Happy Mid-Autumn Festival~

Fun and excitement that was long forgotten

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to all!

I guess most of you know that September is the month of harvest, right? For the Chinese, Koreans, and the Japanese, they celebrate some sort of a harvest festival on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar, which is on 22nd of September this year.

From what I know, Chinese’s celebration is more towards of a “moon worshiping” rather than focusing on harvesting. The name Mid-Autumn Festival is actually the direct translation of “中秋节” (pronouce as zhong qiu jie), which means, well… Mid-Autumn Festival! When I was young, we used to eat mooncakes and drink Chinese tea at night during this time of the month, and lit up small little lanterns and hanging them around the front yard of the house while enjoying the beautiful sights of a full moon. So this explains why some people might refer this festival as “Mooncake Festival” or “Lantern Festival” back in Malaysia. Sometimes the older generations might even tell a story of Chang-er and the jade rabbit, a moon deity of the Chinese. It was more fun than tradition that time.

But now I’m in the land of Kimchi, where everything is “slightly” different. They call this festival as Chuseok, or some would tell you as the Korean version of “Thanks giving day”.  Over here they do things differently, mostly by paying their respect to the elders at home or to those who had passed away. So most Koreans will travel back to their hometown and prepare lots of traditional foods, such as songpyeon and hangua(the confectionery with the chestnut behind in the photo on top) as offerings. And also, they would bring gifts to their family and relatives too. So you can see, it’s more of a thanks giving day in a different sense. It’s a 3 day public holiday in S. Korea, so it’s a good thing for me, since it’s not a public holiday in Malaysia, even though we Chinese in Malaysia celebrate it.

Anyways, I had plenty of free time for this week, and it has been raining since yesterday night, I figure that I should spend some time to whip up something like this just for the fun.

Hope you guys enjoy this short writing, and Happy Mid-Autumn Festival to you all!

Wedding Matters, Part I

Looking back at the posts that I had made for the past few weeks, everything seems a bit too personal, with only meaningless monologue and thoughts of mine.

Now I shall share with all of you some of the photos I shot during my brother’s wedding which was held 3 months ago. Too bad that I couldn’t get the permission to put up potraits of people that I shot during the wedding. The most I can share, is the stuff that you can generally see in a Malaysian-Chinese wedding.

I hope you enjoy.

"Heart to heart" decorative lamps

New bedsheets for the new couple

Just having a sweet kiss

On the Altar

Offerings to the Heaven, morning prayers

Joss stick offerings

As you can see, those shown in the photos are just some decorative objects used in the room of the groom and the bride, and also the things offered on the altar for the morning prayer on the day of the wedding ceremony.

More photos will come next time. Stay tune.

Dumplings (Zong zi)

Glutinous rice dumplings, hanging by

Some of you might know what’s in the photo, some of you might not. And some of you might even wonder, why did I post something like this, which isn’t relevant at this time? Let me clear things up a bit.

This is one of the famous Chinese dumplings, called “Zong zi – 粽子”. Maybe some of you might think why the shape of this dumpling is really weird and totally different from any dumplings you might have tried. This is actually dumplings made with glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. These dumplings are usually eaten during “Duan Wu Festival – 端午节”, or easily known as Dragon Boat Festival. This traditional Chinese holiday is celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar, which usually lands in between May and July. There is a great history behind this festival and these dumplings, and I would like write more about it. But sadly, I’m not clear about the details myself, so anyone interested in this festival and much more can visit the wikipedia link right here.

Anyways, it’s pretty unusual to have this during the month of August this year. The reason is because I had just came back from South Korea for holidays, and I kinda crave for this wonderful savory dish. So I actually requested my grandma to make them, and requested my grandma to teach me how to make them. I actually put in some effort to learn to wrap up the dumplings myself! My grandma really is the best as she makes one of the best dumplings in town, period!

Glutinous rice dumplings of this kind actually consist of many types, especially our Chinese culture and heritage in Malaysia has been through some changes and “localizations” as time goes by. As what I know, these kind of dumplings can be made just with glutinous rice, or, even better, with generous fillings such as meat, red bean paste, and so much more! All of these Zong zi are conical or triangular in shape, and it’s wrapped with bamboo leaves and then tied to with some strings, just like it the photo. Too bad I don’t have any shots showing the inner fillings of the dumplings.

Anyhow, great effort is needed to make this delicious cuisine. Ingredients are prepared and cooked prior to the day of wrapping. The learning curve of wrapping and tying these dumplings is pretty steep. Too loose, the rice will leak out from the sides, too tight, the shape won’t be attractive. Well, my grandma said that I made pretty nice dumplings for someone new who never tried wrapping one before! After wrapping and tying all of them, the dumplings are then put into hot boiling water to boil for 2 and a half hours. The waiting was excruciating!

In a nutshell, I couldn’t feel more happier to be able to learn something new, and to savor in such delicious dumplings!

Well, it’s really good to feel home once again, even though for a limited period of time only. At least, I know I didn’t waste my time learning nothing in this holiday.

Writing this makes me hunger for one more dumpling!  Here’s one more shot of the dumplings dangling down! Enjoy!

Cooked, and ready to serve

Bright and warm winter Christmas eve

Creating light, amongst the dark.

Cold winter Christmas, yet still shines brightly among the dark, signifying the spirit of not giving up, even when you are far apart from your friends or comrades, who are striving for the same path of life. Each shines with different colours, showing the different characteristic that we own. Which colour do you illuminate the dark with? Do your light and warmth extend to others around you?