today another named storm rolls in, crippling our plans to go to ohio this weekend for asian new year.
we'll see what the morning brings, but until then, here are some photos i took on my 1-block walk back to the house from parking my car...
it "looked" like a winter wonderland, but really it is wet, slushy sleet/snow, not cold enough for my giant puffy coat, so i'm wet on the outside from the wet flakes, and wet on the inside from sweating... a hot mess i tell ya....
it's the weekend and i'll cry if i want to, cry if i want to...
(why??? it's the weekend... TGIF for pete's sake!)
THAT's why. weatherman's calling for rain ALL weekend, and we all know how much it sucks to walk around in the rain! i've got PLANS, man! plans like going to an engagement party, shopping with the girls in soho, brunch, and going to a free holiday concert in brooklyn! good thing i finally bought some hunters a few months ago for the hunt so walking around in the rain is a TINY bit more tolerable. now all i need is that see-through dome umbrella and i'll be a TRUE new yorker in the rain...
no rain can stop us though! we've got sales to catch!
Macy's (when are they NOT having a sale? and when THE macy's on 34th st is super convenient, why WOULDN'T you go?)
Williams-Sonoma the more you spend, the more you save... right? ;)
Sephora i got an email for $15 off of $50.. did you? if not, sign up for their emails!
...just to name a few.
but before we hit up those monster huge stores, we're going to stop at the union square holiday market to pick up some one-of-a-finds and support the locals :)
if those ideas don't suit your fancy for holiday shopping, sandy victims still need your help! this is an email i got from the NJ State Police today...
while it's slightly hilarious, it's a reminder that while some people only lost their boats (literally... they can't find them).... some people lost everything...
although you made it pretty treacherous to drive home last night, and made it pretty unbearable to walk to our our friend's house to feed her cats (while she's in PARIS! lucky duck)...
front stoop view
back fire escape view
...you at least gave us some pretty pictures before turning into a gross slushy mess and let the trees plop big chunks of snow onto my good-hair-day hair while i turned into a wet sweaty mess shoveling the stoop and sidewalk this morning.
(sorry, not gonna give you pictures of THAT hot mess)
for those of you not affected by hurricane sandy, i'm sure you're sick of hearing about it by now. you may be thinking that there's too much hype on the news....
but, for every second that some people are getting their lives back to normal, some people are enduring more severe conditions.
food is getting scarce for some.
clean water is getting scarce for some.
gas is getting scarce for EVERYONE.
store owners are getting basically attacked by looters, especially pharmacies.
temperatures are dropping.
clean, warm clothes will begin to be an issue.
people are being exposed to toxic gas leaks and raw sewage.
homes, businesses, and entire communities were destroyed.
millions are without power, water, and gas.
millions have no access to work, even if they do have power.
despite all the chaos... i'm not going to hide it, after all the devastation, even i was thinking about what will happen on election day
i'm a democrat, my governor is a republican.
i think we ALL know that democrats and republicans typically don't agree on most issues.
he's right. if democrats and republicans can't agree on anything else, they should agree that we need to get our people to safety and recovery before we even think about elections. life needs to return to normal first.
so, even if you are far away, even if you do or don't care about elections... if you have an ounce of sorrow for those who have suffered with the effects of hurricane sandy, please try to find a way to help:
we are currently hosting our friend who lived on a first-floor apartment in hoboken, left before the storm to evacuate, and now is not permitted to return home due to unsafe conditions. thankfully she got out and is safe, and we can only hope that the worst of her worries is the spoiling food in her fridge and freezer. we do know that her street got flooded, but we all pray that her belongings are safe! only time will tell....
we're also one of the few homes in the area with power, water, and gas, and we open our doors to all of our friends to take a hot shower or have a warm place to sleep.
it's the least we can do in such a disasterous situation!
cheers, to hoping things return to normal for EVERYONE as soon as possible!
but... we made it! and ate pretty good last night since we had to start eating things that were defrosting in the freezer. this included 2 bags of shrimp. so, mr p made a "fancy" powerless meal of shrimp in a herbed, lemon butter sauce... with white rice of course! this meal would have been perfect if only we had some veggies to go along with it, but we took what we could get!
our friendmagnus was brave enough to go towards the hudson river water before it came another 1/2 mile inland in jersey city
video from another friend from, again, before the water washed up further into jersey city
and before the power went out... we took advantage of still being able to use our oven. it's gas, which never went out, but the controls are electric, so after the power went out, we could only manually light our stove burners...
after the power went out, we ate fried eggs and white rice....
now onto the "fancy" meal from last night
Herbed Lemon Butter Shrimp
2 lbs shrimp
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp italian seasoning
salt to taste
lemon juice to taste
in a large pan, heat oil on medium high heat, add butter, chili flakes, thyme, italian seasoning, and salt. once the sauce is simmering, add shrimp. bring to a simmer again, cover, and cook another 2-3 minutes, until shirmp is done (pink and curled at the edges). add lemon juice to taste (i like mine REALLY lemony!!) serve over rice, and preferably with some sort of veggie, like snow peas or broccoli! (but we didn't have anything like that last night)
bon appetit!
...and pray for those who lost their homes and those who have severe damage to their homes and belongings in long island, up and down the jersey shore, staten island, queens, hoboken, jersey city, and beyond....
please be nice to us. this is our first hurricane experience and we want to keep our electricity, gas, and water at least. we live on the second floor, but it would really not be cool if you flooded our basement. don't beat up on our friends too much either... any of them! in dc, virginia, philly, boston, NYC, practically ALL up and down the east coast where you are supposed to make our lives miserable. you've already put a rut in honeymoon plans for our friends that got married today, let's make that the worst of what's to come in the next few days.
thanks.
from, your local hurricane newbies who aren't quite sure what to expect.
