The power went out; a bit of a surprise, since we're on the same power grid as Microsoft. We've had no real outages in the ten years we've lived here. But this storm was a biggie. School was canceled. The neighbor had a tree fall across the street onto another neighbor's car, and it took most of the neighborhood to help clear the road. After a few hours of cutting branches and schlepping firewood for next year, I raided the larder and made a steaming pot of lentil soup (with leeks and cauliflower from the fridge, which is rapidly starting to smell). The hostess wisely canceled: even though she has a natural gas-powered generator, the roads were just too much of a mess to go anywhere if we don't have to.
We clearly needed a new plan. No oven, no way to roast those potatoes; ah, but I have my griddle! And, since it's the first night of Hanukkah, potato pancakes were the obvious choice. I grated them up with onion and wrapped them in a dishtowel. There was sour cream and applesauce (from our Gravenstein tree) in the fridge, which needed to be emptied anyway. The Brussels sprouts got the steaming treatment, then slathered in butter. We did a quick inventory of firewood, and decided to meet at the neighbor's for supper. They mashed potatoes and made a stew with leftover steak au poivre. We brought the Menorah; they provided champagne and music stands, and with full bellies and rosy cheeks, we played and sang together until the kid's bedtime.
We lit the stove one more time to boil water for hot water bottles, and tucked ourselves in for a long winter's nap. And we have a plan: if there's no power again tonight, we'll be lighting a fire, and the neighbors will bring their supper (and cello) to our house.
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