Saturday, August 27, 2011

GTTC, earthquakes, hurricanes



The sliders I made this week are topped with balsamic mustard and grilled onions. The jalapenos were simply grilled (on a wood skewer soaked in water first). It was a bittersweet evening as my husband kept calling it the "end of summer bbq" and I had to return to work full time the next day.

What "end of summer" (or other seasons for those of you far from North America) dishes are you making with your harvests? Post about it with a link to this blog, provide a link below and qualify for random periodic prizes!


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Anyone on my coast experience the earthquake (and aftershock) this week? I really can't imagine what it would be like to experience earthquakes regularly - people say you get jaded pretty fast. Maybe it would be just annoying after a while to have to straighten out all the wall art, and sweep up any broken glass. For me though, it was pretty freaking scary. We had one about a year ago in the middle of the night - my first. I thought it felt pretty much like a low-flying helicopter hovering right above the house - of course, that's a pretty scary feeling too. I sort of knew what was really going on, and when I looked at my husband and asked, "Was that an earthquake?" the words were really surreal coming out of my mouth - it's something most people from the East Coast have never uttered before. But to tell you the truth, despite my typical calm facade, in my head, a voice was yelling, "WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE"! Having never experienced an earthquake, my only frame of reference comes from disaster movies like 2012 where the ground opens up and swallows houses whole. The first inclination was to grab the poor kids sleeping innocently in their beds, but I was really in shock too... and then the rational side kicked in - ok, what are we supposed to do... get in a bathtub? go to the basement? run outside? I just couldn't remember anything I'd ever heard or read!!! But then before I even needed to reach a decision, it was all over.

Later, it's all anyone has to talk about. I think West Coasters must have sore eye sockets after so many eye-rolls about our East Coast earthquake excitement. In reality though, there are some very real dangers even for a small earthquake - gas lines breaking, traffic signals down, etc. And when we experienced our daytime earthquake last week and were all separated, I realized we were all probably fine, but I guess there was a maternal anxiousness that my kids (especially the 6 year old) would be scared. I think an earthquake is just so sudden, so unpredictable, so natural, and with all that - there is such a feeling of a loss of control. You just want all your family members safe and around you.

I certainly don't mean to compare our pitiful little earthquake to any true devastation that comes from more serious earthquakes and other natural disasters. It's just such a new and weird thing for us. And I do count myself lucky that this is something we don't normally experience.

Anyway, we were just coming down from all the exhilaration and all everyone's talking about now is Hurricane Irene. Geez, how do you prepare for this one? Get milk and toilet paper? Fill the tub with water? Are you supposed to stay away from windows - or is it that you're supposed to nail boards over your windows???


14 comments:

  1. Wendy, Your pictures are gorgeous and I can almost taste the food.
    Looks like you had a great vacation. We just got back from some time on the Chesapeake. Quite relaxing.

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  2. I felt the earthquake too! It was SO scary. We all ran out of the office. And now with the hurricane...it is really scary! Stay safe!

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  3. Grilled jalapenos/sliders look great. Kind of like green chile cheeseburgers.

    I don't think much is going to happen with the hurricane (at least on the west side of the Beltway), but the earthquake was VERY scary to those of us who aren't used to it (like me). Our central VA house is about 9 miles from the epicenter of the first big quake. We had dozens of aftershocks. We were planning to be in northern VA this weekend anyway, but the aftershocks drove us away sooner than we had planned.

    I'll write a GTTC post as soon as I'm reunited with my photos - I left the camera behind.

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  4. It's definitely been quite the exciting week that Mother Nature has provided to us East Coasters. I totally agree with you that the earthquake was pretty freaking scary. My first one! I'm even more freaked out about the hurricane barreling towards us though. Be Safe!!

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  5. Hi Wendy,
    I hope things settle down soon, and you don't have any more earthquakes, or damage from Irene. Where do you live? Why was I thinking you are in Chicago?

    I have been making lots of vegetable soups and putting them in the containers I take to work, and freezing them. Only some of the veggies come from my garden, though. Some are from a farmers' market.

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  6. If I would have looked in your sidebar, I would have seen you are in Maryland. I am praying for those in Irene's path.

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  7. You guys have had a lot going on over there! I have no idea what I would do in that situation---probably think the same thing! I love your pics of your food and your recipes...very inspiring! I am hoping to find more sun for veggies in our shade filled yard. Ok so I added you to my blog list because I sooo enjoy reading your blog! Cheers! Nicole

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  8. Dear Wendy, glad you have weathered the wild weather, thinking of you and hoping no one is hurt in relation to Irene. The peppers and the burgers look amazing. cheers, catmint

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  9. So glad you were safe with that earthquake and hopefully you will be out of harm's way for the hurricane! Take care and enjoy those pepppers, that is a good way to enjoy anything, grilled.

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  10. Many people seem to be blogging about Irene and you on earthquake. Oh dear! I remember seeing some slides through forwarded e-mails on where to hide in case of earthquakes. It was called the Triangle of Life. Apparently, the person who came up with the idea is under investigation.

    The burgers look great.

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  11. I always think of September as still part of summer...more BBQ's ahead.

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  12. Hurricane is bad enough already. Gosh earthquakes also? That's really bad. Hope no more! Take care.

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  13. Well, I'm glad you made it through all the excitement, Wendy. It really been a disconcerting time, hasn't it? I hope things will settle down now. Your burgers look delish!

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  14. Take care and hope everything will be better soon!

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