Warming Up Winter Solstice.

Winter Solstice. The westerners call it a pagan holiday. The Chinese, we call it Koh Toong, which is literally translated as 'the passing of winter'.

And, most 'westernised' Chinese around the world, will not know that Koh Toong calls for a bigger-scale celebration compared to the Chinese New Year.

Koh Toong is a day when family members return home for dinner, to celebrate the passing of a barren, freezing cold winter, (applies even if you're in an all-year-round summer place like Malaysia), and dig in to some homemade Tong Yuen (Glutinous Rice Balls served in light sugar syrup and ginger soup).

Intentionally named, Tong Yuen sounds like, in Mandarin, 'annual reunion'.

In fact, the hot, sweet, ginger soup and the hand kneaded, smooth textured, glutinous rice flour balls, will warm you up real good, in anticipation of the warmer, happier days of forthcoming spring.