Mid-Autumn festival (中秋节)/Lantern Festival/Mooncake Festival

Mid-Autumn festival (中秋节) orLantern Festival or Mooncake Festival is just around the corner.. two hours time, it will be the 15th day of the eight lunar month in chinese calendar already. (= 18th September 2005). Well, that day is my friend's birthday as well :)

This year, I will be "celebrating" this festival in Penang :D. For the past few years, I had been celebrating it else where... Last year (2004), I was in China (Yangtze River & the three gorges cruise, from Yichang to Chongqing); in year 2003, I was in Europe.. I was in Germany during the festival day; in year 2002, I was in Kelantan... further than that, I forget liao where am I ...

I still remember last year's Mid Autumn Festival. :) We board on the cruise around 7:45 pm on the night before Mid Autumn Festival. The fireworks display started sharp on 8 pm. We really enjoyed the fireworks from the cruise, and lasted for almost an hour.... Wow... very nice view. Shoot few photos as well. It's really an interesting tour & nice experience. The China mooncakes is different from the one in Malaysia. The China mooncakes are dry and not oily, and very sweet as well.. Not nice, might be I'm used to the locally produced mooncakes already :) In China, they have lotsa fruit flavoured mooncake, eg peach, orange, strawberry etc etc...

There's lotsa new mooncake varieties nowadays in the market. Besides the well known traditional lotus paste, red bean paste etc... there's pandan paste, red dates paste, coconut paste, durian paste, green tea paste, chocolate paste, cheese paste, jelly mooncake etc etc... I remember few years back, I even see Garfield mooncake as well, whereby the mooncake is made in the shape of Garfield...

The price of mooncake over here in Peninsular is much more expensive compared back to my hometown, Sarawak... Over there, I can get 4 lotus paste mooncakes at the price of around RM10 (it's cheaper for other flavour) whereby over here 1 mooncake already cost around RM10 already... The cheaper mooncakes in Sarawak is wrapped in the red paper type, no nice packaging or decoration or advertisement.. That's why can be sold at cheaper price :)

I still remember something interesting that CooknEngr, told few years ago.. From our previous conversation via emails few years back, he told me he bought some mooncakes for one of his ang moh friend. The friend loved the mooncakes but the way his friend ate it was rather "weird".. Whereby the Mat Salleh friend ate the mooncakes like eating a hamburger and wash it down with Coca Cola... :P

Yeap.. I take some photos just now... Doesn't turn out nice, but still okie lah. Can see the "Full Moon" ... :)


Something to share here as well, the hilarious mid autumn festival story by Dr Liew. Thumb up to Dr Liew ;) I really enjoy reading it :D