Allow me to preface with this: I am one of those lucky individuals who gets to play ‘what internal temperature has the oven decided to go with today?’ whenever I choose to utilize said appliance. We rent our residence, and the oven does, in fact, cook things. It’s just that one can never be certain how long said cooking will take. By default it usually takes more time rather than less. But I digress …

Today’s dinner menu was chipotle tri tip roast, green beans, and mashed potatoes. The last time I cooked a 2lb tri tip it took two hours and this one was a little larger. So once the green beans were snapped and rinsed, the potatoes diced and in their cold water bath, and the roast safely ensconced in a pre-heated oven, I figured I had plenty of time to head down to the local creek and stalk some waterbirds. Once there I of course got lost in ‘photographer time’ but was back in the car within an hour. No problem, right?

The first hint of trouble was the smell of burned meat – in the garage. Oh yeah, I left my equipment in the passenger seat and hustled my ass into the kitchen quick like.

Thankfully my husband had taken the damned thing out of the oven before the surface charcoal could permeate the entire thing. Though far from rare (so very, very far), it was still juicy.

So. Let that be a lesson to you: Never, ever wander outside for a ‘quick’ photo session once dinner is in progress.

Unless you like charcoal.