Friday, August 26, 2011

Planning for the Inevitable

By inevitable, I mean losing electric power.  All indicators point to Irene bringing a  major power outage to our region, perhaps primarily due to trees in water logged ground bringing down power lines under the pressure of gale force winds and fully leafed canopies.  We have two, fairly large, classically shallow rooted silver maples brushing up over the roof of our back porch, plus a few trees whose limbs embrace the power line coming into the house.  Great.  Here in Chestertown, the same scenario exists all over town.  It is a Tree City after all!

What can we do to prepare for this possibility?  Not a whole lot, without generator power to get us through. We will pack the most perishable items in ice filled coolers in the walk-in, and hope for the best.  It's the weekend, we are supplied and prepped for that and if the storm veers off to the right (You go Irene!), we'll be ready to serve.  If we lose power for any length of time, we'll be having one huge dinner party on Monday!  Perhaps via campfire! 

We've suffered through a few power outages.  One of the more famous occurred during a blazing hot July night in the middle of a packed Ironstone Cafe anniversary dinner.  We lost electric mid-way through the meal, but I don't think we even paused.  We opened the front and back doors and the show went on.  The worst was the "frozen" dessert, which by the time we plated it became more of a dessert soup.  Our customers had a blast, and some remind me of the event to this day.

Another time, at Kennedyville, the loss of electric forced Kevin out onto the loading dock with a borrowed gas grill, cooking ribs and steaks and heating vegetables for those unfortunate enough to already be in the dining room mid-meal.  It was quite stressful, but we managed to feed a limited menu.  When it was all over, Kevin looked around with satisfaction and declared "Is that all?"

Let's hope we at least get a good story out of whatever Irene brings us this weekend!

1 comment:

  1. Well if there is going to be a community cook out, send out an e-mail blast. We'll be there since you will have the biggest bonfire.

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