Much travel back and forth, little time to blog, and now I'm home again and seeettttttlllling in. Still unpacking. Still getting my bearings in the house after too much absence. But already having fun in the kitchen. Now to get myself back into blogging mode . . .
One place to start is my ongoing concern for food safety. Ike left his mark on my psyche, for sure. I often find myself rethinking what we did to survive and what we can do to better prepare ourselves for the next storm. Since it looks like climate change (AKA global warming) is in full swing, I think we have to count on another storm hitting Houston sooner rather than later. If not Houston, then some other part of the Texas coast will be devastated. More than a day or two without power is serious hassle, even trouble, for a family; any level of flooding is a disaster.
I often turn to the U. S. Food and Drug Administration for food safety information. Although the agency has become more politicized over the years and has, I believe, let us down on more than one occasion, I do know that there are some fine Americans serving us there, people who are dedicated to protecting the public and helping consumers identify safe and effective products.
The FDA has produced a flyer on getting safe drinking water and protecting food supplies in the event of power failure or flooding. I think it's worth printing out and studying to see where our storm preparations can be improved. I can already see a couple of areas that I need to work on: adding refrigerator thermometers and elevating the water supply.
Showing posts with label Hurricane Ike. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hurricane Ike. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Thanksgiving hors d'ouevres
For our shared Thanksgiving this year, we have all sorts of appetites coming to the table. A couple of these appetites are in danger of being too small, as in they don't eat enough unless we put something in front of them and get a little pushy about eating. A couple of these appetites are on their own timer, not necessarily related to "meal time," and, when they gotta eat, they gotta eat.
Not knowing exactly when we will be able to get it all on the table, Big Kid Cousin and I have decided that a small plate of appetizers would not be amiss. Indeed, since we've decided that we aren't going to have a salad, some raw and pickled vegetables might even take its place. At least we'll have something that our various "appetites" can nibble on if we take too long getting everything set out.
I'm thinking right now of three items that we "premiered" at the last birthday party. They are tasty and low carb and really made a hit.
Marinated mushrooms was the most popular of this trio. Monterey brand mushrooms has been available at Sam's Club for several years, and I've been buying them for years in Austin. They make a nice appetizer for My Prince. I notice that they are more expensive at my home club than here in Houston, so I might just buy here to take with me. Four of these mushrooms have 1 gram of carbs/1 gram of fiber. As far as I can tell, it's a free food. They were also a big hit at the birthday party; several people asked where to get them.
That's exactly what I'm doing with the marinated asparagus that I found here in Houston but couldn't (didn't) find in my Austin club. This the same asparagus that I used for my version of Frog Eyes the other day. They have a slightly sweet taste, which is not surprising once you discover that there is some sugar in the marinade. Still, 8 stalks has only 2 grams of carbs, so you will be sated by the taste (I am) before you hit your 2 carbs.
The relish plate will also include Mt. Olive Kosher Dill Petites. I will just use one of the PicklePaks, since that quantity will suffice for our purposes. I first picked these little packs out just prior to Hurrican Ike because they made for a convenient low-carb snack. During the hurricane aftermath, they were useful since they didn't need to be refrigerated. (You might be able to find out more about them at www.mtolivepickles.com, but I'm not gonna provide a link to the site. I went there to confirm the nutritional information, since I don't feel like climbing the step ladder to get to the pickles on the shelf right now, but the web site just annoys me--music, broken links, excessive decorative (as opposed to useful) graphics.) My recollection is that the pickles have 0 carbs per serving. In this case, one serving is the whole picklepak.
So, one relish tray/plate will have:
Not knowing exactly when we will be able to get it all on the table, Big Kid Cousin and I have decided that a small plate of appetizers would not be amiss. Indeed, since we've decided that we aren't going to have a salad, some raw and pickled vegetables might even take its place. At least we'll have something that our various "appetites" can nibble on if we take too long getting everything set out.
I'm thinking right now of three items that we "premiered" at the last birthday party. They are tasty and low carb and really made a hit.
Marinated mushrooms was the most popular of this trio. Monterey brand mushrooms has been available at Sam's Club for several years, and I've been buying them for years in Austin. They make a nice appetizer for My Prince. I notice that they are more expensive at my home club than here in Houston, so I might just buy here to take with me. Four of these mushrooms have 1 gram of carbs/1 gram of fiber. As far as I can tell, it's a free food. They were also a big hit at the birthday party; several people asked where to get them.
That's exactly what I'm doing with the marinated asparagus that I found here in Houston but couldn't (didn't) find in my Austin club. This the same asparagus that I used for my version of Frog Eyes the other day. They have a slightly sweet taste, which is not surprising once you discover that there is some sugar in the marinade. Still, 8 stalks has only 2 grams of carbs, so you will be sated by the taste (I am) before you hit your 2 carbs.
The relish plate will also include Mt. Olive Kosher Dill Petites. I will just use one of the PicklePaks, since that quantity will suffice for our purposes. I first picked these little packs out just prior to Hurrican Ike because they made for a convenient low-carb snack. During the hurricane aftermath, they were useful since they didn't need to be refrigerated. (You might be able to find out more about them at www.mtolivepickles.com, but I'm not gonna provide a link to the site. I went there to confirm the nutritional information, since I don't feel like climbing the step ladder to get to the pickles on the shelf right now, but the web site just annoys me--music, broken links, excessive decorative (as opposed to useful) graphics.) My recollection is that the pickles have 0 carbs per serving. In this case, one serving is the whole picklepak.
So, one relish tray/plate will have:
- marinated asparagus
- marinated mushrooms
- kosher dill petites
Friday, October 3, 2008
Ike and the scrounge for ice (1)
When the power went off during Hurricane Ike, we began the countdown that would end with rotten food from the refrigerator. Since we had prepared for the loss of power by using up as much of the frozen items as possible, we didn't lose $1000 worth of meats. Still, the loss was significant. Even things like mayonnaise and salad dressings cost a fair chunk of change, and we had to throw out more cheese than I could bear to part with.
Some foods could be given a bit longer life with ice. We had already started bagging ice from the ice maker the day before the storm. Since Mama sometimes forgets how the ice maker works, we had to keep checking to make sure that the thing was still running after she had loaded a glass with ice. Sometimes it wasn't. That kept us on our toes the day before.
We stayed in touch with Next Door Cousin while we prepared for the storm and got the idea from her to freeze bottles of water. These solid chunks of ice would help keep freezer and fridge cool longer, while we waited for the power to be restored, and we could drink the water after they melted. NDC did a fine job of getting lots of bottles into the freezer; I only put in a few. Big mistake.
NDC also found that her neighbor on the other side had an old chest freezer. They turned it on and tried to freeze zip lock bags of water. Sadly, while the old freezer was willing, there just wasn't enough time for this idea to work before the storm knocked out the power. Still, it's an idea for the future.
When the power didn't come back on (sounds like I was depending on magic, doesn't it) after a couple of days, things became desperate. Our ice supply would give out on the third day (as NDC kept us in little bottles of frozen water). Food was going to spoil faster than we could eat it; drinks were going to be on the warm side. While My Prince and I were already well used to room temperature soft drinks (seriously no biggie, people), Mama doesn't drink her soft drinks without ice. Cold isn't good enough; ice is essential. So she began to really feel deprived at that point.
One ray of goodness came when Big Kid Cousin, who lives a couple of miles away, got her electricity back. No magic there, just the power of politics. BKC lives in an old folks reservation (senior citizen apartment complex) which also happens to house a lot of people who came to Texas in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. Cheers for the Mayor of Jacinto City (Mike Jackson), State Representative Ana Hernandez, and others who went to bat for the old folks . . . seniors . . . at BKC's apartment complex. While these folks got their power back 10 days ahead of the rest of the area, a lot of suffering was eased, not to mention the potential complications for those with health problems.
Another bit of goodness about that restoration of power is that, for a few days, we could put more bottles of water in BKC's freezer--and use her stove to cook. For the first few days after the storm, there was no place to buy ice. Without power, there was no way to find information on television about the location for ice distribution. The newspaper was useless on the subject and the radio was less than useless. We were on our own, and thanks to BKC and her freezer, this was going to be doable . . . until our car broke down.
(to be continued)
Some foods could be given a bit longer life with ice. We had already started bagging ice from the ice maker the day before the storm. Since Mama sometimes forgets how the ice maker works, we had to keep checking to make sure that the thing was still running after she had loaded a glass with ice. Sometimes it wasn't. That kept us on our toes the day before.
We stayed in touch with Next Door Cousin while we prepared for the storm and got the idea from her to freeze bottles of water. These solid chunks of ice would help keep freezer and fridge cool longer, while we waited for the power to be restored, and we could drink the water after they melted. NDC did a fine job of getting lots of bottles into the freezer; I only put in a few. Big mistake.
NDC also found that her neighbor on the other side had an old chest freezer. They turned it on and tried to freeze zip lock bags of water. Sadly, while the old freezer was willing, there just wasn't enough time for this idea to work before the storm knocked out the power. Still, it's an idea for the future.
When the power didn't come back on (sounds like I was depending on magic, doesn't it) after a couple of days, things became desperate. Our ice supply would give out on the third day (as NDC kept us in little bottles of frozen water). Food was going to spoil faster than we could eat it; drinks were going to be on the warm side. While My Prince and I were already well used to room temperature soft drinks (seriously no biggie, people), Mama doesn't drink her soft drinks without ice. Cold isn't good enough; ice is essential. So she began to really feel deprived at that point.
One ray of goodness came when Big Kid Cousin, who lives a couple of miles away, got her electricity back. No magic there, just the power of politics. BKC lives in an old folks reservation (senior citizen apartment complex) which also happens to house a lot of people who came to Texas in the aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. Cheers for the Mayor of Jacinto City (Mike Jackson), State Representative Ana Hernandez, and others who went to bat for the old folks . . . seniors . . . at BKC's apartment complex. While these folks got their power back 10 days ahead of the rest of the area, a lot of suffering was eased, not to mention the potential complications for those with health problems.
Another bit of goodness about that restoration of power is that, for a few days, we could put more bottles of water in BKC's freezer--and use her stove to cook. For the first few days after the storm, there was no place to buy ice. Without power, there was no way to find information on television about the location for ice distribution. The newspaper was useless on the subject and the radio was less than useless. We were on our own, and thanks to BKC and her freezer, this was going to be doable . . . until our car broke down.
(to be continued)
Thursday, October 2, 2008
Ike left the water on
When Mama and I were preparing for Tropical Storm Edouard, we spent some time working on the water supply. We were so very lucky when Hurricane Ike hit us that we did not lose our water supply. We stayed in Houston even without electricity--and we still don't know that that was the best choice--but we clearly could not have survived for two weeks without being able to turn on the tap and get clean water.
Some things did, however, go well, and some of our planning and preparation worked as it was supposed to. More did not.
Sadly, we often combine water and electricity in order to accomplish many of those things. The dishwasher didn't work without electricity, so I spent a lot of time washing dishes by hand. True, we often used paper plates, but we did try to avoid it when we could. We had to borrow the use of a generator to wash clothes after a week. I had made sure that all of our "water work" was done before the storm hit, but I was, after all, supposedly on a short visit and didn't have a lot of clothes, especially cool and casual clothes that would see a lot of dirt as we did after-storm clean up. It was even hard to do general housecleaning--the water was there, but sometimes I just couldn't see what needed to be cleaned without electric lights.
Houston issued a couple of "boil water" alerts, but we usually didn't hear about them until too late (emergency information really stank as far as I am concerned). We had good drinking water, but the dish washing and hand washing and such were probably questionable a few times. We all ended up with tummy issues, but nothing too serious, so I guess we handled it all pretty well.
One thing that we did throughout the time after the storm was fill up every plastic drink bottle we came across with pure drinking water and stash it in an ice chest. Water was good for us to drink at any temperature, but it always went down so much better when it was cold. We reused water bottles and even Coca-Cola bottles. For the trip home today, I filled up some of the small water bottles with water and froze them to help keep our canned drinks cool on the road. I also filled up some Coca-Cola bottles with cold water. I ended up drinking more of our "homemade" bottled water than I did soft drinks. I think we may have developed a new behavior!
Some things did, however, go well, and some of our planning and preparation worked as it was supposed to. More did not.
- We ended our two weeks of no power with 5 gallons of drinking water still in storage, so we had enough for three adults to drink plenty of water on some very hot days. The Red Cross should be proud of us!
- I filled the bathtub with water the night the storm hit. It all leaked out before the storm was gone.
- I had begun saving gallon water jugs to fill up, but then read that we should find jugs that have screw tops rather than the little snap cap that we were getting. The only screw caps were were getting were on two-liter soda bottles. So we started saving those. I only got about 9 saved and filled up before the storm, so that was some incomplete work that might have hurt us.
Sadly, we often combine water and electricity in order to accomplish many of those things. The dishwasher didn't work without electricity, so I spent a lot of time washing dishes by hand. True, we often used paper plates, but we did try to avoid it when we could. We had to borrow the use of a generator to wash clothes after a week. I had made sure that all of our "water work" was done before the storm hit, but I was, after all, supposedly on a short visit and didn't have a lot of clothes, especially cool and casual clothes that would see a lot of dirt as we did after-storm clean up. It was even hard to do general housecleaning--the water was there, but sometimes I just couldn't see what needed to be cleaned without electric lights.
Houston issued a couple of "boil water" alerts, but we usually didn't hear about them until too late (emergency information really stank as far as I am concerned). We had good drinking water, but the dish washing and hand washing and such were probably questionable a few times. We all ended up with tummy issues, but nothing too serious, so I guess we handled it all pretty well.
One thing that we did throughout the time after the storm was fill up every plastic drink bottle we came across with pure drinking water and stash it in an ice chest. Water was good for us to drink at any temperature, but it always went down so much better when it was cold. We reused water bottles and even Coca-Cola bottles. For the trip home today, I filled up some of the small water bottles with water and froze them to help keep our canned drinks cool on the road. I also filled up some Coca-Cola bottles with cold water. I ended up drinking more of our "homemade" bottled water than I did soft drinks. I think we may have developed a new behavior!
43 days and 3 hurricanes
Holy mackerel! What was supposed to be a short trip to Mama's house morphed into a forty-three-day stay. The long stay was because we kept anticipating hurricanes, especially Gustav and Ike.
We did some serious preparation for Gustav and breathed a sigh of relief when he passed us by. There's no ill will in that. Everyone on the Gulf Coast knows that the best outcome is for these storms to just fizzle out. No one ever hopes for a storm to do damage anywhere. But we can't help hoping for a shift north or south just a tad, to dodge the bullet so to speak.
We dodged that bullet with Gustav, but Ike hit us dead on. That was several hectic days of preparation, one night of heavy thumps and scary thoughts, two weeks of no electricity, and who knows how many weeks of recovery.
There will be lots of foodie stories from the storm, but, for now, we are pleased to say that the whole family is safe. Mama's home suffered comparatively minor damage. Our cars fared somewhat worse. And My Prince and I finally made it home today. We had some sick plants, a huge pile of mail, and the every welcoming dust bunnies to greet us, but it was all a beautiful sight. I get to sleep in my own bed for a while, cook in my own kitchen, and maybe even send some of those dust bunnies back where they belong.
Now let's hope for no more big storms for the rest of the season.
We did some serious preparation for Gustav and breathed a sigh of relief when he passed us by. There's no ill will in that. Everyone on the Gulf Coast knows that the best outcome is for these storms to just fizzle out. No one ever hopes for a storm to do damage anywhere. But we can't help hoping for a shift north or south just a tad, to dodge the bullet so to speak.
We dodged that bullet with Gustav, but Ike hit us dead on. That was several hectic days of preparation, one night of heavy thumps and scary thoughts, two weeks of no electricity, and who knows how many weeks of recovery.
There will be lots of foodie stories from the storm, but, for now, we are pleased to say that the whole family is safe. Mama's home suffered comparatively minor damage. Our cars fared somewhat worse. And My Prince and I finally made it home today. We had some sick plants, a huge pile of mail, and the every welcoming dust bunnies to greet us, but it was all a beautiful sight. I get to sleep in my own bed for a while, cook in my own kitchen, and maybe even send some of those dust bunnies back where they belong.
Now let's hope for no more big storms for the rest of the season.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)