Mooncakes and the Mid-Autumn Festival can reconnect you to a global community

"The little plastic sample tray is empty, but the man behind the counter quickly replaces it with one full of a mooncake cut into teeny-tiny pieces. I grab a piece (OK, a couple) before the jostling crowd behind me can get to it. Samples are, after all, the only reason to visit Costco in the middle of a Sunday. There's a large display of square tins, each decorated with a painting of a Chinese man. I take one back to my mother and ask, "Can we get one?"

The mooncake is traditionally only served during the Mid-Autumn Festival, on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar. They're shared among family and friends as a symbol of wishing prosperity in the coming year. They'll need it, too. A box of four mooncakes generally costs anywhere between $10 and $50 (though more expensive brands can certainly be found), and my parents are usually willing to splurge on the higher end of that scale for their favorite brand".