Happy Winter Solstice 2016 (冬至快乐!)

Winter officially starts today, with the fewest hours of daylight in 2016. 
Winter Solstice or 冬至 is one of the more important festivals celebrated by Chinese and East Asians. It is a time of reunion for families. My mother, originating from Taiwan, made the glutinous rice balls from scratch. This year, she made both sweet and savoury glutinous rice balls. For savory glutinous rice balls, she made minced meat and mushroom fillings and cooked the rice balls in chicken broth. For the sweet glutinous rice balls, she made them plain and cooked the rice balls in brown sugar and pandan syrup. 
Happy Winter Solstice 2016!

Savoury Glutinous Rice Balls with minced meat and mushroom filling

A glorious orange sunset to celebrate winter solstice (冬至)

PS. With my food poisoning, my mother only allowed me to have one savoury glutinous rice ball in case my stomach couldn't take it. Oh well, still better than not eating any!

Yuan Xiao Festival 2016 元宵节

Yuan Xiao Festival is celebrated on the last day of Chinese New Year (15th day of the first month in the lunar calendar). It is also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day. :)
Tang yuan (湯圓 rice balls) is usually eaten on Yuan Xiao Festival as the Chinese people believe the round shape of the rice balls symbolises togetherness and eating tang yuan will bring happiness and good luck in the new year. 

(Source: www.visitourchina.com) 

Thanks to my lovely colleagues and friends who surprised me with a bowl of tang yuan in the office! Love it! :)

冬至 Dongzhi Festival or Winter Solstice 2014

Yesterday happened to be Dongzhi Festival (冬至) or Winter Solstice too. One of the more important activities of Dongzhi Festival is the making and eating of tang yuan or glutinous rice balls. My mother prepared a big pot of tang yuan in brown sugar soup which we could eat throughout the day. Actually my mother already cooked tang yuan in savoury chicken broth on Sunday. Eating tang yuan in a savoury broth is Taiwanese style as most, if not all Singaporeans usually only have their tang yuan in sweetened soup.

21.12.2012 is ...

21.12.2012 is Winter Solstice. The Chinese celebrates Winter Solstice Festival or 冬至 (Dong Zhi) today by making and eating Tang yuan (湯圓) or balls of glutinous rice, which symbolise reunion. As my mother is not around to make the tang yuan, I bought the frozen ones and cooked them for the girls to eat. :)
21.12.2012 is also Doomsday, according to the prediction of Ancient Mayans.The last time I checked, life still goes on as usual. :)

Updated 22 December 2012, 12.15am
Nope. The world didn't end. We are still here. :)

Yuan Xiao Festival

My girls and I love eating tang yuan - balls made from glutinous rice flour, both unfilled and filled, as well as both sweet and savoury. We wouldn't miss festivals such as Yuan Xiao (15th day of the Chinese New Year) and Tong Zhi (Winter Solstice Festival) where making and eating of tang yuan (glutinous rice balls) are observed. :)
Today is Yuan Xiao Festival. My mother made glutinous rice balls/ tang yuan (unfilled) in brown sugar soup as well as glutinous rice balls/ tang yuan filled with minced meat and mushroom in chicken broth. We each had second helpings for both kinds of tang yuan! Yum yum! :)

Taiwanese Cuisine

Today, my mother cooked one of her Taiwanese dishes - Savoury Tang Yuan (Savoury Glutinous Rice Balls). This dish is not found in Singapore. Most people here are much more familiar with Tang Yuan as a dessert. But in Taiwan, we have Tang Yuan as a savoury dish too.

My mother first made the tang yuan dough from scratch and then made the minced pork filling for the tang yuan. So Savoury Tang Yuan is basically glutinous rice balls with pork filling instead of the usual sweet fillings of red bean, yam, peanut, etc. These savoury tang yuan are then cooked in soup and served with Tung Ho (a vegetable with a distinct taste). I love this dish because it is a refreshing change from the usual tang yuan dessert and I love glutinous rice balls, whatever the filling is. Lol. :)