October~ cakes, and pies, and the moon

October for me has been a month of many things- School picking up speed, late Summer finally conceding to the reality of Autumn, Halloween, two of my three brothers birthdays, and of course my own birthday. One thing has been constant for October- pumpkin pie. Every year I go through several pumpkin pies… sometimes by myself. Luckily I have a high metabolism. Every year the first day pumpkin pies appear in the grocery store is like a little celebration for me. I remember last year I got the first pumpkin pie delivered to Devon Market in Chicago straight off the delivery truck. I was smiling the whole two block walk back to my apartment. You can imagine my excitement as October rolled around here in China. I generally tend to eat in Chinese restaurants and avoid western food, but I was ready for some pumpkin pie. It’s a part of my life. I saw some pumpkins around Beijing so I assumed there would be pumpkin pie. I assumed wrong. (Insert emphatic sigh) I have searched high and low, and much to my chagrin I have found nothing. Even in the western district of Sanlitun, which I like to think of as the nanban quarter after Dr. Fair’s Asian Studies class at Loyola. There are some western coffeehouses that have pumpkin lattes, but it’s not the same.
My birthday was on the 19th and I guessed that maybe my friends had found a pumpkin pie for me to eat. The day rolled by and one of my friends brought by a cake, but no pie. Later we went to the Peking Opera. The performance was spectacular with beautifully panted faces, elaborate costumes, and a very interesting vocal range. The night came to a close with no pie. It was the first birthday in my extant memory without pumpkin pie.
Even when I left Beijing for a weekend with one of my Chinese friends, there was no pumpkin pie. I went to Tainjin by bullet train for one weekend. All over the city were the remnants of concessions, which were basically foreign enclaves run by the major European powers, Japan, and the United States to extract wealth from China through trade domination. My favorite concession was one with a hmmm, Hapsburg feel? It had lots of German and Italian restaurants and had a lot of neo-renaissance style architecture. It was weird being so European/Colonial in China. Even with the foreign presence long gone, the old concessions had turned into hip hangouts for Chinese who wanted to experience the west at all the cool cafes and restaurants. My hope was with all the foreign places I would find some pumpkin pie. Alas, there was none to be found. However, I did get a kind of sweet to placate me for a while. The time in Tianjin was the Mid-Autumn Moon festival and that meant one thing- MOONCAKES!
If you don’t know, mooncakes are popular treat in the fall popular in the sinosphere. They are given out as gifts to coworkers, friends, and relatives during the mid-autumn moon festival as a sign of affection/recognition of an important relationship. There are many kinds of fillings- my favorite being redbean paste, green tea, or lotus seeds. They are so sweet and delicious. The filling is so thick, that even though the cakes are relatively small, each one is about 1,000 calories. Yikes. Once I ate five in one day. Mooncakes abounded in Tianjin and I was able to have my fill. One night after riding bikes around the city my friend Elvis, his friends, and myself all posed with mooncakes held up in the air next to the full moon. That was really cool. Tianjin is a city known for its sweets, so the mooncakes proved exceptional. It was really nice to eat them by the ocean, even if the ocean was black from China’s absurd amount of industrial waste. The feeling was great- sun, friends, sweets, and the sounds of ocean. Still, on the bullet train ride back to basecamp in Beijing, I was still craving pumpkin pie.

My hope was about to run out on the pumpkin pie when a dessert party was planned for this week on Wednesday to help alleviate the stress of this week’s midterms. I half joking said to Mariel in student development at the start of the week, “If only there would be pumpkin pie at the dissert party. I would be so happy”. She replied with a diplomatic, “We’ll see what I can do”. The next day I saw Mariel with Kevin in the main office of TBC and I inquired about the pie. Kevin was also diplomatic with words and then Mariel turned to Kevin and said, “I think I can do it”. Kevin looked shocked and said, “You can get pumpkin pie in Beijing?” She smiled at both of us and said, “I know a guy”. I guess word had gotten around from Fr. Gene how much I had enjoyed pie (I told him on my birthday how much I had missed it). The following day I got an email from Mariel in the morning, “I have the pie, but only one so be early to the party!”
I was the first one at the party, and there it was in all its glory in the center of the table- PUMPKIN PIE! The first bite was amazing, followed by the second… all the way to the crust. I was so happy. Everyone could see the happiness on my face. I swear the pie was what got me through the rest of midterms and then on to the Guilin expedition, which I’ll talk about in my next blog. Mariel later told me that her roommate knew a guy who knew a guy who had the supplies and had a Chinese baker friend. He sold the pies, complete with homemade whipped cream for around 160 RMB, which is equivalent to about 27 dollars. However complicated the deal was, it was worth it. Remind me next time I am going to china to stash pumpkin pie filling cans and spices and a powerful mini-oven ( WHY ARE THERENO OVENS IN CHINA???) so I can make my own pies and sell them to make a profit off the foreigner community. Anyhow, I need to get back to work on some presentations. Peace for now~