Mooncakes

Mid-autumn Festival is definitely more happening in Malaysia than in Shanghai. We are not sure about other parts of China but over here in Shanghai, it is a very quiet affair and lanterns are a rare sight. They are not sold in shops, hypermarts or anywhere else. The city is not decorated with lanterns. Nobody plays with lanterns. Mid-autumn is certainly NOT associated with lanterns over here. However, I brought one back from school on the eve of the festival...

I made (actually just decorated) this in my Chinese Culture class :)

The only thing that made the festival "felt" here was the public holiday that we enjoyed, and of course - the mooncakes! Mooncakes are available in abundance. We see them almost everywhere we go. Hypermarkets, bakeries, restaurants and even roadside shops and stalls sell them too. 

Some of them are sold by weight...

... while the rest come in attractive gift packs. Prices start from as low as RMB9.90 (RM5) for 4 pcs in nice metal boxes. Unbelievably cheap!!

On the other extreme, these gift boxes can also cost hundreds or even a thousand plus yuan (those sold in specialty shops).

Flavour-wise, mummy thinks they are rather "boring" as they only come in very selected and ordinary flavours like lotus paste, red bean and mixed nuts. Salted egg yolks are also rare and uncommon. Malaysian mooncakes are definitely better in terms of quality and assortment of fanciful flavours. Since we aren't really into mooncakes, mummy bought only a few to try...

Plain lotus paste

Plain red bean... "kuaci" in mooncakes must be a Malaysian thing because the mooncakes here do not come with that.

Snow-skin mixed nuts

Pineapple... tastes like the pineapple jam in pineapple tarts

Black sesame seed

The very popular coconut filling (coconut milk aroma with traces of grated coconut)... our favourite!

And lastly, we tried one of their savoury mooncakes... meat mooncake in flaky skin. Not bad! 

Something different... Beef mooncake? No, mummy did not (dared not) buy this to try :p