A successful pop up!

It was HUGE success as we SOLD out every single bao and mooncake in less than 3 hour time! I was able to attract many even before our stand was fully set up (the poster!) So all the hard work last week was well worth it….Here I am doubting myself again (｡•́︿•̀｡)

✨Thank you @cyc_sf and @onerichmondsf for having me today! I had a blast sharing my special edition of the Mid-Autumn Festival themed baos and my homemade mooncakes. 🥮🌕🐇 Grateful for the beautiful weather, the friendly staff and the smooth set up. Special thanks to my sister #1 who stepped in when we needed most! Ah Lo had basketball games throughout the day, so he wasn’t able to help. It all worked out and I couldn’t be more thankful!

All set up for another Pop Up today on one of the busiest streets in the city.

A pre mid-autumn festival meal…

Here’s our Mid-Autumn Festival meal. The actual holiday is tomorrow, and we’re going to my in-laws for a big feast. Back home, I made something for us today to welcome this big holiday. I was worried we didn’t have enough food because I didn’t do any grocery shopping this week. I just put together what we had in the fridge. Phew! Glad it turned out nicely.

A batch of mooncakes…

I’m so thrilled how these turned out. Like I said, I bought these new molds last year and waited the entire year to finally used it. My oven isn’t working, so I was nervous using the Baking Mode from my air fryer. I baked 6 at a time. The first batch turned out darker so I adjust the temperature, time and rack placement. The 2nd batch turned out perfect! (^‿^)

I’ve been making these boxes to hold these (100g) mooncakes. They also turned out super cute!

A preparation…

Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner so let’s start prepping the main course! I must say, after a few years of making the mooncakes, I find it easier and more comfortable handling it. Though I only make these once a year, I should be getting more practice with it.

I’m been waiting to use this mold. I ordered it last year when the season was over, so I had to wait for the entire year. I loved how this turned out and can’t wait to see the baked product!

A mid-autumn meal…

Happy Mid-autumn festival everyone! Today is also the lunar 15th of the month which is my veggie day. I wasn’t planning to make anything fancy for tonight, luckily I had some vegetarian dumplings to go with this perfect meal!.

A homemade moon cake…

I made a handful of moon cakes to share this year. Work has been taking a big toll so I don’t have time to experiment with them much. My boys are a big fan of moon cakes, so I still manage to squeeze some time to make them since it’s only once a year. Yes, yes – I know I can always buy them, but I just can’t stand how expensive they are.

A Mid-Autumn Feast…

Today, I went on a full-on feast with my family. My sister made curry (complementing my pandan coconut rice), soup, chicken wings, and stuffed mushrooms. I did the rest – sushi, spring rolls, dumplings, marbled tea leaf eggs, pork belly buns, and soba noodles. It took me the entire day today (I had to take a day off from work to cook) since 90% of the food was made from scratch.  It sure was a lot of work, but I enjoyed cooking for my family since they pretty much eat anything I cook.  (-‿◦)

The only bad thing was the pandan coconut rice. It was my first time making it and I bet I added too much artificial pandan extract which caused the bitter flavor. Totally ruined the rice and nobody liked it. ╮(╯_╰)╭

As for dessert – my homemade mooncakes!

An annual tradition…

It’s that time of year again! Fat ourselves up with these mooncakes. I stopped buying these a few years ago. Normally I don’t even buy them for us, if I do, it’s mostly as gifts. As we get older, we stopped purchasing them because the ones receiving the mooncakes also got older (not a healthy snack). I started making about a dozen every year, just to pass them around, not to mention homemade ones cost a fraction of the commercially prepared ones (at least there are no preservatives).

This year I folded my own mooncake boxes because I couldn’t find any. I made them fit perfectly for the size of the mooncakes! I printed the images (found online) on clear labels and slapped them on the boxes.

A Mid-Autumn Festival celebration…

Today is one of the most celebrated Chinese Holiday – Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋節). Normally we would welcome this day with a big feast. However, it so happens that today landed on a Monday, which is our meatless day. Here we are with our vegetarian meal. This is something for fun I want to add to the table – rabbits were cut outs from stems of napa cabbage. Lanterns are one mini red turnip.With leftovers from the red bean paste, I made more ice skin mooncakes. We enjoyed it for dessert. Unfortunately, the moon was hiding behind the big thick fog so we couldn’t see her beautiful shiny face tonight. Let’s hope she shows up tomorrow. 

A modern variation of mooncake…

This year, for the first time, I made ice skin (or snow skin) mooncakes (冰皮月餅). This version is non-baked with a soft and chewy texture (more like a mochi). There are tons of recipes out there, just find one that you like. I will also bring these for my family to try. I wonder which one will they like? The traditional mooncakes or this variation?

For the filling, I made my own red bean and purple yam paste. I had a lot of leftovers so I will be making more.