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What's cooking? - Lebanese recipes, chefs and restaurants
What's cooking? - Lebanese recipes, chefs and restaurants

Whats cooking newsletter - Newsletter

Of cease-fires and hard-boiled eggs


Dear reader,

Today is a good day.

You might think it’s because of the cease-fire. Or maybe just because it’s a Friday. But no, it’s a good day because I didn't force myself to eat two unseasoned, toast-less hardboiled eggs this morning.

Who would’ve thought? We actually got a cease-fire. It’s for 10 days, but we’ve reached a point where we’ve learned to be appreciative of the smallest things. So today I’m choosing optimism.

But back to the eggs.

For the past week, every morning, I’ve been boiling two eggs and inhaling them in exactly six minutes. I was influenced — an Instagram reel promised they would do "wonders" for my body. Naturally, I signed up for the most joyless morning routine imaginable.

It’s worse because I eat them in a rush, with no time to question why I’m doing this to myself. The first two days, I felt proud — like I’d finally become someone who "sticks to a routine." And to be fair, I do feel more energized. But now I’m also aware of the quiet self-sabotage.

I used to think cracking a raw egg was the hard part. Turns out, peeling a hardboiled egg is its own test. It’s slow, it’s frustrating, and never as clean as you want it to be.

Note that I wasn't even adding salt or pepper. Just standing there in silence, eating plain, whole rubbery eggs.

It’s funny how we always try to optimize our lives with these "healthy habits" while the world outside is doing... whatever it's doing.

Anyway, the miskine egg era ends today. I’ll take the 10 days of quiet, and I’ll take a breakfast that doesn't feel like a race against myself.

I hope your Friday is just as optimistic, and involves better, properly seasoned food.

Stay safe.

Melissa Manouchakian
Distribution editor




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Dear reader,Today is a good day.You might think it’s because of the cease-fire. Or maybe just because it’s a Friday. But no, it’s a good day because I didn't force myself to eat two unseasoned, toast-less hardboiled eggs this morning.Who would’ve thought? We actually got a cease-fire. It’s for 10 days, but we’ve reached a point where we’ve learned to be appreciative of the...