Here comes the rain

Image via Wikipedia

Can the historic Church on The Green in
Hackensack survive Tropical Storm Irene?

It's been raining on and off in Hackensack -- mostly off -- since about 11:30 this morning and now, around 5:15 in the afternoon, rain is falling again as all of us in North Jersey await the arrival of Hurricane Irene.


I was watching New York's Channel 2 a little awhile ago, and heard a bit of good news. Irene will be downgraded from a Category 1 hurricane to a tropical storm when it hits the metro area.


I left the house twice today -- once to pick up milk and eggs at Target, which is less than a mile away, and again around 4:30 this afternoon for a comforting bowl of seafood soup at Lotus Cafe, my favorite Chinese restaurant, where the kitchen closed early at 5.


Target was busy and not everyone was there for food. I found plenty of 2% lactose-free milk ($2.89 for a half-gallon) and a dozen cage-free brown eggs ($2.60).


At Lotus Cafe, a BYO in the Home Depot Shopping Center, I asked the waiter to hold the noodles and add water spinach to the soup, which had unusually tender shrimp, squid and scallop, in addition to fish cakes. I drank two glass of my own red wine from Argentina.


Here's to you, Irene. Be a lady tonight and tomorrow.