It’s 中秋节 but I can’t even see the moon because it’s obscured by the horrible haze! Well, at least I’ve eaten my fill of mooncakes for the season. Although I’m stuck at home, Anya has had a lot of fun these few days attending the various celebrations in the neighbourhood with my mum and aunt. Will put up pictures when I finally get to go home at the end of this week!

My mum bought a bag of 菱角 (ling jiao) for the Mid-Autumn Festival. We used to have them every year when I was a kid but not so much in recent years. I’ve been reading up a bit on the water caltrop which is also known as buffalo nut, bat nut and devil pod. It’s from the same family as the water chestnut and is the seed of some aquatic plant. I read somewhere that eating this is supposed to make kids smarter! I think they look quite freaky!

Let’s hope the haze clears up soon!