Happy Mid Autumn Festival

Eaten your moon cake today? Not many people are fond of moon cakes because of the sweetness, me myself, don't really fancy the original lotus paste moon cakes but I really like the Shanghai type, with crunchier skin and also the jelly moon cake.

I can still remember my younger days where the dim streets were brighten up with lanterns of all shapes and thousands of candles but now.....society seems to have lost touch of such festive joy. Paper lanterns were replaced by electronic plastic lantern equipped with some really annoying music. I really miss my old paper lanterns (I got a rabbit and doggie shape lantern) that could burn so easily. Parents see it as dangerous but why don't handle with care? Why must kids nowadays play with stupid electronic lantern with irritating off-tune repetitive music. Anyway, I'm glad that I had my paper lantern days.

But how many of you know about the origin of this festival? Erm, I Wikied it up and found that the story has a lot of different version and all were very mystified and confusing. It was something like Chang'e and husband Houyi which was a great archer. The archer shot down 9 out of 10 suns and was granted the elixir of immortal life but was mistakenly drank by Chang'e and she flew to the moon. Because Houyi loved her wife too much, he did not shoot down the moon. At the moon, Chang'e saw a rabbit and as the rabbit to make the same elixir for her husband but failed to reproduce the same elixir. However, Houyi was granted to visit his wife every mid-autumn, that is why, that night (tonight) the moon is full and beautiful. How creative Chinese can be.

And today is the day the moon shines (ME) the brightest.

(Thanks Fei Lou Lam for sharing this beautiful moon with me)

And to those living in foreign country, not able to taste the sweetness of this warm festival, here's some moon cakes for you peeps (Loo Loo in the States, Yen in Germany and Mr. Anonymous in Australia). I'm sure Yen baked her own cake, did you. hehe....

Moon cake designer getting more and more creative nowadays.


Okok, here's the conventional (but boring) moon cake.

But I want to eat jelly moon cake. >_<

And Shanghai moon cake too.


HAPPY MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL!!