Jose, Thanks for posting that information. I had seen it before when you posted it sometime back. It a good reminder and very applicable at certain times of the year. Some of these practices are indeed used by me the many Citrus growers in my area. They do work quite well. It is a well kept secret that Louisiana does indeed have a small (compared to Florida and California) Citrus Industry. The taste of Louisiana citrus rivals the fruit that is grown in Florida and California because it has a better sugar to acid ratio. Our farmers did a great job of protecting MANY citrus trees from the unusually cold winter that we had in our area this past season. I lost some but saved most of my citrus from the cold temperatures that we experienced. Fruitnut...... Wind chill is a function of both AIR temperature and its relative humidity level. And yes indeed, WIND CHILL CAN AFFECT PLANTS. Here is some technical information that I posted in another thread to help explain this multi variable phenomenon. [This is FYI only and for those other forum members who might want to know some "WHY's" behind potential leaf damage due to cold............it is not just about AIR TEMPERATURE. It is also about wind, leaf temperature, and air humidity level. On a windy night with clear or cloudy skies LEAF temperature will be nearly the same as AIR temperature. However, on a cold, clear night with little to no air movement.....leaf temperature can easily drop 3 to 4 degrees lower than the ambient air temperature. (It can drop as much as 8 degrees in my area.) This is because of the RADIATION heat loss of the fig leaves. The rate of heat loss of those leaves is a function of the air's humidity level. At higher humidity levels often frost will form on those leaves. So, while the ambient AIR temperature might only be 35 degrees F......the actual LEAF temperature might well be 31 to 32 degrees F. That temperature could affect tender new growth. In my area it is not uncommon for us to see frost form whenever the ambient air temperature is at 40 degrees F or below. This means that the actual leaf temperature reached 32 degrees F or below which froze the dew that condensed on the leaves as the dew point of the humid air was reached during the night. Late Spring frosts can kill fig trees in South Louisiana......especially if the outside air temperature has been cycling through several periods of warmth and cold. Yes, in my area, damaging frosts can form on fig leaves with ambient temperature as high as 40 degrees!! Ask me how I know and what I fear most at this time of year. Potential plant damage is really about leaf temperature and that is a bit harder to measure.] Dan

My parents had popsicles (the kind on a stick wrapped in paper, not the ones in plastic "tubes") in their upright freezer. All melted, even right after running generator. I think the pork chops on the top shelf were frozen solid, don't know how warm they might have gotten in between "shots" of electricity, but I really think I should throw out the 5 lbs of hot dogs I brought home to put in my chest freezer - they were cold, but thawed, and who knows how warm they might have gotten at some point. Same with the big bag of Chicken Voila in Alfredo sauce - bag had some frozen chunks in it, but overall was pretty squishy. What's a few more things given that on Sunday we threw out all my mom's Jenny Craig meals she's just bought a few days before, and on Thursday threw out a good 40-50 lbs of veggies, chicken pot pies, chicken cordon bleu, stuffed peppers etc. that my mom had bought for my dad to eat while she was on a business trip, plus about 10 lbs of tilapia and shrimp? My dad also had a sandwich-sized bag with 3 hard hot-dog-shaped things I think might have been venison sausage - not frozen solid, I'm sure, maybe smoked? Insisted I take that to put in my freezer. I have no idea what it is, so don't know if anyone can tell me if they're safe. I have to tell him to watch his blueberries for mold, too, though I think he uses them frozen on his cereal, now they've refrozen into a solid chunk. I'd just as soon make jam out of them like I plan to do with my blackberries and strawberries. DH is looking at whole-house generators too. I'm thinking of seeing whether we can add our well pump to the 100A subpanel our HVAC, water heater and basement freezer are already on. I don't know if inspector will let us permanently change the fridge to go on the subpanel as well as the well pump, unless we put our resistive Aux Heat for the heat pump on the main panel (even in the dead of winter I think we can survive with geothermal and sweaters). Gotta think how to swap things around to balance the load and get all the necessities on that 100A panel. Then maybe an $800 generator will do.

The whipping cream I buy has no carageenan in it...just cream. And I buy real pure vanilla extract and use lots... Ton't turn the crank so fast....when you beat the eggs...just mix well, don't make then frothy. And home made ice cream needs to "ripen"...the usual way is to remove the dasher and pack the container with more ice and cover well with newspapers and a rug ( not sure why a rug....but that's the way!!) And let it sit for at least an hour....2 or 3 is better. Linda C

dcarch, my first thought was "how arrogant to charge $625 (MSRP) for a cookbook." But, then I started reading the reviews on amazon. I especially liked the review by the guy from egullet.com. Here are his pros and cons: Pros: ---- * Level of detail is incredible * Covers the "how" and the "why" of every detail of the cooking process * Depth and breadth of coverage is... well, worthy of 2400 pages * Stunning photography, graphic design, and even printing Cons: ---- * Many of the recipes are very challenging * Coverage of hyper-expensive equipment can be off-putting * Too tall to fit on any normal bookcase Regardless of how fabulous the book is, even the Amazon discounted price of $450 is simply out of the reach of most home cooks. The soon-to-be published home version at $150 is still out of the reach of many. Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon link to Myhrvold books