Your dinner sounded scrumptious Krista. I grill several times a week in the summer. Sorry about the tomato plants, I had one of mine get messed up pretty bad in a rain storm last week out here.

Short term outages are a great way to figure out what you really need in the event of a big storm. I’m on the water and when we get a wind event it gets a really good run at me with nothing to break it and I’ve had outages for over a week in the winter here.

I second Dagny on the small cast iron pots they are really handy. The Lodge brand will last a lifetime. I also keep a couple of cans of Pam on hand as that is a lifesaver when grilling.

I’ve sort of gotten away from candles with the two dogs and two cats in the house. Cats are especially bad about knocking stuff over and anything new draws their attention. I’ve gone mostly to rechargeable batts with led lanterns. If you keep an eye out they can be found on sale and pretty reasonable. I got lucky and found some at Target on close out for $10. Don’t think they carry the River Rock brand anymore but you might keep an eye out at Wal-Mart. Some of the small led AA sized lanterns put out an amazing amount of light anymore. I've had so many power outages that I have permanent hooks on several beams to hang lanterns. In the fall Costco also sells lanterns and the small round led lights that can be attached to walls, all very reasonably priced and if you can get some rechargeable batts it makes them very cost effective to run.