gas bbq with side burner Harvey and Irma Wiped Out Our Kitchens. Still, We Cook.

HOUSTON —The chef cooks anyway.This is really the only way to explain why 70-year-old Al Marcus, 12 days after Hurricane Harvey injected 140 pounds of bayou water into his medieval house, tended to 4 feet of cattle bris among backyard smokers.Smokers are only a few steps away from a large and comfortable kitchen.For 26 years, he has woven thousands of salad cakes and taught dozens of children to bake biscuits here.He has more than 100 people on a very rocking Thanksgiving Day.Now, the kitchen he shared with his wife, Barbara, was mixed with drowned appliances, stained spatula, and the stink of the three children.Soak in the flood for a day.Somehow, the washing machine is near the counter in the kitchen.After brushing a few times with bleachSoaked rag, it makes a good enough surface to provide some cattle bris for all the volunteers who turn out soaked sheep tro in houses and homes around Houston.Like thousands of people, their kitchen was destroyed by Hurricane Harvey and Irma.Marcus is just cooking."What else can I do?” he asked.While no one has made official statistics on these things, it is certain that there have never been so many American kitchens canceled at the same time.Officials estimate that more than 100,000 homes have been damaged in Houston alone.Harvey destroyed tens of thousands of other homes in south Texas.The remains of Florida and other areas of southern Irma have not been counted.According to early estimates from Moody's Analytics, the cost could be as high as $200 billion between the two.For many people, they feel the emotional and cultural influences most keenly when dining.The kitchen is the heart of a family and the heart of a community.This is where the day begins and where the day ends.Going to the storm was the kitchen, where the woman made the best tamales on the block, perfected her craft, and the grandmothers stirred the pot of macaroni and cheese for the familyCollege freshmen who are homesick are gone, young marriages begin, and a child tastes peas for the first time."This is what I spent most of my time there, not only cooking, but also reading, living and chasing after my son came home from school," says Francine spilin .", A food writer and recipe developer in Houston, whose home has been sitting in the water for a long time, did not return to it until last week to start cleaning.Her missing items include her favorite knife, 40 recipes and countless plates and plates.Her kitchen is her office.It may take her six months to salvage and rebuild."It's a nightmare," she said ."Some people have begun to readjust their lives in the new kitchen.Others will cook in the upstairs bedroom for the next few weeks and monthsout garages —They can make a meal anywhere.Food designer Carla bukel, who specializes in advertising, lives on the second floor of her Houston home.She relies on the refrigerator in the garage and a gas grill with a side burner."You're fine as long as you have a fridge and grill," she said .".But almost all devices are OK.A Dallas woman raised enough money to send dozens of instant jars to families in Houston.Others who understand what it means to lose the kitchen donated the cooler, cutlery and food.Lawyer Dana Karni and her three children open shop on the second floor of Bellaire city.The first floor is nothing but nails and cement.When water began to flood before dawn on August, it was fast.27, they only have less than two hours to save as much as possible."Think about how you will be ready for a potential storm," Ms.Karni said."You pulled things out.You put things on the cabinet.But you won't think about what you can save.The water went up, she and her 16year-The old son struggled on the stairs with a small freezer, in which the salmon she and her father caught while traveling to Alaska.Her 14-year-old daughter, who loves baking, grabbed the kitchen mixer and placed it by the bed.Ms.Karni took her expensive Japanese knife.If the water went up too high, and she and her children had to retreat to the attic, she imagined that she could cut a hole in the roof with a knife so that they could climb to a safe place, waiting for rescue.It turns out that the water only reaches half of the stairs, but the entire first floor is lost.So the family hung up the plastic, removed the floor and sheets, and moved the kitchen upstairs.Microwave and microwave in central Game Roomfridge.There is a espresso machine on the vanity in the main bathroom.The storage room is a linen closet.When her son heated an aunt's fallen fried steak, the smell floated into the bedroom.They may not return to the kitchen until they march."You don't realize how much you miss it and how important it is to the pace of your life," she said .".Amy Ellie Taylor, a life and health coach, is not planning to give up her family's daily dinner after the hurricane flooded their three childrenBedroom house near mayelland.In the days that followed the chaos, they moved to four different houses and then found a small house nearby for rent.Ms.Taylor dragged the cooler for healthy food to each new place and made a simple dinner for her husband and two elementary school studentsschool-aged children."For me, these dinners have always been at the center of US and kept us sane," she said .".Veterans who have experienced natural disasters can only patiently advise and express sympathy to new kitchen-free people.Jodie Walker, former food editor for The TimesPicayune in New Orleans, after the floods following Hurricane Katrina, had to wait a year for her kitchen to be rebuilt.She limped to the second floor with a hot plate, a microwave, an electric frying pan and a can.Pot."Everything you can do is amazing," she said .".The biggest problem for her is the making of cabinets because there are not enough workers.No floor or electrical appliances could be found by anyone else.Many people in New Orleans drove to Ikea in Houston in 10 hours, she said.Others got the FEMA trailer and they parked it in the driveway just to have a kitchen.New Orleans's biggest concerns include keeping recipes and deciding which devices need to be disinfected and salvaged.Many people do not want to save their flooddamaged cast-Iron cooker, LadyWalker said it made it a hero to those who later drove around to distribute free actors.The iron pot in his trunkDarlynn LIDICK lives near the big, suburban Nottingham Forest in Houston.She raises longhorn cattle at her double Creek Farm and sells beef to chefs and farmers markets.About 700 pounds people were in her garage, stored in a commercial freezer, and she found the freezer suddenly open and floating in 6 feet of the water.She suspected that some meat was eaten by crocodiles.Later last week, she and a crew member took out the rest of the rotten meat and put it on the side of the road with other soaked household items in her home.Ms.Lydick is not sure what she wants from the kitchen."I think we can clean some silverware and wedding gifts," she said ."."I don't want to cook in a pot."For those who have lost everything, rebuilding the kitchen is far from the most pressing issue.For those who can rebuildRich or poorImagine what the new kitchen will look like.Andrea White, wife of former Houston Mayor Bill White, I want to move her cooktop from a central island to a counter on the wall, once she cleans up from the foot of the water that permeates their home in the exclusive memorial district of west Houston.Perla Moncivais, whose four children live with her husband and her parents, are in an ordinary home near greenbayu, northeast of the city center.She is also pleased to dream of a new place to cook for her family."Because I have so many children, I want an open concept with a table," she said .".Mr.Marcus, a cow bris manufacturer, has a food company called Thanksgiving bread.He sells his hand-made pastries and sauces to chefs online and at the City Harvest East farmers market.Even a small kitchen loss is painful, he said.His homemade oak barrel of vinegar was soaked.The same is true of a large glass jar full of vanilla, who has been aging for 15 years.It was sealed with wax, but it could not stand the flood.Last week, the jar was placed near the front porch, filled with destroyed vanilla beans."Look at this injury in a way you didn't expect," he said ."."If I start eating this vanilla again tomorrow, I'm 86 years old before it's ready.”Mr.Marcus knows his kitchen.The dining room is large enough for two long wooden tablesIt could be a complete loss.At his age, there is no economic Point in rebuilding.In addition, the house has been flooded twice before.He thought of all the holidays spent here, all the simple breakfasts he shared with his wife and son."It will never be the same, but it is not over yet," he said ."."I won't say I'm optimistic, but I have to see a bigger picture here.We have gone through worse things, but we are not poor."He vowed to have another big Thanksgiving dinner here, even if it was just an empty shell.He can cook turkey, beef bris and pork outside.His son, Matt, is the chief executive chef and chef.The founder of miracle 8 brewery can bring a mung bean casserole made of chamchamel and fried scallions.Everyone else can contribute a bottle of wine and side dishes.After another meal, they will tear down the house and consider restarting."This is my loss ."Marcus said."I don't think I'll ever have a kitchen for such a party again.