Oktoberfest and Tsukimi

The wind has blown a warm yellow moon up over the sea; a bulbous moon, which sprouts in the soiled indigo sky, and spills bright winking petals of light on the quivering black water.

-Sylvia Plath

It was time for one of our favorite little celebrations of the year: Oktoberfest. We started the night with some German beer.

Then it was time to dig into the main course!

Apples with caramel apple dip, French bread, German Sausage Kettle, cheddar cheese and summer squash with onion, garlic, tomato and cheese. Yum!

Beer, apples and caramel apple dip

Close-up of the summer squash dish

Chad and Yasu, digging in.

Never realized until that moment that French bread actually makes Chad's eyes roll.

After eating way too much (and adding more German beer and wine to the festivities), we decided it was time to check out the moon. A less well-known celebration in Japan, Tsukimi, or moon-viewing, takes place in the fall to honor the autumn moon. I think this is a really sweet tradition, and falls in line with the cliche about stopping to smell the roses. We should stop and recognize the beauty of the moon every night, and Tsukimi is a nice reminder. And to top it off, part of the tradition includes drinking sake and eating mochi (rice cakes)!

We had some white mochi with a light sugary powder and anko (sweet red bean paste) inside.

This year, the night for Tsukimi fell on September 22nd, but at that time we were on a plane headed to Thailand. I had wanted to celebrate so badly that I checked the moon calendar to find out when the next full moon would be. Turned out it was the same night we had chosen for Oktoberfest, and despite the clouds, we got a great view.

By the way, you might know a tricky little cat (who doesn't know me anymore!) named Tsuki. Please remind him to be nice to us when we visit Michigan next month. We've got tickets to go home for two weeks!