From my point of view, this festival is all about playing with lanterns, and eating mooncakes! I shall not go into the various versions of the legend that lead to this festival.
I'm sure everyone is familiar with mooncakes. A mooncake is typically round or square in shape, and is filled with a thick filling, and also with the yolk from salted duck eggs. When I was younger, mooncakes where either filled with the traditional filling of lotus paste or red bean. However, things have changed now. The modern mooncakes come in variety of flavours; chocolate, green tea, yam, pandan, and even durian! There are even mooncake ice-creams around! And to make those health conscious people less guilty, there are reduced sugar and reduced fat ones as well!
Being so far away from home, I really miss this festival. If anything, I enjoy this festival more than chinese new year!
Weird huh?
I don't know. Its probably because I like the idea of lighting up funky shaped or traditional paper lanterns. I like the idea of exchanging mooncakes with my friends/families. And of course, I enjoy eating them too. My personal favourite is lotus paste mooncake, without any yolk! Many people will disagree with me, but I think the yolk just ruins the natural taste of the mooncake.
I haven't savoured a mooncake in 2 years! :( The mooncakes being sold in the local chinese stores here are not as yummy as the ones back home. Therefore, I stopped buying them. Maybe I should hunt for a chinese paper lantern, just to humour myself. Or maybe, I should plan a visit back home during the festival period next year!
