Prepared
Lisa writes: Our grass is growing. The mirror is hanging. All is well with the world.
We had a busy, social weekend (by our own standards, anyway). On Friday we had dinner with Foreign Service friends who are headed off to Vietnam. The only thing I know about moving to Vietnam now is, before you go, you should buy a lot lot lot of stuff at Costco first. I also learned how to say the very complimentary phrase "You are cheap" in Vietnamese and I learned that ours isn't the only house with a non-standard doorknob. The F.S. friends are doing some renovating before they leave and it involved switching out the locks. Unfortunately, you can't just waltz down to Home Depot for these locks and so until they figure out the magic source of the weird doorknobs, they'll be exiting the house through the backyard.
On Saturday, we put on our paranoia hats and went down to the Stake Preparedness Fair. There we learned about food and water storage, First Aid, and that FEMA publishes a coloring book (we picked up several). Tom got to play on the fire engine and the ambulance. I learned how to make dessert with a box of brownie mix and a can of black beans.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Food Storage Bean Brownies
1 box brownie mix
1 can of black beans with liquid
Puree beans in blender. Stir into brownie mix. Don't add eggs or oil or anything else. Bake according to mix instructions. Serve to friends. When complimented, simply smile and nod.
I learned that you should store your water in #1-type plastic containers and specifically avoid #7-type plastic. I learned you should rotate this water supply every six months. I also learned we don't have to add any additional chlorine to the water when storing it because our county already has so much. Yum.
I learned that they redid the CPR rules and now instead of the 30 compressions/2 breaths system, they just want you to compress, compress, compress. I also learned that you are guaranteed to break ribs when doing it properly. Ugh.
We came home with a renewed sense of wanting to get our food storage and emergency plan in order. And then we ate ice cream.
Addendum 5/15/08: A black bean brownie recipe was just featured on the excellent blog 101 Cookbooks.
We had a busy, social weekend (by our own standards, anyway). On Friday we had dinner with Foreign Service friends who are headed off to Vietnam. The only thing I know about moving to Vietnam now is, before you go, you should buy a lot lot lot of stuff at Costco first. I also learned how to say the very complimentary phrase "You are cheap" in Vietnamese and I learned that ours isn't the only house with a non-standard doorknob. The F.S. friends are doing some renovating before they leave and it involved switching out the locks. Unfortunately, you can't just waltz down to Home Depot for these locks and so until they figure out the magic source of the weird doorknobs, they'll be exiting the house through the backyard.
On Saturday, we put on our paranoia hats and went down to the Stake Preparedness Fair. There we learned about food and water storage, First Aid, and that FEMA publishes a coloring book (we picked up several). Tom got to play on the fire engine and the ambulance. I learned how to make dessert with a box of brownie mix and a can of black beans.
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Food Storage Bean Brownies
1 box brownie mix
1 can of black beans with liquid
Puree beans in blender. Stir into brownie mix. Don't add eggs or oil or anything else. Bake according to mix instructions. Serve to friends. When complimented, simply smile and nod.
I learned that you should store your water in #1-type plastic containers and specifically avoid #7-type plastic. I learned you should rotate this water supply every six months. I also learned we don't have to add any additional chlorine to the water when storing it because our county already has so much. Yum.
I learned that they redid the CPR rules and now instead of the 30 compressions/2 breaths system, they just want you to compress, compress, compress. I also learned that you are guaranteed to break ribs when doing it properly. Ugh.
We came home with a renewed sense of wanting to get our food storage and emergency plan in order. And then we ate ice cream.
Addendum 5/15/08: A black bean brownie recipe was just featured on the excellent blog 101 Cookbooks.
Comments
And what does "level" means when it comes to plastic?
I'm clearly ill prepared.
Jen, the different types of plastic are indicated by a number on the bottom of the contain. Up until now, I'd only checked it because our trash removal only accepts types 1 & 2 for recycling. But apparently there are a zillion kinds and some of them aren't food grade and will leech chemicals into the water. (Naturally, you also don't want to store drinking water in a food-grade container that was previously used to store chemicals, either.)