m&ms: menchanko & mooncakes

This post is long overdue [well, the Menchanko part].  Over a month ago, I went to Menchanko http://www.menchankotei.com/ for lunch- it’s just down the block from me.  I sat upstairs in the balcony area of the restaurant.  You can see my views of down below in the pix below.  Menchanko is basically a ramen bar and I’m obsessed with ramen.  There’s this chicken and pork ramen my mom introduced to me years ago, and I can’t stop eating it.  When I was in college, I used to make ramen into a meal.  I put Chinese veggies, meats and some type of soup or broth and ate it as a meal.  When I moved back to Manhattan, I got to change up the ramen, but when my mom makes chicken and mushroom, I use that sauce with my ramen and it is slammin’.  So yea, there’s no doubt about my love for ramen.

   

I ordered the menchanko- it’s one of their more popular dishes- and not made with actual ramen.  The noodles were the same texture and I think they were egg noodles- they look like ramen, only fatter [not by much though].  I got the menchanko with kimchi .  Menchanko is the restaurant’s own “original noodle recipe individually cooked in a cast iron bowl. we start with traditional thick ramen noodles in a rich soy broth, then add chicken, shrimp, salmon ball, tofu, ricecake and vegetables.”  My order was shrimp-less, of course.  It was yummers but there was like one thing of each ingredient- it was so weird.  Since there are so many things that come with the noodles though, it seems enough.  There was one beancurd, like two pieces of rice cakes, one piece of chicken – and it was a tiny one at that.  I think they just give you whatever they have on hand.  There was enough to fill me up, and I was craving the kimchi so I was satisfied. 

I want to own that soup ladle!

I came back like two weeks later for some ramen-ramen. 

I feel bad for all the men in my life who I am constantly dragging to have ramen with me.  Sorry, it’s clearly an obsession. 

Friday was the Mid-Autumn Festival!  中秋節!  Many people just refer to it as “ baat yuet sup mm” in cantonese because it occurs on the fifteenth day of the eighth moon.

 I’m sad that there are no actual festivities in New York.  People actually do stuff in China!  I want to do stuff!  I’ve heard it’s geared towards little kids, but who cares?  I want o make lanterns and stare at the moon and all that good stuff [my cousins have told me what goes on, and I've forgotten].  Friday was a cloudy day though. I remember during the moon festival last year, the moon was round and bright- it was really pretty.  My mom usually sets up food & mooncakes & incense for the moon diety; we offer our good wishes, and that’s about it.  Nothing much goes on outside of this. 

My mom brought home these fabulous green tea mooncakes, which is what prompted me to write this post on mooncakes.  They actually taste pretty good- nothing like green tea- well, maybe a little- but not much.  These mooncakes are from the Imperial Jade Mooncake company.  These people have some fancy smancy packaging too; I don’t know what to make of it.  Each one of these mooncakes comes individually boxed; which is nice because it’s harder to mess up when you give one or two away.  We’re suppose to give mooncakes to those we love- okay..  it’s time for research because here’s where I start my random reasoning creative rambling bit.  I need to find out more about this mooncake tradition.

So here goes.  The Mid-Autumn Festival is the festival of reunion.  Family and friends gather to gawk at the beautiful moon, and even if loved ones are far away, you will know when you’re looking up at the moon, your loved ones are looking at the exact same moon with you miles away.  Wiki says it’s common to “put pomelo rinds on one’s head.”  I have no idea where this came from or what this signifies, but I’ve never heard this- ever.  I know some people offer the pumelo to the moon- we have a huge one that costs $8 at home ourselves.  Historically, the fifteenth of the eighth moon represented the time for harvest.

   
a box and a box within the box and a wrapped up mooncake within that box

 
mooncake in its wholeness!

insides! you see the green?

The insides of the mooncake is filled with lotus paste and green tea flavoring [and green coloring perhaps?].  There’s lotus seeds and a big egg yolk in the middle, which I usually avoid.  It’s suppose to represent the roundness of the moon and all the good stuff surounded by the circular shape.  In previous years, I’ve made my mother buy the yolk-less ones because I can’t stand to eat the perserved yolk, but now, I like what it symbolizes, so I just deal with it [though, I always scoop it out before I eat the rest of the mooncake].  Mooncakes tend to be really sweet and this is no different, but with the green tea flavor, the lotus taste is not as overwhelmingly sweet as it usually is, which is a good thing.  I don’t know what to make of the nut though- it’s like a cross between a pumpkin seed and a sunflower seed and I don’t really know what it’s doing in this mood cake.  I don’t think I like my mooncake with a crunch.

Here’s an article that talks more about mooncake history and how mooncakes have evolved over the years.  The article also talks about the famous Snowy or Ice Snow Mochi Mooncakes from Taipan bakery.  I’ve personally never had them, but they sound good.  I love the Japanese mochi ice cream!  My friend Jonathan says they’re not that good, and since he’s never really steered me wrong, I’ll have to trust him until I get my hands on one. 

Someone send me some if you’ve got any!