Hurricane Plans?

[maggiethecat]

Might make a glorified fig newton by caramelizing fresh figs and wrapping in puff pastry.

I need these! Should you make them, Tell All.

[hwilson41]

Varmint;

Might make a glorified fig newton by caramelizing fresh figs and wrapping in puff pastry.

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

[Varmint]

I chickened out and had ice cream instead. All is still very quiet here. The rains are just starting to hit the Outer Banks. We'll get winds tonight, but I'm pretty confident that we will miss the major part of this storm.

[bilrus]

[...the store was overrun with people pushing 2 carts each full of toilet paper, water, milk, bread, etc.  

I always figure people are going to make french toast during the storm.

[BBhasin]

Bombay Curry Company in Alexandria will be closed.

I will have to kick myself if we get ' just passing showers'

[Busboy]

I just emerged from the P Street Whole Foods in DC. It's an utter mob scene, tempers are already flairing, lines are backed up for miles. I expect violence and looting at any moment: Well-dressed gay men carrying off armloads of goat cheese; bike couriers smashing glass and filling their pouches with vegan frozen pizza; flannel-draped lesbians brawling over the last of the fresh produce; yuppie couples emerging from the rubble with organic baby food and liters of Evian....

Seriously, a woman with an otherwise charming Jamaican accent threatened to take her umbrella "upside your head" to the guy in front of me, who objected to her cutting in line (for four items, I don't do violence, myself), and the manager warned the bagger to help re-position the lines "it's backed up into the produce section and they're just about to start fighting."

Pretty surreal.

[Al_Dente]

REPENT-- the end is near!

I usually metro in to work, but now I gotta drive since Metro, in all its wisdom, will shut down at 11am.

[fifi]

I put this in Heather's blog. I thought you might find it helpful here... for those of you with freezers to worry about.

Good move on transferring the frozen food to the "big freezer". The more that you have in the freezer, the better off you are. You might also crank down the temperature if you have that option. How long it will last in a power outage is dependent on ambient temperature. Here on the Gulf Coast, it is always hotter than hell after the storm passes. My mother always had this big chest freezer. She would wrap it in every blanket and comforter in the house. I don't know if that helped but it is directionally correct. One time she used some insulation bats that dad had bought to add to the attic. The drill is that you DON'T OPEN IT until the power comes back on. Immediately when the power comes on you take an inventory and decide what to toss before it refreezes and you can't tell. Someone in the house was always on "freezer watch". You slept with a radio or light by the bed in case the power came back on during the night. Then you had to get up and check the freezer. I remember going through the monster at 3:00am one time. PITA, but the freezer was central to my mother's existence. I guess it was that depression era food hoarding thing.

[Malawry]

Thanks for the tips, Fifi.

I was contemplating heading out to buy some ice. I feel pretty certain we'll lose power. We have brownouts all the damn time here. With ice, I could load milk, produce and other stuff we'd want to consume into a cooler and not have to open the fridge at all.

[Varmint]

It's raining hard. Wind is gusting up to 40 mph. I'm working and getting ready to interview for a new secretary. Anyone who comes in for an interview in conditions like this earns major brownie points in my book!

[Marlene]

You might as well hire her/him on the spot. They may not be able to get out again, and then they could start work right away

[hwilson41]

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

[sextons]

We've got the TV on in the office here. The winds in Virginia Beach are pretty bad and they are still expecting it to hit the DC area pretty hard . . . joy.

I had pretty good luck with the crowds in the stores last night - lots of people and little on the shelves but everyone was pretty nice - all in the hurricane spirit. There wasn't a loaf of bread to be found ANYWHERE or any water in containers larger than 1/2 liter. Walmart was very entertaining:

(overhead announcer in a very urgent voice) "We have D batteries! Repeat: We have D batteries! We have a truck getting ready to unload and hopefully there will be some flashlights on board."

Five minutes later: "We have flashlights!! We have flashlights! Come to the front if you need flashlights!"

And I couldn't help myself! I had to go get a flashlight!

[pho]

Good luck everyone.. here she comes.

[hjshorter]

Yeah, it's now raining pretty steadily.

Like Malawry, we lose power in any big thunderstorm, so I'm sure ours will be going out at some point. Ugh.

[Malawry]

I keep alternating between wanting to do as much stuff online as possible while I can and wanting to prepare. Though at this point I've done almost all the preparations I'm willing to do, I just want to fill up the big soaking tub and that's about it.

I've been trying to consume stuff that probably won't survive. I had milk in my cereal this morning and we just ate some pan-fried catfish sammiches with crudite for lunch. I decided my iced coffee could survive on the counter but the milks, juice etc. are all safely in a cooler packed with ice so I won't have to open the fridge or risk them going bad.

[hwilson41]

Like Malawry, we lose power in any big thunderstorm, so I'm sure ours will be going out at some point. Ugh.

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

[vengroff]

Schneider's of Capitol Hill was a madhouse this afternoon. There's going to be some serious hitting the bottle around here, and it's not going to be water.

[Al_Dente]

It's been rough. Some of the winds must have topped FORTY MILES AN HOUR! I went to Sutton Place-- the local gourmet food store, picket up a magret breast, some fingerling potatoes, couple of artichokes, some duck liver mousse, maytag bleu, tomme du somethingorother, and a french loaf. Had a lovely dinner by candlelight. Thank God for the gas stove. Never cooked a breast like that before-- I did it well if I do say so myself. Roaster the taters with the rendered fat. YUM, hadn't had that since I was in France.

Much ado about nothing here in DC. Not even much rain really. Just a little gusty, that's all.

Well, this American had some duck. I looked all over for Orangutan, but I couldn't find it.

[pho]

Yea, but tell that to the now 1 million people without power in Virginia and NC.

Edited September 19, 2003 by pho (log)

[Varmint]

Power's back on here, after being out for 3 hours. Lots of limbs down, but the big ones missed the house and cars. The tennis court survived, too.

I made the family some Asian barbecued chicken wings, fresh cut fries, and broccoli.

[Marlene]

Thanks for letting us know you're ok Varmint! They've closed the schools here for tomorrow. No one can figure out why.

[herbacidal]

Power's back on here, after being out for 3 hours.  Lots of limbs down, but the big ones missed the house and cars.

for a second there, i thought you were talking about arms and legs.

then i realized you were talking about wooden things falling offa bigger wooden things.

Edited September 19, 2003 by herbacidal (log)

[jparrott]

So are things open in DC this evening? We're all watered out, here in the burbs. Time to switch to something stronger :-).

Jake

[Al_Dente]

So are things open in DC this evening?  We're all watered out, here in the burbs.  Time to switch to something stronger :-).

Jake

I imagine most places would be open. I certainly hope so-- a Friday Happy Hour sounds good to me.

I can't drink water at my place in Alexandria at the moment without boiling it first. Seems like a good rationalization for hittin the booze.