Zhu ni Zhong Qiu Jie Kuai Le!
Mid-Autumn Festival, Zhong Qiu Jie, this year has really taken me by surprise. I associate it with being in October, but this year, it starts Sunday!
It is really important to note that this is the first year since the founding of the PRC that Mid-Autumn Festival warrants a legal holiday. I've blogged before that the government this year has changed the holiday schedule so traditional festivals, once dimissed as "superstitious," are now observed as legal holidays. Earlier this year I expressed regret that one of my friends that works at Xingbake had to work Dragon Boat Festival. She told me not to worry; she was more than happy to get triple overtime.
Of course, all the commercial areas are well-decorated for this holiday. I happened to be at the Garden City Mall the other day, and took this picture. In the place at the entrance where in years past we've seen a Nativity Scene, a series of really fat Santas, we now have the bunnies in the moon.
My current favorite mooncakes come from--no surprise--Starbucks. We've received several boxes of regualr mooncakes again this year from some of Randy's suppliers. We've tried to eat them in years past but they are just not tasty to our Western palates. However, the Starbucks cakes are de-licious. It helps, I am sure, that a major investor in Starbucks is the man described as the "Moon Cake King." To make certain that we had at least these to eat, I bought a box to give to Randy (which he will then share with me).
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, Adam will be honoring his hosts Sunday night with an incredibly expensive mooncake treat from Haagen Daz. Of course, the interesting angle is that he bought these half-price, "scalped" in front of a closed Haagen Daz store.
I wonder if I can find some black market Starbucks cakes somewhere.
It is really important to note that this is the first year since the founding of the PRC that Mid-Autumn Festival warrants a legal holiday. I've blogged before that the government this year has changed the holiday schedule so traditional festivals, once dimissed as "superstitious," are now observed as legal holidays. Earlier this year I expressed regret that one of my friends that works at Xingbake had to work Dragon Boat Festival. She told me not to worry; she was more than happy to get triple overtime.
Of course, all the commercial areas are well-decorated for this holiday. I happened to be at the Garden City Mall the other day, and took this picture. In the place at the entrance where in years past we've seen a Nativity Scene, a series of really fat Santas, we now have the bunnies in the moon.
My current favorite mooncakes come from--no surprise--Starbucks. We've received several boxes of regualr mooncakes again this year from some of Randy's suppliers. We've tried to eat them in years past but they are just not tasty to our Western palates. However, the Starbucks cakes are de-licious. It helps, I am sure, that a major investor in Starbucks is the man described as the "Moon Cake King." To make certain that we had at least these to eat, I bought a box to give to Randy (which he will then share with me).
Meanwhile, in Shanghai, Adam will be honoring his hosts Sunday night with an incredibly expensive mooncake treat from Haagen Daz. Of course, the interesting angle is that he bought these half-price, "scalped" in front of a closed Haagen Daz store.
I wonder if I can find some black market Starbucks cakes somewhere.
Comments
The ones we get around here seem to be Japanese or Vietnamese or Korean ones, which are all pretty good-sized. (At least as big as a sandwich, or two cupped hands.) Good stuff. I'm sorry I missed them this year.
The Starbucks ones, being expensive and gourmet, are slightly smaller than the usual mooncakes, but I haven't seen any that were too big to fit in one hand. Bigger than a Hostess cupcake, smaller than a Big Mac.
Oddly, those flavors local folks make the biggest deal over, like the double yolks, are the ones I have the greatest difficulty choking down.