dong zhi/ guo tong/ winter solstice

today the position of the earth is believed to be the farthest from the sun and is also the shortest daytime on earth.

today is also the day the chinese celebrates winter solstice by making glutinous rice balls. as the name suggests, the rice balls are made by adding water to glutinous rice flour and then rolled on hands. some even have fillings in them (crushed peanuts, redbeans, black sesame, etc). but the ones we make at home are just the plain ones and this year, we made the least 'tong yuan'.

previously we made those very little ones and cooked them in ginger syrup soup. but this year, we only made the dry ones which we boil and later drain and eat with blended peanuts. frankly, not my favourite. siew (sis) is not around, hence there is no point making so much. she is the one who eats the soup ones. and this year she is in australia and brother wei is not even coming back for the weekend, it makes the whole festival lack so much significance.

by celebrating this day, it also signifies the end of the year and the new spring is just months away. it is time to say bye to another year and welcome to the new one. we will leave this for another day.

p/s: if those overseas do not have the ingredients to make them, just buy loh since you can already find them in supermarkets. and get that extra ginger to put in while boiling the soup.