Is it cold on the East Coast?

Jan 16, 2004 8 Replies

Hi Joe and Dale and other East Coasters.



Have just seen on our TV news, unbelievable scenes of a winter super freeze, so I thought that I would offer a couple of word of encouragement.



Today, Friday, I spent at the beach, cloudless sky, no wind, air temp 82F water temp around 72F.



Sitting here at 8pm (shirtless - not as pretty sight) sensational summer night, dinner comprised prawn salad starter (with Wither Hills 2003 Sauvignon Blanc) - and a nice piece of eye fillet steak cooked (very rare of course) on the barbeque - accompanied with garden fresh asparagus (with a touch of hollandaise) and some new potatoes, harvested today - smothered in butter.



Plundered my local importers cellar and came up with a Domaine l'Aigueliere '98 Montpeyroux - a bloody wonderful shiraz from Languedoc - a most pleasant change from Australian shiraz - which was perfect with the steak.



Sun will go down in about an hour - and the temperature may plunge to 20C (68F) overnight.



Oh, it is such a hard life.


Yep, it's pretty bitter. Last weekend it was -2°F when I got up Saturday, and

0° on Sunday. Last night it was 0° with wind chill of -30°. Between making sure pipes don't freeze at home (one bath has a crawlspace underneath) and and 10-12 hour days at work, I'm frazzled. The organization I run deals with the street homeless, so we've been busy. Hard for me to complain, though. Cause there were two pretty severe winters that I was sleeping on the streets, myself. Now that was hard.

Most of the guys we deal with are pretty street smart, and know when it's time to spend the night riding subway. My group will have 6 teams (8-20 people each) out tonight, making sure people who are out have blankets, hot soup, gloves, etc. I'll be in a warm house, maybe with friends, probably with good wine, but won't be able to totally shake a feeling of discomfort (even guilt).

Sorry to go off-topic. By Saturday temps will be up to 30s, and only 20° or so at night. Then I can get back to a more normal frame of mind.

Dale

Dale Williams Drop "damnspam" to reply

l'Aigueliere

Well, we're here, covered in skins and huddled around the fire, hoping the meat on our sticks won't freeze before we can get it to our mouths. We lost a neighbor last night to the sabretooth who prowls around the camp, and two more were found frozen solid this morning. The snow's not too deep, so we may be able to hunt today.

Thanks for thinking about us, though.

Dean

Well, as a new East Coaster (Pennsylvania), yes, it's bloody freezing. I think it was around 6 degrees F this morning. What's that in C? About -12? I know what you mean about sitting on the beach -- I moved here four years ago, but originally I'm from Auckland. (Any chance, from your moniker, you're from St. Heliers?) Nobody can fathom that I was used to having a barbecue on the beach around Boxing Day.

In my opinion, it's just the sort of weather for a grunty Aussie shiraz, I must confess -- my wife's favourite is E&E Black Pepper. Unfortunately, that's a (very expensive) Special Liquor Order here in PA. And why no case discounts, LCB???

Cheers

Ian

"Words of encouragement" snipped.

Thanks for your "kind" words. Hope you got a sun burn :-)

It's -5F (-20 C) outside and -27F (-33C) with wind chill. It's not much warmer inside right now. The heating plants of these big, old buildings have a hard time keeping up.

Feels like Port weather to me.

Andy

Diary - Saturday Morning (Having just returned from a one hour walk through the park - clad only in a pair of shorts, singlet and runners)

What to do today? NZ Golf Open at the Grange? NZ Tennis Classic at Stanley Street? Hobie Cat at Mission Bay? Or dig the snow from driveway?

Hell Ian, I can only think of two reasons why you would be in Pa. and not here in the tropical south Pacific - $$$ or a woman!

Nope, St.Helier is my name (olde family connection to St.Helier, Jersey Island) - but St.Heliers is a mere 20 minute drive.

To get this back on topic, yep - barbeques and shiraz are the perfect summer evening mix.

Kathryn and I also do a fantastic summer "salad" which melds perfectly with Marlborough Sauvignon.

A couple of kilos of Australian king prawns, tossed with peeled broad beans and topped with sliced avocado, with a very, very light dressing.

Ask Ian Hoare - he and Jacquie spent Xmas day with us a couple of years ago (their first experience of Christmas during the "correct" season.

Give me New Years Day either caste upon a beach, or revelling in the sun at the Ellerslie Auckland Cup race meeting (that is horse racing!!!) any day.

Best wishes for a warm snap.

Salut/Hi st.helier,

le/on Sat, 17 Jan 2004 08:36:08 +1300, tu disais/you said:-

Who's taking my name in vain?

Indeed. Felt really odd, too. Not exactly warm, but we did eat out of doors to make Lord Bourk feel good.

(their first experience of Christmas during the "correct" season.)

Fortunately, Kethryn did the cooking while Andrew contented himself with pouring the wine.

For a Christmas lunch in summer the food was excellent (whew) and the wine? not bad, I suppose. But not really up to the Roast turkey we had for Christmas this year with my brother. Free ranger, stuffed traditionally with a giblet and thyme stuffing, bacon rolls, sausagemeat balls (to you Milord), bread sauce, gravy, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, brussels sprouts and glazed carrots. Served with a Pierre Amiot Morey St Denis 1st growth Les Millandes 1995.

Is that a high caste or a low caste beach?

thats why I moved from Michigan to San Diego. I was tired of being frozen to death every winter

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