Dong Zhi (The arrival of winter)

Every year, on this day, my mother would go to the market to buy the pink and white glutinous rice flour to make tang yuan (glutinous rice ball). My mother believed that eating tang yuan, it signified the year coming to an end in a very auspicious and perfect way (yuan, yuan, man, man). Some Chinese also believed that the name of the dessert carried with it the meaning of reunion. Tang yuan sounded like tuan yuan which meant reunion.

In the past, family members would gather together to make the dessert to represent a family reunion. But in modern society, no one is free anymore to do such things and no one see any significance in eating this dessert.

Call me old-fashion or a traditionalist or anything you like. For me, any traditions or customs that are beneficial to the family, I think should be passed on. A reunion of family members, why not. This custom should be kept, in fact should be followed all the time.

I have always enjoyed eating tang yuan. Eating it during the cold months just brings so much warmth to the heart. Since learning to do this dessert myself, I have switched to making tang yuan from scratch, it tasted better and yes, it allowed me to passed on the tradition to my children.


Making my own glutinous rice dough. Little Ann helping me to shape into small balls


Ann was really good in shaping those balls. Almost all of them were of the same size.
After cooking, tang yuan with tau suan, my newly created combination and it tasted just great!