☺ Mooncake Festival Dinner ☻

Since it was Mid Autumn Festival on September 12, 2011 my family decided to celebrate it by going out to eat.  Other families even have a yearly tradition of playing the dice game.  I was able to celebrate this festival in Beijing, China exactly eleven years ago when I was still a student.

I expected the locals prepared an elaborate celebration for this festival.  I thought there will be a lot of food, fireworks, and the dice game.  The school organized for local students to meet & greet the "foreign" students on Mid Autumn.  I got to ask how do they celebrate this festival.  Their answer actually surprised me.  They said most of them usually meet up with friends or stay with their family, eat some mooncake and look at the moon.  I asked if they have the dice game.  They looked at me with a puzzled looked & asked what dice game.  I said, "didn't the tradition originate here, where you play a dice game on Mid Autumn and you get various prizes?".  They said those kinds of tradition might be regional.  I guess Beijing being in the north and my ancestors hailing from the southern part of China didn't share the same way of celebrating the Mooncake festival.  I hope one day I will be able to visit my ancestral land during this time of the year.  It would be interesting to see how they celebrate it in the twenty first century.

☺ Now on to our own food celebration.☺

Signage

The restaurant of choice was Peking Garden.  I guess we're suppose to have Chinese food for a Chinese festival.  I had a different restaurant in mind but then who would resist to eating good food. :)

Menu

Table Setting

The ever present Xiao Long Bao

Fish Fillet with Tao So Sauce

The fish is soft & tender.  The overload of fried garlic is a nice compliment to the soy sauce provided.

Sauce for the fish fillet

Fried mini "sliver thread" buns

It's just fried bread roll.  The restaurants give elegant names to simple dishes to make them more interesting.  I just had to order the bread since it's my favorite.

Condensed milk for the buns

Braised Abalone with Mushroom & Vegetables

The abalone was thinly sliced for easy eating with your chopsticks.  The combination of the mushroom & vegetable with the sauce completes the dish.

Mooncake for dessert at home

I'm already full from dinner but I just had to eat some mooncake for the occasion.  I had the lotus flavor with one egg yolk.  I still got to eat one fourth of the whole mooncake even with a full stomach. hahahaha  

Remember: Eat Live and Be Happy!

** Full details about Peking Garden can be found in a previous entry.**

中秋节快乐! (Zhong Qiu Jie Kuai Le)  Happy Mid Autumn Festival Everyone!