New Year festivities and the severe winter in the Northland.

[TLS Guy]

Despite the back to back storms over New Year we did not let it spoil the festivities. We had a good New Year's day and we did barbecue. We started off the day grilling kippers.

A good traditional breakfast, and Ralph only left the skeleton for manners.

The grilled bacon for the ham, bacon, bean and tomato vegetable soup.

After all that time to roast the traditional goose.

The wind howled and blew up blizzard like squalls frequently.

Despite that the Minnesota Northland is really beautiful in winter.

So I think we earned our goose.

Finished off with Bananas Foster, a New Orleans staple.

It was a good thing I left the clearing of the second storm to the next day, as the Model A slid off the road into the ditch. The Suburban could not get the traction to pull her out, despite valiant digging. So I had to have big Trev, pull me out with his 180 HP JD turbo diesel grader.

We are having a really bad winter. We now are under an 8 to 14 day severe freeze alert from a polar vortex over Hudson Bay.

I traveled to Grand Forks yesterday, for the funeral of a dear colleague. The landscape of the Red River Valley looks like nothing on earth right now and is a scene of total desolation. The journey back today was very difficult from new snow and ground blizzard conditions causing very poor visibility and deep finger drifts, with the temperature around -18 C. There is deep snow everywhere. MN DOT where busy moving enormous amounts of snow out of Bagley.

There is great fear in the Red river Valley about the Spring and the likely very severe floods. Fargo already has 47 inches of snow on the ground, which is a record for this early in the season. This coupled with huge amounts of rain from the unusual inland cyclone, before freeze up has left a lot of frozen water in place and the Red froze in flood. I really fear for the residents up and down the Red River Valley from Whapeton ND to Selkirk, Manitoba near Lake Winnipeg. Winnipeg have increased their diversion capacity 35% since the floods of 1997 and they will probably be the only community OK.

The long range forecast is for a stormy March and April. This winter seems on track to surpass the dreadful winter of 1996/1997.

I was very happy to arrive back here at Walberswick House this afternoon. It was toasty warm and I can tell you I did not turn down the heat when I left yesterday.

 

[Rickster71]

Despite the back to back storms over New Year we did not let it spoil the festivities. We had a good New Year's day and we did barbecue. We started off the day grilling kippers.

Regarding the winters up there; how can we tell if this picture was taken in June or January?

 

[its phillip]

I don't think I've ever seen that much snow at once in my life.

 

[Warpdrv]

We always seem to get cut short on the good big snow around here....

You look like your having some brutal snow there buddy...

Good Show on the grilling, thats quite a nice outdoor setup there - I like it.... color me jealous...

 

[TLS Guy]

Regarding the winters up there; how can we tell if this picture was taken in June or January?

Because we can grow flowers in June!

And we do get to go boating.

 

[adk highlander]

That is some serious snow. Call me jealous for that. We have not see a storm yet that has produced more than 8 inches all winter. We don't see those super cold temps along with it very often though so what you are experiencing would be miserable no matter how much one skis.

I'm glad you made it back safely and my condolences on the loss of your friend.

Oh, and the outdoor kitchen is stellar.

 

[Swerd]

Thanks for the photos from the Great White North!

I enjoyed seeing your gas grill and the goose. Does it take longer to roast it outdoors in that cold? If I know you at all, your grill could probably maintain cooking temperatures at -40 degrees!

I also enjoyed seeing the snow - as long as it was somewhere else. We had enough last winter on the mid Atlantic coast to last for several years. It's been a colder than normal winter so far, but we have dodged several coastal storms that dumped a lot of snow in the north east.

Happy new year .

 

[TLS Guy]

Thanks for the photos from the Great White North!

I enjoyed seeing your gas grill and the goose. Does it take longer to roast it outdoors in that cold? If I know you at all, your grill could probably maintain cooking temperatures at -40 degrees!

I also enjoyed seeing the snow - as long as it was somewhere else. We had enough last winter on the mid Atlantic coast to last for several years. It's been a colder than normal winter so far, but we have dodged several coastal storms that dumped a lot of snow in the north east.

Happy new year .

Its a good physics lesson.

It cooks by radiant heat, so electromagnetic infra read ways go form the hot rear mantle to the darker goose. If there is no severe wind the birds only take slightly longer to roast in the cold of winter than summer. I usually spit roast with the lid open. Because of the severe wind chill that day, I had to have periods of lid open and closed.

As far as the grill part is concerned, I do have to turn it up slightly in the cold of winter, but far from full, and cooking times on the grill proper are the same as summer. That grill also uses radiant heat though, as the gas flames are below porcelain rods, which glow red and radiate up the the cast iron grate.

So there was a learning curve with the rig. It was built Spring of 1999. My daughter was largely the architect of the two reconstructions here. However the outside kitchen was my idea and doing, which is why the proportions might be slightly sub optimal for a perfect score. I also did both sound systems, otherwise it is pretty much all her work.

By the way everyone's view of that outside kitchen, until it was finished was total insanity. However it has become one of the sentinel pieces of this facility and makes for perfect entertaining of parties large on small in the summer. For some reason last summer we had few mosquitoes, even in the evening, so we cooked and ate a lot of fine meals outside in the last gorgeous summer.

Because of how it is arranged a number of people, can and do, enjoy participating on the preparation of the meal. My next door neighbors, for one, can't resist getting involved in the cooking.

This is a Persian cookout last summer, orchestrated by my daughter's friend Shiela who is from Iran. She is in the Blue dress. My son's wife Yvon is in the foreground and has been a professional chef and was trained in Paris. She loves to use this outside kitchen.