His head seemed too large for his frame, a wrinkled egg topped by a fringe of wispy white hair.

If I needed more proof of this self-acceptance, I found it late on New Year's Eve at the Nasher, when dessert was served and all the women got golden eggs topped with tiny rhinestones alongside their chocolate towers.

And where else does a chef's salad translate to a roasted beet-goat cheese napoleon, a deviled egg topped with caviar and reed-thin green beans entwined and piled into a stack with strips of prosciutto?

At the market, little stalls serve fresh tortillas filled with your choice of chorizo, roast pork, chicken or chopped egg, topped with incendiary salsas.

All the same, to have to ask practical questions, such as would he be late that evening, twice, three times. . . . "I thought stewed eggs topped with fried mud would be nice for supper."

A Slinger is a diner and late night specialty consisting of eggs, hash browns and hamburger, topped with chili, cheese and onion.

Huevos Palacios was an Applebee's special in a skillet: a thin layer of creamy eggs topped with beef chili, scallions, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese.

A recent dinner began with three dainty bites: game pâté enclosed in puff pastry, scrambled eggs topped with caviar and a square of smoked salmon marinated in beet juice.

Scrambled eggs should be done following the technique Jean-Georges Vongerichten (a disclosure: we write books together) uses for his famous soft-scrambled eggs topped with spiced whipped cream and caviar.

It is best used with eggs, poached fish, poultry, hot hors d'oeuvres, and dishes topped with a coating of bread crumbs.