Fire.

[rax]

Short version: Housemate set the house on fire. No one is hurt. Got the cats out OK, and though they were very scared at first, Oolong has already wandered up to me and licked my face. I think Selene is still hiding. I will probably go sit with her when I am done with this post.

Also: DO NOT CALL ME. You will stress me out and I will not answer. This goes for anyone, whether you are friend or family or the Pope. DO NOT CALL MY PHONE. You can text me but do not expect a response if I am not able to deal right then. I would in fact really appreciate texts or emails or whatnot! But I am not able to deal with interactions that I cannot schedule right now and probably for the next few days. Thank you for your understanding. I know that I am crazy. Please do not make me more crazy.

So. I was grading some papers and talking on AIM when the fire alarm went off. Usually this is because of steam from the shower, and my housemate was taking a shower, and I figured he had left the door open, but I looked up just in case, and saw smoke. I ran into the kitchen, and he had LEFT OIL BOILING WHILE HE WENT TO TAKE A SHOWER. The oil was on fire, the pan was melting, and the flames were shooting up into the range hood. I told another housemate to call 911, put on oven mitts, and moved the pan over to another burner, and then turned off the burner that had been on. The range hood was still on fire, and my next thought was: FUCK, IT'S IN THE ELECTRICS. This was true; turning off the circuit breaker to the range hood minimized the damage but at that point I was fucked. Vegan-clubbing-friend-from-last-post and I grabbed cat carriers, ran into the basement, stuffed the cats in to their great displeasure, and brought them outside. The fire department showed up while we were doing this and went to work.

Damage:

• kitchen cabinets
• anything that was stored in the cabinet above the stove is totally fucked
• the range hood is a twisted lump of like molten metal it's pretty fucked up
• the stove is probably dead
• the wiring to that half of the kitchen may be fucked
• everything smells like smoke
• my cats are sad
• I currently despise everything and am seriously considering just sending my homework in to class with my housemate and saying "sorry I have to deal with shit this is just not happening" we will see how I feel in the morning

On the plus side, I had been looking for an excuse to get a gas stove, and there is gas piping behind the stove! I know this because the back of the stove is blackened and insulation is hanging out everywhere and there is tons of broken glass. But if you have recommendations for good gas stoves I would love to hear them! I am not going to go measure right now because it will make me cry but it's a reasonable amount of room and I may have to replace the counters anyway.

Also I would love to have some vegan nightshade free rice cooker recipes that provide complete nutritious meals. Because I cannot eat out. Eating out is for other people. Although fuck it, I am shelling out for vegan sushi for lunch and dinner tomorrow. And maybe breakfast. But after that I need to make, I dunno, rice and lentils and peas and spices? And then throw in hummus? That's like a meal. Oh god.

Also also uh how do you file a homeowner's insurance claim?

I'm gonna go find my cat now.

Comments

[faerieboots.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh I am so sorry; that sounds like it was really scary and I'm really glad everyone is OK. ((Hugs if you want 'em))

As far as food to eat while you have no stove and can't go out... is your oven separate from your stove, or were they the same unit? If you still have use of an oven, you can roast some root vegetables (that aren't potatoes, I mean... carrots and parsnips and onions and such) and then dice them and mix them with rice to make a sort of pilaf. You could also probably make frozen veggies in the microwave (microwave is still working, yes?) for a similar effect. Oh and some cheap instant pasta dishes can be made in the microwave--you probably would not want to add the powdered stuff, but you might be able to buy some $1 Lipton noodles and throw the noodle part in the microwave and then mix that with some oil and garlic, or peas or something.

Also, if you get really desperate, there's always peanut butter sandwiches--I'm sure you have vegan starch stuff in the house.

I'm so sorry that this happened to you.

[greyooze.livejournal.com]

She said the wiring in the kitchen is probably damaged; probably best not trying the oven until an electrician's checked it out. Good call on the microwave, though; if it's not damaged and not one of those built-in dealios it can probably be plugged in in another room?

Anybody know if you can cook pasta dishes in a rice cooker? It seems like it should work, although I've never actually used one myself.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Roger Ebert probably knows. He wrote a cookbook for rice cooker recipes. I read an article (in the NYT?) where there was a chef testing out the recipes with him.

[gaudior.livejournal.com]

A toaster oven can also be used for roasting small things like vegetables, I believe, and can be moved out of the kitchen.

Also, <3, <3, <3, <3, <3, <3, <3, <3, <3.

--R