- Family!
Family
[TOM - What?]
- This is our uniform today
We will be in green
[- All green?]
- Yeah!
September's here and that means holiday season is beginning
Between Tom and I, we have a lot to celebrate
Starting with MidAutumn Festival
(in Cantonese) Happy Mid-Autumn Festival
Thanksgiving [- Wow, Canada meal!]
- Halloween, Christmas, New Year
and Chinese New Year
In this vlog, we'll be celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival
which is probably the second biggest holiday in Chinese culture
It falls on the 15th day of the eighth month
of the lunar calendar
And it's said that on this day the moon is at its biggest
and brightest coinciding with harvest time
in the middle of autumn
Oh wow
Families reunite, lanterns are displayed
and mooncake is eaten
First stop, lantern shopping
[- Wahhh!] - Wow!
Why did you want to come to this place?
[- It's traditional...]
[and they're all handmade]
- It's one of the last handmade
paper lantern shops in Hong Kong, right? [- Yeah]
They have bunnies
The bunny is one of the main symbols
of Mid-Autumn Festival
so you'll see a lot of bunnies
Oh, I like the lotus
I like the lotus and I like the...
[- Nahhhh!]
[It's so 老土 (old fashioned)!]
[Too old fashioned!]
-I'm old fashioned!
[- Starfruit seems more traditional] - (to Levi) Which one do you like?
[The ones I pick are... bunny, starfruit...]
[- Ah, maybe I'll get the airplane]
- This one, this one's for me
Look at that fish!
Glittery pink tail
[- I saw a dinosaur but...]
[The dinosaur is sold out]
- It's (the shop) from 1960?
[SHOPKEEPER - Yeah, we are not the first one]
[but I'm sure that this is the oldest one]
[in Hong Kong right now]
Why do you think so many left Hong Kong?
[- Manpower, time...]
[One rabbit lantern takes three hours to make]
- Three hours?!
[- Yes, for professional Sifu]
What's your most popular lantern?
[- Rabbit] - The rabbit
[- Yeah, rabbit... and the starfruit] - Starfruit
My husband likes the starfruit
Take more pictures, make more memories
Yeah, it's his first Mid-Autumn festival so it's really special to us
[- Exciting, right? Very good]
We want to pick something out for him
[TOM - I want a dinosaur, but it's sold out]
[- Where?] [TOM - I found it on their Instagram] [- Ohhh]
- Okay, let's do this one for him?
[- So...]
[no big rabbit?]
- Up to you
I'm choosing the goldfish
[- I'll get the big rabbit]
[OK, I'll get the starfruit]
[but it's so girly...]
[There's a flower on top...] - Yeah... OK!
- I'll get the starfruit
You'll get the fish...
The orange one, maybe?
[- Sure!]
And then he gets the little rabbit
Okay?
[- So no one gets the big rabbit]
- You need a big one?
[- Yeah] - Okay, okay
Okay, you get the big rabbit [- I get the big rabbit]
- I'm getting the fish
[- Small rabbit for him]
- This doesn't make sense...
Why is there just one fish, then a family of rabbits?
[SHOPKEEPER - Get this one]
[Daddy, Mommy and Baby]
[Woooooow!]
[Very lucky!]
[TOM - 888]
- (in unison) Whooooooa!
It's a sign!
[TOM - So lucky!] [- Yeah!] [TOM - Yeahhh]
- I love how she's just...
sitting in line with them
So we ended up going for the rabbit family
This is Tom's
This is mine
This is Rosie's
and this is Levi's
The bigger ones here are made out of paper and bamboo
and there's a place inside that you can stick a candle
if you want to go the traditional route
or you can stick a battery powered candle
and then the smaller ones are battery powered
so that they're safe for kids!
Okay! Wooo! (Levi babbling)
Do you want to come closer?
So we're all set in terms of lanterns for this year
and before I continue on with the vlog
I would like to thank today's sponsor ExpressVPN
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Besides security, Express VPN is super cool
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There are 94 countries to choose from
which gives me more access to TV shows on Netflix There are 94 countries to choose from
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apps that aren't available in Hong Kong
and more choices for online shopping
So the other day I was looking for
a congratulatory gift for a friend overseas
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It is so easy and quick to use
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Boom, turn it on, I'm already connected
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I will leave it below in the description box
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Thank you ExpressVPN
Happy Mid-Autumn festival
Today is the day of all of the celebratory stuff
one of the main symbols and a must eat item
is the moon cake
Firstly it's round, so it's shaped like the moon
and roundness in Chinese culture means
togetherness or completeness
These traditionally are filled with lotus paste or custard
and they have a thin pastry around the outside
But nowadays you can find all different ones
in all sorts of textures and flavours and even temperatures
There's ice cream ones and I also just received some
that you can heat up so the inside is all melty and warm
Also, it's customary now to gift these to family
friends, relatives, businesses will give it to their clients
I've received a lot of these from different brands
in a lot of different packages
and companies spend a lot of time and effort
on designing them every year
and I always look forward to unboxing them
There's even mooncake for dogs
I got these at a local pet store
Here you go!
We've already played around with our lanterns
We got a family photo, hopefully, I think
and now I'm just waiting for...
someone who isn't family but feels like family to come over
and we're gonna cook!
[CAROL - I bought that one also and then we steam it now...]
[- We boil it now] - What's that? Oh, peanuts!
[- Peanut and... this one]
- Oh my god, what is that?
[- and also...]
- It looks like a bat
[- But maybe...] - (whispering) What is that?!
[- This is... The cow... the cow...]
[How to say? The cow...]
- The horn?! [- Yeah]
- It's really made of cow horn?!
[- Just the name] - Oh my gosh
After Googling it, I found that this is called a water caltrop
Also known as a bat nut, buffalo nut or moustache nut
because of the way it looks
These are only harvested once a year
around three weeks before the festival
and they symbolise prosperity because they look like a bat
or some say the word "ling" in its Chinese name
sounds like a Chinese idiom meaning smart or clever
[- We cut here and then cut it there and eat inside the seed]
[because our Chinese Mid Autumn Festival...]
- Festival? [- Yeah, festival]
[It's this one and then eat the moon cake]
[and then see the moon] - Ahhh
Other popular foods eaten are lotus for togetherness
Pumpkin for good health
Taro for good luck
Duck and hairy crab
We're going to be preparing some of those today
[- You know? I am your grandmother... Grandmother]
- We soaked the mushrooms in water
[- Normally for the rice, I need to put two and half water]
[But because... the] - Pumpkin?
[- the pumpkin and then this has the sauce]
[and then has water also, right?]
[So we put less, less than the normal]
[So I put two cups of rice, I just put two cups of water]
- Okay [- Until this line]
- So this is actually how you did confinement for yourself, right?
[- Yeah, that's it]
- When Carol had a baby, she couldn't afford a pui yuet
And so she would just put this style like the meat
the Chinese cooking wine is very important for confinement
Everything into a rice cooker with rice
and then she would just eat this for the day
[- Yeah, yeah, yeah, easy!]
- And then after that she wanted to do this job for other women
She realised... she felt Chinese confinement
puiyuet work is very important
[- This one?] - Oh, we forgot that one
[- Okay?] - Yeah
[- And then... yeah this one] - Okay
[- Okay] - Yeah, almost an hour [- Almost one hour, yeah]
- Yeah you can
- Try one... [- It's hot! Aiyo, it's hot!]
- This is the first one
[- Oh, the first one? Not too hot? Ohhh...] - Mmmm!
It's so yummy because...
the lotus root is a little bit crunchy
and then it's also a crispy texture
and then the inside is very soft ...
Mm!
Taadaaa!
[- The moon is in the middle]
[and then besides the moon are the stars]
(both laughing)
[- Okay]
[- Ohhh]
- Oh, it's got the crispy bits! [- See?] - Yeah
Wahhhh!
[- Yeah, easy work!]
- Dinner turned out delicious
I learned some recipes from Carol
and tried something new
[- A long time ago, people would eat this one]
- Oh, it's really in the shape too... the same shape [- Yeah]
- It's like a mix of... the Brazilian nut
mixed with coconut, almost
[- The taste is like water... water chestnut also]
- No, but it's not as crispy
[- Yeah, not cripsy and not juicy, right?] - It's like starchy
It's more starchy [- Yeah]
- In bars in Canada, there's usually dishes of peanuts
to eat while you drink
[- Yeah, yeah, yeah]
- So you will... it's something to do with your hands
while you're talking and then slowly eating something
So people will eat this while they sit
and watch the moon at night... with drinks [- Yeah]
- After dinner, we had mooncake with tea
Before it was time to moon gaze
Okay, time to watch the moon!
(chuckling)
It's cloudy...
No moon
[- No moon, right?] - Cloudy!
[- Because the weather... yeah]