Mooncakes on a Roof and More Malls

Last weekend was the Mid-Autumn Festival (or Moon Festival) in Taiwan. Or as a local new friend joked, the BBQ Festival. We had a 4-day weekend between the holiday and a teacher work day, which was quite a lot for what my in-laws tell me is usually a pretty low-key holiday that most people don't do too much for. 

We did not have any BBQ, unfortunately. But Teacup and I did have mooncakes and pomelo! 

Mooncake with lotus seed paste
Wikimedia commons, bc we ate all ours, and in the dark

Also Wikimedia commons, because it was very messy to eat,

and I didn't want to splatter my phone with pomelo juice

These days most people apparently barbeque instead of eating mooncakes and pomelo fruit (which is like an oval grapefruit in flavor and shape, but with very little of the bitterness). But we didn't have a BBQ to attend, so we went up the rooftop to stare at the full moon, and eat our small bounty of mooncakes. Teacup LOVED it. She also loved that I let her scooter around the park after dark until it was time to go to the roof. 

Otherwise we visited a couple of malls. Big City Mall is a huge mall in Hsinchu, which I got us to by the cab service 55688, which is basically the Taiwan version of Uber (without being Uber). The idea was to find a kids play area and wander around some, but after losing a few dollars in Tom's World (an arcade chain that is reminiscent of Chuck E Cheese mixed with a token-operated casino), we couldn't find a real play area in the mall. I know there used to be one, but it appears to have since left. Ah well. So instead I let Teacup steal my camera and take some flower pictures outside, and of course we had bubble tea and a truffle donut. She got some pretty good pictures!

Astrophotography on the mall overhang

The other days we went back to Far Eastern Department Store, one day making a 'lantern' with Teacup's grandmother. Traditional lanterns are made of paper; this was more like a nightlight with a moon theme. But it was cute and fun. Bonus note, I finally figured out one of the uses for that Hakka educational area in the food court: it serves as an activity center for events.

Not a traditional Mid-Autumn lantern

Teacup, of course, modeled her clay cat after Clover.

So our Mid-Autumn festival celebration was a bit nontraditional, a bit traditional, and lot of low-key relaxing. 

Food Bonus:

Stir fry of lotus root, celery, water spinach, bok choy, and leftovers with kumquats, with soy sauce, sugar, and ginger.
Not terrible, definitely edible, not fantastic. I want to do more trials of cooking with kumquats.

Oolong tea, guava, banana, grapes. I'm not sure I love guava. Tastes kind of like a bergamot-infused apple to me. I like both flavors individually, not in love with the combo.