A Watched Pot...

...never boils.

Or does it?

A short while back, I was cooking dinner, which involved boiling some water. I noticed the tiny air bubbles on the bottom of the pot, and stared. Fascinated. At bubbles in a pot.

I watched from first heat to rolling boil, and it was...well, absorbing. I wish I had a camera that could photograph the varying stages of the water and the bubbles, how they started off tiny silver beads, evolved to pearls of air, rolled together, combined again and again, making textures and designs on the bottom of the pan until they rose up to the surface, more taking their place below.

Eventually, they were large enough, rapid enough, powerful enough to become a low, steady boil, and I got on with dinner - but for a few minutes, time was suspended while I watched a pot come to a...well...boil.