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    Moon Festival

The moulds for these biscuits were rooted out of an old fashioned rack of dusty wooden hand carved moulds in a kitchen ware shop selling pots and pans opposite the art deco Central Market, in Kuala Lumpur. Unfortunately since it was then not the time of year to be making these biscuits there were no pig-shaped moulds to be had. It seems that piggy biscuits rank with Moon Cakes, as the most iconic fare of the Moon Festival. However these are beautifully ornate and skillfully crafted.

I like the idea that although these moulds are made to general, formulaic motifs, if you were to compare moulds of a single motif you will see that they differ where each craftsman has his own distinct flourish and also amongst those made by the same craftsman there is a difference in execution. Then there is the fact that to get the biscuit dough out of a mould you have to give it a fair number of hard whacks so the biscuits come out a little distorted, with different expressions of surprise on their faces (which only deepens when they realise their purpose is to be eaten)! This seems to make them animate, living entities, and goes a little way to describe the deep felt fondness for these quaint little confections.

Moon festival biscuits are made from the dough used to wrap baked mooncakes. I followed the Baked Mini Mooncakes recipe posted on the Do What I Like blog by Florence. A little word of advice, DO resist the temptation to eat these biscuits straight out of the oven. They only moisten and take on their authentic consistency three days after baking, any earlier and you will never find out what the real thing is supposed to taste like!

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   Figgy Jam

This is my first attempt at making jam. The figs and rhubarb are from the garden, hence my sudden inclination to dabble in domestic husbandry, either that or it is mUddle age setting in!

I made this on a whim so the recipe is my own concoction. I therefore can’t give any assurances whether it will have successfully preserved the fruit. My idea is to give away the surplus with instructions to consume it within a couple of weeks or else risk getting belly-wark and dying a horrible death of medieval contortions.

Recipe:

• 1 part figs
• 1 part golden granulated sugar
• ½ part rhubarb
• peelings from several apples (having vague notions that in order for jam to set you need pectin and not sure whether figs or rhubarb contained any)
• juice of lemon

Combine all ingredients and stir continuously over a medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and the figs and rhubarb have almost entirely disintegrated. Pick out the apple peelings with a fork. Turn up the heat and boil up to jam consistency – test by putting a teaspoonful on a dish that has been chilled in the fridge. If it is sticky like jam then it probably is jam. Spoon carefully into recycled jars that have previously been thoroughly washed, sterilised in boiling water and completely dried. Fill the jars right to the top, leaving no room for air to be trapped in the necks. Screw down the lids whilst the jam is still hot. Clean any spilt jam from around the lid.

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   I <3 Double Seed Stitch

To date, I’ve learnt the most about knitting by working through ‘Knitting for Dummies’ by Pam Allen. Though its down-home, no-frills layout is a little bit head scarf & house coat, it delivers clear, concise, easy-to-follow instructions so here I must give the manual its due credit.

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The manual's flat-toned, grey image of a swatch of double seed stitch does nothing to impart the deep, tactile texture created by the offset double-repeat plain and purl stitches of this decorative pattern that pile up to form a quaint, coded fabric of integral, iconic heart-shaped bumps. True to its pragmatic sublimity the manual makes much of the fact that the fabric, “worked in a balanced manner” is “stable” and therefore lays flat with no inclination to curl at the edges.

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To knit this scarf I used:

6 x 50g balls Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky, shade 028 Teal
4.5mm needles

To knit in double seed stitch:

Cast on (or any multiple of 4 stitches, plus 2).
Rows 1 and 4: *k1, p1; rep from * to end of row (end k1).
Rows 2 and 3: *p1, k1; rep* to end of row (end p1).
Repeat rows 1-4 until you have a scarf of your required length.

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