Easter Cupcakes

It's Good Friday everyone! And Good Friday is a day I used to look forward to in the past (when I was schooling and then working) because it means a public holiday (at least it is in my home country)! But now that I'm neither schooling nor working, I'm kind of indifferent since every Friday (or rather every day) is a "public holiday". Haha!

Although I'm not a Christian, I have been quite overwhelmed with Easter, which is the Sunday following Good Friday since (almost) every places put out sales, decorations, food and themes associated with it. So this year I've long decided to execute a bake which I'd kept in my head for a year! How long is that, uh?! Despite having it "planned", I didn't think I would bake ahead of the weekend and I found myself lacking a couple of ingredients in my pantry based on the initial idea I had. >,<

But it may well be a "blessing in disguise" or a chance to think out of the box and come up with a creative combination. So to make do with all that's available, I decided on these lemon chiffon cupcakes with chocolate cream cheese frosting! You may think the combination tastes weird, just as I had initially thought too. Surprisingly not! The soft and fluffy lemony cupcake so refreshing cuts the sweetness from the chocolate cream cheese frosting which makes it a heavenly pair! Lemon and chocolate, simply the best of both worlds! Now that I come to think about it again, my original intention of a vanilla-based cupcake (with the same chocolate cream cheese frosting since I needed that to build my cupcake design) would have been "boring"! Haha!

Easter Cupcakes 
(Lemon Chiffon Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting)

Unlike most of my other blog posts, I've enlarged this photo of my cupcakes purposely. I mean, they are just too pretty not to be admired, right?! Haha! And this lemony cupcake recipe that yield such refreshing, soft and fluffy is definitely a keeper! The same goes for the chocolate cream cheese frosting, rich but not too heavy and sweet. Well, actually this whole recipe combination is a keeper! And since they were made for a purpose, I have named them Easter cupcakes! Yum~~

Longan Red Dates with Tang Yuan (Glutinous Rice Balls)

It's officially winter! Are you feeling the cold? ^_^

I happened to chance upon the Lunar calendar on my mobile phone and noticed that Dōng Zhì 冬至 (Winter Solstice), a festival traditionally celebrated by the Chinese and East Asians with family getting together falls on the 22nd of December this year. This is my second winter solstice away from home. Recalling back, my husband and I were travelling in the Washington D.C. last winter solstice and had missed the eating of tang yuan (glutinous rice balls), a festive food that symbolises reunion traditionally eaten by the southern Chinese. It has been a year now, time flies!

In the past, my Mom used to cook our favourite store-bought glutinous rice balls with peanut fillings during this day of the year. Since this winter solstice came ahead of my year-end trip and glutinous rice flour was surprisingly available in this small city in the west of Florida, I decided to attempt my first home-make (plain) tang yuan from scratch. 

Longan Red Dates with Tang Yuan (Glutinous Rice Balls)

After cracking my head on what to go with my plain home-made tang yuan, I decided on this sweet dessert soup which is quite commonly served to the newly-weds on their wedding day as it seeks to symbolise bliss and reunion. And it kind of brought me back to my wedding day. Much memories~

Have you had your tang yuan this winter solstice?