Hurricane watch

As if Tuesday's earthquake wasn't excitement enough for New York City, we now have this to look forward to:

Yes, months after breaking an 86-year record for its snowiest January ever (a total of 36" of snow fell in January alone), weeks after its hottest day since 1977 (it got up to 104 in Central Park on July 22nd), and days after its rainiest day ever (7.7" of rain recorded at JFK on August 15th), New York City is preparing for a rare direct hit from a hurricane sometime tomorrow morning. As a result, the city has literally ground to a halt. Service on the entire subway and bus system was suspended indefinitely at noon, several low-lying neighborhoods have been under a mandatory evacuation order since 5pm, and Mayor Bloomberg is telling us all to stay indoors until tomorrow night.

Even though I stopped by Fairway before work yesterday, I decided to go back out this morning for a few last-minute hurricane provisions in case we really are stuck at home for the next 24 hours. Still-groggy from last night's pre-storm celebrating, I was not prepared for the mayhem I encountered as rabid upper westsiders stormed the few local stores that opened this morning.

Whole Foods at the Time Warner Center, which had stayed open all night, hit its maximum capacity of shoppers at 9:45am and was turning people away in advance of an early closure. Fairway, which is open all day even on Thanksgiving and Christmas, closed its doors at 10am. Which prompted Citarella, pictured above, to get so crowded that a line formed just to get in the door!

Thankfully, with my sister's help, I managed to get all of the ingredients I needed for chili (organic ground beef, assorted bell peppers, crushed tomatoes, red and black beans, corn, and onion) - that seemed like appropriate hurricane fare - and the marinara sauce I plan to make tomorrow, and get home before 11am, where I've been loafing around, closely following the local news coverage, ever since.

Once the hurricane moves out of the area, I would not be at all surprised if locusts started raining down or a wave of plague swept the city. In the meantime, Shun Lee is open for business and even delivering food tonight because nothing, not even Hurricane Irene, comes between a New Yorker and Chinese food.