Very large picture today - but I couldn't think of any other way to do this justice. Spot the token white girl, anyone? [And spot her new FRINGE too :)]
We're coming up to mid-autumn festival, which is a fairly big deal here. To draw very crude comparisons, if Chinese new year is the Christmas equivalent, mid-autumn festival is like Easter.
And to mix my ham-fisted religious and cultural comparisons still further, there is a ubiquitous seasonal treat that Claire has described as the equivalent of the mince pie. The Moon Cake.
The only reason the comparison does not quite hold is that moon cakes are a huge thing here. The tube, bus stops and TV are all plastered in ads for the delicacy. These mainly consist of people cutting the cakes open or holding a pre-cut one and looking ecstatically delighted at what they find concealed within (as modelled below by me with one of Claire's creations).
And so when Claire got a group email at the lovely corporate-fun-filled HSBC that a free staff engagement event solely for her and her risk buddies workshop to learn to make moon cakes was on offer, she snapped it up.
She learnt to craft the frosted snowflake version.This consists of an astonishingly complex mix of 3 types of flour made into a marzipan like substance that is moulded into shapes, with sticky flavoured centres. The flavours on offer were sesame, green tea and red and green bean.
Claire was instructed in the art of rolling out and colouring the casing, stuffing it and wedging it into moulds. All in Cantonese. So mainly she learnt by mine, mimicking and being clucked at/having her hands slapped in rebuke by the bustling old lady who was overseeing the operation.
The cakes came out very well all told, so well done Claire for improvising...but the main entertainment value came from the concept of the event itself. Engagement in what? Knowledge of how to make a pink sesame flavoured hello kitty cake allows staff to spot risk better in what way
exactly? Is the surrounding literature ironic, or just genuinely relentlessly positive?
PS - this is not linked to the rest of the post, but I wanted to share my favourite ridiculous T-shirt of the week...a loved up looking Mainland Chinese couple, walking hand in hand, had matching pink and black versions of this T-shirt, with white sparkly writing:
F C K
All I need is u
Nuff said.
No comments:
Post a Comment