Monday, December 27, 2010

report from no-mans-land



12:12 pm
I have just consumed an ungodly amount of hot chocolate and am now understanding the nuanced variations between a caffeine high and a sugar high - the former being a more focused productive jitterbug (I'll sit down and read my book on quantum theory*, write some bills, make the bed), and the later causing irrational and wholly inadvisable decisions (I'll pull a 15 pound frozen duck out of the freezer and make it for dinner tonight, organize all my spices alphabetically, cut my hair, create my own dance routine to the theme song from Flashdance but first I'll make another cup of hot chocolate where are the god damn marshmallows?) and then of course somewhere in that thought process I figured I'd open the computer for the first time IN THREE DAYS - LOVE TIME OFF and write a quick note to you to say how positively crazy new york city is right now - how the streets in Red Hook haven't seen a single plow truck and how uncomfortable I'm starting to feel as the thought of being truly snowbound for several days crystallizes.

So I did what any child of the suburbs knows to do in a snowstorm - stock up on unnecessary provisions! I snowshoe-d it down to the Fairway. Inside was positively empty and eerie. Fruits perfectly stacked, ghostlike aisles brimming with untouched dry goods. I played Howard Carter, greedily inspecting and unearthing the hidden treasures of a once thriving supermarket. Hand packed ricotta? Picholine olives? Certainly I'll need these things in the afterlife! After loading my basket with what must be three-day old produce I danced Walk Like an Egyptian over to the cookie aisle and slipped in a puddle from my own melting snowsuit.

Surely you'll hear more from me in the next few hours/days as it seems we're not going anywhere for a while.

*I've recently "found" Schrodinger's cat. A little joke around here as I was reading a book by John Gribbin called In Search of Schrodinger's Cat. Neither alive nor dead, both alive and dead.

9 comments:

Susan said...

may be you needed a little peppermint schnapps in the Hot Chocolate to bring yo down a bit....

Susan said...

that was....you... not yo

tinder said...

wow, sno-mans-land looks amazing, hope you've got your snow goggles!
Schrodinger's Cat is fantastic...a great mind-bending read for snow-bound-ness...! Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin is fab for a wintry weather time-warped feeling too...a good excuse to snowshoe it to the library!

stay warm!

Mack said...

LOL<OLOL @ slippin in the cookie aisle...hope you brought some keeblers down with ya...you break it you buy it girl.

Anonymous said...

cookie aisle??? didn't you just bake a whole bunch of lintzer cookies?? are they gone already?? they looked delish.

keep warm.

Anne-Marie said...

I love that you snow shoe-ed out to get provisions. That is awesome. But yes, after 3 days, I'd be getting stir crazy too!

Beautiful photo, by the way =)

Sarah Ryhanen said...

wow anon - are you judging my cookie habits? don't make me start secret eating around here!!!

Inessa said...

it looks positively beautiful (all that snow) but I am all to familiar with what all that snow means. enjoy your time off and hopefully you will some snow plows in your horizon

Anonymous said...

Darling Sarah,,

I would never judge...just jealous you made such pretty cookies. They looked perfect and I could just smell the warm crust and filling thru my screen.

You motivated me past my Christmas flu and have inspired me to make big, fat cannoli for New Year's eve.. yes, they're not lintzer, but, hopefully as luscious. I promise to at least drink really good coffee with them...and hopefully not choke on the dusting of powdered sugar blanketing them.

Now that you know what I'll be snacking on for the stroke of midnight, I know, for sure I'll cross your mind.. and I too, will think of you hopefully warm with some fresh cookies. Happy New Year.