Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncake 牛油麻糬紅豆冰皮月餅

It's that time of the year again!  The time of the fullest moon of the year,  of gaily dressed folk swinging their Chinese lanterns high, glowing orbs set against a magnificent moonlit night...the night of the Mid Autumn Festival!   Mid Autumn Festival comes early this year, following the dictates of the fickle lunar calendar and, if the moon we saw tonight is any indicator, the Mid Autumn moon this year is going to be AMAZING!

As you probably know already, we've made most of the traditional mooncakes before, like the double yolk lotus paste mooncake, sesame paste mooncake, snowskin custard moon, five nut mooncake, etc.  This year we wanted to try something new.

Poking around, brainstorming, I noticed that some mooncakes nowadays are filled with mochi instead of the traditional filling pastes like lotus paste.  I was intrigued, what an interesting idea!

After a bit of a brainstorm I decided to make Snowskin Butter Mochi Red Bean Paste Mooncakes 牛油麻糬紅豆冰皮月餅, chilled mooncakes wrapped in delicate skin, filled with tender, chewy mochi deeply infused with notes of butter and milk and a heart of luscious sweet red bean paste.  What can I say, this innovative combination turned out a most yummilicious mooncake!

Mini Crystal Red Bean Zong Zi 水晶紅豆粽子

It's almost that time of the year for the beating drums of the Dragon Boat races and the deliciously tantalizing aroma of zong zi 粽子 floating in the air: it's time for Duanwu Dragon Boat Festival 端午節!  

For me, this time of the year is always filled with thoughts of my dearest Grandma 奶奶, busy and bossy in her kitchen, making all kinds of special traditional treats for us that no one else bothered to learn how to make.  Except me, I guess, I finally did some learning myself on these things and always have her in my mind and heart as I bustle away in my own little kitchen.  

So it is that every Dragon Boat Festival I always try to find the time to make two kinds of zong zi just as Grandma made, one kind the savory pork and salted duck egg zong zi 肉粽子  and the other kind the sweet red bean zong zi 紅豆沙粽子.  This year I thought I would try adding a twist to this traditional combo and thus made these Mini Crystal Red Bean Zong Zi, or 水晶紅豆粽子, a light and delightfully chewy, beautifully translucent version of the traditional zong zi.

Red Bean Paste with Vanilla Ice Cream 紅豆蓉雲呢拿雪糕

I have to admit first off that I don't particularly like the sort of weird fusion of foods that abounds today in most smart and trendy restaurants.  It's not that I'm conservative about food, I love crazy food!  It's just that I tend to find a lot fusion food gimmicky and not really about taste first.  Which I don't like.  

But the thing is I do like weird food combinations!  When I was little I remember that I invented (from the assorted odds and ends available in our fridge) a little sandwich spread for myself that I thought was absolutely heavenly: stinky blue Cheese dressing slapped on a slice of bread drizzled generously with honey and then gobbled up.  (I know, pretty gross!  But it was yummy, I swear!)  

So recently I found myself puttering about in a fridge again, (my own grown up fridge), and decided to toss together two items that I found in there.  To my absolute surprise and yummilicious pleasure I discovered that night that there is almost nothing in the world that goes together better than Red Bean Paste Topped with Vanilla Ice Cream, or 紅豆蓉雲呢拿雪糕:  smooth silky vanilla contrasting creamy textured red bean paste, that sublime taste of vanilla perked up by and yet balancing the stronger fragrant beany flavor of the red bean.  (Oh shoot, now I'm hungry for ice cream...)