Had desserts at a dessert place called 甜姨姨 in my neighourhood of Tin Hau. Literally translated, the name means ‘Sweet Auntie’. They are known for their durian desserts and I tried their Durian Soy Bean Curd, which was awesome and a must-try for all durian lovers! A pity I forgot to bring my camera, but rest assure that I’ll be heading there again very soon!
Anyway, the point I wanted to make in this blog post is about the names of some glutinous rice balls on their menu. I was so amused by them as I’ve never come across such names before.
In the menu, what is known as 老公汤圆 (husband glutinous rice balls) are really glutinous rice balls with chocolate filling. 老婆汤圆 (wife glutinous rice balls) are glutinous rice balls with peanut butter filling. 恩爱汤圆 (loving glutinous rice balls) are those with chocolate and peanut butter filling. I think it’s so cute that the one with a mixture of both fillings is known as ‘loving glutinous rice balls’ to reflect the union of the ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ fillings. It’s perhaps also symbolic that the eating of 汤圆 is meant to celebrate family reunions during special festivals. The round shape of the rice balls represents reunion and, in Mandarin, the name 汤圆 (tang1 yuan2) also sounds like the word 团圆 (tuan2 yuan2) which means reunion.
Trust the Chinese to come up with such lovely and poetic names for food!