Moon Cake Madness!

The Chinese do love their holidays!  Tuesday was the Mid-Autumn Festival.  It is kinda analogous to Thanksgiving, I guess.  Everyone gets together with their families and celebrate the harvest.  The moon is at it's brightest and everyone goes to the park and looks at the moon. 

An integral part of the festivities are moon cakes. (Not to be confused with Moon Pies, which sadly, are no where to be found in the Middle Kingdom).  It's tradition to give moon cakes to folks, but no one really likes them.  They are like the fruit cake of China. 

They are deceiving!  Here is your standard moon cake

It looks as though there is some tasty suprise inside...maybe chocolate, or maybe something fruity.  DON'T BE FOOLED!  Like every other pastry in China, it's a bad suprise.  There is nothing worse than taking a bite out of something, expecting it to be sweet, and ending up with this:

Yeah, that is duck egg, just in case we were not sure!  Of course, I shouldn't have been suprised, this from a country where if you are not careful you can end up with a curry-flavored donut!

However, Moli and I were determined to have a proper Mid-Autumn celebration, including the moon cakes.  Lucky for us, we got off of work early to go be with our familes.  It was like shopping for a turkey on Thanksgiving day itself.  We would get up to a counter were they had boxes of them, and then we were told they were all "reserved"!  We finally got a deal on a "variety pack."

Our little family, Me, Charles, Moli, Renchen, and Zeno had a tasty traditional Shanghainese dinner and shortly thereafter went to meet our favorite relative, Uncle Stoli, at a newly opened German bar.

Here are some pictures from this weekend, while we are at it.  Moli, Tom, Clayton, and I celebrating the holiday season!

2 words...Hooty Hoo!

Me and Mr. Clayton!

Tom and Clayton

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival Y'all!