I am in love with this Buddha butter dish. I wonder if the butter contributes to the big belly of this Buddha….oh wait, Chinese cooking usually doesn’t use butter! LOL. Buddha Butter Dish available at GAMA.
Happy Moon Festival, aka Mid Autumn Festival everyone! Or as my boys call it, it’s the Moon cake festival. Today is the day everyone gathers together to have a nice meal, usually with Chicken, fish, the traditional Chinese meal. The one most important thing to eat of course, is moon cake. So let’s look at some pictures of moon cake.
Traditional Moon Cake – Moon cakes were said to be originated by the Ming revolutionaries in their espionage effort to secretly distribute letters in order to overthrow the Mongolian rulers of China in the Yuan dynasty. Most moonc akes consist of thin cake-like skin filled with a sweet, dense paste (usually lotus seed or sweet bean paste) and a salted egg yolk in its center to symbolize the full moon.
Starbucks Moon Cake - Starbucks from Hong Kong or China make moon cakes too. This is the tiramisu flavor.
White Chocolate Moon cake – these are from the Raffles Hotel in Beijing and Shanghai. They are made of white chocolate exterior and a gooey center of different flavors, including champagne truffles.
Ice Cream Moon Cake – these are from Haagen Daz, they are only available in Asia. They are beautiful.
Hope you get to have a bite of any moon cake today. Happy Moon Cake Day!!!
秋天 – Autumn – qiū tiān
It’s only early September, and here in New Jersey, it’s already been quite chilly in the morning and at night. This is one of my favorite seasons and one of the biggest Chinese holiday, Mid-Autumn Festival, is coming up soon on September 22nd this year. Welcome Fall!
Princeton and Tiger, what do these two have in common? It turns out, Princeton University is celebrating the Year of the Tiger early (2011) with some fantastic items. On their site, and on sale (double great) is a t-shirt with the Chinese character Tiger calligraphied on the front. The colors are either orange with black writing, or black with orange writing. In addition, there are mugs and hats in the Tiger line. What a great find to kick off the week!
Ok, if you went to Princeton or are familiar with the University, you know the University is known as the Princeton Tigers, so I think it’s pretty nifty that they tied in the school mascot and Chinese New Year to create something special for both! Go Princeton Tigers!
Lunch Box – 便當 – biàn dāng
Traditionally, 便當, consists of rice, meat, and vegetable. However, in recent years, anything that can fit in a lunch box and eaten for a meal can be considered a 便當. For me, coming up with ideas to pack for lunch is always hard, especially my 2 school age kids have very different taste pallettes. Here are some ideas that have worked in the past. If there are anything you do for your kids’ lunch boxes, please respond as I would love to get more ideas!
Too keep the lunch boxes cool on hot days, I put in a frozen gogurt, juice box, or cheese stick. On cold days, I use a thermo funtainer, such as this Disney Cars one, available at most Target stores, to pack mac and cheese or chicken noodle soup. In addition, I also found this really cool Dinosaur sandwich crust cutter from the grocery store this week, and my 5 year old is over the top with his dino grilled cheese and ham and cheese sandwiches, all WITHOUT crusts!
Wow – didn’t think I would ever find this, but check out this vintage Chinese Palace Lantern. This is one of the traditional lanterns that I would see in Hong Kong when I was little. Very pretty. Available at JaysTreasures.
