it’s a beautiful day for moon cake

 Not really, it is a beautiful day though. Moon cakes are interesting and I am pretty sure that there won’t be any days in the future where Nich and I seek them out. Because the Mid-Autumn Festival is this week, Nich and I get the whole week off! We are pretty excited about that.

The Mid-Autumn Festival is an agricultural festival that gives thanks to the moon for the harvest that year, hence the moon cakes.

Moon cakes are being sold everywhere. They are sold prepackaged in extremely elaborate boxes or fresh off the pan. Nich and I only wanted a taste of this treat so we found a small bakery and bought four small moon cakes.They come in a variety flavors, but Nich and I just chose the plain flavor.When we got home we decided to try one.The texture looked like the dessert should be bread-like, but weight suggested otherwise.Moon cakes are dense and when you bite into one the texture is like a gumdrop almost. It has a gelatin texture and taste. The flavor becomes bitter and a bit savory as you eat it. This was not appealing to either of us. We didn’t know if we had just bought the wrong moon cakes or if all moon cakes would have a promising look with an unpleasant taste. The next day our co-worker Wendy brought us a gift, moon cakes. Nich and I were eager to try the giant moon cake she gave us, because we figured as foreigners we don’t know which moon cakes are the tastiest and which aren’t. The moon cake she gifted us was the size of a birthday day, absolutely huge, and came in an elaborately decorated red box.That afternoon after classes we decided to try the moon cake. The picture inside the box showed a variety of nuts and dried fruits, it looked very promising. We opened the plastic wrapper to find that the bottom was coated in oil to preserve the cake. This made the moon cake instantly unappealing, but we were determined to try the moon cake that Wendy picked out. We cut the moon cake to find that the picture didn’t lie; there was an array of nuts and dried fruit. It looked like it could be good. I took the first bite and found that moon cakes just are not Danielle’s cup of tea. Nich then took a big bite and we both quickly decided that moon cakes must be the fruitcake of China. Everyone buys moon cakes, they make great gifts, they are visually appealing, but no one eats them. We can’t verify that statement to be true because when we ask our Chinese students if they like moon cake, they all immediately say yes. I don’t think Nich and I will be munching on moon cakes again anytime soon, but maybe we’ll give it another shot in the future.

We took some of the giant moon cake to offer to our neighbors across the hall. They always have their door open, so we figured we could be friendly neighbors and offer them moon cake. When we got to their door, they immediately noticed the waiguoren 外国人 (foreigners) standing at their door. A girl who spoke some English peeked out and when we offered the moon cake to her saying there is too much for the two of us to eat, she immediately said, “no, we have some.” I think Nich and I might have been right, no one really eats moon cake that is why she didn’t want anymore. They must have had the same plan as us get some, try it, and then quietly pitch it. Is that why Wendy gifted us the treat in the first place? Was she trying pawn off her moon cake to us? Hmmm….