Monday is Moon Festival and in honor of the event some of the parents at school have sent gifts to the teachers. Yesterday we came home with these:

The tubes are little tiny apples imported from somewhere and the three fruits in front are pomelos. Pomelos are an important food this time of year because they look a bit like the moon and they're the favorite food gift for moon festival, along with moon cakes. Moon cakes are kind of hit-or-miss for me. The "cake" part can be flaky, gummy or dry and the fillings can be fruit jellies (yummy) or bean paste (not so yummy) so you never know when you first take a bite if this particular one will be any good.

The pomelos are a much better choice. They're a bit like a grapefruit but sweeter with very thick skins. They're a commitment of time and effort to eat but worth it since they're delicious. The skins are apparently a good odor reducer when you let them dry out under the skin. We'll see.

Many families celebrate moon festival with barbecues. It's a chance to gather family together, get outside, and watch the full moon rise. There's a typhoon heading our way which may dampen some festivities but will probably effect Taipei more than Kaohsiung. It won't be a problem for us in Hong Kong.

Our little nod to Moon Festival was to buy themed cupcakes for dessert last night.

The one on the left is a little barbecue and the two on the right are pomelos. The chocolate one in back is just a mound of chocolate because how can you say no to a mound of chocolate. They were a new finale after a fabulous dinner of Vietnamese food.