Black Bean Soup, Dancing in the Wind, and Mad Chickens!

I thought today might be the first time ever that I was going to miss B&W Wednesday. Luckily, we did not suffer any damage from Irene, but we were without power from 11pm Saturday until 2am on Tuesday.

It was a LONG TWO DAYS.....

As Pat said, "It is kind of like camping, but not in a tent"

I quickly reminded him, that this girl DOES NOT CAMP.

It actually was not that bad. We survived with the resources we had and were able to keep the girls occupied before sheer boredom set in. Nick is on vacation with his Dad, so we were minus one this weekend.


Obviously everyone knew this storm was coming, so we spent the better part of Friday night and Saturday, trying to prepare. We had flashlights and candles ready. Everyone charged all electronics so that we would at least be able to communicate in some manner. Pat put away all outdoor items that could blow away and I spent a few hours in the kitchen cooking and making sure we would have food readily available.

We have a gas stove, so I knew that we would be able to heat things up even if we lost power. I decided to make a new black bean soup.

The recipe is courtesy of the book, Recipes From A Very Small Island by Linda and Martha Greenlaw. Great book, you may want to check it out. My Mom has the book and gave me the recipe. She tweaks it a bit, so I did too. Here is the doctored up recipe:

Blackbean Soup
4 Large Carrots Peeled and Chopped
1-2 Shallots Chopped
2 Tablespoons of Olive Oil
4 16 oz Cans of Black Beans (Undrained)
1 Quart of Chicken Stock(4 Cups)
1 Large Jar of Salsa (or about 2 cups)
2 Tablespoons of Chili Powder
1 Package of Frozen Corn
1 Lime

Sautee shallots and carrots until tender
Place beans with their liquid in the large saucepan.
Using a potato masher or a large fork, partially mash the beans.
Whisk in the stock, salsa, frozen corn, and chili powder.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 20 minutes.
Add lime juice
Serve with your favorite toppings.
Recipe Serves 8



You can top the soup with any number of things.
In our house we like a little cilantro, lots of cheese, salsa, and homemade tortilla chips!
They also recommend, scallions and sour cream.


The storm actually hit our area late Saturday night. The rain was pouring down and the wind was howling. I could not sleep for fear that we would have a tornado touch down and have to make a mad dash to our basement. I think I managed to stay awake until about 3am and then I finally nodded off. We woke up and there was a little break in the rain about mid morning. Pat went outside to take a look around and before he knew it, the two little ones followed him onto to the deck in their pjs. He yelled for me to come with my camera as they were twirling around and trying to fight the wind and stay in the standing position.


They were having a great time and were no longer scared because it was daylight.
Just a few minutes after we were out there, the rain began again and the wind really picked up, so we came back in to find something else to do.


We went through many arts and craft projects. The girls played in their princess tent with flashlights for a while too. By the time late afternoon rolled around we all started to hit the wall.


Thats when I decided it was time to pull out the IPad and let them have a little electronic fun. Pat spent some time playing "Angry Birds" with Sarah and then later on, Sarah began to teach Reagan how to play.


As you can see, the IPad was a Life Saver!
I typically don't let the girls use my IPad so this was a real treat.

Not only did the little ones enjoy it, so did Pat and I.
After Reagan went to bed each night, the three of us had an Angry Birds(or Mad Chickens as Sarah calls it) competition by candlelight around the kitchen table. It really was fun and I am sure that we will one day reflect on Irene and remember all the things we did together as a family to get through.

I think we were pretty prepared for our little power hiatus, except we did make a few rookie mistakes.

The biggest one......

I was so worried about having food in the house, but I forgot to think about how to keep our food cold when the refrigerators and freezers stopped working.

We had one cooler filled with ice for the essentials(eggs, milk, juice etc)but we ended up losing the contents of our refrigerators and freezers. We had to toss everything with the exception of a few condiments and wine, cause if Mama is forced to "Camp", she needs something to help get her through.....even if it was warm wine, it was still better than nothing!

I know I should not complain about losing food, there are so many who lost much much more.

Hopefully those of you here on the East Coast weathered the storm without harm or damage.
We have family members that still do not have power and we also have friends that have suffered from the flooding and lost things that are irreplaceable. I feel so bad for them and for those that are still trying to dig out.

Be safe everyone and try to enjoy the last official week of summer.

I can hardly believe it is over.

School starts next week for Nick and the girls are about to experience their first week of what we are going to call "School" too. More on that to come.