100% Chance of Snow Blowing

[KMango]

Haha, well I get that...but out at a restaurant...when I've just walked in from the cold, and I'm staring down the options of either:

a. short rib chili and cornbread

b. various hot panini

c. flatbreads with hot, melty cheese and various toppings or

d. a cobb salad with cold lettuce, cold bacon, cold hard boiled egg, and cold blue cheese

I would find it near impossible to go for that last option.

Not without a blender, anyway.

(you don't win friends with salad)

(you don't win friends with salad)

(you don't win friends with salad)

[bookluvingbabe]

What do you turn to when snowy-weather food doesn't appeal anymore?

(Honestly, I kind of never want to eat again. )

I just don't want to eat my own cooking again for a while.

Never mind that days can go by where I cook every meal and eat at home. Somehow not having the option to go out is making me antsy

[leleboo]

(you don't win friends with salad)

(you don't win friends with salad)

(you don't win friends with salad)

Oh how appropriate that is, given the amount of cooked piggy goodness sitting in my fridge right now. ("BBBQ...The extra B is for BYOBB." "What's that extra B for?" "It's a typo.")

I just don't want to eat my own cooking again for a while.

Never mind that days can go by where I cook every meal and eat at home. Somehow not having the option to go out is making me antsy

Agreed. Cabin fever. I need something -- anything -- that's not [a] snow-inspired and not homemade. Apparently Old Siam is actually delivering today ... I'm not even sure I care if it's good, it's just different!

[Pat]

Haha, well I get that...but out at a restaurant...when I've just walked in from the cold, and I'm staring down the options of either:

a. short rib chili and cornbread

b. various hot panini

c. flatbreads with hot, melty cheese and various toppings or

d. a cobb salad with cold lettuce, cold bacon, cold hard boiled egg, and cold blue cheese

I would find it near impossible to go for that last option.

Hmm. Well, I love a good Cobb salad, and it's not something I tend to make for myself at home (as opposed to something, say, like chili and cornbread). I don't know if I'd pass up those other options to get one, but I can't swear that I wouldn't.

A Cobb salad is sounding really good right now, and I do have all the ingredients to make one...

[Sundae in the Park]

I just don't want to eat my own cooking again for a while.

Never mind that days can go by where I cook every meal and eat at home. Somehow not having the option to go out is making me antsy

That's exactly why we went to China Star last night. Maybe someone will deliver? Hope you dig out soon!

[lperry]

Time to get out the old Gatling gun and climb up on a rooftop.

Tempting, but I'd probably slip on the snow.

[DonRocks]

Loudoun County just closed schools for the entire week.

[Sundae in the Park]

The children are never going back to school.

I thought you were kidding...

[PollyG]

I thought you were kidding...

I grew up in Lexington, KY, where the schools were out for a month straight in 1978 when I was in junior high school. It didn't have no impact on my learning.

We had chains on the car, so my parents were able to keep the larder stocked and get us to the public library. My mother encouraged me to bake. A friend who lived about a half mile away had a pizelle iron and we used that a lot.

My daughter is a few years younger than I was when that happened, but this still seems like a great opportunity to hand her a recipe and ingredients, particularly for a high value food like cookies.

[stickmoon]

The National Weather Service is now predicting 8 or more inches of snow this Tues/Wed.

Make that 10-20 inches.

[sheldman]

Anyone been to the Glover Park Whole Foods today? Have they got any vegetables? Living on a street that will not be passable in my little car until maybe Saturday, and having eaten up just about all the nice stuff I got to make it through Winter Disaster Phase One, I am wondering whether it is worth walking the mile or so. Or I could make something with black rice, and a box of seafood stock, and that package of frozen cranberries that's been in my freezer for a few months ...

[dcs]

Please change the name of this thread to "This Snow Blows 100%."

[KMango]

Please change the name of this thread to "This Snow Blows 100%."

This snow blows to 11.

(a spinal tap would feel nice)

(compared to this)

[Anna Blume]

So it's been 65 hours. Should we take everything out of the freezer and bury it in snow on the terrace?

[dcs]

So it's been 65 hours. Should we take everything out of the freezer and bury it in snow on the terrace?

Mr. Google is telling me that the freezer should hold its temperature for 48 hours in a full unopened freezer, but closer to only one day if only half full.

click and click again

WRC Channel 4 just said the same thing as I was typing.

I think all you can do is open it up and feel how defrosted your stuff is and decide on a case by case basis what to try and bury in the snow and what to throw out.

[mame11]

Just took some provisions to a 90 year old. The HT in Adams Morgan is stripped. You can find things but not a lot, and not of everything. There was no milk, and very little soy milk. Tons of butter type products but no butter. They were out of things you would not expect like frozen spinach. They were running really low on sugar and flour.

They were restocking so who knows, maybe they have received shipments of milk, butter and eggs. But I am not so sure they did.

p.s. a cobb salad sounds good!

[DonRocks]

Anyone been to the Glover Park Whole Foods today? Have they got any vegetables?

I just got back from the Old Town Whole Foods, and they were amazingly stocked with produce - although running low on some things, e.g., canned tomato sauce, and completely wiped out of bananas. I'd say it was "like a zoo" in there, but the zoo is probably the least crowded place in town right now.

(Fairfax County schools closed Tuesday and Wednesday.

Child For Sale.)

[DinerGirl]

Anyone in Takoma have a daikon radish to spare? Email me at carol@carolblymire.com.

Edited to add: Also, if anyone has an *in* with any local tree companies, I'd love that, too. Would love to get this fallen tree off my house/roof ASAP.

[thistle]

Now that I've seen that FC schools are closed T & W, I'm almost ready to jump out in front of a snowplow (well, I would, if a snowplow came this way-I'm in the burbs, we have a single track road still). I'm amazed that I got the Sat-Sun-Mon papers today & an Amazon order placed before the snowstorm-cookbooks-Momofuku & the Steamy Kitchen, now I can think about stuff to cook, once I go to the store again....I'm out of limes (no guac), but have tons of milk, go figure....I also have several demolished trees-a magnolia (that pushed me to get this house) & a pine....

[Barbara]

These pictures were taken today from the Columbia Road Safeway by John Aravosis of Americablog. I can attest to them because I was there this afternoon:

http://www.americablog.com/2010/02/dcs-got-winter-storm-warning-expecting.html

And people wonder why there is such a rush before a storm. They couldn't get enough employees in to open yesterday. The streets in Adams Morgan are a terrible mess. No wonder the HT hasn't been restocked. I can't imagine getting trucks in. We are going to be screwed by tomorrow.

ETA: Oh, and the mail hasn't been delivered since Friday.

[qwertyy]

Federal government is closed tomorrow. Yay!

[Ilaine]

Fair Lakes Whole Foods somewhat picked over, for example, no baking potatoes, but lots of beer and wine, which is the important thing.

Fair Lakes Costco very well stocked.

Local Safeway (Burke) bereft almost entirely of eggs, yogurt, bread, milk (except for organic and soy).

[captcourt]

Apparently, people shopping at the Virginia Square Giant really like to snuggle up with bagged salad during a snowstorm.

(I guess it's because bagged produce wasn't delivered, because there were few bags of chopped kale, too, but it's mildly funny to think of people saying, "SALAD! I must get my bag of European Greens to fortify me for shoveling the next foot of snow!")

[hillvalley]

I will forever associate roasted chickpeas with Snowpocalypse: The Sequel. I'm on batch number three in as many days. Can't braise, make stock, or roast anything heavy. This makes me feel like I'm actually cooking.

[bookluvingbabe]

I've started to think about hotels in the city with room service. Hotel Madera and Firefly for example.

I can't take another power outage and I know we've been especially lucky compared to others.

Instead, I will hunker down and cook. Whole Foods Kentlands had beef shanks when I was there today. I didn't buy them but I may go back first thing tomorrow.

[marketfan]

The P Street Whole Foods was very crowded, long lines and out of onions at 5 pm, getting low on milk and yogurt. They were restocking the veggies.

[porcupine]

On Sunday we went back to the house and put some of the freezer's contents into snow banks. When we went to check on the house yesterday, the power had just come back on (after 60 hours). So we tidied up, put stuff back in the freezer, finished shovelling, helped a taxi get unstuck from our still-unplowed street, re-packed, and checked into a different hotel, a dog-friendly one with free internet access, within trivial walking distance of many restaurants and stores and a few friends. Felt kinda silly about it, but the money was spent (it was past the cancellation period), and the forecast was looking bad again.

A few hours later, the power was out at home again. Stayed out overnight as far as MrP could tell (he has a way of checking remotely), and is now back on again.

Not feeling so silly now.

I was planning a weekend getaway for us later this month. Budget's been blown, so now staying at a nice place in DC is our getaway.

I'm still not complaining, though I fear that before this is over we'll lose all the ready-to-heat meals, as well as many jars of tomato sauce from home grown tomatoes, and tomatillo salsa, and Meyer lemon curd, and some pâte briseé shells, and a cherry pie, and bags of tart cherries, and... and...

Okay, I am complaining. That sucks. And the kitchen renovation will take longer now that the workers can't work on it (if they could even get there).

We had a 35 kVA generator at the old house. Talked ourselves into skipping that luxury at the new one. Now we're re-thinking that. I'm also looking into wood stove inserts for the fireplace...

[Ilaine]

I'm still not complaining, though I fear that before this is over we'll lose all the ready-to-heat meals, as well as many jars of tomato sauce from home grown tomatoes, and tomatillo salsa, and Meyer lemon curd, and some pâte briseé shells, and a cherry pie, and bags of tart cherries, and... and...

Food bank? Shelter?

In Louisiana, when the power goes out, we have hurricane parties for the whole neighborhood. Better to give it away than let it go to waste . . . .all that work, all that love, should be cherished.

[cheezepowder]

The Clarendon Whole Foods is stocked pretty well this morning.

[Heather]

The upside to living between two fire stations is that our street has been plowed and treated several times a day starting on Friday afternoon. I was out & about in the car. Silver Spring Whole Foods was well stocked with everything but milk, and Strosniders still had plenty of snow melt, shovels, windshield wiper fluid (stock up, you'll be using it a lot in the next few weeks), and sleds. Right now I am charging all my phone batteries, and digging out the coolers in case we lose power.

[porcupine]

Food bank? Shelter?

A good idea. If we can get home to fetch it in time. If it isn't bad already.

[qwertyy]

I called the number on CVS.com for the Columbia Road branch to see if they were open, and after endless ringing got the Verizon announcement: "The wireless customer you are trying to reach is unavailable..."

Think it's some sort of sick corporate joke to list a private cell during a snowstorm?

[zoramargolis]

I'm still not complaining, though I fear that before this is over we'll lose all the ready-to-heat meals, as well as many jars of tomato sauce from home grown tomatoes, and tomatillo salsa, and Meyer lemon curd, and some pâte briseé shells, and a cherry pie, and bags of tart cherries, and... and...

Food bank? Shelter?

In Louisiana, when the power goes out, we have hurricane parties for the whole neighborhood. Better to give it away than let it go to waste . . . .all that work, all that love, should be cherished.

Not sure whether food banks or shelters are allowed to accept home-processed food. But if the home grown tomato sauce was frozen vs. hot water bath processed, after the storm is over you might be able to boil it up again, pack it into sterilized jars and water bath can it. (At a friend's house, obviously, since you don't currently have a kitchen to work in.) Some extra heating isn't likely to have a negative effect on sauce, and the tomatoes have enough acid to keep the jars from spoiling for quite a while after they thaw, as long as they kept cold.

[Anna Blume]

A few hours later, the power was out at home again.

So sorry about everything, especially after all the pleasure and work that went into growing, planning, cooking, and freezing your hoard.

* * *

As for snow bank-storage, I decided to ignore USDA's overly cautious advice especially since someone w an advanced degree in Hotel Mgt insisted on 72 vs. 48 hours, noting that red meat is first to thaw and she was right. Fish, containers of soup, collards, etc. still pretty solid. Meats traveled across town to a fully functioning freezer and dairy went out on the terrace.

Nonetheless, I am drinking pretty awful coffee black (sometimes bargains at Trader Joe's just aren't) and am postponing foraging outdoors until after oatmeal.

Forget the eggs, but whatever is transportable is getting packed along w the shampoo and clean socks before the red line closes. (Pepco has no plans yet to restore heat and it's been 80 hours now.)

* * *

Our newish GE gas stove has a computerized panel to operate the oven. Safety feature prevents turning on oven during outages. Shame. Neighbors w an older model have kept toasty warm by blasting theirs.

O for that big stone hearth where Alice Waters thrusts a metal spoon just until the orange yolk seizes up and forms a skin...

[JPW]

Snider's is an absolutely nuthouse this morning. Parking lot across the street was packed and people were circling for spots.

Pretty well stocked except for bread.

[qwertyy]

At 9:30am, the Adams Morgan Safeway was no more busy than usual, and reasonably well stocked--by snowstorm standards, not by regular Tuesday standards. I managed to get TP, eggs, and a reasonable amount of produce. I only waited in line about 20 minutes (reminded me of the old pre-Whole Foods Soviet Safeway days), but the lines had reached to the back of the store by the time it was my turn. When I said good morning, please, and thank you, the check-out man seemed delighted to have someone be nice to him.

[lperry]

...I also have several demolished trees-a magnolia (that pushed me to get this house) & a pine....

Isn't it heartbreaking? Our neighbor's 60 year old magnolia that shaded both our yards is trashed. About a third of the tree was dangling on the power lines in our side yard until some very nice men from Dominion just cut it all off. I imagine they saved quite a few people lost power over the next few days. We asked them about the outages, and they said that there are line crews and tree crews, both of whom are currently working full time. I hope everyone gets power restored, and I am so grateful to the guys who came out here to our neighborhood.

We're headed out in a few to have our last restaurant meal for a while. Probably Cafe Poblano, if they are open. More gratitude, this time for the four-wheel-drive truck.

[Rovers2000]

My #1 priority for this next phase of the storm is to pick up some decent beer from either Calvert Woodley or Cleveland Park Liquors (sinc eI'm on foot, I'm a bit limited to those since they're within walking distance).

I ran out this weekend and ended up having to resort to opening a 30 pack of Iron City that was given to me as a gag (literally) gift....

In all seriousness, I've been lucky that I have not had to deal with any of the power outages (knocking on wood) but have put up 4 people who have (some coming in from Great Falls and one who couldn't get back to their place due to the Metro closures). While I've always been a proponent of a good snow, I'm ready for things to get back to normal.

[monavano]

My #1 priority for this next phase of the storm is to pick up some decent beer from either Calvert Woodley or Cleveland Park Liquors (sinc eI'm on foot, I'm a bit limited to those since they're within walking distance).

I ran out this weekend and ended up having to resort to opening a 30 pack of Iron City that was given to me as a gag (literally) gift....

In all seriousness, I've been lucky that I have not had to deal with any of the power outages (knocking on wood) but have put up 4 people who have (some coming in from Great Falls and one who couldn't get back to their place due to the Metro closures). While I've always been a proponent of a good snow, I'm ready for things to get back to normal.

At least it wasn't IC light!

[bookluvingbabe]

Montgomery County schools are closed the rest of the week. Wondering if we have enough wine and chocolate to get through this.

[Xochitl10]

Snider's is an absolutely nuthouse this morning. Parking lot across the street was packed and people were circling for spots.

Pretty well stocked except for bread.

This all remained true at noon-thirty. Hope nobody needs an emergency prescription -- the CVS at Seminary Place was taking an hour to fill, and the pick-up line was back to the shelves and not moving.

[jparrott]

Wegmans Gainesville was well-stocked at 9am this morning.

[leleboo]

The Capitol Hill SE Harris Teeter is pretty fully stocked -- there was nothing I needed and couldn't get -- but the lines at 10:30 were already ridiculous.

I'm so bored, I just did my taxes.

[deangold]

Montgomery County schools are closed the rest of the week. Wondering if we have enough wine and chocolate to get through this.

For you, or the honorable schoolboy?

[KMango]

^ So sorry. We have two tree branches dangling from the wires outside, but the wires have not broken (yet) and the power is still on. I imagine they will get to us after all the power is restored everywhere else, or as soon as we report in that the wires have broken. At least they have us in the computer as having reported a problem.

If anyone in NOVA still needs to shop, Harris Teeter at Shirlington is fully stocked, and the parking garage makes life a little easier.

Alas, not anymore. Popped over there this morning for toothpaste (the things you forget to provision!). Lines were out the door, many shelves empty. Not a dire situation, lots of food to be had, but the meat and frozen sections were especially barren.

[Pat]

I'm glad that they've scaled back the predicted amounts of snow, but, instead of snowing lightly at the beginning (as the forecast said) it's coming down very hard here. I don't know what to make of that, so I'm not going to think about it.

Tonight I'm going forward with the Cobb Salad. We'll have that and more leftovers. Last night I baked brownies, so that's what's for dessert.

I hope no one else loses power and that the people still without it get power back soon.

[bookluvingbabe]

For you, or the honorable schoolboy?

Me!

Although he announced with absolute earnestness that when he was older, he was going to drink wine too.

[dcs]

Although he announced with absolute earnestness that when he was older, he was going to drink wine too.

Good lad.

[deangold]

Although he announced with absolute earnestness that when he was older, he was going to drink wine too.

I will be happy to stand him to his first sip of Rosso di Montalcino!

[mame11]

sick.of.snow.

Could really use an easy bread making recipe, not Lahey's no knead bread because (a) I like to knead and ( I don't have a heavy cast iron pan. Ideally the bread will be free form... Thanks in advance!

P.S. I have whole wheat flour, bread flour, white flour and yeast at my disposal...