Blackout

We have no food in the house: We returned from Durango late Tuesday, and hadn't found time to go to the grocery store when, on Thursday night, NYC lost power along with a good chunk of the northeast. I guess it 's kind of a blessing: Instead of worrying about food going bad in our fridge, we finally have a defrosted freezer, which until Friday morning had a three-inch layer of ice all the way around.

I had made a trip to Amy's Bread during my lunch break Thursday, so I lugged a round loaf of sourdough with me when I joined the walking throngs during the most congested rush hour ever.

Yesterday morning power returned at 8 a.m. for us, so restaurants weren't open for breakfast and the grocery store was just opening its doors. What do you buy when you know the market has been without power for 16 hours? We bought olive oil and tomatoes to make bruschetta with bottled artichoke hearts and the sourdough, plus doughnuts, a cantaloupe and nondairy creamer for breakfast. I've spent so much time shopping the perimeter of the market that I don't know what to buy when I suspect that all the fresh stuff is spoiled.

And how long do I need to wait until I can be sure all that bad stuff is out of the shops? I'm suspicious of all the dairy, meat, poultry. Will eggs be OK? Maybe just not used raw for a while. What about our favorite little cheese shop? I think some cheeses would be fine, but how much of their inventory will they lose? I'm counting on fresh fruits and veggies as a saving grace, but the market we go to never has a very appetizing selection. Maybe the trains are running today and we can take a trip to the farmers' market.

It's really amazing that such a huge loss of power turned out to be nothing more than an enormous inconvenience for most of the millions of people affected. I'm glad all I have to complain about is the possibility of some foul-odored milk or chicken. Maybe I'll find some cooking inspiration in Union Square.