It isn't exactly the highest quality stove top, temperature control is a delicate dance. He's also completely inexperienced with rice. It's a process.

"So something is bothering you." It's the only conclusion he can reach that makes sense. Nida is too skillful to be caught unaware or allow himself to be distracted by an external force. Internal, however, might be just enough to do it. It might also link back to that username of his: Crash and burn? Not a good name for a pilot.

Whatever Nida saw in the shrine had to be the culprit.