Sunday, September 14, 2008

PIG BISCUITS AND THE MOON

Here are the Pig in Basket biscuits (Zhu Zai Bing) for the moon cake festival/ mid-autumn festival, which I was talking about in my Mooncake packaging post. You know where they got their name! They are made with leftover dough from the mooncake skins. The plastic basket is also very kitsch. I use them to store receipts lol.


The biscuits are in the shape of a flat pig. This one here isn't too clearly molded and crumbly but you get the idea! They're sweetbreads and slightly chewy if well done. I'm not sure why the chinese decided to use pig motifs (maybe pigging out on mooncakes lol) but I do know that in the olden days hunters used baskets to trap and kill pigs; and any woman caught having adultery or commiting fornication was drowned in a human sized pig basket in the river! 

Anyhow enough of killings, during this Mooncake Festival where the moon is beautifully full (look out for it on 15 Sept) and kids play with paper lanterns (we also call it the Lantern Festival), people tend to get sentimental. I think alot of people start to think of this song by the late Teresa Teng 'The Moon Represents My Heart'. It's a love ballad. I hope you enjoy it, it is such a touching song! She sings like a nightingale and looks gorgeous.



Teresa Teng died from an asthma attack while holidaying in Thailand in 1995 at the age of 42. This was a rude shock for many people because she is extremely popular, I remember watching her funeral tribute on tv for the whole day after she died. Unfortunately she had ill health for most of the latter part of her career. She is also popular in Japan and released many Japanese songs.

Lyrics Translation with help from Sinosplice:

You ask how deeply I love you
How great my love is
My affection is real
My love is true
The moon represents my heart

You ask how deeply I love you
How great my love is
My affection doesn't waver
My love doesn't change
The moon represents my heart

So soft was the kiss
That has moved my heart
Such a deep affection
Makes me long for you now

You ask how deeply I love you
How great my love is
Consider this
and look above
The moon represents my heart.

(Repeat 3)

(Repeat 4)

4 comments:

RA said...

cute song & i remembers those baskety cakes lol noot bad, they dont make my teeth burn lol

Anonymous said...

I love the packaging and I would reuse them as some sort of holder too! I also love pigs and that sweetbread sure does look nice!

Bubbles said...

It sounds really interesting,its amazing the history that goes behind everything :)

Rosebud Collection said...

Packages are adorable..Love the video..She was so beautiful and what a lovely voice she had..thanks for sharing, it was so wonderful..