Upcoming Tết holiday! Tết holiday is coming. "Tết" is the way Vietnamese call the lunar new year. It is time for family, special friends (sounds like Christmas in some countries). We make "chưng" and "dày" cakes and put them on the family altar on the new year eve. "Chưng" cakes have square shape, which is represent for earth. "Dày" cakes have round shape, which is represent for sky. Our ancient thought that earth is square and sky is round. There is a beautiful story about the born (sự ra đời) of these cakes. You can read it on http://stlukescatholic.com/the-story-of-bnh-chung-and-bnh-dy. Chưng cake is very tasty, and making them is also a wonderful memory. All members of the family take part in making them. Children clean the leaves which will be used to wrap cakes. Grandmother, mother and other women clean rice, pea, and prepare meat. Grandfather, father and other men make them in shape. After that, they make a big fire with wood. Many people stay around this fire through night. Children listen to other old members in family told stories. Nowadays, not many young people know how to make chưng cakes. I have never do all step by myself. I will try it one day, so my children can have opportunity to have the same wonderful memories I had.

Something for today It is difficult for me to choose the entry title. In Vietnamese, I often call it "Tản mạn" (it means I will write any idea raise immediately in my mind, no specific topic, no paragraph structure). Sometime in my life, I'm in bad mood. I don't want to work or learn or even talk to others. I think everybody also has such hard times, so I try not to complain and look for some ways to boost my energy. I read some books like 4-hour-work-week, 80/20, Buddhism theories.. and watch some videos on TED on how to live fully. I still can't find the answer but now I feel better. At least I can make a daily routine and try to follow it :-)

Hanoi autumn & childhood memory about mid-autumn festivals Autumn finally comes. It is always my favourite season. Yellow sunlight, blue and transparent sky, gentle winds, I feel like I'm in heaven. Hanoi in autumn is very beautiful. Hoankiem lake is like a quiet girl with dress made of mist and yellow leaves, and long willow hair. When I was a child, autumn was very special because of mid-autumn festival. My parents made lanterm with waste paper and thin bamboo, then put a candle in the middle. I had being excited for a month before the mid-autumn day. At that day, I bought my lanterm and walk through my small village with my brothers, my sisters and other children. Sparkling lanterm in mid-autumn night is the most wonderful scene in my childhood memory. I also can eat delicious moon-cakes, which is very scarce at that time (because we are so poor, it is not easy to have a full meal, and cakes is something so luxury). There are two types of moon-cakes: grilled moon-cakes which is salty, and limber moon-cakes which is sweet. These photos I took from https://www.flickr.com/photos/nguyenmq2/galleries/72157625214689852/#photo_4974038947 and http://eleganthanoi.com/four-seasons-in-hoan-kiem-lake/

Funny experiment with vitamin B1 and bananas When I was at secondary school, I took part in a biology class. My teacher said that vitamin B1 could help human beings and animals absorb nutrition better. My family has a garden full of bananas, so I decided to make an experiment on a tree with many bunches of bananas. I stirred vitamin B1 into water and inject that liquid to banana, 1 injection on 1 banana each bunch. Nothing happened, so I forgot that experiment. 15 years after, my mother told a story about a beautiful and delicious banana stem with 1 rotten fruit each bunch. She said she reserved that bunch for Tet holiday, but suddenly it has rotten omes. I immediately remembered that terrible experiment and told my mom about that. She laughed for about 10 minutes and continued laughing each time she saw me for next month :-)