranger to me. Husband did not want to help him, but I said, if he's hungry, we have to help. I sent some deconstructed stuffed peppers and salad. Husband came back and told me he was over there throwing his fit with half a pound of cheese and grapes. This guy deserves to get evicted. weinoo, I share your disdain for fishing, but I have been a voluntary captive of it because I adore being on the water. At one point I owned my own 22" cabin cruiser. Fishing is really fun, though, when they are striking like crazy as fast as you can bait your hook with minnows for crappie. This only happened one time to me on a Valentines Day at the Haw River at the abandoned hydroelectric plant. Usually I find fishing boring to the extreme, but when they are biting everything thrown at them, it will keep you engaged. Then you get to eat the fruits. We had these freshly killed and cleaned crappie grilled over charcoal in a pan for dinner with onions on the bottom, thinly sliced, then butter and lemon slices over the top. Also paprika was involved.

Hi ecclescake, Welcome to eG. I'm interested in low sugar and savoury (savory) baking too, so would enjoy hearing about the experimentation you're doing. I'm also up for food culture and traditions, markets, ingredients, restaurants and anything else you care to share with us.

blue_dolphin, I would gladly help you make some freezer space by enjoying some of your frozen creations. I too like less sugar than most recipes, and your natural ingredients in clever combinations are so appealing to me. They all are so lovely it would be hard to pick a favorite. I'd want to try them all.

That's interesting, rotuts. We've all seen or used parchment in the oven with fish for papillotte, but this is the first time I have seen chef Townson's method. It looks like the packets are loosely wrapped instead of carefully sealed to contain steam and juices, which I thought was the purpose of the parchment. Did she elaborate on what the paper was supposed to accomplish in her application? I'd guess they are to keep the potato "scales" in place during cooking and flipping. Do you know if she used any fat in the pan? It's not obvious from the photo. Sorry I can't help you with info on the pan.

Okay, sorry Boucaneer, This further information about there being no emergency or real disaster makes me feel really bad for my initial response, but I didn't know that at the time. If you're not in at actual disaster area, the playful use of fire extinguishers wouldn't be so bad as in putting people's lives in danger. They can cause frostbite if misdirected, and the static electricity from their operation can cause a shock with some larger ones enough to cause the operator to drop it, at least with the older models. Perhaps designers have put in plastic or other non-conductive grips since my direct experience in the late '70's. Also it seems wasteful to me, but please excuse me for being a thrifty soul. I agree with Alamoi, that it would be difficult if not impossible to make ice cream for a crowd with A fire extinguisher. You certainly seem to have good intentions, are resourceful and creative, and I look forward to further posts from you.

gfweb and Boucaneer, I did not mean to come off so harsh to someone who is motivated to try to do some good in the world. I was just trying to inject some reality into the situation. Seems Anna N knows exactly where Boucaneer is going although it wasn't apparent in his/her post. I hope there is communication, and the roads for supply lines are clear. I'm just saying, don't count on it. Somehow, it seems particularly unlikely when Alex was there two months ago and it's still a declared disaster area. I used to be as optimistic and idealistic as Boucaneer, and I'm just trying to save a little pain and disappointment. I spent 8 years working for the Order of the Eastern Star, and 9 years working for YMCA (Young Men's Christian Association). Both are supposed to be benevolent, but when you get to know them intimately, they're just not. BTW Rich folks recharge their sat phones on their yachts from the jenny. They could do much good in a disaster situation, but that's usually not their focus.

Hi Boucaneer and welcome to eGullet! As a person who has lived through east coast USA disasters, notably Hurricane Fran in 1996, I can tell you that your expectations of communication or good food, especially ice cream, are blue-sky dreams. Wasting critical emergency equipment like fire extinguishers might result in very negative feedback from peers. (If I were working alongside you in such an environment, I would first become vociferous, and then just bonk you with the extinguisher, if you did not desist in your idea of chilling ice cream with scarce fire extinguishers, when emergency responders can't be reached. Even if they could be reached, they are very likely not to be able to get to the site where help is needed. I do not know which disaster you're contemplating forging into specifically, but when there is no electricity there are no cell phones, including iPhones. All the towers go down. If you are rich and have a satellite phone, you may have different results provided you find a place to charge said sat phone. Roads are blocked by fallen trees, everyone is without food, water and supplies can't get in. In earthquakes roads may be buckled or blocked by fallen debris. If you're going into a disaster area, do not think about ice cream, please.