today is the fifteenth day
in the eighth month
on the Chinese calendar
a time to celebrate
harvest moon
when the moon is most large and beautiful
it is a family celebration
that includes moon watching
in China and other Asian countries
there is a lady on the moon
the story of Chang O is tragic
and mostly forgotten*
on this joyous occasion
this was brought into focus
during a drive by lunch
at Hong Kong Chinese Bakery
when I saw more than half
the display case filled
with various moon cakes**
a pastry that is mostly filling
usually red bean
if you can locate and
eat them tonight
you will have good luck
for the coming year
© 2010 Sandy Vrooman
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Autumn_Festival#Stories_of_the_Mid-Autumn_Festival
**http://chinesefood.about.com/od/foodfestivals/r/mooncakes.htm
I have not figured out how to make the links work in this format.
Sorry, you will have to cut and paste
Hong Kong Bakery
210 Castro St
Mountain View, CA 94041-1204
(650) 969-3153
Thank you for sharing the picture of Moon Cake that is called maybe 月餅 getsupei in Japanese.
ReplyDeleteWe have enjoyed beautiful full moon yesterday night here in Tokyo.
Sakuo.
Yummy and fun to read.
ReplyDeleteWow. Close up, your moon cake
does look like the surface of the moon.
One small cake for a man,
one giant gulp for mankind...
Hi Sandy,
ReplyDeletein Japan, we also have tsukimi dango, dumplings for moon viewing.
http://washokufood.blogspot.com/2008/02/tsukimi-dango.html
and
Chinese Moon Cakes 月餅 (geppei)