Weather ... again

[Bayleaf]

Pretty ugly down here in NE Dordogne - I certainly wasn't expecting this much wind and rain! Oh well, at least housework gets to the top of the list when it's too wet outside!

[exile]

For those of you who drink tea: I've just read an article on the Beeb about the effect storms (low pressure) have on the boiling poinnt of water and the difference in taste that engenders, so be warned!

No warning needed here. Living above 900m altitude we already see the impact. Water boils at 97° in good weather and during a passing depression several degrees lower than that.

Rice and pasta always take a lot longer to cook than the packets suggest. +50% longer is normal.

[MAD87]

Rice and pasta always take a lot longer to cook than the packets suggest. +50% longer is normal.

Gosh

[Wilbro]

Windy and wet in the South of Correze.

[exile]

Rice and pasta always take a lot longer to cook than the packets suggest. +50% longer is normal.

Gosh

As a trained chemist (not pharmacist) we learnt that as a very rough rule of thumb chemical reactions double in their speed for each 10°C increase in temperature. All you domestic goddesses perhaps did not realise that you are practising chemistry in the kitchen so in principle that rule of thumb applies to cooking too. The 3°C reduction in boiling point of water almost exactly equates to a 50% increase in the reaction times aka cooking time.

[Blaze]

Rice and pasta always take a lot longer to cook than the packets suggest. +50% longer is normal.

I'm so pleased to hear you say that, Exile ! We may well be at sea level, but when they say cook dried pasta for 10 minutes, it's rubbish - I do it for almost 20 and it's perfect. Al dente = indigestion for me !!

[exile]

Storm Amy

Just seen the news with some poor woman who has lost electricity supply. Opens the freezer for the camera and says all of this will need to be chucked.

Doh!

Keep the freezer shut and the contents will be* fine for at least 48 hours.

* would have been - too late now.

Alternatively, remove stuff as it defrosts, cook it into some sort of stew or other dish and then freeze once the power comes back on.

When society does really start to break down, it seems there are some - perhaps many - people who have no idea about living outside the normal boundaries.

[Polly]

Moving it all quickly to a family member or friend who still has power would work - if her phone worked and someone has space in their freezer.

Sorry to read that some on here have lost power - we’re really lucky that I can’t even remember it happening here in Berkshire or in our French apartment, though neither were out in the countryside, of course.

We often lost our electricity when fairly newly married and living in a tiny hamlet in Staffordshire, but we had a Rayburn in the kitchen as well as an electric cooker, so could cook some food; a bit tricky when the electricity went while the mini subframe was on the floor in the kitchen - rather dangerous too!

[RobertArthur]

It's quite chilly here in Nièvre and rather cloudy. But it's dry, which is a bonus.

[Blaze]

We had this this morning ....

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