I have watched countless baking tutorials, and I also love all kinds of Western pastries. I have passed by baking classrooms fifty times without stopping in. I have listened to many suggestions from relatives and friends who love cooking, and have been taught by various TV programs. The brainwashing of business platforms all points to one thing: an oven.

But after all these years, I still haven’t been able to own an oven.

I want to eat snacks during the weight loss period. My friend said that you can make it yourself. You can use healthier ingredients, control the amount of sugar, and use the oven to make it. Sorry I don't have one.

I saw a great recipe online. It doesn’t use many ingredients and the process is very easy. Skip to the last step: preheat the oven and bake for 20 minutes. I silently added it to my favorites and never looked at it again.

So I’ve collected a lot of recipes that don’t require an oven. It seems that Chinese dim sum is more friendly to Chinese people. It does not even require additional tools and ingredients. Basically everything needed is available in the kitchen. Whenever this happens, I feel very comforted because I can develop my dough-kneading skills for free.

There are also some recipes that deliberately bypass the oven, such as steaming cakes in a rice cooker, roasting sweet potatoes in a microwave, making pudding in a steamer, homemade ice cream... The unfriendly point of these recipes is that although they do not require an oven , but more or less oven-related tools are still needed.

Molds, food scales, whisks, and more stuff I can’t name. Just imagine, if I don't even have an oven, even if I buy other tools, it is equivalent to losing the core and soul. After using it once or twice, it will disappear in the torrent of time, and it will not be removed from me until it is time to move. Take it out of the corner and throw it away.

We have a neighbor who shares a house with us. He is a tall and big guy, but he has a good personality and speaks softly. One day he added an oven to the kitchen, saying that his friend didn't want it, so he took it back and used it.

A few days later, I saw the kneaded dough in the refrigerator and smelled the aroma of desserts in the room. The young man knocked on the door and brought us cookies and cakes he baked. Really delicious.

I still remember the first experiment he successfully baked, which was matcha and butter-flavored checkerboard cookies. This is so amazing! A boy who can usually bake vegetables can bake such delicious cookies and cakes. I was so impressed by that oven!

Later I received another portion of roasted purple sweet potato. It was a bit mushy and hard, but the taste was okay. Of course the smell of paste lingered in the kitchen all night.

Later, other unbaked purple potatoes in the corner sprouted, and I had to take a look at them every time I went to the kitchen to cook.

A few days later, the young man found a mineral water bottle and soaked the sprouted purple potatoes in it.

After a few days, the purple sweet potato grew long vines.

After a few days, the purple sweet potato vines were wilting, so the boy threw it away.

Later, the young man’s girlfriend came several times, and then the young man moved away. We still can't bear to part with him, because he is quiet and not too busy, and it's a pleasure to share the water and electricity bills equally.

After reading the story of the young man and the oven, I began to think deeply about why I haven’t been able to own an oven for so many years.

I once read an article about ten household items that you will not regret buying. The first one is the oven. The oven is so excellent, and a cheap oven only costs a few hundred yuan, and the baking tools are not very expensive either. But we would rather eat steak, Japanese and French cuisine on our anniversary than buy an oven.

The reason is very simple, and I know it very well in my heart. I'm definitely not going to use this oven as well as I thought I would.

I will probably be like that young man, baking cookies and cakes on a whim. But I find beating egg whites tiring, weighing flour troublesome, and calculating time gives me a headache. I might succeed in the end, or I might get burned. Why don't you stay at home and watch dramas and eat snacks on this wonderful weekend, instead of making yourself miserable? Therefore, after using it a few times, my oven will gradually become dusty.

I don’t love baking as much as I thought I did, and I’m not as willing to put in the effort to slightly improve my life. I just have a false consciousness. Buying an oven will change the quality of life. Showing off the cookies you baked in your circle of friends will make you a refined girl. When I'm hungry, I still pick up my phone and order takeout.

I'm glad I didn't buy an oven on impulse, but I also really feel sorry for myself. Recently, I have started to learn recipes that don’t require an oven. I don’t expect any major changes in my life. I just want this process to continue.

Because I believe that as long as I learn these recipes seriously and cook every dish, one day I will really need an oven and really own an oven.