Otherwise known as the Moon Festival, Tết Trung Thu celebrates the full moon at the end of the harvest season. There are many traditions during this holiday that vary throughout Asia. Most often, families celebrate together by eating mooncakes while admiring the full moon and children light paper lanterns to show Chang'e (Cuội) and Jade Rabbit the way back to earth.We celebrated with dinner at Mai Viên, a local Vietnamese restaurant. The feast included steamed rice dumplings (bánh cuốn), spicy Huế noodle soup (bún bò Huế), caramelized claypot chicken (gà kho gừng), and Vietnamese fried noodles with prawns (mì xào tôm). At the end of dinner, Gianna gave us a rare demonstration of her chopstick prowess. She puts me to shame.
The celebration continued at home with the lighting of a paper moon lantern. Gianna took it out on the balcony and called for Jade Rabbit.
Then we cut into the white lotus seed mooncakes. I almost bought the durian variety (authentic Vietnamese), which would have been a huge mistake in the taste department, but thankfully, the shopkeeper warned me at the checkout. Mooncakes are very rich; you can only eat about a quarter of a cake at one sitting, maybe half if you are really hungry.
When we tucked Gianna into bed, she was chattering on about Jade Rabbit and the moon palace, wondering if he will find his way back to earth.
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