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.

Well Hello, Grapeseed Oil

For the past four months I have been using a combination of the oil cleansing method and baking soda to keep my skin glowing. I couldn't be happier. I'll admit that I'm often lazy and just rinse my face with water, or just go straight to bed, so my skin could be much better. Room for improvement. I use a mixture of 10% castor oil and 90% olive oil. Massage it into my skin for 2 minutes and then use a hot wash cloth to steam it off. When I shower I exfoliate with baking soda, and then moisturize it after the shower. I've been pretty happy with this.

I used to sell make up, and I would spend a lot of money on acne creams, and anti-aging creams (they said to start using them early on), and microdermabrasion washes. It took 5 minutes every evening to put on all the correct creams and another five minutes in the morning. Now I only need three minutes every evening, and just to rinse my face with water in the morning. And if I skip a night it's not a huge deal. Nothing much changes.

Recently I was reading up some more about the oil cleansing method, and I came across grapeseed oil. Up until then I'd never really noticed it in the store, but supposedly it is great for acne and also for anti-aging. I bought my first bottle last night, slightly nervous. I read that it is also good for cooking at high temperatures.

I'm always slightly annoyed that my "face wash" smells so strongly of olive oils. It's a bit overwhelming. Last night when I bought my grapeseed oil I came home and diluted my current mix with it, and added a bit more castor oil. And all of the sudden the smell of olive oil was drastically faded. The grapeseed oil I bought (as pictured above, photo courtesy of lovingfit.com) has hardly any smell, and only cost $6 or so. It's probably cheaper in the rest of the country. Things in Alaska tend to be more expensive. 

I couldn't wait to try it out. Everything worked just like it should. I massaged my skin for 2 minutes, steamed my face with the wash cloth, and went straight to bed. When I woke up my face wasn't greasy or gross. I almost felt okay leaving the house with no make up. And my skin is soft. Success. Now to see how this improves my skin over time... 

Greek Chocolate Pudding and $5 Wine

When it rains, it pours. So even though it is gorgeous outside (it might have hit 40'.. fahrenheit!), I've been trying to avoid a breakdown. I'm only a few weeks away from graduating with my undergrad, so school is piling up. On my way to class today I realized I had completely forgotten about an assignment and by that time had no time to finish it. Later on I went to the luxury gym with the boy (free guest passes) and was looking forward to a run, that kept getting interrupted by scheduling conflicts for my research class. I guess it wasn't warm enough in my car either to keep my water bottle from freezing, so I could hardly drink water during my run too. I started to think about all I have left to do, and had a mini breakdown there at the gym. I decided to skip the spa part of the gym and just go home. I got into my car, prepared for another mini breakdown, when I found a ticket on my windshield. Ninety dollars for expired plates. And they were seven months expired. Whoops. I drove to the private DMV real quick to get the plates updated. When the guy told me it was going to cost $190 I almost asked if he was joking. (Can you tell I've never paid for that before?)

$5 Cabernet Sauvignon

All I wanted was a bear hug, but I was on my way home already. So I stopped at the sketchy liquor store near my apartment and was relieved to find a wine on sale for $5. It's not that bad either. I reheated my quinoa dish, added large amounts of parmesan and had a yummy dinner.

Wine and chocolate are really all a girl needs sometimes, so I made up my new favorite guilt free dessert. Greek yogurt, Ovaltine mix and Nutella. I did this yesterday while trying to use up the last of my previous greek yogurt. Tonight I added some sea salt. I'm just going to stop calling it yogurt, and just call it pudding. Or mousse. Or souffle. Because it deserves a name more worthy than yogurt.

Two of my Favorite Chocolate Sources

Want to make it yourself? Here's how:

Take a few big spoons of nonfat greek yogurt

Then take your oh-so-favorite Ovaltine (I'm sure Nesquick would be adequate..)

And a glob of Nutella

Mix it all together.

Add some sea salt.

Mix some more.

Sit on the couch and drink wine and watch Downton Abbey.

I just made it in my little pyrex dish, and used the same spoon to mix it as I did to get the greek yogurt out. I'm pretty proud of this, it tastes great, and is super easy.

Baking Soda 101

I am convinced that Baking Soda is a gift from the gods, and I don't understand why everyone doesn't buy it in bulk like I do. (Correction, I just buy Kroger Sodium Bicarnate in large quantities. Same price as buying in bulk and it comes in a few little boxes so I can keep it in different rooms.) The question is not what baking soda can do, but what baking soda can't do. And where baking soda fails, there is always apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide to pick up the slack. These are the superheroes of household and personal hygiene.

So what have I discovered that baking soda can do? I've discovered lists of 101 uses for baking soda, but I've hardly tried most of those uses. So far I have switched to using baking soda to exfoliate my face (resulting in a soft forehead), I add a cup or so in with my baths, use it to clean my toilet, my counters, my sink, my floors, I add it in with my laundry, and it makes my cakes nice and fluffy. Supposedly this is only the tip of the iceberg.