The difference a minute can make

This #thankyouthursday, I am grateful for the difference a minute can make.

Specifically, I am grateful for how one minute can make the difference between a perfect hard boiled egg and one that is acceptable but not exciting.

For years I thought I knew how to make hard boiled eggs: Put them in a pot of water on the stove, turn on the burner, and once the water reaches a boil, turn off the stove and come back 13 minutes later.

This "recipe" was a huge improvement over my previous approach, which was to let the eggs rattle around in boiling water for five or six minutes (or overnight, as was the inadvertent case once during my college years).

Then a couple months ago I stayed with a friend during a visit to New York, and she made us hard boiled eggs, and when she turned off the burner, she set a timer for 12 minutes.

“Huh! I usually do 13,” I told her, passively hinting that I didn’t want to risk an undercooked egg.

But it turns out 12 minutes is indeed ideal. Say goodbye to gray-rimmed yolks, and hello to solid, appealingly creamy, hard boiled perfection.

There’s probably a larger takeaway to this revelation—something about the value of staying open to the methods and traditions of other people, or maybe the importance of questioning assumptions, or the reminder that details really do make a difference.

But mostly, today I’m grateful that, thanks to the difference a minute can make, I get to reliably enjoy perfect hard boiled eggs.

Love > fear,
Christina

p.s. This is the time of year where I’d be remiss not to remind you that Are You My Boyfriend? exists, and it makes a great Valentine’s gift—especially for anyone you know who could use some gentle and humorous encouragement re: their romantic life!