A Good Egg

You might say of a friend that he is a "good egg", or a demanding boss that he is "hard boiled". An intelligent friend could be an "egghead". And, if we were arguing, we might be "egging one another on". I don't have useful etymological thoughts on all these weighty matters, but I know a good egg when I taste one. I know a good egg when I find one. They are not always hard boiled; they are not necessarily smart; and they are not typically argumentative. The pianist is an expert at the craft of cooking eggs. Poached, with the addition of vinegar to the water, the surface white is congealed early so that it neatly contains the contents due to the vinegar altered surface tension. The egg remains lightly congealed on the inside. She times 3 minutes,10 seconds for me and 4 minutes -10 seconds for her. This timing of course is at sea level. That delivers a good egg, and mirrors the characteristics of our good egg friends, soft, contained, and delectable. With boiled eggs, when cooked from the onset of the boiling, the same timing is apt for the two of us, as with the poached egg, but variation in timing occurs throughout the country, again as a result of the relationship of the egg to sea level. As you travel around, only experience will tell you what timing fits the definition of a regionally cooked, good egg. The rate of drying of the water on the shell, when the perfect boiled egg is lifted, is 4 seconds here on Lotus Island . It's easy for us to treasure a good egg. Perfect hard boiled egg timing in the hands of the pianist consists of 20 minutes of immersion, off the element, from the initial boiled state, and then a cold water bath. Unfortunately, the over boiled egg, timed beyond this period, develops unsightly grey margins at the center. This is unattractive in man and egg, giving a grey shade to the derivatives, potato salad,deviled eggs,doing business,meeting people, charitable acts. The grey shade will not occur if a cold shower is applied in timely fashion, to the hard boiled! As always, in love and war,timing is everything!