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Dong Zhi

Today is Dong Zhi, literally meaning the "arrival of winter"”. It is an important festival of the Chinese calendar and the Chinese regards this day as a day of thanksgiving. Dong Zhi is celebrated on the longest night of the year, when sunshine is weakest and daylight is the shortest. It usually falls between Dec 21 and 23 in the solar calender.

Dong Zhi is the last festival of the year. It coincides with the winter solstice and it is a time for the entire family to get together to celebrate the past good year. Some Chinese “traditionalists” believe that everyone turns a year older after Dong Zhi. Glutinous rice balls known as Tang Yuan are made, cooked and eaten to signify unity and harmony within the family. Tang Yuan can be plain or rolled around a filling of sesame, peanuts, red bean or almond. TangYuan are often cooked in peanut or ginger soup. The round shape symbolizes wholeness and unity.

<>I just finished a bowl of Tang Yuan which my family makes them ourselves. Some Chinese practise the custom of eating the number of Tang Yuan according to the age, for e.g. one eats 12 Tang Yuan when one is 12 years old. However, I usually eat more than my age because I am greedy. Haha. Tang Yuan are easily available in supermarkets and food centres. There are two places that sell quite delicious Tang Yuan, at Outram Park and Beach Road. Kiah Shen and I will update the exact location later.

Journey to the West

Wendy and I both live in the West, so naturally we are more familiar with the food around this area. Therefore, we decided to start off the trail from our turf. But sadly, if you are the kind that cannot stand places with no air conditioning, we suggest you stop here, because in our opinion, most of the really good Singaporean food are found in food centres (locally known as hawker centres), and in coffee shops, which can be slightly uncomfortable but relatively safe.

Now, first on the list is the ultimate die die must go hawker centre in the West:
Taman Jurong Market and Food Centre .

This newly made food centre is located on the old site of an old food centre, which was known to the locals as "60 stalls". (cos there were 60 stalls in the food centre. Simple, rite?) It is located beside the new Jurong Town Community Centre. You can't miss it.

If you love seafood, here's the stall for you! Located on the third floor of the food centre is a shop named BBQ Fish. (Unit 03-178) If you can read chinese, it also says that it is the Woodlands branch. It opens in the evening and 7 days a week.




This shops sells the best and freshest barbequed seafood that I have ever tasted! You can choose a variety of seafood like fish, crayfish, squid, shellfish and stingray! Upon choosing your seafood, the chef will 'barbeque' it, (I suspect he fries it) and serve it covered with the best chilli paste ever, all on a preheated iron plate.


Oooooh! BBQ stingray... ooooh....

You can also complement your meal with a plate of steaming vegetable, like what the locals call petai (acquired taste. Dun try if you generally cannot stand strong taste) or you could choose the Sambal KangKong (this dish is nice!) For the choice of seafood, I haven't tried them all but my personal favorites are their BBQ stingray and squid. Oooooh.... yum yum......


Sambal kangkong! Our favourite!