cooking disasters part 2

I'm thinking that maybe chowder just isn't my thing. Last night I attempted to make clam chowder. First of all, let me just say that canned clams look disgusting! I was tempted to not even put them into my chowder, but clam chowder sans clams would be pretty lame. So I added the shriveled alien looking substance into the pot of potatoes, onions and milk. The recipe said that you needed to stir the chowder for about 10 minutes until it thickened slightly. Well, I tried to do that, but then my chowder started to form a film at the bottom of the pot. The film then quickly proceeded to burn... at which point I decided that no chowder was worth this much patience on my part. So I turned off the burner, set the pot aside, and went to join Luis in watching the Golden Globes. I have yet to taste this chowder (as of this morning, they are sitting in individually portioned plastic containers in my freezer).