Vintage Pyrex holds a special place in my heart

In the past several weeks, spring cleaning has taken over my household. It's amazing the amount of junk two people can collect.

Actually, I shouldn't say that, since I'm the biggest offender.

For the past 20 years or so, I've lugged three sealed boxes of dishes from one house to the next to the next. They're filled with a large set of old Pyrex dishes I haven't been able to relinquish. Made of white glass with an outer reddish ring, they are marked with the Pyrex logo from the early 1950s.

Blame it on Pyrex fever.

It's a strange condition that afflicts seemingly normal folks after they set eyes on that first special piece of vintage Pyrex. It started innocently with a few dinner plates and before I knew it I owned 83 pieces of flamingo-pink plates, cereal bowls, cups, saucers, creamer and sugar bowls.

Going through it got me thinking of all the other classic Pyrex ware in my cupboards.

I have my Grandma Kessel's set of four mixing bowls that sit snugly inside each other. Blue, red, yellow and green, they were a staple in my mother's kitchen before I inherited them. Wow. If these bowls could talk …

Then there's my Pyrex pie pan, the first thing I grab when soaking thick slices of bread for French toast, marinating chicken breasts or holding breadcrumbs, when battering and frying.

I also continue to use a nearly turquoise-shade-of-blue 2.5-quart casserole with lid for microwave cooking. According to www.pyrexlove.com, this dark-blue Tree of Life pattern was likely a promotional item manufactured in 1967. It's just the right size for steaming broccoli or green beans.

Pyrex glassware was first manufactured in 1915 when the wife of a scientist at Corning Glass Works asked her husband to bring home a piece of railroad-signal lantern glass. She wanted something that would be heat-resistant enough to bake a casserole in. Two years later, Pyrex glassware was being sold at department stores throughout the country.

You can usually find Pyrex at flea markets, antique malls, eBay and garage sales, if you're looking to complete or replace a set.

Check that glass casserole dish in your cabinet, and you'll likely find the name Pyrex printed on it. You might be a Pyrex collector and not know it. To learn more, consult "Pyrex by Corning: A Collector's Guide" by Susan Tobier Rogove and Marcia Buan Steinhauer (Antique Publications, 1993).

Only four ingredients are needed for this ham loaf recipe; well five, if you add fresh chopped parsley like I do. If you're like me, you'll bake it in your favorite Pyrex loaf pan.

HAM LOAF

 2 cups diced ham

1/2 cup seasoned dry bread crumbs

2 eggs

2 to 3 teaspoons prepared mustard, to taste

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place diced ham in a food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Add bread crumbs, eggs and mustard and pulse only until well mixed. Stir in parsley. Let stand for 10 to 30 minutes to blend the flavors. Grease an 8 1/2 -by-4 1/2 -inch loaf pan. Pack the ham mixture into the prepared pan. Bake until firm, about 30 minutes.

Optional topping: In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons brown sugar and 1 teaspoon dry mustard. Spread over the ham loaf and bake for 10 more minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 4.