Quips & Anecdotes - Learning Burning

I've been learning some things since I came back home after graduation last year (and yes, I'm still living at home with my parents...sigh). Aside from general frustrations at having to be in the same space and the overbearing nature of them (Asian parents + I'm the only daughter), there is the odd struggle in the kitchen as the space has always been my mom's kitchen. I can't possibly have learned how to cook or know because she hasn't taught me and all that yadda yadda. Nevertheless, sometimes I do wish to make some things and since I don't have oven access when I'm with Duc (he's never around ones that work for some reason), the oven at home is what I need to use.

Luckily for me, my mom only uses the oven to store her pots and pans. So I'm limited to baking and roasting mainly because touching anything else in the kitchen puts her in this weird panic as if I'm going to ruin the sanctity of her workspace. Unfortunately, I totally understand - I'd be highly protective of my kitchen too when I get my own. Anywho, the other day, as you might have seen online, I tried to make ovendried tomatoes using the overabundance of cherry tomatoes she brought home. It's approximately a 3.5-4hr process including cutting, drizzling, and drying.

Well guess what? They were ruined. Since she was in the living room and I in my bedroom working on the blog of all things, I had asked her to remind me when the 3 hours were up...aaaannddd she didn't. In fact, my dad even remarked to her, "Do you smell them getting overcooked/burning?" to which she apparently responded that they shouldn't worry about it. Was this to spite me and show me that I don't know what I'm doing in the kitchen? I'm sorry to my tomatoes that nearly all burned to a crisp, and I'm sorry to myself for not completing my new venture successfully. When I get it right, I'll post up a recipe my dear readers; until then, I'll try to babysit anything in the oven lest my mother sabotages me (again?)!

Totally kidding - I doubt she did it purposefully but it was definitely a funny situation since she was definitely aware of the burning smell.