My Big Fat Mid Autumn Festival

While most of my friends back in Hong Kong are enjoying their 'almost' day off as the Bunny Typhoon missed the island this morning, I'm on an extended Mid-Autumn holiday with my family in Chengdu, China. 

In the 5th day of a traditionally one-day celebration, the feasts continue! I'm completely bloated and my taste buds are dying! Sichuan food is absolutely delicious but I do need my weekly fix of white pasta.

So, what am I doing in China?

Mid-Autumn Festival happens around the first full moon of Autumn and it is one of the most important Chinese holidays. You can think of it as our Thanksgiving, it calls for big family gatherings, an elaborate feast with exotic ingredients, and anything that resembles a full moon, from mooncakes to pomelos.

My grandma’s family originates from the province of Guangdong and migrated inland during WWII. Together with her family of six siblings and countless uncles and cousins, they settled in the oldest neighborhood of Chengdu and lived in a traditional Chinese residence called 四合院 Si He Yuan, essentially four small houses surrounding a square courtyard. Life was never boring here. I can listen to their stories for hours about their popular pastimes revolving around a white lily tree, their favourite food vendors who would sell them a beef pattie for a mere 10 cent RMB and what they endured the Cultural Revolution. In the family album, I can see a picture taken in the courtyard right before my grandma headed to Beijing to teach, a youthful version of herself surrounded by ten or so kids.

Today, this family has grown tenfold. It’s a running joke in the family that if everyone showed up we will need a proper banquet hall with five big roundtables.

So instead of my usual lazing around on weekends, I decided to celebrate it with the biggest family in Chengdu.

With my youthful 85 year old grandmother

Family photo
Back: My Grandma and her siblings, cousins and in-laws
Front: The children (including those who are in their 30s and 40s)

Myth confirmed – Chinese women do not age

The last time I saw everyone was over 12 years ago. This past weekend, I had no problem recognizing anyone, because they all pretty much look the same, minus a few grey hairs. A lot of people attribute this phenomenon to genetics, however I think it has to do with how you take care of yourself. If you ask anyone in my family what is the key to longevity, they’ll tell you it’s keeping fit, eating well and a healthy attitude. The occasional Chinese mother will tell you that alcohol’s bad, but my great grand mother lived until 89 and she had a shot of liquor everyday.

The Myth

You cannot refuse food

One thing that will impress any Chinese host, is your ability to eat everything that is given to you. Who am I kidding? You can't really refuse food even if you wanted to. Lines like ‘I am really full’ and ‘My stomach is going to explode’ are rebutted with, ‘It’s good for your health’. I’m actually also guilty of this, when serving dinner to my friends, I give them more than they want because a part of me thinks they’re too shy to admit their actual appetite ;)

You'll bring back with you more snacks you eat in an entire year

Whenever you go visit a relative’s home, you will inevitably come out with bags of snacks. I’ve been told this will continue happening until your 30s. Right now, I have a desk drawer full of snacks that I share with my colleagues.

Top 5 Mid Autumn Feast Countdown – The most memorable foods this holiday season

5. Mooncakes with Sausages

Forget the lotus paste, this is the future of moon cakes. The sweet crust resembling shortbread is paired with a pudding with Chinese sausage bits. The balance of the sweet and salty taste makes it very addictive.

4. Smoked Rabbit

I have eaten some weird stuff in the past, but never a rabbit. We got this from a family owned deli down the street. I imagined that the children went hunting in the park and brought back dinner. Apparently, wild rabbits have lean meat and very low in fat. It tastes delicious, better than chicken.

3. Chatang (Literally Oily Tea)

A popular afterschool snack in the olden days. It is essentially a plain millet porridge topped with a dash of a salty paste, breadsticks and spring onions. Maybe I’m old at heart but I loved this! It’s like a healthy alternative of the Canadian poutine! 

2. Beansprouts with Mushroom

This dish was served at our feast and I couldn’t resist the crispy sprouts in its cold soup dressing. It is so simple to make: a cup of vegetable broth, thinly diced mushrooms and carrots and fresh sprouts that you can find at any wet market. Mix them together like a salad and voila! You’ve got a refreshing and healthy dish.

1. Baby cucumber in garlic

Another favourite at our table! There’s something about the sweetness in baby cucumber that work really well with garlic. I guarantee you that your breath won’t be a deal breaker after eating this.

So there you go, that's what you can expect out of a typical holiday in China! I hope you get to enjoy one of these yourself in the coming future!

The Remnants of Communism - Ho Chi Minh City

I’m standing before an intimidating road where hundreds of motorcycles and rickshaws make their way through the afternoon traffic. Alongside me are some spring roll and crafts vendors, some of them still soliciting me even with my back turned. I almost fell into a trance staring at the red headlights, probably due to the exhausting journey over. Suddenly my friend grabs my hand and we suicidally wonder into the traffic. Cursing to myself along the way, I can’t slow down because apparently that could be ‘dangerous’. Praying that the motorbikes will dodge me, I literally held my breath until we reached the other end. That is how you cross the road in Ho Chi Minh City.

Hordes of motorbikes travelling at less than 5km/hour in the congested traffic

With my quivering legs, we then managed to have a wonderful night wondering around a city where communist themes have been built into a French Colonial landscape. What is different about this city is that you can sense the restlessness in the people, who cannot wait to thrive in this developing economy.

   

The French Quarter 

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Vietnam was top on my list of countries to visit in Asia. I am among the thousands of tourists wondering into Vietnam annually just for the food, having no idea of the rest of the country. What we end up with is a significantly more emotional trip than we expected.

To start, our flight there was cancelled due to a rainstorm. Since it was Easter, many travelers had to postpone their plans for the long weekend and were stranded in the airport. A random of few of my friends also had their flight cancelled, so we assembled our own little camp to pass time together. While wandering the terminal looking for up-to-date flight info and a phone plug, we saw an elderly man collapsed due to exhaustion. At this point, I could sense the cabin fever settling in on most of the population. About 5 hours into the delay, I felt like I was in a social experiment - angry travelers demanding updates surrounded the customer service desk. Fearing that things may get out of control, security came around with big guns. That night, I saw the inside of a Hong Kong hotel room for the first time since moving here. They’re not as small as I thought.

8 hours into our trip, still in Hong Kong and headed for a hotel in TST

Twelve hours later, we finally arrived in Ho Chi Minh City. After we checked into our hostel, the number one priority was to dash for food. 

When it’s too hot, just find somewhere to eat

There's a decent Vietnamese population in Canada and every kid would've grown up with the delicious taste of Pho (Rice Noodle Soup). I often wonder why it's so damn good, then I finally put two and two together over my visit. Vietnamese food belong to a category of subtle cooking, much like Italian food. It makes its legacy through keeping the seasoning simple, so to not overwhelm the natural taste of the ingredients, but supplement it instead. 

Here are some key ingredients you can find in practically any corner of HCM city in the early morning: - Condensed milk: It can keep so it’s used in a lot of tea and coffee to add richness, which leaves you savouring more than your regular Starbucks drink.
- Rice noodle soup: It's cooked with a few of spices that blend perfectly to give an unexplainable flavor that is often craved during exam period.
- Rice paper: It doesn’t even matter if it’s wrapped around grass, once you dip it in a tangy or peanut sauce, a bite is absolutely euphoric.
- Banh mi: The King of all Vietnamese food. A French baguette with pate, pickles, salami and grilled pork. When the vendor heats it on their makeshift grill, the pate melts into the baguette, making it soft compared to its crusty exterior. I had about five of these when I was there.

Vietnamese coffee made with condensed milk

Spring roll fillings 

Banh Mi

Last but not least, Pho!

A Country Never Forgets…

The Vietnam War is still fresh in the minds of most of the population. It was less than 40 years ago that this nation was torn apart by bombs, chemical weapons and the foreign military. This is a country with a bloody past, having been constantly invaded for the past millennium. Yet, its people never stopped fighting, until they finally got the freedom that they deserve.

Sculpture depicting a peasant woman offering her family's ration to a soldier

All throughout the city, you can see propaganda telling the people to never forget the atrocities committed against their people. Our visit to the Vietnam War Museum was probably one of the highlights of our trip. It told us of exactly what its people went through, with no censorship. There is an entire gallery dedicated to Agent Orange victims, which I had to think twice before entering. Whether the museum was biased or not, a picture is worth a thousand words.

Children crying for help after a Napalm attack

We also had the opportunity to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, the headquarters of the Communist Viet Cong during the war. Although small and stuffy, these intricately dug tunnels hosted resistance forces up until their victory. We took a dive ourselves, 20 meter of crawling later, we gave up...

Five very claustrophobic minutes later in the Cu Chi Tunnels

Despite such a sad past, nowadays tour groups from the US, China and France flood the sites where their nation once occupied. We live in an age where holding a grudge is a silly thing to do. Vietnam looks forward, after coming a very long way.

A part of me knows that I didn't really scratch the surface with this country, but however short this trip is, I'm glad I didn't miss it altogether!