Dong Zhi Kuai Le

Currently reading, at a very, very slow pace.. =.=

Hari ini, Chinese all over the world will savor Tang Yuan/汤圆/glutinous rice balls to celebrate Dong Zhi/冬至/Winter Solstice Festival which indicates the ending of Winter and the coming of Spring. After this day/eating Tang Yuan, we are said to be one year older, and Chinese New Year is near!

At some places, this day is celebrated as Dong Jie/冬节/Winter Festival. Dong Zhi is the last festival of the year (for Chinese) when families will revalue and thank for the year, somewhat like Chinese people's Thanksgiving. :)

When I was younger, I thought eating the Tang Yuan is quite 'necessary'. lol. There was even a funny equation conceived by my mind itself :

Dong Zhi + Tang Yuan = growth.
So,
Dong Zhi without Tang Yuan = cacat-ed growth = might remain short. ~__~

This year, Dong Zhi falls on 21 Dec, I don't really know how it goes, maybe because this year is a common but not leap year, as what situated in my mind has been Dong Zhi = 22 Dec.

To us, the Chinese, Dong Zhi is also a symbol of reunion among family members, and all family members will gather to eat Tang Yuan. This year goes the first year my family eats Tang Yuan with absentee, my sister is at Utar Kampar, working as helper for their Open Days. Also, this year we kneaded every single Tang Yuan without my mom.

What I had in mind was an house-tasks handler inauguration, where my mom slowly transfer things she has been doing to us. =p Well, I should really learn more, before it's too late to say it's. =)

I asked my younger sister if we should bluetooth some Tang Yuan to my sister at Kampar. =.=

To make Tang Yuan is easy, as long as you bring with you a big jar of patience. Just mix the glutinous rice powder with water, knead the dough into round shaped balls and done. For a more colorful look or what Chinese care - auspiciousness (ONG), the dough is often reddened, that's also the most common one. (oh ya.. Tang Yuan is so much like a Mua Ji.. haha) Some people put red bean paste/whatever paste into the balls, while some others buy packed Tang Yuan from supermarket.

For my family this year, I thought for the whole distracted morning (my dad woke me up at 7 o'clock to buy flowers for pray pray tomorrow. Kesannya, I got headache and I was sleepy. =.=). So.. instead of what we did in the past years, red and white Tang Yuan, my younger sister and I made a colorful one.

For coloring, we use natural coloring agents. =p

White - added with organic soya milk powder which i stopped putting in when the soya looks more like yellow =.=
Green - pandan leaves that i killed in the morning to spend my time and organic green barley powder because those leaves I killed didn't produce enough color
Orange - carrot juice (I thought of using orange - out of stock =.=)
Purplish Black - organic wild rice/black purple rice powder & black sesame powder
Red - organic beetroot oatmilk powder
*Thanks for those powder thing, colors obtained are nice and natural and of course, EASY. =D

This was what I aimed for..
But since it is kinda hard, and time consuming..
so..

I
I
V

Tadahh!
cuter right?
hahaa!!
Many people don't like sesame, so if they randomly eat 2 (the eyes) they will taste the aroma and like it. =p

Hair added. lol

Army of Tang Yuan.. haha!!
Angry face, sad face, smiling face..
Green hair, black hair, red hair..
also some cacat cases, where eyes blend with hair.. =.=

We actually made all of this yesterday and today, we added all these Tang Yuan into err.. sweet soup? =.= My mom says we will have clear sweet soup this year, so that the Tang Yuan's colors can be seen. =D BUT, she used cane sugar.. so.. it is not clear at all. =.=

Happy Dong Zhi to all Chinese readers.

Don't pig out yourself with Tang Yuan, constipation might haunts you. lol.

*****

Boss Mr.Philip called yesterday, offering 5 days working at TGV as they are going to have promotion there. I was shocked, semi-happy, and hesitant. Shocked: I was asked to work on weekend & Friday at Popular the day before, I even felt tired to work, remember I said my last day has gone and it is over? Semi-happy: thanked him for the offer which can earn me more than RM600 for that 5 days. Hesitant: increased sales target, which is 36 simpacks p/day *faint*, and working continuously is truly tiring.

Anyway, I took the job. And I'll get my mom and brother each a new year T-shirt when I got my pay. =) Or, er.. i think i will just give my mom RM100/150 and RM50 to my younger sis and bro, each.

My november pay is coming~~ to town~~
=.=
sorry, have been waiting for weeks.
and i got the news that boss will pay us before Christmas,
so Christmas.. i welcome you!!
=.=