It’s that time of year again, the day when the temperature prepares to drop precipitously, the students (and teachers) enjoy the day off of school, and people all over the world celebrate the beginning or the middle of Autumn. I guess according to the lunar calendar, Autumn is about halfway over, while it is just beginning for those following the solar calendar. According to my calculations, that means we have a long winter ahead…
In any case, celebrations of Mid-Autumn Day call for everyone to get together with their family and friends and eat mooncakes, while gazing at the full moon. Mooncakes (see pictures) are so important to the holiday, that some here call it the mooncake festival. The mooncakes themselves are filled with any number of the following: lotus paste (most common), red bean paste, black bean paste, dates, nuts, fruit, sausage, shrimp, green tea, or ice cream (hard to find). For those fortunate enough to be literate in this culture, the flavor of the mooncake is inscribed on the top. For the rest of us, well, life is like a box of chocolates, as they say.