Well, that was exciting.

Of course, with the first big rainstorm, not only did I have a catering event, there was a power failure. Normally we have gravity-feed water available, but it's too muddy to use right now. So we had water for about half the day, and once the pressure tank was exhausted it was down to a trickle.

This is where all this wilderness work helps - no water or electricity? No problem. Hardly batted an eyelash. We had lots of propane and ice. But I'm sure glad I made the tortellini last night...

Actually, it was worse than a power failure - we had a brownout. The voltage went down to 80V for several hours. Interesting to see what worked and what didn't. Halogens were very dim, incandescent lights almost useless. Fluorescents were fine. The fridge made a kind of subdued hum that didn't sound like it was doing anything useful. We figured it was best to disconnect anything digital or motorized. The laser printer seems out of sorts now, it wasn't on battery backup, and it might be fried. Actually I kinda hope so.

Dinner was OK, not my best. I went out on a limb and made pommes Anna for the first time at the client's house. The Cooks Illustrated method is pretty foolproof and it came out looking rather good. Perhaps a little oily though.

So the event was basically fine but I feel a bit frazzled for a lot of reasons. As much as I like the first rain and what it brings, it always ends up creating a bit of a panic unto itself.