Ooh, this is a favorite of mine around Christmas. Cioppino feels like a special festive dish to me.
Still warm in the inland part of in MA where we live. The lashings of wind continue so I expect more power outages before temperatures plummet. Downed trees on one end of our road and a crew is working to clear them.
We’ve got a generator to keep the heat and lights on so we are lucky in that respect.
I’ve just spent about 15 minutes looking at photos of storm damage on the Provincetown Community FB page. We have astronomical high tides today and the high winds pushed so much water onshore from the bay. Streets in Ptown are flooded. Fanizzi’s restaurant in the East End lost their dining room, lots of damage to decks and other structures on bayside properties. Businesses have been damaged. It’s sad to see - the town is at the very end of a very fragile spit of land.
I think he wants to arm wrestle?
I got most of my shopping done yesterday.
Usually I buy my produce like spinach, endive, etc for my spanakopita, and my seafood for Xmas Eve on the 24th.
I had bought a frozen goose on Wed, so that is defrosting, and will be a Christmassy main.
I walked to the store and post office today, and brought home a cauliflower, an eggplant, some salt cod, some last minute stocking stuffers.
There have been over a 100 accidents on the 401 (the highway that runs across Ontario from Detroit to Montréal) near my city today.
To those that are ailing - feel better soon! Yikes, the weather is so bad most everywhere, and no exception here - very cold for us and sheet ice everywhere. Had the fire going today, power is on, so staying warm. @bbqboy’s map made me 
@ElsieDee, so happy kitty is doing well! Always a worry when pets are sick. Happy Holidays!
Yup, I’m in ’ f#f#F# Its Cold’ and yesterday’s high was -5°F and the low, -27°F. It warmed to today to -1°F.
and I did venture out into the white knuckle whiteout. It is so cold the flying squirrel has not shown his/her darling face fir a few nights. I can’t even hear the coyotes.
You can’t beat cioppino for Christmas eve! I save up and stash seafood goodies all year to make it. If the power goes out we have a camp stove and a gas bbq grill. It is so cold we won’t have to worry about keeping things refrigerated. I bought the big prime rib for Sunday today. The looks I got at the store…it was 18#.
Funny thing about this map and LOL CA. My sister was stuck for, last time I heard ,3hrs somewhere on I5 going from SFO to LA. She is well aware of how weather is affecting my region, so we laughed at the irony.
My only minor food concern in my particular Christmas storm is that I bought more cheese than I normally would eat for company that had to cancel. Is it worth freezing triple cream cheese? Could I use it in place of cream in soups or sauces? I hate wasting food.
My friend used to freeze triple cream cheese, wrapping it in butcher paper first if it had been opened. She would freeze any type of cheese. I haven’t tried it. I do freeze Romano and cheddar sometimes.
Generally I find I have better luck freezing cheeses that I’m going to cook with. Freezing seems to change the texture a bit
I wouldnt freeze any soft cheese like Brie or triple cream, or cream cheese.
I always freeze small hunks of mozzarella, cheddar or Monterey Jack - they freeze just fine. I am usually grating them for mac and cheese or pizza topping anyway, so the texture issue isn’t a problem. But soft cheeses? Nope.
It will definitely change the texture, and it won’t be ideal. But it will be edible.
I think it comes down to saving it vs letting it go bad/throwing it out. If there’s too much to eat before it spoils, you don’t have people who you can give the cheese to, and you don’t want to throw it out, it goes into the freezer. I tend to do that, myself.
With a cream cheese (or maybe even the triple cream, if you remove the rind), an option would be to make the freezeable, make -ahead mashed potatoes that contains cream cheese.
My cousin’s wife makes this recipe.
Thankfully I’m also living in Lol-land, but tomorrow morning at 7am there will be a plane heading to Maui with myself and Lady Lectroid inside it. We won’t return til NYE.
Dinner reservations Xmas evening at the hotel restaurant have been made, not that it matters all that much, as the rest of the trip will undoubtedly have an excess of goodies to enjoy. Have a lunch at Star Noodle, the Feast at Lele luau, Leona’s and a tour of The Surfing Goat dairy and a sunset whale watching cruise.
Weather is forecast to be clear and pleasant, highs around 81F and overnight lows in the mid 60s.
Lol, indeed 
That’s hilarious. I’m in the “This is some fucked up shit” sector. It’s 5°F/-15°C and windy. I’ve lived here about 27 years now (originally from Midwest) and have never seen it this cold here.
And I just found out how bad some of my insulation is. The back of the house has an internal corner where it juts out 2 feet, right where the kitchen proper wall ends with pantry behind it (that is, the pantry, powder room, laundry are all 2 feet deeper than the kitchen, to accommodate the hallway).
Apparently they skipped insulating that 2 foot corner. I can actually feel the cold seeping in. My quick-read thermometer says it’s 48F about 2 inches away from the wall, 54F ~ two feet away (edge of counter), and 67F on the island in the middle of the kitchen (which is where we have the thermostat set).
Now I know why I’m always so hot cooking in the summer and cranking the AC down to temps that everyone else complains about. That non- or poorly-insulated spot is right next to the stove.
Oh, it’s only going to get better from now 
Loco moco at Slappy Cakes in Lahaina!
Yeah, I can feel the places in my condo where the builder skipped insulation (and this has been documented by folks who’ve torn out their exterior wall Sheetrock for one reason or another). I run around with my instant read thermometers confirming the bad news. (I’ve got a little oil-filled radiator running in the bedroom right now.) I just got a Code Red call on my landline ( I didn’t answer the phone because I didn’t recognize the number, then googled it, then called it back) from the city announcing warming shelters for people who are without power. It only got up to 12 degrees today, and that’s without factoring in the wind chill. I went to college in the Midwest, but never loved the winters, that’s for sure.
I think weather is a big reason why housing costs so much in the LOL area. I lived in Michigan 6 years; I couldn’t relax and enjoy autumn, so dreading the winter to come.
