Every day, there are new discoveries to be made, and some revelations are more gratifying than others. In descending order of greatness, today brought conscious certainty of perfection in some homemade black liquorice ice cream on to which I had crushed a few heathery shards of vanilla salt. Then I learnt that that the teeth-gnashing futility of trying to peel a hard-boiled egg that was too fresh when boiled can be bypassed by steaming it for 20 minutes instead of boiling for 10. (Eggs typically need to be at least a week old before their shells can be pried off without clinging stubbornly to the whites.) <em>Nouf Al Qasimi is an Emirati food analyst who cooks and writes in New Mexico</em> Follow us And follow us on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thenationalArtsandLife">Facebook</a> for discussions, entertainment, reviews, wellness and news.