Winter Solstice celebration

Hello!! As promised, a post on some food my family and I ate on Winter Solstice.

I was invited by my aunt for dinner as she said she was going to prepare pork rib (it's nothing related to the traditional dish for this celebration though). A new dish that my aunt wanted to try to make. Just by seeing the word "pork rib", it was hard to refuse even though I'm lazy to go out. So, I forced myself - for the FOOD!! XD

When the night drew near, the smell of the smoked pork ribs filled the entire house, mmhhhmmmm....The irresistible smell. And  TADAA!!

Restaurant level!
Picture credits to my sister

How? How? Looks delicious right ~.~
Picture credits to my sister

I have tried pork ribs twice. They are the extreme. One was so tender and loose that everything fall apart and the other was tough that I gave up using fork and knife. My aunt's was in the middle but slightly to the tough side, which is not bad considering her first time. She took about 2 hours to smoke it. "If given another 30 minutes, it would be the perfect tenderness," she said. 

Now, to the taste, both that I have tried in the restaurant gave off a slightly weird taste, which I don't know how to explain. But, my aunt's didn't have the weird tatse and I ate one after another. My aunt also made the barbecue sauce herself using 8 kinds of ingredients. It is the sauce that have the balance of sweetness, sourness and saltiness. There's no extremity in any side. 

Winter Solstice can't be without glutinous rice balls - tang yuan 汤圆. It's a symbol of unite and peace (from what I know). So, here's what my aunt made. 

7 colours tang yuan
Picture credits to my sister

It was the first time my aunt made so many colours. They were not artificial colouring but colours that can be obtained from the natural food ingredients such as yellow from pumpkin, black from charcoal powder, green from green tea, brown from chocolate, pink from beet root and blue from some plant. So colourful and delicious, no? 

For the previous years, my aunt made them from artificial colouring. Though they are made from natural ingredients, not all of them retained the taste. The only one that gave of its original taste was the one in green. Others were tasteless, but the chocolate and beet root ones were slightly sweeter than others. 

Like usual, we ate them by dipping them in the peanut and sugar. My aunt roasted the peanut by herself too!! Unlike the previous years where I only ate one or two, this year, I definitely change. I ate all the colours and even added more. My dislike towards them reduce, it seemed. 

So, that's how my family and I celebrate Winter Solstice. We basically gather and eat together every year. How do you celebrate it?