i woke up early this morning. i actually got up to use the bathroom, but then couldn't go back to sleep, so i got out of bed at 7am. being out of work for so long got me a little stressed and i went online briefly to look at some job sites. 5 hours later i had lunch, just a cup of chobani greek yogurt (blueberry).

i'd plans of doing some home maintenance work (going to home depot to get some clear caulk) but what i didn't anticipate was the rainy weather we'd be having today, an all day freezing rain event. that meant i wasn't going anywhere today but staying put at home. the patriots gave a pre-AFC championship game news conference, that was broadcasted as breaking news by the local channels.

maybe there's something about january winters that makes me yearn for tea eggs. i made tea eggs almost a year ago exactly. i was inspired to make them because i found an old box of tea egg spices in my cupboard. it box wasn't dated, but judging by where i found it, i wouldn't be surprised if it was more than a decade old. never being one to throw anything perishable away if i think it's still good, i decided to use it. i bought 18 brown eggs from market basket yesterday, and added 2 more from the eggs already in my fridge to make 20 - just enough for all of them to sit at the bottom of my largest pot.

i followed the exact same steps from last time: boil the eggs in cold on high heat with a tsp of salt. the water came to a boil much faster this time around (maybe because i had less water), and after a few minutes of boiling, i took the eggs out so i could run them under cold water in the sink and crack them with the back of a spoon, all the while i turned the pot of boiling water down to medium-low heat and added the flavor packets. the box came with one packet of tea, one packet of spices (clove, anise, cinnamon), and a small packet of salt and pepper for dipping.

after the eggs were cracked, i added them back to the pot, along with 4 additional black tea teabags (for extra tea flavor), a handful of old sichuan peppercorns, and 3 tbsp of salt. the amount of salt is a contentious subject: on the box it said only to add 1 tsp, while i added 1 tsp + 3 tbsp. also i did the math wrong, and if i used 4 tbsp for 30 eggs last time, i should only be using 2.7 tbsp this time.

after simmering the eggs for an hour, i turned off the stove and let them steep for 24 hours. i noticed there was an oily film on top of the liquid. this could be a byproduct of using old spices. i don't believe it affects the flavor but i won't know until i try one of the eggs tomorrow.

i finished watching the entire first season of the young pope (10 episodes). even after finishing, i still can't tell you what it's about. apparently the pope is legitimate after all, perhaps even an actual saint, with several feats of miracle. the show is so strange and beautiful, with interesting characters, i keep on watching even though i have no idea what's going on.

for dinner i heated up some leftover beef stew combined with some rotini pasta. later in the evening my upstairs neighbors were blasting their music/tv sound again. i passive-aggressively found a long loop of annoying high-pitch sounds on youtube and played it from a speaker attached to my phone on full blast from a torchiere lamp. i then went around the house cleaning with wearing earplugs, fantasizing about calling steve and paul downstairs so they can hear the noise for themselves. the annoyance is typically brief, anywhere from 1-3 hours, but it was never like this before, and i get the feeling they don't really know how loud it is.