Exploding Pyrex

I'm getting ready to graduate this week, and I've formed a small list of things I'd like for graduation, if I get any gifts at all. The top of my list was a food processor, but I am super grateful that I got one for free from my boyfriend's sister at her garage sale. Pyrex storage dishes were pretty high up on that list. I thought it would be great, because I could take my leftovers and put them straight in the microwave. Turns out.. that's not such a good idea.

Today I decided to bake some brownies to bring to my study group in a little while. I borrowed a dish from my roommate, a glass (most likely Pyrex.. impossible to know now) pie dish. I substituted grapeseed oil for butter and apple sauce for the eggs in an effort to be healthier. I even made an almond crust. (Almonds have a lot of natural oil). I took the brownies out of the oven after about 45 minutes and set them on my (whoops!) still kinda hot burner. I went into my room to take a small nap. About five minutes later I heard an explosion and guessed right, it was the glass. Glass was all over my kitchen and stove top, and there were flames a few inches high, and getting bigger, going around my delicious brownies.

I'm not really sure what caused the explosion/fire. It could've been the hot stove top. It could've been the oils from the almonds and grapeseed oil getting too hot. It could've even been the apple sauce. Or it could've been that Pyrex is now made from soda lime glass, instead of from the original borosilicate. The original borosilicate is practically indestructible  which is where Pyrex gets their great reputation from. But when they sold the technology to another company, the greatness of the product was lost. Soda lime glass, which was what Pyrex and most other glass baking dishes are made from, is prone to shattering. I'm not alone. Its apparently not uncommon.

Read more about this here.

I had no idea how to use the fire extinguisher, and set off all the smoke detectors in my apartment. I thought for a awhile I had even set off some of the building alarms. I called my boyfriend and he told me to wave something in front of the smoke detectors. Did the trick. I also turned on all fans in my apartment and opened up all (three) windows. I could see the smoke everywhere, which is terrifying to me. My first nightmare ever was about fire. And I refuse to be cremated because some crazy part of me is convinced that I will know what is happening to me.

I have now swept up the glass that landed all the way in the living room and across the kitchen, and even managed to put a few more burn marks on the cheap flooring in the kitchen. I'm just waiting for things to cool down a bit before I get to the deep cleaning.

My wish list still has Pyrex high on it. But not the Pyrex that I can buy anywhere. I want to go searching for original Pyrex. The Pyrex made out of borosilicate. Not soda lime glass.

I also still want brownies.