That Happened.

When I was a kid, my brother and his wife moved into a house with a stove unlike anything I'd seen.  You could only use Corning Ware on the stovetop.  The burners, defined only by a series of circles on the surface was a real mystery to me.  Of course, they bought a set of "Visions" cookware, and it worked out fine.  I didn't think the ceramic cooktops ever became really popular, because I never saw many after that, but apparently some people are still loving them.  They seem to have evolved, however, and you aren't just limited to Corning Ware.  I figured that out when I moved into this house and discovered a similar cooktop.  I was a little concerned about that shiny, flat surface, and I didn't have much in the way of Corning Ware.  There was no instruction to only use a certain type of cookware, as I remembered seeing on my brother's stove all those years ago.  I figured that there should be pretty clear instructions if that were the case, so I took a chance and used my enamelware, then tried out pretty much everything until I was convinced, as I now am, that this stove is going to work out just fine. (As long as I don't keep tempting fate.)

I had Easter dinner yesterday and we had baked chicken and shrimp, sweet potato casserole, salad, corn, rolls and mashed cauliflower.  There wasn't a lot left, but even with the little that was leftover, I didn't have anything to put it into.  I haven't lived here long enough to amass a collection of empty margarine tubs (if I do that, I have officially turned into my mother!) or Rubbermaid Take-a-Longs.  I have no storage or take home containers.  Not even a ziploc bag!  Then I remembered that I had one lidded dish that would work perfectly.  A piece of vintage Corning Ware.  I was so glad that I never got around to listing this for sale.  I don't collect the stuff, and I know it's highly collectible, so I figured I'd get a few bucks for it one day.

This little dish was perfect for the two pieces of chicken that were left, a few pieces of shrimp and a couple of scoops of that delicious cauliflower.  I put it all in the bowl together, figuring I'd pop it in the oven today for lunch.  

Lunchtime came.  I had another great idea!

Since I have this ceramic cooktop, I could just warm my lunch up on top of the stove!  My vintage Corning Ware (which turned out to be Pyrex---don't know if that made a difference) sat nicely on the burner, and after a short while I heard a little sizzling sound, which meant that lunch was almost ready.  I could just taste that tender chicken, the rosemary, the sea salt, the parsley.  And that cauliflower, buttery and creamy and lumpy in all the right places.  And I could hear a LOUD POP!  What the?  What?  

THIS HAPPENED...

Yeah, that's my lunch under glass.  On top of glass.  Mixed in with glass.  It kind of exploded.  

Pretty outrageous and scary.  Thankfully, it didn't splatter, just kind of stayed right there on the stove.  Perhaps even more outrageous is me digging around the shards of glass to rescue that chicken.  The cauliflower I could do without, but I've never met a piece of chicken that I didn't like.  My tastebuds were primed, I had a croissant split and waiting, and yes, I found the chicken unharmed and unscathed and I ate it.  THAT HAPPENED.

Sometimes I do really crazy things.