Saturday, October 6, 2012

Happy Moon Festival

So I've been here for 4 plus years and I still have very little understanding of all the Chinese holidays.  I've even read books about them, but since they are generally based on the lunar calendar, and therefore change on the common calendar I'm used to, I have an even harder time keeping them straight.

But, every year, at the end of September or beginning of October we have a week off of school.  Usually it is filled up with conferences and the like but this year was unique in that we have a true break.  It's been great having Nathan home all day.

Anyways, it's a combination of their national holiday, October 1st, and the mid autumn moon festival.  Because of this, you usually eat and give lots of "moon cakes", a traditional treat that many foreigners don't actually like too much because they often put what we think of as strange items in the middle, like bean paste or egg.The outside cake part is also very dense and rich.

A big part of our school is teaching the students Chinese culture, so all of the classes spend some time making them in their Chinese class period and then hand them out to teachers and take them home to their families. Since this is the first year I've been eating gluten, it is my first year to actually participate in the desserts!

I was super impressed with how well they made them, and so professional.  Look at the fun wrappers and impressions. 

From 2012.9 September


From 2012.9 September


The school usually tries to make them fairly foreigner friendly, and Lizbeth and I certainly enjoyed sharing them for dessert and breakfast!

From 2012.9 September

1 comment:

Diana said...

What a pretty girl. She looks like a poster for a commercial for the cakes you are talking about. Who cares about the cake. I'll take the little girl eating them. :>)