An Evening Without Power

After a severe storm in the bay area, our house went out of power on Wednesday and didn’t have it back till Thursday evening.

So we spent an evening with no electricity. It was actually kind of nice, at least it was for one night. We both wore a headlamp to get around in the house, almost felt like camping. We would just need some campfire, some tri-tip, and some s’mores to complete the experience!

We lit some candles, chatted, talked about what happened during the day. Pascal got to catch up on some sleep and I got to use the remaining power of my laptop (good that I had it fully charged the night before) to do some uninterrupted writing.

Sometimes when I get home, I am presented with many possible activities. So I end up reading a few pages of one book, then going off to check emails and getting sucked in facebook updates, all the while watching the latest episode of my favorite show and chatting with friends on IM.

So it was kind of nice to have so little choice and just focus on that one thing I could do at a time. That reminds me of the time when we were traveling, the only “entertainment” at night would be reading whatever book we had at hand (or listening to street noise). That actually made me rediscover the joy of reading, something I had lost amid a busy working life in a foreign land. The simple pleasure in life…

With all that said, I am still glad the power is back on now…

Bedroom in candlelight

Saving the frozen foie gras by burying it under ice cubes :)