Recovering in style from havoc wreaked by Hurricane Wilma.

Publication: The Miami Herald (Miami, Florida) (via Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News)

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2005 The Miami Herald

Byline: Cara Buckley

Oct. 30--Sharyn Fireman's first purchase after Hurricane Wilma passed was a stuffed Cornish game hen, which she picked up at Epicure, the gourmet South Beach store.

Fireman, 62, lives in a plush mid-Miami Beach condo, and she weathered her day without power by washing her hair over a bidet, using bathtub water tipped from a pasta pot. Fireman was one of the 90-some anxious customers milling at Epicure's doors Wednesday when it reopened, and one of thousands who found sanctuary in South Beach, which has become an oasis -- for those who can afford it -- in the dark days following the storm.

"We were desperate after Wheat Thins and canned tuna," said Murton Sudalter, 71, Fireman's "spousal equivalent" of 20 years, as the couple cruised Epicure's aisles Friday for red wine and French and Spanish cheese. "Still, we ate it on Wedgwood china and Baccarat crystal. It seemed more fabulous that way."

Certainly many in South Beach still lack power,...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.