Moon Festival and busy busy Mimi

Mimi received her certificate of citizenship this past week. She is truly official. She was sent a letter by George Bush explaining the rather daunting responsibility of being an American.

We also celebrated the moon festival. The moon festival is one of China's major holidays and it has many meanings and stories behind it. In a nutshell it is a celebration of the harvest. I made a Chinese buffet and I served moon cakes and barb
ecue duck from our local Chinese merchants.

Moon cakes are a kind of fruit cake, usually made with lotus seeds, red bean paste, or black bean paste. They are of course moon shaped and rather interesting tasting.

We gazed at the full moon through Terry's telescope, we decorated the backyard with beautiful paper lanterns that we brought home from China.

We also opened the Tikki bar for what might be the last time this season. Mimi's aunites and uncles and Grandma and Grandpa shared in the festivities.

In China the festival usually would involve observing the moon and the tide and shadow puppet shows commemorating Lady Chang Er(goddess of the moon). Parades with lanterns and lots of dancing also accompanies the occasion.