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This week is a big holiday not only in Shanghai but China. It is the time to look forward to a good harvest next year and to give thanks for this year's crop. A bit like our own Harvest Festival. It is a time when many millions of people head home for the holiday, a time when I really want to stay at home away from the mayhem and chaos.
It is also the time when people give mooncakes (yue bing) as gifts. These come in amazing boxes, from simple to the most elaborate. Hotels, shops and restaurants all have their own, with their logos on them. I love the boxes, what's in them not so much! They look to an untrained eye a bit like a pork pie, so far so good, and then you bite into them, at least if you are new to them, anyone in the know will first of all cut into them to establish the filling. Generally it will be a bean paste, red or green, or some kind of preserved fruit, perhaps a pork mixture bringing it back into the pork pie category but this is all random. I'm sure somewhere it is indicated but so far I have not been able to tell. So I have to admit that my course of action is complete avoidance of the offending offering. I really do not care for the flavour or the texture of the fillings, and the texture is such an important factor for me. Anything I don't like will usually because of texture not flavour.
However, I love the boxes and use them for storing my craft items. Some come with drawers which is perfect for what I use them for. The mooncakes? generally re-gifted. Sorry!
It is also the time when people give mooncakes (yue bing) as gifts. These come in amazing boxes, from simple to the most elaborate. Hotels, shops and restaurants all have their own, with their logos on them. I love the boxes, what's in them not so much! They look to an untrained eye a bit like a pork pie, so far so good, and then you bite into them, at least if you are new to them, anyone in the know will first of all cut into them to establish the filling. Generally it will be a bean paste, red or green, or some kind of preserved fruit, perhaps a pork mixture bringing it back into the pork pie category but this is all random. I'm sure somewhere it is indicated but so far I have not been able to tell. So I have to admit that my course of action is complete avoidance of the offending offering. I really do not care for the flavour or the texture of the fillings, and the texture is such an important factor for me. Anything I don't like will usually because of texture not flavour.
However, I love the boxes and use them for storing my craft items. Some come with drawers which is perfect for what I use them for. The mooncakes? generally re-gifted. Sorry!
You can buy beautiful mooncake moulds to fashion the top of your own homemade cakes and these I love. They will be perfect for biscuits and shortbread when I return home. The moulds are wooden and come in many different designs. I am sure they all have some significance but sadly I have not established just what they all mean. Something to get on to.
This will be my last Moon Festival here. Perhaps on my return home I can start a tradition in the family of making shortbread with the moulds at this time of the year, something which will always remind me of my time here in China and something that hopefully can be passed on to future generations. In theory This sounds a wonderful idea, in reality? Well who can tell. I'll get the grandchildren onto it next October.
HAPPY MOON FESTIVAL EVERYONE
