Weathering The Storm

Well, we survived the storm! Thankfully we weren't hit too hard in the Boston area.  We had some pretty crazy wind, a little rain, and a lot of drizzle. We were lucky that we never even lost power. So how did we ride out the storm? By cooking, eating, drinking, napping, and reading of course!

Sunday night we had reservations for a Chef's Whim dinner at Craigie on Main. We didn't feel like leaving the house, as the miserable drizzle had set in, but I'm glad we pushed ourselves to go. The restaurant was lovely, cozy, and warm. The Chef's Whim dinner is a 6 course affair where you are seated and then brought surprise courses throughout the evening. You choose nothing. As our waitress eloquently put it, "The food will come when it comes." They gave us a little card to jot down any notes, and we enjoyed a bottle of Beaujolais as we anticipated each course. It was a lot of fun! My favorite course was a perfectly cooked piece of Scottish Trout served with Chorizo.

Once we got home for the evening, we were notified that work would be closed on Monday, so we settled onto the couch in our pj's with another glass of wine (or two).

Monday, we slept in and awoke to continued drizzle and relatively calm winds. Just in case, I had a few pitchers filled with water, homemade pumpkin bread, and a few other non-refrigerated foods in the pantry.  Winds and rain picked up as the day went on. We ventured outside after lunch for a trip to Whole Foods, as we had forgotten to get carrots on our grocery store run this weekend (a pretty important item when Indonesian Carrot Soup is on the menu).  As we checked out with our carrots, oregano, and heavy cream, the bagger looked down at my items, looked up at me, smiling  and said "Hurricane essentials?"  Absolutely.

We spent the rest of the day working remotely for a bit, reading on the couch, napping, and checking the weather channel every now and then while the wind howled outside. My husband made pumpkin bourbon ice cream (recipe to come), and after dinner we watched a movie while sipping on Apple Ginger Hot Toddies. All in all, not a bad day.

This morning, we surveyed the minor damage -- a few small limbs littering the street, a larger limb down across the sidewalk a couple houses down, and most of the leaves shaken from the trees. A few trees were down on other streets in the neighborhood, but we were lucky in Medford. My prayers are with those in harder hit areas as we return to work and our normal daily lives around here.