Stove sitting

I housesit for a lot of people. As a MidCity-er who is still working on building a new home for me and Maddie the dog, I have carefully dropped hints to all of my housed but traveled friends that I can be your eyes and ears for a few days or weeks when needed.
I must be convincing, because many generous people hand over their keys and tell me to have fun. Lucky aren't I?

When I am about to go housesit (or really I think of it as kitchen-sharing), I tend to daydream for a few days before about a real kitchen with an oven and a place to sit to eat that does not require me piloting my legs around the pole that holds up the FEMA trailer table. My trailer table is even more interesting than most as the things that the poles fit into are not spaced correctly, so one pole leans and is barely useful, so the table is not even secure. People tend to get up from the table, with the palm of their hand on the edge of the table as support-and everything goes flying off to the right. Always a interesting moment.
The FEMA stove top is fine. Powered by propane, it works well for the many days of stir fry or sauteeing I do for most of my fresh farmers market vegetables, and then I use a crockpot or a pot for beans and rice. Fine really.
But when I first opened the stove, I groaned. Literally too small for most dishes, each of the 2 rack levels are either right on the propane burner or an inch from the top of the stove.
still haven't found a good Calphalon dish 1 inch deep and 8 inches wide to fit...

So, no baking. No pears with honey and cloves, or eggplant and tomato casseroles, or persimmon bread (recipe thanks to Charlie Ramos of Lakeview who used to give his friends a week by week update on his front yard tree's ripening fruit), or even a place to keep one dish warm when I cook the other part.
So, when my friends go away, I am sad, but then not so much. Cuz I get to bring my 2 mesh bags of knives, woks, wooden salad bowl, spices and bags of produce from Saturday or Tuesday's market, find the cd player and get chopping. I feel good about using my time in my friend's house to decorate it with great cooking smells and to make a nice meal for myself and a friend or two (yes, visitors okayed by owner!) who I can finally treat to my food, as they probably have done with me.

I often wonder how the lack of ovens among New Orleanians for the last 2 years has affected our annoyance level. If we communicate through food, then the lack of it around the kitchen must explain some of our voting choices and maybe even the Saints issues. I see tons of tiny little kettle grills on front steps now that it is fall, but even that cannot make up for a big old gas stove in a kitchen with lots of counters and a open back door leading to some chairs and a cooler full of beer and cold drinks. Will it take us generations to reclaim the stop-by Sunday bbq, Monday red beans get together (Hey Dave and Anna!), or anyday crawfish boil,and if so, does that mean that until then we will we lose our easy city-wide camaraderie, our multi-generational connections-and worst of all- our greens with pickle meat recipes?