Thursday, December 23
Tang Yuan on Dong Zhi
When I was young, Mom would buy glutinous rice flour from the market and I would climb atop on a tall chair, and roll the flour into small balls at the counter. It was one of the rare occasions when Mom was more lenient about a messy kitchen, and I could play dough lego with food.
It was easy enough. I, I mean we, rolled the flour into little balls of red-white-pink, dump them into a big pot of sweet pandan boiling water, and voilà! We have another one of my favorite grub: 汤圆*. Almost as simple as cooking instant noodles. Only tastier and more satisfying.
<<Balling around: 2 small ones + 1 big makes a Mickey. Heh.
*The Chinese word tang (meaning 'soup') sounds like tuan which means reunion, while yuan means round, signifying "yuan man" (complete / 圆满 ). The entire phrase tang yuan therefore symbolises "tuan yuan" (family reunion / 团圆 ), and eating tang yuan on Dong Zhi represents family reunion and harmony, and also signifies family unity and family prosperity.
*
Such a vampiric experience, all the blood overflowing from the mouth. So erotic ... not.
There I was, in the reclining chair, squinting my eyes at the blinding light above, under the mercy of the Dentist and his nurse. My mouth held open by clampers of some sort, and the Dentist doing his thing with my teeth/gum. It was a date from hell. What was worse, the scaling (most basic dental service) cost 92 bucks. Horrendous dental costs.
It was 冬至 on Tuesday. Literally translated as "arrival of winter" and occurring six weeks before the Chinese New Year.
When I was young, Mom would buy glutinous rice flour from the market and I would climb atop on a tall chair, and roll the flour into small balls at the counter. It was one of the rare occasions when Mom was more lenient about a messy kitchen, and I could play dough lego with food.
It was easy enough. I, I mean we, rolled the flour into little balls of red-white-pink, dump them into a big pot of sweet pandan boiling water, and voilà! We have another one of my favorite grub: 汤圆*. Almost as simple as cooking instant noodles. Only tastier and more satisfying.
<<Balling around: 2 small ones + 1 big makes a Mickey. Heh.
*The Chinese word tang (meaning 'soup') sounds like tuan which means reunion, while yuan means round, signifying "yuan man" (complete / 圆满 ). The entire phrase tang yuan therefore symbolises "tuan yuan" (family reunion / 团圆 ), and eating tang yuan on Dong Zhi represents family reunion and harmony, and also signifies family unity and family prosperity.
*
Such a vampiric experience, all the blood overflowing from the mouth. So erotic ... not.
There I was, in the reclining chair, squinting my eyes at the blinding light above, under the mercy of the Dentist and his nurse. My mouth held open by clampers of some sort, and the Dentist doing his thing with my teeth/gum. It was a date from hell. What was worse, the scaling (most basic dental service) cost 92 bucks. Horrendous dental costs.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home