12 Facepalm worthy #5 + Happy Winter Solstice!

Today we had primary school gathering! And well idk what's wrong w Camille LOLOL She arranged for us to meet at 3pm to barbeque. So my text to her was like this at 3:30 cause she was asking where was I! (Well I'm normally the few girls who will turn up after all)

Me: Who bbq (barbeque) so early at 3pm one you tell me?

Cam: Me la -.-

#totalfacepalmmoment. Known Cam for so long so long and like she's still this 欠扁!

I've been having countless facepalm moments with my mummy but I keep forgetting to blog  about them and I forgot about it -_- Anyways, look out for my end-of-year Thankyou post I'll blog sooner :)

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PS. Friday is an important festival for all Chinese! It's called 冬至！(pronounce it as dong1 zhi4) It also means Winter Solstice :) The thing I love about Chinese festivals is that there are always countless stories about them, and it just makes everything ever so meaningful. Lemme share a few stories below: (fully copied online hahaha, I'm not that smart la xD)

冬至的由来

唐、宋时期，冬至是祭天祭祀祖的日子，皇帝在这天要到郊外举行祭天大典，百姓在这一天要向父母尊长祭拜，现在仍有一些地方在冬至这天过节庆贺。 

冬至传说之一 
过去老北京有“冬至馄饨夏至面”的说法。相传汉朝时，北方匈奴经常骚扰边疆，百姓不得安宁。当时匈奴部落中有浑氏和屯氏两个首领，十分凶残。百姓对其恨之入骨，于是用肉馅包成角儿，取“浑”与“屯”之音，呼作“馄饨”。恨以食之，并求平息战乱，能过上太平日子。因最初制成馄饨是在冬至这一天，在冬至这天家家户户吃馄饨。 

吃“捏冻耳朵”是冬至河南人吃饺子的俗称。缘何有这种食俗呢？相传南阳医圣张仲景曾在长沙为官，他告老还乡那时适是大雪纷飞的冬天，寒风刺骨。他看见南阳白河两岸的乡亲衣不遮体，有不少人的耳朵被冻烂了，心里非常难过，就叫其弟子在南阳关东搭起医棚，用羊肉、辣椒和一些驱寒药材放置锅里煮熟，捞出来剁碎，用面皮包成像耳朵的样子，再放下锅里煮熟，做成一种叫“驱寒矫耳汤”的药物施舍给百姓吃。服食后，乡亲们的耳朵都治好了。后来，每逢冬至人们便模仿做着吃，是故形成“捏冻耳朵”此种习俗。以后人们称它为“饺子，也有的称它为“扁食”和“烫面饺”，人们还纷纷传说吃了冬至的饺子不冻人。

 冬至传说之二 
冬至吃狗肉的习俗据说是从汉代开始的。相传，汉高祖刘邦在冬至这一天吃了樊哙煮的狗肉，觉得味道特别鲜美，赞不绝口。从此在民间形成了冬至吃狗肉的习俗。现在的人们纷纷在冬至这一天，吃狗肉、羊肉以及各种滋补食品，以求来年有一个好兆头。 

冬至传说之三 
在江南水乡，有冬至之夜全家欢聚一堂共吃赤豆糯米饭的习俗。相传，有一位叫共工氏的人，他的儿子不成才，作恶多端，死于冬至这一天，死后变成疫鬼，继续残害百姓。但是，这个疫鬼最怕赤豆，于是，人们就在冬至这一天煮吃赤豆饭，用以驱避疫鬼，防灾祛病。

冬至经过数千年发展，形成了独特的节令食文化。诸如馄饨、饺子、汤圆、赤豆粥、黍米糕等都可作为年节食品。曾较为时兴的“冬至亚岁宴”的名目也很多，如吃冬至肉、献冬至盘、供冬至团、馄饨拜冬等。

 较为普遍的有冬至吃馄饨的风俗。早在南宋时，临安人就在冬至吃馄饨，开始是为了祭祀祖先，后逐渐盛行开来，民间有“冬至馄饨夏至面”之说。馄饨发展至今，更成为名号繁多，制作各异，鲜香味美，遍布全国各地，深受人们喜爱的著名小吃。馄饨名号繁多，江浙等大多数地方称馄饨，而广东则称云吞，湖北称包面，江西称清汤，四川称抄手，新疆称曲曲等等。 
And this is why I always say I am damn heavily Chinese influenced. I just feel that Chinese culture is very interesting with the various intriguing stories, and I can't help but to divulge into them.

On the right you can see what we normally call as 汤圆 (tang1 yuan2), also known as glutinous rice balls. this was especially memorable for little kids cause we could roll balls of dough - different colours, all based on creativity into balls of different sizes. Sometimes we mix them into pretty disgusting colours lol. Of course I love to add peanut in between!!!  But now, supermarkets selling instant tangyuans just takes the fun outta it /sadface/

But every Chinese festival highlights one thing - the importance of family gatherings to keep everyone close knitted, emphasizing that family is ultimately the one you can fall back on. Not just your family, but your whole extended family. Despite family disputes or whatever, I felt between the kids, we know none of these adult bullshit and if both parties are willing, we will huddle into a mess and play :) It never fails to strike me how all of us grew up so fast, and yet still holding onto that strong bond we forged since young. I'm blessed to have an extended family that warmly cares for me, and of course with many of us in different locations now, we don't forget to call back and catch up now that technology is so advanced :)

With that, merry advanced Winter Solstice and Christmas! Btw, do you think that Doomsday will come? :)