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Episode 3 of Our Food Network Digital Series

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Updated: 7/18/2025

Filming Kaitlin and Judy making mooncakes

Episode 3 of our Family Meal digital series with the Food Network is here! Check it out on Foodnetwork.com, or watch on Facebook if you’re outside the United States.

Read more about ep 1 and ep 2

This third and final episode is about preparing a Mid-Autumn Festival meal. After Lunar New Year/Spring Festival, the Mid-Autumn festival (back in September) is the second-biggest Chinese holiday of the year. (We took this episode as the chance to put together our guide on How to Celebrate Mid-Autumn Festival!)

Kaitlin and Judy make mooncakes together, and we all pitch in to craft a big family meal to serve al fresco—under the moon!

woks of life mid-autumn festival al fresco dining set-up

The real focus of the episode is the theme at the heart of The Woks of Life: preserving traditions, memories, and stories through food.

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Behind the Scenes Photos from the Episode

Filming Judy and Kaitlin making mooncakes — *Kaitlin and Judy were tasked with making mooncakes, with Judy showing Kaitlin the ropes*. *It was a little nerve-wracking to get each mooncake looking perfect on camera!*

Preparing a big family meal in the Woks of Life kitchen — *We cooked ten dishes for a big meal with extended family. The kitchen was in a state of organized chaos all day.*

Setting up outdoor dining in the backyard — The Mid-Autumn Festival dinner is traditionally enjoyed outdoors. The production crew rented chairs and a table, as well as beautiful string lights and lanterns for our outdoor meal. We supplied the flowers!

Filming beauty shots of a roast duck — *Taking beauty shots of the Cantonese Roast Duck—a recipe my dad really nailed for our upcoming cookbook.*

Woks of Life family enjoying mid-autumn festival meal — *Family selfie!*

woks of life family meal cast and crew photo — *A class photo of the “cast” (including Barley) and crew* *after filming wrapped.*

Recipes from the Episode

Here are some of the recipes that we featured in this episode. If you’re looking for the recipe for that roast duck—you’ll have to wait just a little longer until the cookbook comes out next fall!

Lotus Paste & Salted Egg Yolk Mooncakes

Lotus Mooncakes with Salted Egg Yolks, by thewoksoflife.com

Crispy Stuffed Lotus Root

Ketchup Shrimp

Enjoy! Also check out our episode of Family Dinner with Andrew Zimmern, available on Discovery+ and coming soon to Magnolia Network (January 2022!).

About

Everyone

This post includes contributions from two or more of us. So rather than deciding who gets a byline, we’re just posting under the general moniker, “Everyone.” Very diplomatic, wouldn’t you say?