It's moon cake season, as I can tell from the
free samples passed out at the Asian food store
on weekends. (Marina in Cupertino is best for
samples, Maxim seldom has samples of anything,
and Tin Tin closed several months ago.)

After trying them once or twice, I turned them
down because I thought they were made from bean
paste and I don't eat beans. However, Wikipedia
informs me that traditionally they are made from
lotus seed paste, but cheaper ones may have white
kidney beans added as a filler.

Either way, I don't much like them. They look
like fine pastries, and to Western sensibilities
anything that looks like that should be sweet and
luscious. Moon cakes are sweetened, but not
nearly as much as I'd expect in a pastry filling.
The filling is also dense, like peanut butter.
I'd expect a much lighter filling in a pastry.

I try to catch the latest news in the People's
Daily (semi-official newspaper of the Communist
Party of China), and they recently had an article
about the new tax on moon cakes.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90780/7589199.html

Wow! Moon cakes are really expensive in China.
It's a ridiculous tax, for reasons mentioned in
the article. I suppose a "Moon Cake Party" could
get traction, until the authorities became aware
of it.

Next time I'm offered a sample, I'll take it.
I should re-evaluate whether they are really as
uninteresting as I recall.

I was thinking how a moon cake might be improved
in the direction I would like, and it occurred to
me that a lotus seed ganache might be interesting.
Googling "lotus seed ganache" gets exactly one hit
(probably more after I post this), so I'm not the
first person to think of this. I don't think I'll
bother trying to make it, though. Lotus seeds
don't have much flavor, nor an interesting texture.
Maybe I'll change my mind after having another
sample.