nom nom foody.

In the lunar calendar, the fifteenth day of the eighth month is known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. Every year, the festival celebrates the harvest on the night that the moon is brightest and fullest. Traditionally, mooncake and pomelos are eaten with friends and family in order to encourage closeness and protection.

Mooncake is an extremely dense, sweet pastry. It's generally made about the size of your palm and is a very sturdy dessert. The traditional mooncake is made of lotus seed paste with a salted egg yolk in the centre to symbolize the full moon; the crust is stamped with Chinese characters for longevity, fortune, and other happy things. Growing up, I used to pick out the egg yolk, much to my mother's exasperation - nowadays, not only do mooncakes come in regular lotus seed paste sans yolk, it also comes in fillings such as red bean paste, green tea, and peanut.


Last night, after a gorgeous sunset, we lit our lanterns and sat on the deck for awhile to watch the moon. No pomelos, but we stuffed ourselves with mooncake and had a good time. (Okay, I might be feeling a little queasy from all that dessert, but it was so good.)