Entries from October 2009 ↓

Here in the Philippines, the Chinese community is usually in a festive mood even a week before the Chinese Mooncake Festival. But this year, I hardly saw mooncake in our dining table.

October 3 passed just like any usual Saturday.

Aside from the given economic crunch, the gloomy atmosphere is part of the recovery phase from the recent typhoon Ondoy.

Nonetheless, that doesn’t stop this food blog from sharing a bite from the Chinese’s Mooncake Festival culture.

The Mooncake Festival, also referred to as the Mid-Autumn Festival, marks the end of a good harvest season for the farmers.

Regarded as a legal holiday by the Chinese, it is annually held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar. This year, it fell on an early October on our local calendar.

Wikipedia.org describes it as

“…a date that parallels the autumn and spring Equinoxes of the solar calendar“

The festivity references to the ‘moon’ in the famous Chinese pastry in festivals – the ‘Mooncake‘. The Chinese term is pronounced as “yuèbÄ­ng” with a literal English translation of “Moon biscuit“. Generally about the size of a palm and half way thick. Dense, heavy and regularly rounded. Sweet in taste and at about Php 60 a piece, fillings vary from ordinary mongo to the premium lotus seed paste. It’s never a real mooncake without the egg yolk inside symbolizing the full moon.

Last Year’s Mooncake Festival

Last year, we ate out at a Chinese restaurant and played the traditional Mooncake Festival Dice Game after meal. Yes, at the restaurant; they allowed us. 🙂

The Mooncake Festival Dice Game is characterized by a group of people surrounding a round table throwing 6 dice in a glass bowl. The players take turns. Each numeric and die-color combination results has corresponding values with all-four dice (all six dice has the mark of four red dots in each) as the highest.

Prizes are traditionally mooncakes and hopia while more affluent families give away bigger prizes or ampao (cash in red envelopes).

I remember during that time last year, it was the height of the the melamine issue. Despite that, we still used hopia. We just made sure we got it from a credible melamine-free source.

* Mooncake image and some info sourced from Wikipedia.

All our relatives enjoyed the Chinese Mooncake Festival. Hopefully, we could have a repeat of that next year.

In celebration of the launch of its newest cake, Red Ribbon is once again holding an online writing contest for the online community. Simply share an experience you and your family had with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake with the theme “A Deliciously Memorable Dessert Experience with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake“.

Entries will be accepted from now until Oct 17, 2009. Announcement of winners will be on Oct 24, 2009.

Qualifications:
1) This blog writing contest is open to all Philippine-based bloggers and online writers who love the Red Ribbon White Forest cake.

Mechanics:

1) Write a blog about an experience you and your family had with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake with the theme “A Deliciously Memorable Dessert Experience with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake“.

2) The blog entry should contain at least 250 words.

3) The title should contain the words ‘White Forest’.

4) The words ‘Red Ribbon’ and ‘White Forest’ should be present, at least once, anywhere in the whole article/blog. At least once, the word ‘Red Ribbon’ should be a link to http://www.redribbonbakeshop.com.ph

5) The blog should contain at least one photo relevant to the article. The White Forest cake should be inclusive in the photo. The product could simply be part of a bigger picture. (e.g. Mother feeding her daughter with a slice of the cake).

By uploading the photo in the blog, the writer/blogger guarantees that he/she has the copyright to use the photo. This is to avoid any copyright issues. Many photo may be placed in the article, but only the first one would be considered in judging.

6) One blogger can only post one entry in one blog. But he/she can post many different entries in his /her different blogs. One blog- one entry policy. However, a blogger can only win once and win the higher price.

Criteria for Judging:
Concept & Creativity : 40%
Writing Style : 20%
Photo Relevance : 20%
Over-all Impact : 20%

Prizes:
1st Place: P3000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates
2nd Place: P2000 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates
3rd Place: P1400 worth of Red Ribbon Gift Certificates

Judges:
Red Ribbon Management

Submission:
The entries could be posted in your blogs anytime from Oct. 01 to 17, 2009. The winners will be announced on Oct 24, 2009.

Submit your specific blog entry URL to admin@NomnomClub.com and carbon copy mari.aldecoa@redribbonbakeshop.com.ph with the subject: “A Memorable Dessert Experience” Also include in the email body your Name, Blog, & Mobile Number/s for easy communication when you win.

The winning entries or their links may also get published at the official Red Ribbon Website and White Forest Facebook Fan Page later on.

Dates to Remember:
Oct 01 – 17 – Contest Proper
Oct 17 – Last Date of Submission
Oct 19-23 – Judging
Oct 24 – Announcement of winners

Winners shall be contacted through their email to indicate in which Red Ribbon branch nationwide they wish to pick up the gift certificates.

Start sharing your experience with the new Red Ribbon White Forest cake now!