Mooncakes.

It's that time of year again, when the mooncakes start appearing on grocery store shelves and are advertised at Starbucks. We barely sampled any mooncakes last year, so this year we decided it was time to purchase a variety box. 

The mooncake is always a round pastry that is exchanged and eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The shell of the pastry is a thin, tender, and flakey consistency. The filling is very rich and a paste like consistency, often made from red bean or lotus seed paste. The top of each mooncake is imprinted with Chinese characters for harmony or longevity. Sometimes the name of the bakery is also imprinted on the top as well as decorative designs, like flowering vines, or symbols of the moon. 

The more traditional mooncake has a yolk from a salted duck egg in the center of the pastry filling. A mooncake is rarely eaten exclusively by one person. The cake is typically cut into small wedges and shared among friends. Because, each mooncake is very rich, a wedge of small mooncake is plenty to satisfy your palate.