Tea Eggs - Part 1

I've been reading up on popular Taiwanese foods and traditional Chinese New Year dishes in preparation for a Chinese New Year party. Kevin is definitely the cook in our family, but can handle myself in the kitchen, too. Kevin jokes that I only know how to cook with the microwave. This is what I hear when I make dinner: "Thanks honey. Tastes great! You really know how to microwave a good dinner." Yeah, thanks.

Anyway, I thought I'd try to make tea eggs as I'm confident that I know how to boil water. I googled "Taiwan tea eggs" and I've found lots of recipes for tea eggs, and they differ a little bit. This pic of tea eggs is one I found online. Mine aren't finished yet. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find star anise for tea eggs locally, but my mom found anise seed. These tea eggs are popular snacks, and people say that you can buy them at any 7-11 in Taiwan. I made my tea eggs with water, eggs, 2 small black tea bags, soy sauce, anise seed, 2 cinnamon sticks, 4 chunks of candied ginger. I boiled the mixture for 15 minutes. Then I took the eggs out and cracked their shells with a metal spoon. The tea eggs went back in the pot, and they are to simmer for an hour. Tea eggs are supposed to be able to keep for weeks if you cook them again and again 1-2 times per day, they are supposed to taste better the longer they're cooked, and you can add more eggs anytime. I started with a dozen, and we'll see how this goes minus star anise and me not really knowing what I'm doing. Stay tuned for my next tea eggs update.