Recipe: Chinese Tea Eggs

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Tiffany Picard

These cute little marbled eggs are a great mid-morning snack. The addition of tea and spices adds some excitement to otherwise plain boiled eggs.

Ingredients

6-12 eggs

3 heaping tablespoons of loose leaf Chai tea (plain black tea works as well, but I like the spices in Chai tea)

Additional optional ingredients:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

4 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon orange or lemon zest

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Place eggs in a pot and add enough water so that they’re entirely covered. Bring to a boil on medium-high, but be careful not to bring the water to a boil too quickly, or the eggs will crack and start leaking. Once the water reaches a boil, turn it to low and cover the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes, then remove the eggs from the burner.

Fish the eggs out with a spoon. Using the back of the spoon, tap them lightly to crack them all over. Don’t whack them so hard that the shells fall off, but hit them enough so that distinct cracks are visible. Place the eggs back in the pot of hot water, along with the tea and other optional ingredients.

Cover and simmer for one hour. Again, fish the eggs out with a spoon. I refrigerate them in their shells, but for hiking trips I peel them beforehand to save time.

You can also season them with a little salt or soy sauce. Save a few packets of salt or soy sauce the next time you order food to go, or use a refillable mini soy sauce bottle.

Pack the shelled eggs in a plastic bag or food container. Bring a thermos of black tea to go with your tea eggs, and you’re set for tea time on the mountain top!

Tea time! Tea eggs, homemade almond milk Chai, and sesame honey glazed roasted almonds (check out my almond recipe here).

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The Rest of the Story

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Tiffany Picard

This past weekend I went hiking to Garibaldi Lake in beautiful British Columbia. On Monday I glanced up at a wall calendar, which shows beautiful pictures from places all over Canada. For this month, the photo happened to be…Garibaldi Lake! I can see why; it has some truly breath taking views. Here are a few of my pics, though I’m not sure if they’re calendar-worthy:

The water is really that blue! It’s from glacial sediment known as “rock flour”.

I’m always a sucker for wild flowers!

There’s where all the “rock flour” came from 🙂

However, those pics only show part of the story. We always take photos of the view at the top of the mountain, but not so much of the sweat and work that it took to get there. I’m already forgetting all of the flies that swarmed and bit me on the way up, and the thunderstorm we got caught in on our way to the lake, the blister on my foot, and all of the pain I put my legs through.

(Don’t cut an emergency blanket to make a rain poncho; it just rips 🙂 )

Memory is a funny thing. Like a photo album, we curate it by what we choose to remember. But perhaps it is good to try maintaining a balance, not only seeing the past through rose colored glasses, but also honoring all of the effort and challenges you went through to make it to those beautiful places. And not only remembering painful times for the misery you went through, but also recognizing all of the good and indirect blessings that might have come from them.

One thing I will remember: always bring a rain jacket on hikes around Vancouver, even in the middle of summer!

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ps – if interested, check out my e-book Easy Hiking Recipes: Simple Meal Ideas for Day Hikes and Other Outdoor Adventures!