I would like to discuss how much I love Corningware. I had forgotten just how much until this morning, when I got the yearning for baked eggs.* I don't own a pan that can go from stove-top to oven, and the only pan my mother has is too shallow to do anything but scorch my Pomodoro sauce to shit. What to do?

And then I remembered my mother's Corningware mini-saucepan. She's had it since at least the late seventies; the little brown and orange mushroom detail on it gives it away. I remember the pre-microwave days when she'd heat milk for hot cocoa in it.

Despite the pan being over 30 years old, it was a true trooper. It heated my Pomodoro up evenly, the basil and the spinach cooked quickly, the eggs were nestled safely in the heated sauce, gently cradled among a mound of fontinella. And it baked perfectly.

So I guees what I am saying is this: send me Corningware for Christmas and I will cook for you.

*You should know what baked eggs are, because they are so much better than their name suggests. Baked eggs are a wonderful, healthy, SO DELICIOUS dish involving a simple tomato sauce, fresh spinach, cheese and seasonings of choice. Add a toasted baguette and it is sate-central.