One of my favorite "comfort foods" is poached eggs.

Part of it is that I just like them. Poached eggs are good. They are warm and nourishing and are a nice small portion - so if it's late in the evening, and you need to eat something because you didn't really get dinner, but you know something too big will keep you awake all night, a poached egg is pretty perfect. Or, when I'm not feeling well, they are one food that appeals to me. (Yes, even on a slightly upset stomach. I may not be able to manage meat or cheese but I can eat a poached egg)

And even though eggs aren't as cheap as they used to be (though if you're lucky, you have a friend who keeps chickens and will share), they're still pretty economical. And if you're like me and don't really have to worry about your blood cholesterol levels, they're really pretty nutritious - they have all kinds of good vitamins and minerals and also stuff like lutein in them.

A poached egg on toast, with or without toast fingers (to dip in the yolk) was one of the childhood foods. (I remember several months running where that was one of the few things my brother would eat). I still like them as an adult.

But as an adult, part of the pleasure of a poached egg for me is being able to make them skilfully. I do them differently than how my mom always did - she would either start the egg out in a frying pan and then add water once it had set up, or she had one of those "poacher" inserts for a saucepan, where there were little cups for the eggs.*

(*and if you want to do poached eggs for a crowd, a clever idea I read somewhere is this: you butter the wells of a muffin tin, break the eggs in there, and then add water once the eggs have set a bit. It's perhaps a bit more like shirred eggs, but it would sure beat having to keep track of which egg was the "first one in" to the pan of boiling water)

Somewhere along the way I read about the traditional chef's way of doing it. (It may have been somewhere in M.F.K. Fisher). You boil water in a deep saucepan (you don't have the water itself up to the rim, you will see why in a moment). If the eggs aren't just-laid fresh, you add a small amount of vinegar (some suggest salt, but I prefer vinegar) to the water to help the white set up. Then, as the water gets to boiling, you crack the egg into a small bowl. Once the water is at full boil, you take a spoon and stir vigorously, until you get a nice vortex going in the water (that's why you don't want the pan too full). Then, as the vortex swirls, you plop your egg into it from the bowl.

If you're lucky - and I usually am - the white wraps itself around the yolk and the whole thing cooks into a cute little packet - almost in the shape of some dim sum. I don't cook my poached eggs very long - 2 1/2 minutes, top, because I like the yolk still runny.

(I will now pause to ignore the remarks of those who tell me I'm courting salmonella)

Sometimes, if I'm not rushing around doing other things, I'll stand over the pot and skim off the foam that comes - it's just protein from the yolk but it is a little unappealing. And there's something kind of meditative about doing it while you wait for the egg to cook.

And at the end of the 2 1/2 minutes, I slide a slotted spoon under the egg, pull it out, let the water drain off it, and then put it on the toast (or toasted English muffin, which is what I've been using of late). And I do take a certain pride about being able to make a poached egg that way - it does take a little bit of skill and concentration to get it right, but the results are pleasing.

(In fact, now, when I am up visiting my parents and one of them wants a poached egg, they ask me to make it. Because mine come out "nicer." I've shown my mom how to do it - and it's really not that hard - but she still claims I can do it better. Which pleases me, because my mom is an excellent cook and I think poached eggs are literally the ONLY thing I would concede that I can cook better than she can. And that's just because I don't think she feels like experimenting with the method I use).

I remember reading on some blog, somewhere, about someone who did the complicated French-press method for making coffee, and she said that for her, part of the appeal was the ritual of it: that there are certain things you need to do at a certain time, that there's a particular process. I feel kind of the same way about brewing tea from loose tea, but even more so, I find the ritual of making a poached egg pleasing. I am sure part of it is that I mainly eat them in the evening: the day is over, I'm taking a break, and I have a few minutes to just stand over the stove and watch the egg cook, the toast is buttered at the ready, the salad or whatever I'm having along with the egg is already fixed. It's like a tiny moment to take a breath.

I think we perhaps don't get enough tiny moments to take a breath in our days, where we have just one thing to be concentrating on.