My New Favorite Kitchen Tool

A Microplane grater. I regularly add grated parmesan cheese to all sorts of dishes, so how have I lived so long without getting one of these things? It churns out the wispiest snow-like shavings that melt immediately into hot pasta. Only about an inch wide, it's perfect for quick grating tasks, and not bad for zesting lemons, either.

A new addition to my list of Good Kitchen Equipment.

Egg Trick

I was reminded of this old trick when making up a batch of deviled eggs for our Memorial Day cookout. The best way to keep your eggs from splitting open while boiling is to make a tiny hole where trapped air inside can leak out. Just pierce the shell at the flat-end of the egg with a needle or pin, pushing it in far enough to get through the membrane inside.

As an experiment, while boiling my eight eggs this weekend, I pierced the ends of four and left four untouched. I lowered all eight very carefully with a spoon into the boiling water. Two of the non-pierced eggs cracked almost wide open. None of the pierced eggs did. Proof enough for me.