When I say, “It was a dark and stormy night,” I’m not just parroting Billy Crystal with writer’s block in Throw Mama From the Train. I’m accurately describing weather conditions on March 13th, the day we filmed the video clip many of you may have watched last week (See Three Many Cooks—Live!). That was the day the mighty spring Nor’easter blew up the East coast.
Maggy, Sharon and I fought the storm all day, filming at our local market, then at the wine shop across the street, and finally at home. (If you watch the video closely, you’ll see the raging wind and driving rain through the kitchen window.)
We tried to ignore the weather, but as the day wore on, the storm intensified and the flickering lights taunted us. We held our breath and kept quiet for fear our fear would make them go out. What if we lost power before we finished? At 4:00 we were feeling lucky. But minutes away from calling friends to help us wrap up the video and start a party, it happened.
Snap. Crackle. Pop—followed by an impressive fireworks display from the transformer on the pole outside our window. For one silly moment I thought an emergency crew might be able to patch things up. But when we looked out the window and saw one of our massive trees fallen across the road and resting on the transformer, we knew it was over.
Of necessity we started lighting candles—lots of them. As we continued to light, someone looked through the camera lens and said, “Wait a minute, this looks great.” The kitchen island was still set. The shrimp needed frying, but the stove was gas. Candles aflame, we created a new ending.
The power didn’t come back on that night or the next, or even the next. Thousands of trees had been ripped down, snarling traffic and plunging the whole region into the dark. On night four as we ate dinner by the fire in our candle-lit living room, it finally happened. With the help of power crews from Quebec—called in along with American crews as far away as Ohio—our power was finally restored.
So if you haven’t seen it yet, head to Three Many Cooks—Live! and hit Play. The ending didn’t go quite as planned, but that’s life. We love it. Not because it’s better, but because we found a way to finish strong.
You guys are such troopers but I love that the crew said ‘wait a minute, this looks great’ and you kept filming! Sigh, more storms for me this evening including the dreaded possible ‘T’ word (whispered ‘tornado’) – wish I could say I was one of those crazy storm-chasers but alas, I cannot . . .
Yes, it was quite a day! The weather made things a lot more difficult. But what fun we had, in the dark, sipping champagne and eating coconut shrimp. I, for one, am glad that the others didn’t come – more for us! Haha.
I made these Friday night. So gooood! The group of ladies I was with declared them the best ever! We were literally licking the glasses and the pitcher clean.
I know the feeling, Betsy!