This last weekend I went to the recycling center to remove a large accumulated collection of cardboard from my house. Across from the dumpster for cardboard, sitting out in the rain were computer monitors. Big monitors. Once people dreamed of having a monitor like this. Now they are sitting out in the rain. Technology marches on.

From inside my sealed building, I can see a little bit of Mother Nature.

One animal in the house figured out how to combine computers and warm tummies.

The moon is back. The end of the world has been averted.

One of the Great Questions of our time is: how do I hard cook and egg so I don’t end up cursing while I remove the shell. I canvased a few friends and they all had strong opinions on how to accomplish this but they also had different opinions. The answer to the Great Question was not any closer.

The almighty Google led me to the knowledge repository that is the Internet. What’s Cooking America has an article on boiling eggs which suggests the procedure of 3 to 5 day old eggs, at room temperature, placed in cold water to cover, bring just to a rapid boil, remove from heat and cover for 17 to 20 minutes, then replace water with ice water for 10 minutes before putting the eggs in the frig. This is close to the procedure most of my friends gave but I know from experience (and especially the mangled egg I ate this morning) that this procedure is not the whole story.

WikiHow gives several techniques for hard boiling an egg (standard, Pin Hole, Vinegar, Electric Kettle) but they also suggest adding lots of salt to the boiling water to make peeling easier. I’ve heard this tip also but I haven’t tried it yet.

This YouTube video suggests placing an egg in simmering water for 10 minutes then holding the hot egg in a spoon under cold water for 10 seconds. The egg is then rolled to crack the whole shell and then peeled under running water. The comments on the video attests to the wonderfulness of this technique. I have not tried this yet but it would take a little organization when doing a dozen eggs.

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The ice forms slowly around here and when it does, the cars can get covered with the most beautiful patterns.