Another post on--you guessed it--FOOD! But this one is really exciting.

I don't have much to write right now. I'm just enjoying my rice-pudding inspired lentil soup. (sounds strange doesn't it?)

This odd little concoction probably would have never crossed my mind (although I cannot say that with certainty) except for a little event Saturday night (I think it was Saturday).

I was cooking my tuna helper with great success. I was turning out quite well, so I decided some multi-tasking was in order and began work on my dishes. Now, my stove and sink are right next to each other, so I wasn't neglecting my dinner in any way--no worries there. In fact, had I left my stove and gone very far, this whole story would most likely have taken on a very different ending and the telling would have probably involved a lot less mirth.

I was on my second dish when I heard a soft "whomph." This noise did not concern me. I have learned that gas stoves make this little "whomphing" noise quite a bit and it's nothing to alarm oneself about.

However, orange flames are a problem. And when I saw the orange glowing light behind my stove and the gentle flickering, I was not soothed by how it reminded me of multiple evenings of relaxing around a campfire on family camping trips. I was not even thinking, "if only I had marshmallows..." Oh no, dear reader, my thoughts were something more like, "well now, that's odd. there are flames behind my stove." A second later, my confusion turned to alarm as I realised that this meant I had a kitchen fire. All my mothers tales of the dangers of gas stove came rushing to me--or not so much the tales as I seem to have been a little slow that evening--but the concept of probably death and certain maiming (which were the morals of the stories after all, I do believe).  The transition took only a second or two. I looked from my stove to my sink to my food, and in a moment of sheer brilliance, I opened the cupboard door beneath my sink and turned off the gas. I stood with relief, certain that without the gas, there would be no fire. But the golden flames still peaked over the top of my stove. 

At this point all I could think was "beat it with a towel." However, this also struck me as a bad idea. Firstly, I couldn't reach the fire, it was behind my stove. Secondly, I was pretty certain that I'd only manage to catch the towels on fire. Thirdly, they are not my towels to destory, I'm only borrowing them.

So I did what any self-respecting person facing an oven fire would do. I ran to Karen and Renee's I dashed into their part of the house calling for Karen or Renee. I saw Renee, and called out--My stove is on fire and I don't know what to do!  in the most desperate cry I could muster. 

Then I stood there for a second, not sure what else to do and beginning to relinquish myself to the fact that I was probably going to burn down the entire house.

Karen and Renee dashed for the fire extinguisher in Karen's car (This is a mandatory fixture according to the Gabonese Government). Then I ran back to my apartment to move dinner off the stove because I had a sudden fear of it being ruined by the fire extinguisher (or the fire).

To my utter glee I discovered that the fire had ended. As I considered the incident, it became apparent that of course the fire would not end the second I stopped the gas. Karen and Renee came running in to my rescue with the fire extinguisher and Karen admitted she didn't know how to use it anyway. So we read the instructions and learned how. We also learned how the fire extinguisher had expired in 1999. 

I'm rather glad the fire went out on its own. I'm also thrilled that my gas tank didn't explode, since it's rather near the oven, and mostly full.

It was exciting. We decided I should not use my stove or oven until this little spontaneous, indoor, campfire has been further looked into. Luckily, my dinner had cooked to perfection--it still had a few minutes on the timer, but the extra heat from the open flames must have sped it up. 

So this leaves me with a toaster oven, microwave and crockpot. Seeing as I tend to forget about the predicament all day, and all my meat is frozen, I was left to google vegetarian crock-pot dishes this evening once I was hungry for dinner. The result is my lentil and rice curry soup with raisins and all the vegetables I had in my freezer. It's pretty tasty. But I'm too hungry to wait for the rice to finish cooking. I think the crunch adds a nice variety to the texture though.

Till next time (when I will really try to turn this "cooking in Gabon" blog around onto some topic other than my culinary adventures, but so I said last week.)

Jessica

P.S. since I was adding that picture, I couldn't resist a few more:

Bugbites after going to church in Mandji--and I practically took a bath in bug spray before going!

A little gecko I found in my bathroom. Normally they're on the ceiling or right next to it and I can't get a good picture, but this one went darting across my floor and I found him hiding and took a good picture. I found an even tinier one on my shower curtain this morning.