I am writing from Starbucks where I am hoping 1) the wireless holds out until I can press ‘publish’ on this post and 2) my daughter remains sleeping, or at least quiet, until I am done.
Well, folks – did you survive? Lose power? Go through your supply of tuna fish? Or maybe you didn’t even lose power at all and watched this from your warm house or across the country?
I took the chance on Monday during the day, while we waited for…whatever was going to happen…to try out some new recipes and cook some extra food for the coming days. I ended up baking banana chocolate chip bread, a staple in our house; White Pumpkin Cheddar Ale Soup; and “Everything But the…Brownies” which I filled with oreo cookies, walnuts, white chocolate chips and Momofuku cornflake crunch. (I promise to blog all this soon!) And good thing I spent so much time baking up a storm, pun intended, since the next few days ended up being a little rocky.
We lost power late Monday night, as we watched the Hudson River literally crash up our street and into the lobby of our building in Jersey City, NJ. We hunkered down with candles and a bottle of wine with our neighbor, who just happens to be a rabbi. I mean, who better to be stuck in a Hurricane with other than a rabbi, right?
By 1:30 am the water had already started to recede to our relief, and we understood that the worst of it was over.
But now its Friday, and we remain without power. The first two nights were almost fun – we invited friends from the building to come over, and enjoyed wine together and even fondue; we definitely tried to make the most of a less than ideal situation. But by day #4 without power or hot water…well, I am just grateful we have a place to go, and food to eat. But I pray for those who remain stranded or who have suffered serious loss from this monumental storm.
I hope you are all doing well, and hope we can all get back to eating, cooking, baking and blogging soon.
Wishing you a Shabbat Shalom wherever this may find you!
Shabbat
Pronounced: shuh-BAHT or shah-BAHT, Origin: Hebrew, the Sabbath, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.