Early bird…

As the English proverb goes, “It’s the early bird that catches the worm.” Well, it’s only the middle of the 5th Month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar and the Mooncake Festival will be in the 8th Month on the 12th of September this year, to be exact…but these biscuits are already in the market…

These are what we called pek-guek pia (8th Month biscuits) or tong chiew pia (Mid-autumn biscuits) and are a Foochow specialty.

I used to like those from Sarikei, a neighbouring town here which is about an hour or so away by road but my sister gave me these the other day…

These are made in Sibu and the packaging is different this year with the biscuits placed in a tray. I guess that’s a good thing as it will probably prevent breakage in transit.

To my delight, they are really very good – with the fragrance of lard and the other ingredients like sesame seeds that go into the making of the biscuits. My sister also sent some to our cousins in Kuching and one even remarked that they’re nicer than Scottish shortbread – now you can imagine how nice these these biscuits actually are. LOL!!!

It certainly looks like this is the one for me this year…