Mid-Autumn Feastivities

Good afternoon everybody! So as I mentioned in yesterday's post, the Mid-Autumn Festival, or 中秋節 passed by recently. To celebrate, Queens-food blog Chopsticsk+Marrow teamed up with LIC Flea & Food in Long Island City, Queens to host the first ever Mid-Autumn Feastival this past Saturday and Sunday (September 17th - 18th) (and yes, you read correctly, it's Feastival not Festival).

If anyone is interested, the LIC Flea & Food, as its name suggests, is a little outdoor flea and food market with vendors selling a variety of things from jewelry to clothes to artworks to various types of food and drinks such as lemonade, coffee, frozen treats, seafood, Ukrainian food, Japanese food, among many others. They are open on Saturdays and Sundays from 11 am to 6 pm. There is a little seating area off to the side with tables or, if you prefer (or all the tables are taken), (fake) grass. It was my first time there so I was a little surprised by how small the area was, but nonetheless there was a fair amount of food to try! Half of the area were for usual vendors I guess and the other half of the area were dedicated to Asian foods (not sure if they were regular vendors or not).

소갈비 from EJEN Korean Comfort Food

Feeling pretty hungry, I decided to start off with an actual meal and went to the EJEN Korean Comfort Food stand to get myself some pork galbi 돼지갈비 (galbi refers to marinated grilled ribs), but unfortunately they ran out, so I went with the beef galbi 소갈비 instead. It was a little pricey at $12, but it came with a fair amount of beef ribs, some fried rice and kimchi. It was quite delicious--the beef was tender and succulent and balanced out nicely with the kimchi and the fried rice, the latter of which was simple and not overly loaded with ingredients. While I was not too pleased at the price, I will say that the food was delicious and pretty filling.

Yuzu matcha tea from Nippon Cha on the fake grass

Feeling a little thirsty, I decided to hunt around for something to drink; there was a Lizzmonade lemonade stand (but hey I was there for the Asian food) and a bubble tea stand, but I decided to head over to Nippon Cha, drawn by the promising-looking selection of matcha drinks. They also had some doughnuts too, including raspberry lychee and matcha. Feeling like I could use a dessert, I decided to go with the kumquat glazed doughnut to have with my yuzu matcha tea.

Nippon Cha's fine selection of doughnuts

Yuzu (ユズ or 柚子 in Japanese) is a small citrus originating from East Asia, while kumquats (from the Cantonese pronunciation of its Chinese name 金橘/金桔) are another small citrusy fruit from south Asia and the Asia-Pacific region. If you are a fan of citrusy flavors, I would definitely recommend both of these. There was a little too much doughnut  for me (but then again I don't really like it when the ratio of bread to filling is too much and this doughnut was bigger than one you would get at Dunkin Donuts) however, the kumquat glaze on top was delicious--sweet with a hint of tartness, there were even actual kumquat slices on it (as you may or may not be able to tell from the picture below).

Also if you like matcha and if you like tart, citrusy flavors, then I would definitely recommend the yuzu matcha tea--it was quite refreshing and perfect for the slightly hot, rather sunny weather. There was a hint of tartness from the yuzu but it was still mildly sweet overall and though a little pricey at $6 (the doughnut was $4), I would definitely pay $6 for another cup (although it would be nice if the cup was larger...)

Feeling a little poor at this point, and quite full as well, I decided to get one more thing before I left--a blossom cake from Silk Cakes.

Actually I got two, one for my mother and one for myself haha

These pretty little cakes--about the size of my palm--were also pricey at $6 per piece. ㅠ.ㅠ But! They were also very delicious. Made to resemble a flower, the cake is made of white chocolate for the petals and I believe strawberry chiffon for the outside (or maybe it was sakura?)

Tada! The inside was made of mango mousse and, in honor of Mid-Autumn, made to represent the moon as a special take on mooncakes. I had one with my mother after I got home and it was pretty good, but they taste even better chilled. It was a light cake, not too dense, and not too heavy on the sweetness level. I would definitely recommend this as a light dessert.

All in all, my time at the LIC Mid-Autumn Feastival was pretty good. I got to try a bit of some yummy food from new places and I would definitely come back if they were to do it again. I'm only sad that I didn't get to try more foods as my stomach filled up quite quickly (while my wallet emptied out just as quickly), so I would recommend bringing a friend so you can try more foods. After all, Mid-Autumn is meant to be celebrated together with your loved ones right? Haha, until next time!

中秋節快樂！Mid-Autumn Moon

Surprise! 好久不見！It has been a while hasn't it? Over a year in fact. I know that in my last blog post, I promised that the end of my study abroad did not mean the end of this blog and that there would be more to come--and now it is a year later and I am finally writing. Oops. First off, I would like to apologize for the lack of posts in the past year--senior year of college has been busy and eventful and unfortunately I did not have the time (or energy) to blog. However, I am now a college graduate (well I have been since May haha) and am now job-hunting. But since I am not bogged down by school assignments, that means I have time to blog~ I cannot promise frequent updates, but there are a few things from my time in Taiwan that I have been meaning to blog about, so keep your eyes peeled for those!

In any case, today's post is about a very important holiday to the East-Asian community that just passed recently; can anybody guess what it is? Here is a hint from Google:

Google Doodle for Taiwan and Hong Kong Google

If you said--or thought--Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival then ding ding ding! you'd be correct! And if you said Mid-Autumn Festival, I would be super impressed, because up until college, I was still referring to this day as the Mooncake Festival, hahaha.

Celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month (which happened to fall on September 15th on the Gregorian calendar this year), the Mid-Autumn Festival (known as 中秋節 in Chinese) is a time for families to gather together, to make offerings to ancestors, and of course, to eat some delicious mooncakes together. But what is this holiday exactly? Well, let us start by doing a little time traveling, shall we?

A little history and mythology

(Lesson brought to you by Wikipedia and the Hong Kong Tourism Board)

The roots of the Mid-Autumn Festival is thought to date as early back as the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600- 1046 BCE), as a celebration of the harvest during the autumn full moon. Originally just a simple celebration of a successful harvesting season in which offerings were made to the deities in thanks, the Mid-Autumn Festival only started gaining popularity as an actual festival during the early Tang Dynasty (618-907 CE).

The moon itself is an important symbol, its round shape evoking ancient sentiments of unity and reunion, hence the tradition of gathering together to watch the full moon. In the past, offerings of wine, spherical fruits, and of course, mooncakes, were made to the deities in gratitude for the bountiful harvest. There are also popular stories associated with the moon, most notably, in Chinese culture, that of 嫦娥 (Chang'e), known as the Moon Goddess of Immortality.

One variation of the story states that back in the day, there were ten suns who, because they all rose in the sky at the same time, brought about calamity to the people. Thus the archer 后羿 (Houyi) shot down nine of them, leaving one in order to provide light. This heroic act earned 后羿 the admiration of an immortal who decided to gift him an elixir of immortality, but because he did not want to be immortal without his wife 嫦娥, 后羿 left the elixir with his wife. However, one of his apprentices knew of this and on the fifteenth day of August (in the lunar calendar) when 后羿 was out hunting, the apprentice broke into the house to force 嫦娥 to give him the elixir. Refusing to do so, 嫦娥 instead swallowed the elixir herself and flew into the sky. Due to her love for her husband,
嫦娥 decided to live in the moon so that she could be close to her husband. Upon his return, when he learned of what his wife did, 后羿 was so sad he displayed her favorite fruits and cakes in the yard, offering sacrifices for her. When people learned of her story, they also participated in these sacrifices with 后羿 feeling sympathy towards 嫦娥.

Another variation of the story goes that 嫦娥 actually stole the elixir from 后羿, who had become a tyrannical ruler who wanted the elixir for himself. She then became a deity of the moon and offerings were made to 嫦娥 every year as commemoration of what she had done.

In both of these stories, as you can see, 嫦娥 is honored for her noble sacrifice.

A depiction of 嫦娥 flying to the moon

Mooncake 月餅

We can't talk about the Mid-Autumn Festival and not talk about mooncakes, now can we? Mooncakes are a pastry that was traditionally made with a lotus seed paste filling with an egg yolk in the center meant to represent the moon. Today you can find them in a variety of flavors, such as red bean, nuts, and, one of my personal favorites, pandan. There are also frozen kinds with fruity fillings too such as the famous 美心冰皮 ones from Hong Kong.

I bought these when I was abroad in Seoul; the one on the left is 哈密瓜 (melon) while the one on the right is bean paste (豆沙)

Frozen 美心冰皮 mooncakes

Mooncakes are thought to have their origin during the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368 CE) when the Han Chinese rebelling against the ruling Mongols used mooncakes as a way to pass along secret messages that they were going to rebel during Mid-Autumn. Today, family members often give mooncakes to each other, eating them together, with the roundness of the mooncake--like the moon--representative of family unity and reunion. 

Although I have talked a lot about Chinese customs regarding the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is in fact widely celebrated across East and Southeast Asia in countries such as Vietnam (where it is known as Tết Trung Thu), Korea (known as 추석), Japan (known as 月見), Malaysia, and Singapore. Of course each country has its own customs, but the tradition of gathering together with friends and family is a common practice across the different countries. I suppose it is because of this commonality to Thanksgiving in that it is a day about gathering together with family and giving thanks that 추석 is often referred to as "Korean Thanksgiving."

Known as 月見 (tsukimi, literally moon-viewing) in Japan, where festivals were held to honor the autumn moon which, due to its position in the cosmos, is believed to be at its brightest. The Japanese believe that the shadows on the moon resemble rabbits pounding out mochi cakes, hence many Japanese images of the Mid-Autumn festival depict a rabbit in the moon as seen in this Google Doodle.

This Google Doodle from Google Korea depicts games often played during 추석, such as 널뛰기 and 윷놀이. As with 中秋節, 추석 is a time about gathering with family and honoring the ancestors and during this time, tourists will find that many businesses in Korea are closed.

In Vietnam, in addition to being a day to gather with family and moon-watch, Tết Trung Thu has also evolved to become a celebration of children as children, believed to be innocent and pure, held the closest connection to the sacred and natural world. As such, the Mid-Autumn Festival is often known as the Children's Festival in Vietnam

祝大家中秋節快樂！I hope everyone had a great Mid-Autumn Festival, ate lots of mooncake, appreciated the beauty of the full moon, and spent lots of time with their families!

但願人長久，

千里共嬋娟

~  蘇軾, 《水調歌頭·丙辰中秋》

"May we live long and share the beauty of the moon together, even if we are hundreds of miles apart."

~ From Su Shi's "Shuǐdiào Gētóu – Bǐngchén Zhōngqiū"