Culinary Milestones

[Jenise]

Lots of ouchies up Bill's way too. Vancouver's cut off from the rest of their province like Bellingham is cut off from my state, and on a smaller basis, like my little neighborhood is from everyone around us. We can't get out--I can't even go a mile. We who keep full pantries and freezers are the lucky ones.

Looking much better for the rest of the week up here, and any road closures should be reopened. Fortunately I got my shopping done before the torrential rain hit (needed 3 kg of oxtails, for instance - would have been challenging otherwise).

We are right on a river so we get a sort of ringside seat and can tell when the level changes. Figure we won't start building an ark just yet (it would sink anyway with all those wine bottles in it).

[Jenise]

Our neighborhood lakes have overflowed and golf course homes are now lakeside. There's just nowhere for that much water to go. And then there are the houses with roofs like my friend Holly's that suddenly sprang leaks. We were over there last night tearing out dry wall and insulation in her saturated kitchen ceiling. And her garage, which is lower than the elevation of the house, is flooded. 300 cases of wine....

Our neighborhood lakes have overflowed and golf course homes are now lakeside. There's just nowhere for that much water to go. And then there are the houses with roofs like my friend Holly's that suddenly sprang leaks. We were over there last night tearing out dry wall and insulation in her saturated kitchen ceiling. And her garage, which is lower than the elevation of the house, is flooded. 300 cases of wine....

We re lucky - the one flue had already been tarped off as we are servicing it, otherwise we'd likely have had water coming into the living room.

On the submerged wine, it should be OK but I did her of someone that once bought a lot of canned goods that had been under water, for a pittance, but he hadn't factored in that all the labels would have separated from the cans. Apparently trying to sell cans with no identification is rather difficult...

[Jenise]

Holly's wine is all from the winery she and her husband used to own, still in box. So that part's good. At least those not on the first shelf. I'm working at borrowing a sump pump to take over there to help drain the garage. I can't believe anyone built a garage like that. Two levels, one lower than the other where the wine is, both well below the elevation of the house and surrounding grounds, so they fill up like cups. The deeper side supposedly has a drain, but it ain't workin'!!!!

Since we saw you last, Alvin went on a short trip and came back to find his basement room flooded out - the sump pump failed. He has to replace three wine units (which are no longer made) plus some expensive audio gear! Makes you want to never leave home!

Wow, sounds like a lot of water has come down up there. Stay safe and keep those pantries full. Thankfully, we were on the shoulder of the atmospheric river that came our way. Lots of rain but we are on a plateau and everything runs down. We keep an eye on our storm drain and let the city know if it is clogged with something we cannot handle. So far so good. Lots of heavy fog the past few days, today is sunshine but down into the forties.

Jenise, I like my parm cheese like sand, as well, so after I cut off the rind(which I freeze for use in a soup) I cut the cheese into small chunks, then whiz away in the food processor. It makes short work of it. I make sure it is at room temp before doing this. I also make enough for several months and keep it in a glass jar with a rubber seal flip-top lid. Forgot what those are called. I was not able to find the Parmigiano Reggiano for months during the heavy part of the pandemic. We sure did miss it and while other similar types of cheese are ok in a pinch, they are not the same.

[Jenise]

Poor Alvin!!! I can't even imagine the mess. For all the various misfortunes I've had as a homeowner, never had anything like Alvin's or Holly's problems. Or even you, with your fireplaces leaking. Didn't you get it/them fixed last year?

[Jenise]

Karen, same here today. And another atmospheric river is pointed right at us for Thursday. Yesterday's has been declared a Cat 5.
I didn't know they were grading them!

Or even you, with your fireplaces leaking. Didn't you get it/them fixed last year?

Well we thought so - had some flashing installed that helped but I'm after a final solution.

[Jenise]

Just found out that Birch Bay Lynden road, the one between me and the freeway, is washed out. Not that I could even get that far
because of the flooding in my neighborhood and along the Bay. And if I could get that far I couldn't get to Bellingham because the Nooksack River between us and Ferndale overflowed and the freeway's flooded there. And if I could get thru that and was trying to get to Seattle, I could get there because the southbound I-5 reopened but I couldn't get home because the northbound I-5 remains closed due to massive mudslides.

Yet with all that shitshow going on our trash actually got picked up yesterday, and the Lummi tribe crabbers were still manning their traps.

I see Abbotsford's underwater. Hwy 1 is, like, gone.

Wow, sounds like quite a mess.

Wet wine is OK as long as the water remains cool. I recall some wine merchants in Louisiana, after some hurricane or other, trying to figure out what to do with wine from cellars that were flooded with 90*F water....

Has it always been wet up there? I mean, who builds a basement room in that climate?

Basements normally aren't a problem here unless you live in a low spot. We are fairly mountainous and most of us live on a hill side.

Update - Highway 1 (Trans Canada) is blocked 50 miles east of here.

The area of Sumas Prairie is suffering sever flooding and people have been ordered to leave. The Fraser River runs fairly close and the pumping station behind the dikes is failing. The old name of the area will give you an idea of the problem - it used to be called Sumas Lake.

Note to local government - when you allow large areas of residential development in areas like that, it might just be an idea to have more than one pumping station available......

The river that (almost) runs through our back yard has dropped to normal low levels and no further rain is expected until next week (when Jenise is coming up - cross your fingers and we'll get the guest room ready in case!)

[Jenise]

Btw, I started a new thread about this in F&F. I'll repost your comments here to that.

I also make enough for several months and keep it in a glass jar with a rubber seal flip-top lid.

Mason jars. I've used them for decades to store all sorts of things, from usual suspects such as Moroccan pickled lemon to big jars for grains, flour, beans, and sugar. I had a major weevil infestation in my kitchen at one time. I called them "shelf life" and they got into everything. They even gnawed their way into packets of Instant Breakfast, ate all the sugar and powdered milk, and left the cocoa. They crawled into the salt shaker and died (I found this out when shaking salt over a dish, of course). Putting everything into mason jars finally did the trick.

BTW, the rubber gasket that seals a mason jar gets stiff after a couple of decades and won't provide an airtight and waterproof seal anymore. It'll still keep the shelf life at bay but it's no good for storing pickles or for canning. Fortunately replacement gaskets are readily available.

-Palu W.

I've got two big ones full of egg nog as we speak.