Things I didn't know

I consider myself a fairly accomplished cook - I make my own yogurt, roll out fresh pasta, regularly whip up Szechuan and Indonesian and Thai food, make souffles and risotto and the occasional loaf of bread - but this morning I came across something I didn't know how to do: I had no idea how to hardboil an egg. Well maybe not no idea; I mean, I knew it involved an egg and a pot of boiling water, probably with some salt thrown in. But other than that? You can't exactly look at the thing and see when its done. And few self-respecting cookbooks have instructions on how to do that sort of thing. So thanks to Mark Bittman and 'How to Cook Everything' for stooping to my level and giving the needed remedial lessons. 10 minutes in the pot, and my egg came out lovely. It ended up on top of a spectacular Moroccan couscous, by the way, about which I'll post another day. Lesson learned, lunch success.