Yes...I just did that...

I feel pretty confident about my cooking abilities. Impossible recipe, you say? I can muscle it into place. And yet, sometimes my brain falls out of my skull and I do something really incredibly stupid. Like today, for instance:

I decided to make my yummy healthy chili. Everything started off well - the ingredients all got into the pot with relatively little mess. I didn't have any onions (miracle ingredient in every recipe, by the way), so I added some other spices for additional flavor. I was experimental and added cinnamon. I set the timer on my phone and left to do some reading in my room while the chili simmered. About 20 minutes later I was super hungry, so I decided to take my chili off the stove early and eat it as it was. It was a good thing I did too. I came into the kitchen to find a smoking vat and a sufficiently burnt smell. My roommate Stephanie was so engrossed in whatever she was doing that she didn't even notice the smell or the clouds of grey billowing through the room. I hurried and removed the pot from the stove, but it was still smoking profusely. I didn't want to set off the smoke alarm or leave that lovely burnt smell wafting through our apartment, so I ran the pot outside to cool off. I wanted to stir it and try to get some of the burnt chili off the bottom of the pot, so I set the pot down on the ground. I laughed to myself, imagining what I must look like squatting in the hallway of our apartment complex, stirring a smoking brew. The smoke began to clear, so I grabbed the pot to take it back inside. It wouldn't budge. That's when i remembered the ground was carpeted ground. Idiot. I yanked the pot and up came a layer of carpet, leaving a circular burn mark just outside our apartment door. Good thing I have a sense of humor - I started laughing out loud as I walked back into my apartment. Silly Jenny.

The chili tasted alright, but it turns out it really does need onions. Burnt chili, burnt carpet, burnt chef's ego - awesome moment in college life.