The past seven days have been filled with terrific things and uncomfortable inconveniences. Last Saturday, we had a freak storm in Santa Cruz that brought hail and nonstop rain, resulting in a 44-hour power outage in our neighborhood. Our home is on a crazy power grid and we annually lose power but we’d had never been without for more than a day. Things went dark at 10pm on Saturday.
We were not about to complain, especially given what people are enduring in places like Japan and Libya. We went to bed early and the next day, we donned our power outage outfits – multiple sweaters, polar tech, after-ski pants, and wool socks. I made warming foods on the stove (a gas stove proves its merits during an outage) that included soups, a pot roast, and boiled eggs.
My laptop was fully charged so I was able to draft Tuesday's announcement about the new Asian Dumplings enhanced ebook. To ensure that we could do email, we recharged the cell phone whenever we drove the car. Power was finally restored on Monday night around 6pm.
Then on Tuesday night, the wind and rain started up again. Our lights flickered and there were showers of sparks coming off the power lines across the street. I immediately backed up my book manuscript and plugged in all of our mobile devices.
Then I tried to do as much kitchen prep requiring electric appliances as I could. (I am writing the last recipe chapter for the Asian Tofu cookbook.) Rory called the power company and they came out to inspect at around 10pm, clipping a few tree branches that were part of the problem.
Our power was okay until yesterday, when not only did it go out twice but it only came back on at half-speed. Nearby businesses closed for the afternoon. Only half of our home had electricity and what electricity there was came and went in a phantom-like manner. In the midst of all that, the garbage disposal stopped working. I only realized that after dumping a bunch of tofu down the drain. It was not pretty.
I was on the brink of breaking down when I decided to take a time out. It was around 3pm and I stopped trying to be productive. Instead, I made one of my favorite childhood snacks: Deviled eggs.
It was a cinch as I had those boiled eggs in the fridge from the first outage. To make sure that there was plenty of crazy MSG flavor, I used Japanese Kewpie mayonnaise. Sweet pickle relish gave the yolks a nice tangy flavor. A sprinkling of ground chile pepper (ichimi togarashi) added color and zip.
The rain stopped for a while and the sky lightened up. I found a warmish spot in the house to sit at and eat my deviled eggs. I felt so much better.
Do you have an instant feel good food?
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