Just as I got to Crossfit last night, it shuttered closed. Fekking Hurricane Sandy. Apparently, just as they had pumped out their basement, still steady with power, someone had misdirected their basement water, and it pumped directly into their basement. That’s a bitch, right?
But they have their building, and I have my home, unlike 111 homes in Breezy Point, Queens that were burned to ash. Hundreds of homes throughout the 5 boroughs, thousands of homes in NJ, and thousands more on Long Island, are ruined. Their memories are gone, awash in mud and sewage and the angry remains of a storm that too many people decided to try to ignore and ride out. Working class, middle class, one-percenters; all were affected. I understand that the wealthier of the homeowners are a LOT better off than people with fewer resources at their disposal, but replacing memories? Impossible. Memories aren’t a currency, and they aren’t covered by flood insurance. My heart breaks for everyone.
Last night, I was running the streets of Brooklyn with the Viking, late at night, just to blow off some of my excess energy. Parts of Brooklyn look like a war zone. When we crested the hill where we normally pause to look at the NYC skyline, we found darkness. The normally shining and brilliant skyline of Manhattan was pitch dark, crowned only by a fog, and the light of the Empire State Building. Behind us, where you can see a decent chunk of the rest of Brooklyn, we gazed upon smoke, the lights of fire engines, and eerie, utter stillness. The one, bright beacon being that of a volunteer center, where literally dozens of people were still working around the clock to help their neighbors and their fellow Brooklynites come back from this tragedy. Set to aid them through their drudgery through the muck and mire, and mazes of paperwork needed to secure much needed funding from FEMA and the like.
However much this storm has damaged, the one thing it’s claws couldn’t manage to vitiate was NY’s indomitable spirit. This city just keeps taking the proverbial “licking” and it does, in fact, keep ticking.
I love you NYC. There will never be another like you, and you will always stand strong, the plangent thrum of your life force constant; a reverberating echo on our souls.
In an effort to get back to some sort of normalcy, I made a recipe for you! In the beautiful sunlight Mother Nature graced upon us this morning, I took pictures!!!
Last night, I stopped by my local grocery store, and inside, BAM! Christmas had spewed forth, drowning out the ghouls and goblins of Halloween. What comes with Christmas? EGGNOG, BITCHES!!! Knowing I was going to make waffles for brekkie, I thought, “why not eggnog waffles?” It was kinda genius, not gonna lie. I also wanted some whole grain in the waffles, but feared whole wheat would overpower the flavor of the eggnog, which just wouldn’t do, so instead, I made oatmeal and all-purpose flour waffles. Yeah, I know, you can send wine in the stead of thank you notes to my sheer genius.
These are pretty healthy, but I will not disparage you if you wish to slather the hell out of these with some butter and syrup. Mostly because butter and syrup are G-d’s gift to those little waffle divots.
Eggnog Oatmeal Waffles
Eggnog Oatmeal Waffles
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Keywords: bake bread breakfast dessert vegetarian
Ingredients (5 belgian waffles)
- 1 1/2 cup AP flour
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 cups low fat or regular eggnog
- 6 TBSP egg whites or 2 egg whites
- fresh grated nutmeg to taste
- 1 tbsp vanilla
Instructions
preheat waffle iron
stir dry ingredients together
stir in wet
pour onto greased waffle iron
bake!
Again, I’m so happy that you are your family are safe!
Shame about the crossfit being closed, but as you said you and you’re family are safe and you have your home!
I have made eggnog waffles before, and they truly are divine. Yum.
So glad you’re okay, and my heart breaks for everyone who lost friends, families, livelihoods, and homes.
HUGE HUGS!!!! So glad you are safe! So sad what this storm did!!!!
Love your resilience AND the recipe!
I’ve actually never had eggnog! Waffles are a staple though.
Oh NYC…. miss it so! I guess I kind of sort of miss you too. But hardly =)
pinning the crap out of these waffles
I know- Jersey City/Hoboken well it looks like a warzone full of debris, lines and loss of power. We had it restored last night which was a miracle and I have to admit I am very very lucky as we had no damages due to the storm surge (we were spared in my side of town).
Thank you for the recipe i am going to be trying it out this weekend. A sense of normalcy – I never thought I would crave that.
eggnog already? PERFECT! I can’t wait for the holidays to be here and they will be here before we know it!
I’m happy to hear that you all are OK and weren’t affected. My heart hurts so much from seeing all the pictures from Breezy Point, the Rockaways and Jersey Shore and everywhere else. I drove back into Brooklyn last night and it was so eerie seeing one tower of the Verrazano lit up and the other dark and half of Manhattan dark.
I so recall living through fran, having no electricity for almost 2 weeks and feeling as though the DAY AFTER everyone forgot about us.
huge benefit of social media is how connected we all are now…
xo
These look aaaaamazing! I’m so ridiculously excited for eggnog season!
Amen, girl. I raise my glass to NYC and my thoughts to my friends and family and strangers who are struggling in the aftermath. I so miss living in that wonderful city and running through Central Park (where I trained for my half marathon and escaped the drudgery of my thesis). As superficial as it seems, I so hope that the buildings that I love and are so fundamental to my memories of the city and its history (I studied architectural historic preservation at Columbia) are ok. But greatest of all, no matter what, NYC will bounce back, because while the buildings may fall, the sense of NYC, of being a part of something greater than oneself, will enable the city and it’s people to continu to bounce back.
Until then, my syrupy fork salutes you. And I go for a run in your honor, because my fall runs through the NYC parks will always be among my favorite memories from my time in the city. As born and raised Atlantan (another hurricane prone area) now in VA, the rebuilding is tough, but it is a chance to become better.