food & travel
Epoch Times
sepTEMBER 5 – 18, 2014 33
Courtesy of Antoinette
well as loved ones. For orders and enquiries, please call 6227 3848 or email silkroad@amaraholdings.com.
Poetic Mid-Autumn at Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore The Shang Palace at ShangriLa Hotel showcases oriental gift boxes with sophisticated Chinese embroidery, housing snowskin mooncakes infused with premium jasmine tea from the high mountains of Sichuan province; oolong tea painstakingly handpicked from the famous Wu Dong peak of Phoenix Mountain in Guangdong; and highly-prized 18-year-old pu-erh tea handharvested from Yunnan, China. These poetic tea creations— the Mini Snow-Skin Snowy Flake Mooncake (Jasmine Tea), the Mini Snow-Skin Phoenix Courtesy of Shangri-La Hotel, Singapore
Shang Palace mooncake boxes.
Supreme Mooncake (Oolong Tea) and the Mini Snow-Skin Imperial Consort Mooncake (18-yearold Pu-erh Tea) are novelties for tea lovers (S$66.35 for a box of 8). Each mooncake is filled with lotus seed paste, with a cooling tea jelly centre encased with decadent chocolate. The tea leaves give the petite mooncake a sweet fragrance and are hearty nutrition for the body and mind. On top of that, Shang Palace offers patrons a choice of baked traditional mooncakes stuffed with white lotus paste and salty egg yolks. For orders and enquiries, please call 6213 4448/4473 or email shangpalace.sls@shangrila.com.
French-inspired Mooncakes by Antoinette Are you a connoisseur of fine French desserts and pastries? If yes, be intrigued and delighted by Antoinette’s artisanal mooncake collections, which are a must-try this Mid-Autumn festival. Antoinette’s luxurious traditional baked mooncakes, mini snowskin mooncakes and Macaron Lunar creations are brought to you by award-winning Chef Pang Kok Keong. Each box of their pretty Mini Snowskin Mooncakes contains eight petite snowskin mooncakes
Antoinette’s Mini Snow Skin Moon cakes.
encased with various oriental fillings mixed with ingredients from French patisserie. These include Pandan Kaya with Roasted Macadamia Nuts, Seaweed with Southern Almond, Osmanthus Marble with Goji Berry, Water Chestnut with Corn, Chestnut with Marrons Glaces and Dark Chocolate Lotus Paste with Crunchy Chocolate Pearls. (S$54.50 for a box of 8) Antoinette’s snowskin mooncakes are elegantly embossed with the restaurant’s motif—a portrait of the French Queen that the restaurant is named after. These petite mooncakes are a beautiful sight to behold, and an absolute delight on the palate. The Macaron Lunar is another innovative creation not to be missed. A marriage between classic French pastry and Chinese tradition fillings, these baked macaron shells are sandwiched with low sugar white lotus paste and a rich salted egg yolk, and are perfect selections for the French connoisseur (S$19 for 6 in a
limited edition box). A n t o i n e t t e ’ s French-i nspired mooncakes are packed in elegantly designed vintage collectible tins. The exquisite tins are a wonderful choice for those who prefer a classy gift. For orders and enquiries, visit www.antoinette.com.sg or Antoinette Restaurant at 30 Penhas Road.
Vegan, Sugar-Free Mooncakes by Delcie’s Are you a committed vegan or a health-conscious individual who worries about mooncakes containing too much sugar? If so, Delcie’s offers a guilt-free choice with its vegan, gluten free, low suger and sugar-free mooncakes, which are eggless and do Delcie’s not contain any mooncakes dairy, alcohol or animal by-products. Their diabetes-friendly and healthy flavours for this year include the Sugar Free White Lotus paste with Black Sesame mooncake, the Sugar Free Pandan paste with
Salted Mung Bean mooncake, the Low Sugar Protein-packed Mixed Nuts mooncake, the Low Sugar Sweet Potato paste with Taro mooncake and the Gluten Free White Lotus with White Sesame mooncake. Thanks to Delcie, vegan, diabetics and gluten allergic patrons can still indulge in a healthy mooncakes feast in the joyous gatherings with their loved ones this Mid-Autumn Festival. Price: • Mix Healthy Mooncake Box: S$88, 4 pieces per box • Low Sugar Mooncake Box: S$78, 4 pieces per box • Sugar Free Mooncake Box: S$98, 6 pieces per box • Gluten Free Mooncake Box: S$98, 4 pieces per box For orders and enquiries, please call 9789 2309, or or email to order@delciesdesserts.com. Courtesy of Delcie’s
Têt Trung Thu: Mid-Autumn Festival in Vietnam
Epoch Times Staff
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Like many countries in the region, Vietnam also celebrates the Mid-Autumn festival during the full moon of the eighth month in the lunar calendar. Until now, there is still no agreement on when the festival was first celebrated in Vietnam. Many people believe that this custom was adopted from China, when Northern Vietnam was colonised by China from 111 BC – 938 AD. In China, the Mid-Autumn Festival started to gain popularity during the Tang Dynasty (early 8th century), but the history of the festival may be traced back to the ancient Shang Dynasty (16th to 10th century BC). According to legend, the Mid-Autumn Festival became
A jelly moon cake with pandan filling.
an official holiday after Emperor Xuanzong of Tang visited the moon palace with the help of a Taoist master. In Vietnam, according to archaeologists, images of the festival have been inscribed on ancient Vietnamese bronze drums and artifacts. From the inscrip-
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tions in Vietnamese pagodas, the festival was formally celebrated in Thang Long (the former name of Hanoi) from the Ly Dynasty (9th to 11th century), with activities such as dragon boat races, water puppet shows, and lantern parades. Autumn was also the season of
marriage for ancient Vietnamese. During the festival, boys and girls gathered to celebrate, and they got married after falling in love with each other. In modern Vietnam, the MidAutumn festival is mainly a festival for children. Vietnamese children usually look forward to the festival because they will be given toys and cakes from their parents. Adults, on the other hand, usually present moon cakes as gifts to their friends and relatives. Vietnamese moon cakes generally have the same crust as the traditional Chinese moon cakes, and their shapes vary from round to square. There are a variety of fillings for Vietnamese mooncakes. Traditionally, the mooncakes contain lotus seeds, Chinese sausage, or peanut and
sesame seeds. Modern moon cakes may contain roasted chicken, pork, coconut, durian, or even shark fin. There are also other varieties of moon cakes such as the jelly moon cakes, where the crust is made of jelly and the fillings may be made of milk, mung bean, pandan, or coffee. commons.wikimedia.org
A jelly moon cake with coffee filling.