Moon Cake Festival

I am reminded that  Moon Cake Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival is soon here with the display of moon cakes and lanterns in all the shopping malls. This year it falls on 8th September 2014 which coincides with the fifteenth day of the eight month in the Chinese lunar calendar.

I have already had my share of moon cakes. My son gave us a box with four moon cakes, plain lotus paste, lotus paste with single and double egg yolk. The egg yolk used is from duck eggs. Have you ever wondered what they do with all the egg whites since only the egg yolks are used?

This pastry is really very sweet and. I can only manage a small piece at a time together with some hot Chinese tea. My favorite is the ones with lotus paste with egg yolk, a double egg yolk if you please.

When I was growing up, children were often given moon cakes which had no paste filling. They were often made into different shapes. Popular shapes were those of fish, chicken and various animals. They are not so common these days. I saw some of these in the mall the other day.

Ienjoy the snow skin moon cake as well. The different pastel colors makes a beautiful presentation. They are great to eat too,with the chilled moon cake making it taste a bit like the mochi.

Of course Moon Cake Festival would not be complete without the lanterns. The latest additions include the minions of course. Any child who has collected the full range of minions during the McDonald campaign would love to have a minion lantern too.

I love the traditional ones made with colored paper stretched tightly over a frame of bamboo sticks. A candle in the middle lights up the lantern beautifully.  Little kids have a choice of lanterns ranging from flying horses,

fish lantern, rabbit lantern, etc.

Eating Crabs Is Such A Mess

Is there an art to eating crabs? Most will agree that you need to use your hands when eating crabs. How else can you get to all that succulent crab meat?

No matter how well the shell is cracked you really need your fingers to pry away the hard shell. Have you tried using your forks or knives to remove the shell? Crabs are one of those foods best eaten with fingers.

I found some crab forks which is a great help when eating crabs.

Each fork has a tiny fork on one end which is useful in picking our meat from tiny crevices and corners.
The other end is a tiny spoon good for scooping. I bought mine from Daiso, where every item is sold at RM 5. This set of 2 crab forks is certainly worth its value.

Christmas Silhouettes

Christmas silhouettes make great decorations with their lights creating different scenes for the holiday season. Christmas silhouettes can transform a house or yard into one big Christmas story with Christmas tree silhouettes, angel and nativity scene silhouettes.

Christmas silhouettes look really good as window decorations. Once lit up, a beautiful Christmas scene is displayed. There are many different silhouettes available from Christmas trees, Christmas angels, Santa Claus and many more. The nativity silhouettes are popular and can be hung in the yard as well with the silhouettes seen on both sides.

Christmas silhouettes are easy to hang up with no assembly required as it comes in one piece. The great thing about these silhouettes is that when one bulb blows it does not affect the rest. All you need to do is replace the blown fuse.

Happy Deepavali

Happy Deepavali to all our Hindu friends. It is the festival of lights and a time for Malaysians to join in the happy celebration. As in many of our festivals we are invited to open house with our Hindu friends.


You know Deepavali is here when you see the numerous displays of kolam, the ancient art of rice painting on the floors of mall, homes and office buildings. It takes much time and patience to create a beautiful picture. If you are not a Hindu you may wonder how to draw a kolam.

This Deepavali we are headed for a sumptious Indian lunch at a friend's open house. This is all in the Malaysian spirit of joining in the celebration with our Indian friends.

Angry Birds At The Moon Cake Festival

Lantern makers sure know how to follow the trend. I saw these Angry Bird lanterns on display. So is your child or you yourself is an Angry Bird fan, be sure to pick up one of these colorful lanterns.

For those with younger kids, there are the battery operated lanterns though not as much fun as the lanterns kit up by candles.

I saw these at Tesco's and were going for RM 12. Or maybe you are the traditional type and still prefer the chicken and fish lantern. Which ever your choice, be sure to buy your lanterns early.

Happy Moon Cake Festival!

Bad Shopping Habit - Opening Sealed Jars

The other day as I was doing my usual grocery shopping I came across a couple who were in the sauces section practicing a very dangerous shopping habit. In this section there were tomato purees and tomato based sauces for cooking pasta.

The middle-aged couple were opening jars of imported tomato based sauces and smelling each one. I presume they wanted to make sure the contents were fresh since they were not satisfied with opening just one jar. In case you are assuming it was an aunty (more on Please Don't Call Me Aunty) who was doing this, you are wrong.  The couple were obviously not Malaysians too.

The man was opening each jar, smelling it, showed it to his wife (I presume it was it was his wife) and after closing the jar , chose another one. Not satisfied with opening one jar he proceeded to open another 3 more jars. I did not stay to observe how many jar he opened or whether he bought any in the end.

Now, you may chide me for not pointing it out to them that it was not the right thing to do. At the time, the thought did cross my mind but I hesitated in pointing out his shameful act. In the end I failed to do my civic duty.

The couple should have known that all the jars there came from the same batch so each jar was no different from the rest in terms of freshness. If they wanted to know if the taste was acceptable to them then they could very well buy one jar and if it was not to their liking then they know which one not to buy the next time. No one in their right minds choose a sealed jar this way.

I am sure they did not think that their act was not just bad shopping practice but could also lead to a health risk for customers who bought the unsuspecting jars. The jars were vaccuum sealed to protect against contamination so once the seal was opened, the jar of contents were open to the thousands of bacteria floating around. What if shopper had bought that particular jar and did not use it right away. It could be some time again when it was subjected to more contamination so that when it was consumed the contents were already be a TICKING BOMB which could have disastrous consequences.

Make Soy Milk For A Healthy Drink

One of the benefits of drinking soy milk is the effect it has in dealing with problems experienced by those going through menopause. Soy  milk is a good alternative for HRT or Hormone Replacement Therapy.

Women in the peri-menopausal phase suffer headaches, hot flushes, night sweats, insomnia and mood swings. Soy milk seen to help address some of these effects of menopause but without the added health risk of breast cancer.

Soy milk and other soy products contain high quantities of isoflavones which have estrogen-like properties. Reports have revealed that women in Japan rarely experience peri-menopause symptoms as compared to women in the west.

Why not make soy milk at home for a cool, refreshing drink and reap some health benefit of soy milk at the same time. Some smoothies with soy milk and fruit will certainly be a healthy breakfast to start a busy day.