Many people nowadays treat mooncake as a type of delicacy but mooncakes, are more than just a delicacy. It is an important constituent of one of the a significant Chinese festival, known as the Mid-Autumn Festival. I think most of us tend to forget that bit.
There are many myths surrounding Mid-Autumn Festival. One of them is about the origins of mooncake. According to this Chinese myth, the mooncake was used as a tool to start off a rebellion. The rebellion was scheduled to happen on the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival. To spread the message about the rebellion to others, the Chinese leaders ordered bake houses to prepare mooncakes embedded with messages about the rebellion. How clever is that? Since then, mooncakes are eaten to celebrate this event. Of course, if you are not aware of this story, you will probably think that mooncakes just because they are shaped like the moon.
Mooncakes are important for me. They always make me feel like I am with my family although I have been celebrating this festival without them for many years.I don't think I can live without having at least a slice of mooncake during Mid-Autumn Festival. It's really bad for my acne, considering the high sugar and lard content. Therefore, I always splurge on mooncakes. I only want to have the best because this way, I wouldn't eat so much and I wouldn't feel guilty after eating it because it tastes good.
Anyway, I got my sister, who was fortunate enough to drop by Kuala Lumpur, to get me some mooncakes from Shang Palace, Shangri-La KL, one of my favorite places to have dim sum. :) Shang Palace make really decent mooncakes. My favorite is their black sesame, red bean, and traditional five nuts.
The mooncakes are not products of mass production and have no preservatives. Therefore, they must be consumed within three days if left in room temperature and within 10 days if left in the fridge. I asked my sister to get me four types without yolk (the customs will confiscate the mooncakes if th! ey are y olks!). Therefore, she could only get the white lotus without yolk, red bean and five nuts. It took me a month to finish them and I was smart enough to pop them in the freezer. To defrost them, I just let them thaw in the fridge.
The white lotus is decent but could be better with a yolk in it. :( The red bean is very delicious as usual and the five nuts always leave me going oh-my-god. It has a distinct kaffir lime leaf flavor to it and I'm a sucker for that.
For many years, I've had mooncakes from Hilton KL, Mandarin Oriental, Thai Thong, Nikko (now Intercontinental) and Shang Palace. I think that when it comes to baked mooncakes, Shang Palace is still the best. Snowskin goes to Hilton KL.
White lotus
PacmanSigh, writing about moon cakes really makes me miss home...
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Homesickness
People say the setting sun marks the edge of the sky,
I look towards the edge of the sky, but cannot see my home.
Now I hate the blue mountain which parts us from each other,
The blue mountain still is covered by evening cloud.
-Li Gou
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