zhongqiu jie!

I know Zhongqiu Jie was today, but we mostly celebrated it yesterday. So yesterday Lilah got dressed in her beautiful Chinese dress for Church and after Church we headed to Chinatown and feasted on some yummy Chinese cuisine. Afterwards, we went for a walk around Chinatown and bought a mooncake in Kowloons, just one, because they are an acquired taste that none of us seems to have acquired yet! Basically we buy mooncakes for the cultural relevance and novelty!

Today we hung our festive lanterns and then went to our local T&T, which is a huge Chinese grocery store, everything was very festive and geared towards Mid-Autumn Festival. We picked up some of Lilah's favourite treats and then headed to the mall.

Since today was our last full day of being home together, before school officially starts again, we decided today would be a treat for Lilah. She's been asking for some clothes and diapers for Piggy, so we went to Build-A-Bear Workshop and also Mrs. Tiggywinks and got her a couple of outfits and diapers for her little Piggy Boy and also a bjorn style carrier for carrying her Piggy Boy around - she was so thrilled. (I will have to post some pictures of that at a later stage because I didn't get any pictures of it today.)

After making our purchases at the mall we then had lunch together and lastly went to visit Baba at work.

It was a pretty fun Zhongqiu Jie and last day of the holidays.

happy zhongqiu festival

Happy Mid-Autumn (Moon) Festival otherwise known as Zhongqiu Festival.

Wasn't the Harvert Moon beautiful tonight? Lilah and I took a walk this evening, she with her Hello Kitty Lantern and me with my camera to get a shot of the moon. I read online how to photograph the moon and I'm really glad I did, because otherwise I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have turned out quite like this! Last year we couldn't see the moon at all because it was so cloudy. But tonight was the perfect night, even in the city we could see the stars. Beautiful.

Lilah proudly hung her lanterns last week in celebration for this day and ever since she's been counting them and telling us what colours they are and pushing the little accordians that they are, in and out. She's also been asking us what our favourite colours are - Baba said he liked all the colours, I told her I liked green and of course our little-miss-fancy-pants told us her favourites are the pink ones!

Today Lilah made some mooncakes out of playdough, so much fun. You may or may not remember last year's Autumn Moon Festival when I actually tried to make mooncakes myself and they turned out a complete disaster. This year our family is safe from having to eat my rock hard mooncakes. Instead I bought some peanut butter cookies with jam in the middle. And if you have a pretty vivid imagination, like Lilah and I do, you could quite possibly come up with the idea that they look like the moon! I know I know, your imagination probably isn't quite as vivid as ours! But they did taste great.

Tonight we went out to one of our favourite Chinese restaurants - Brother Wu - for some yummy supper. And Lilah, I know, was overjoyed when she got her beloved chicken & sweetcorn soup. Is your child the same or is it just Lilah, as soon as she hears the word 'soup' her face lights up like a Christmas tree. She absolutely loves soup and last week she pretty much begged me to make more homemade (of course) cream of tomato soup. She also loves loves loves the chicken and vegetable soup I make. Throughout the summer I, for obvious reasons, don't make soup. So now that soup is back on my menu these days, she is ALL OVER IT! I kinda feel guilty that I've been depriving her.

So that's how we celebrated Zhongqui. Hope you all had a wonderful day too.

[ more pictures here ]

oh dear, mooncakes

Happy National Day of China.

Well, I tried my hand at moon cakes this evening and they turned out a disaster. They were just like the moon itself, hard as rock! I should have taken a picture before I put them in the oven, because at that stage they looked really lovely, each with their little patterns. I'll try to make them again sometime, maybe next year. For now, there's a convenient little bakery in Chinatown that sells them!

But all was not lost, my little helper had so much fun! Lilah just loves to get in on the action. Here she is mixing the eggs and sugar, looking so intent and then kneading and rolling the dough. I love her enthusiasm, even if there was dough and flour all over the place!

if the dress fits, wear it

Last night I hauled out the suitcase that stores all the gifts and trinkets we brought home from China, for our Lilah. There are so many memories in that suitcase! Among the trinkets and gifts, I have several little qípáos for our girl to wear. So this morning, when I showed her this black one, she was thrilled. This afternoon I finally got around to ironing it and put it on her, she was so proud of herself! It's the first time she's asked me to take her upstairs to the full length mirror (in our bedroom) so she could see herself better. The photo below is of her rubbing her belly. She was rubbing her belly and saying "Lilah's Chinese dress". So sweet. She will be excited when she gets to wear it again this coming Saturday for the Mid-Autumn Festival in Chinatown. And also to Church on Sunday.

decorating for the mid-autumn (moon) festival

Oh how we love to decorate! Today Lilah and had fun hanging up these little Chinese paper lanterns for the Mid-Autumn Festival (Zhong Qiu Jie), also called the Moon Festival. It's the second most important Chinese festival, after Chinese New Year. The Mid-Autumn Festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. This year it falls on October 3rd, that's Saturday coming.

The festival is celebrated by gathering with the whole family to enjoy the full moon, the brightest moon of the year. Moon cakes are served and children run around playing with their lanterns. Lilah and I will try our hand at making moon cakes this week. I bought a wooden mold online and it arrived last week; now I just need to choose a recipe. Fun stuff!

[ more pictures here ]