Last weekend, my family celebrated my father's birthday. It was a low-key affair with just 19 people. (Okay, yes, I come from a big family. These were only the relatives who were in town - you should see our Christmas gatherings :). My sister and I spent all of the previous weekend making longevity buns of which you only see a small selection in the picture above. For those of you who don't know what those are, these are steamed buns made in the shape of a longevity peach and are filled with some sort of sweet paste. These ones were made with an egg custard.
That Saturday, my original plan was to make maybe a batch of 30 or so buns and be done in an afternoon. My mother decided that since we were making steamed buns then we might as well make some to freeze and eat later. So... 5 batches of dough, 12 hours and over 100 steamed buns later... my whole Saturday was gone :P. If some of the buns in the picture look a little lopsided then all I can say is that quality control tends to go down after your 80th bun.
However, some of the buns did turn out pretty darn cute!
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| This was probably the best of the bunch. |
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| Artfully arranged on a plate as a triplet. |
It's amazing what a little food colouring will do to liven up your food.
To continue on with the longevity bun theme, I also put together a large card in the shape of a longevity peach. I have to credit a friend from my church's career small group for suggesting the idea.
15 years of Chinese school were not wasted since my sister and I managed to write an entirely Chinese message on the inside. All in all, it was a nice chance to do some crafts which reflect my Chinese heritage.
Happy Birthday Dad!
