Autumn Festival

Sunday was the Autumn Festival. It is the day of the first full moon in September, I think. But it is also celebrated on a Sunday so maybe it the first Sunday after the first full moon in September. This year it was Sunday Spetember 14th.

Monkey had emailed us earlier that her mother wanted to come along and help make dumplings. We, of course, said that would be fine. So they showed up at 2:30 PM. They brought many things - but not as many as I thought.

They began making dumplings as soon as they arrived. Linda really wanted to learn how and get the recipe so she stuck very close and wrote everything down. We're going to try to make them when we get home. However, the Chinese people don't use measuring cups so it may be a little difficult to duplicate the dough recipe from look and feel.

The stuffing used for the dumplings seems very simple - just a few ingredients in each type - one meat and one vegetarian. Making dumplings is an art form. I watched Monkey and her mother make several but when I tried it just wasn't the same. I did make a couple of successful ones this time but it's not graceful when I do it and when they make dumplings it is a very graceful, artful endeavor. Once the dumplings are made, they have to sit for a while. I think that lets the dough harden a bit. Cooking dumplings is a piece of cake. Boil water, gently place dumplings in the water, stir them around to make sure they all get moving in the water, let the water come back to a boil, if they are vegetarian dumplings, they are done at this point, if they are meat dumplings, add cold water, let them cook while the water comes back to a boil, now they're done. Monkey brought some Wasabi along to mix with soy sauce, vinegar and sesame oil to dunk the dumplings in before eating. She was appalled at how much I used but both she and her mother got great enjoyment at my reaction to the wasabi.

The dumplings were great. It was hard to get Linda and Monkey's mom out of the kitchen to eat, so Monkey and I tried them first - delicious. Finally Linda joined us, then Monkey's mom.

Money's mother doesn't speak English, we don't speak Chinese, but we had a nice time anyway with Monkey translating most of what her mother said and explaining what we needed to know to help. She obviously loves her daughter very much, but she teases her a lot and Monkey doesn't like a lot of that. So some things Monkey simply refused to translate. After dinner we had moon cakes and tea - this is the traditional part of the autumn festival - actually so are the dumplings. It's just an afternoon of making food together, eating together and enjoying moon cakes and tea together. Moon cakes will never be my favorite but some of the flavors are actually pretty good.

I'm including a few pictures, one especially for my brother Michael showing Monkey in her Harvard gear.