Saturday, November 3, 2007

Batten Down the Hatch - Noel is Coming!

Photo from The National Hurricane Center

My daughter and son-in-law lived through Hurricanes Juan & White Juan and I have cousins who live in Florida and have survived many a hurricane, but Hurricane Noel is a first for us. I'm actually a little excited in a weird, scary kind of way.

The meteoroligists are keeping an eye on things. Sometimes I hear "hurricane", other times "tropical storm" or "post tropical storm". Whatever you call it, Nova Scotians are getting ready. It's supposed to hit Halifax by nightfall.

So yesterday I went to buy the standard hurricane survival gear...bottled water, battery operated radio, flashlights, extra batteries, candles, wipes (in case there's no water to wash with), blankets, clear plastic sheeting and duct tape (in case our windows get broken), matches. That part was easy, but what about food?!

I was at the local Atlantic Superstore yesterday evening. The parking lot was packed, shopping carts rare and line ups at the cashes....well, I waited 30 minutes to check out. I bought a couple of cases of bottled water, bread, juice, granola bars and I was done. I have salad stuff at home and of course there's peanut butter and cans of tuna. There's shrimp, meat and chicken in the freezer, but I was more concerned about what happens if the power goes out. All my cooking gear requires electricity.

Bottom line...my cart was pretty empty and I was shocked at how full the others were, particularly as they were packed with things that definitely needed heat to eat.

Being new to the world of hurricanes, I was confused but then local Haligonians told me that most people have gas bbqs and that's what they use. Silly me, I should have known. After all it's exactly what we did in Toronto when we had that huge power failure back in 2003. But now we live in a condo with no balcony or deck and so...no bbq.

Here's a question for anyone out there...what are some good eating options (other than the usual tuna, peanut butter or cheese sandwiches). I'd love to get your hurricane menu.

9 comments:

Kalyn Denny said...

Oh my, that does sound scary. I hope you'll be ok.

Katie Zeller said...

I'd be the same - scared in an excited way... Hope you're fine!

Ruth Daniels said...

Thanks ladies, for your concern. So far, it's just raining, but...who knows. I'll keep you posted.

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Hope it doesn't hit! I am keeping my fingers crossed!

Nupur said...

Wish you good luck, Ruth! Stay safe!
My suggestion for a no-cook dinner: drained canned chickpeas tossed with carrot/onion/cucumber topped with lemon juice, salt, cumin and herbs, if you have any.

Ruth Daniels said...

Thanks Holler, for the fingers crossed.

Nupur, it's been a while, glad to see you and thanks for the recipe. It sounds delicious.

Anonymous said...

..... oh all the best ...

Anonymous said...

I still remember when a hurricane, perhaps Hazel? came to mid Maine. Scary doesn't begin to describe it, but we didn't use electric cooking.

At my WV farm, however, I did, and we had a three day outage from an ice storm. I used the fireplace-- got one? If not, I'd get a camping stove!

Right now, I'd start with making a Thermos full of coffee, because I really missed that. The fireplace made lots of things in an iron Dutch oven, and great foil-wrapped baked potatoes, but it wouldn't boil water.

Ruth Daniels said...

Judith, no fireplace, no gas stove, but we're lucky. We didn't lose power...at least not yet.

Thanks for the tips and the thermos of coffee is close at hand.