LUST for LIFE

With the full moon this coming 3 Sept, which corresponds to the 15th day of the 8th moon, many Chinese families and friends will gather for the Mid-Autumn Festival, popularly called Moon Cake or Lantern Festival, to feast on down-to-earth moon cakes and pomeloes. When I was young, my mom would boil Ling Kok - Ram Horn Nuts - black-coloured pods with a pair of horns … you have to crack open the hard shell to get at the white seed inside. Will watch out for these ling kok when I go jalan-jalan at the wet market this weekend.

There are a few stories on its origin. 

For many Chinese households, pomeloes are a must to celebrate the Mid-Autumn festival

Unlike the days gone by, you don’t find many children playing with lanterns during the Moon Cake festival. Many, especially the older kids, prefer to spend time in front of their computers, play electronic games or texting sms on their mobile phones.

I recall their my childhood days, my parents would put away our lanterns in the store-room after the festival; to be re-used in the following year’s celebration. But should any of my sibling’s lanterns accidentally caught fire, we would get a new lantern, haha. In those days, it was common to find lanterns in the shape of animals including the  dragon and phoenix as well as ship … no such things as Spiderman or Ultraman. Yep, those were the days.