Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Mid-Autumn Festival a.k.a Mooncake Festival a.k.a Lantern Festival is here again!  Time really flies - it is already September and there are only 3 months left to the year!  Mid-Autumn Festival was never really a big thing in my family.  We didn't perform any prayers nor did we have any big family dinners.  What we did have, though, were wonderful lanterns and loads of mooncakes. 

My most memorable lantern was an impressive peacock shaped lantern with long tail feathers and glittery powder sprinkled all over.  It was made from a simple wire frame and that thin translucent paper, complete with a bamboo stick handle.  It sucked at keeping the wind out and frustrated me no end when my candle kept blowing out but it was gorgeous when lit.  My siblings and I used to have a field day lighting candles and parading around the garden searching for the darkest corners to shine our beautiful lanterns on.  Not to mention dripping wax everywhere and giving my Mum a massive clean-up job! Nowadays, kids are carrying around sterile, battery-operated Doeramons with Dr. Bombay's Taxi song (which coincidentally was my nephew Na-Na's lantern du jour....) stuck on repeat!  You do remember Dr. Bombay and his "Cal-cu-tta, I am a taxi driver in...Cal-cu-tta!" don't you?  The song is stuck in your head now isn't it?  Ha ha. OK, I admit my nephew Na-Na is about 2 years old, so he can't be lighting up matches and all that.  But you get my drift....having fun used to be REALLY fun!

Mooncakes too used to only come in two basic variations : Tow Sar (Red bean paste) or Lin Yung (Lotus paste).  The only configurable attribute was whether it came with or without yolk.  The Lotus paste with yolk was, and still is, a personal favourite of mine.  I used to be able to fill myself up with quite a fair bit of the stuff - alas, with a declining metabolism and an increasing fear of heart attack, I've cut down quite a bit nowadays.  The variety of mooncakes available these days are astounding.  Jasmine, Durian, Pumpkin, Green Tea, Hazelnut....even savoury ones with Chicken Floss, Mushrooms, Sambal...And you can get it in traditional mooncake skin, snowskin, and even ice-cream versions...Utterly mind-boggling!  I'm still a traditionalist when it comes to mooncakes, so I'm quite happy with my Lotus Paste, thank you.  But when I came across THIS while I was innocently surfing the internet, I have definitely accepted the fact that times have indeed changed!

Happy Mid-Autumn a.k.a Mooncake a.k.a Lantern Festival everyone!