Its time to howl at the moon!

….Ok, howling at the moon might take the upcoming festival (national holiday) to an extreme. In the middle of September we will be celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival here in China. From what I gather it is a celebration in honor of the harvest and also the deity that lives in/inside of the moon according to Chinese legend.

With this festival a food that is often served is the moon cake. It comes in various forms, but to sum it up it is a circular pastry that is stuffed with a variety of normally sweet fillings.



Almost all restaurants, hotels, cafes, grocery stores make either individual servings or gift boxes full of moon cakes available for purchase. My hotel features many poster promoting their moon cakes. By the description along I was turned off….I mean what exactly is Lotus Paste?

At work I was offered a box with two moon cakes. I politely took it and said thanks. I wasn't sure if I was daring enough to try them. I put it to the side on my desk.



A few days ago I ran out of granola bars at my desk so was scrambling for something to eat for breakfast. My eyes spotted the box of mooncakes. I hesitantly bit into one of them and to my surprise immediately liked it! It was filled with a sweet sugar mixture that included mixed nuts. It reminded me of pecan pie - but not as sweet.



I saved the other moon cake for the next day. It wasn't filled with the same mixture, instead it had a plain sugary mixture that had a hint of vanilla.


I have since tried to find the same moon cakes at Carrefour. No luck. I tried a few samples that they had and they tasted horrible. I barely was able to get one bite down. Perhaps I had one with lotus paste! I did take a picture of the box so am thinking I’ll bring it with me to the store the next time I go.


Use this link to access pictures of some of my food adventures – including my most recent one with moon cakes:

http://picasaweb.google.com/esjohnson80/FoodInShanghai