Mid-Autumn Festival

 Mid Autumn Mooncakes

In celebration of China's Mid Autumn Festival, we anticipated making our own mooncakes.

In Taiwan, I bought an old wooden mooncake mold (that now resides in the playdough box!).

We looked up recipes on the internet (Dried Fruits Mooncake http://www.anncoojournal.com/2012/09/dried-fruits-and-nutty-mooncake.html) and then opted to take a walk to our local Vietnamese Groceteria to buy some!

To keep with the Moon theme, we picked up Sesame Snacks. I used to eat these as a kid, but in Asia they sell them between a thin wafer cookie to prevent sticking. The wafer actually looked very 'moon-like'.
Baby C was a big fan of this!

 Moon Wafer

 Red Bean Baby

Long ago, I purchase Amy Tan's 'The Moon Lady' (http://www.amytanauthor.com/ Amy is the brilliant author of the famed 'Joy Luck Club'). O asked to read this one last week. It has amazing illustrations and is packed full of interesting cultural tidbits that brought me back to our adventures in China.

The story is a grandmother retelling a true tale from Mid Autumn Festival to her three granddaughters.

EXPAND ON MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL
Bunny Lanterns. These are so popular this time of year, sold on every street corner in Shanghai. You can make your own with the help of Grace Lin http://www.gracelinblog.com/2010/09/bunny-lantern-craft.html?spref=pi ..another one of our favourite Asian authors for children ('Ling & Ting' & 'The Red Thread')