(no subject)
Happy Mid-autumn festival! Usually I make time to buy the Tien Ren tea mooncakes a full two week ahead, but this year I totally forgot the date, and today Chinatown was bedlam -- Taipan has lines around the corner, and Kam Man only had the traditional large ones in two flavors left. Who knew mooncakes would be this popular? I ended up buying the only mini box they had left, and also a box of traditional double-yolked kind.
But actually, mid-autumn festival is one of these Chinese holidays that I only started to care around since I came to America. When I was growing up in China it was not a national holiday, and on top of that, Beijing had the most horrific moon cakes imaginable. They were hard as brick, and pretty much tasted like one as well. The workplace would distribute them to workers around the holiday, and then they get regifted over and over again like the proverbial fruitcake since one would need to have jaws of steel to eat them. Only after coming here did I actually grasp the inconceivable idea that people actually ate moon cakes, and even enjoyed eating them.
But actually, mid-autumn festival is one of these Chinese holidays that I only started to care around since I came to America. When I was growing up in China it was not a national holiday, and on top of that, Beijing had the most horrific moon cakes imaginable. They were hard as brick, and pretty much tasted like one as well. The workplace would distribute them to workers around the holiday, and then they get regifted over and over again like the proverbial fruitcake since one would need to have jaws of steel to eat them. Only after coming here did I actually grasp the inconceivable idea that people actually ate moon cakes, and even enjoyed eating them.