Cuisine & Culture the Chinese Family Way
To coincide with this year’s Hungry Ghost Festival, which runs from 29 July to 26 August 2022, I decided to share some of my own true ghost stories on this blog. Don’t worry — I only have about eight stories so far, so definitely not enough to fill all 29 days of the festival! I’ll share more when I feel comfortable enough to talk about them.
A few years ago, I wrote an article about the Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival, but I didn’t elaborate on the “don’ts” observed during this period. Now, I would like to share some tips and hope everyone stays safe during this time. Even if you aren’t superstitious or don’t believe in ghosts, it is still respectful to observe these practices when you are in Asian countries, especially around those who do believe.
Even though it was raining cats and dogs yesterday, it didn’t stop us from enjoying ourselves at the National Forest Adventure Farm. They have plenty of indoor soft play areas that are suitable for ages. Also, the Halloween activities like the Scare School, Broomstick Training, and Witch Whispers take place in the indoor Courtyard café area.
After watching the last episode of Great British Bake Off 2015, I was quite sad that I won’t have any more fabulous bakes to look forward to each week to inspire and challenge myself. Nevertheless, Taste100 is challenging bloggers to create hen-inspired cakes to be judged by ex-Bake Off contestant, Chetna Makan!
As the more creative the bake is, the better chance of winning a Mason Cash Bakers Set, along with a Cath Kidston set of containers and apron. So thinking outside the box – since Halloween is coming, I decided to mix both hen and ghost spirits together. I bring to you this Halloween Ghost Chicken Cupcake!
Since I had tried to bake coffee cupcakes, I decided I needed to try to bake tea cupcakes next! I am a big fan of green tea. It is very light and fragrant. The best way to achieve a tasty green tea cake is to use the green tea powder rather than brew from the tea leaves. However, I did find it hard to get the green tea powder from our area, but I do know that they can be found easily in London or Chinatown.
Anyway, I have a box of green tea bags, so I decided to use them. I didn’t want to put the leaves into the cake as my children probably won’t like it hence the flavour and colour are not a very strong shade of green.
Horrid Henry’s Ghost is the eighth Horrid Henry Factbook and is written by Francesca Simon and illustrated by Tony Ross. It was released on 4 September 2014 and published by Orion Books.
The Chinese Hungry Ghost Festival is also known as Zhong Yuan Jie (中元节). In Chinese culture, especially in many Asian countries, the seventh month of the Chinese lunar calendar is regarded as the “Ghost Month”. It is believed that during this time, spirits and wandering souls — including deceased ancestors — are released from the lower realm (in Buddhist belief, the wheel of Samsara) to visit the living world for the entire month.
The Chinese Qing Ming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day, is a special occasion when families pay their respects to departed loved ones at their gravesites. The date changes every year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. In 2014, Qing Ming Festival fell on 5 April. Traditionally, families may visit and pray anytime within 10 days before or after the actual day to avoid heavy congestion at cemeteries and temples.
Last February, my mum and sister flew to the UK to visit us. While they were here, we went on a road trip to Scotland. You can read more about our Scotland trip with Barny here.
We stayed at Premier Inn throughout our holiday in various locations. Our final stop was Edinburgh, where we happened to have rooms opposite my sister’s. I noticed that she followed her usual hotel routine: she knocked on the door and said, “We’ll be sharing the room with you for two nights, thank you.”
This brought back memories from my younger days, when I was told that I must follow this routine. I had completely forgotten about it! Well… not entirely. I don’t knock on the door, but each time I enter a hotel room, I quietly inform ‘them’ that we will be sharing ‘their’ space.
Mr C doesn’t believe in these Chinese superstitions. He thinks I’m completely crazy for doing this!
I’ve had two unpleasant ghost experiences while staying in hotels with him in Italy and Japan, so he’s used to my “crazy” habits by now. That said, I don’t practise these superstitions as much as I used to, especially since my children have started questioning my rather bizarre behaviour.
