Paris, Je T’aime: learn how to make and decorate macarons

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La Cuisine Paris school

My dear Beard,

Do you like macarons? If you have a sweet tooth, you definitely want some as they are so sweet and sugary. Exactly, sugar is an essential component in macaron shells as it contributes both to flavor and structure of the finished product. I have tried my hand at macarons sometimes before, but as they always said, macaron seems like the Princess of Dessert Kingdom that hard-to-get. Making macarons is all about your luck. Sometimes you win, or sometimes you lose. Nothing can guarantee the successful result.

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Happy kitchen: Vietnamese sour clam soup with dill

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Credit: My cooking studio Tap De kitchen boutique

My dear Beard,

You should know:

1. I love sweet, sour and spicy taste. That why I am always crazy about mango salad, everywhere and every day in my life.

2. I also love seafood of all sort and I’m so thankful for being raised in Nha Trang, where you can eat fresh fishes, shrimps, crabs and squids all the time with a cheap price.

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This love is silent: Imagine he loved me

We can’t be faulted for who we fall in love with, just as he can’t be faulted for not knowing that I loved him, even for … 20 years.

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I took this pic when in London and it’s my favorite shot. It brought me back to my first love, err, my first silent love ever…

My dear Beard! 

A friend of mine recently posted a super old photo on her Facebook. It was taken 20 years ago during the first day of secondary school when our class was trying to take a dump ID photo together. I was touched to see little me. I looked so tiny and silly in that picture, as did all of my classmates. Then I saw Curly. My first love.

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Happy kitchen: Soy milk with peanut and fried sticky rice

This is the best soy milk I have had

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I usually make this soy milk at my cooking school called Tap De kitchen boutique

My dear Beard,

My grandma was a Buddhist and a lifelong vegetarian. She even made yummy veggie food for a living. Her shop only opened twice a month when there was a full moon, but it was famous enough to make people in town queue up and happy to be served.

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The big year: 10 things i realized when I reached this age

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Me and my 32, taken at hometown.

My dear Beard,

I turned 30 last week. For some reasons, it was surprisingly different than any age before. I celebrated it at home with family for the first time since I moved out 15 years ago. My parents made me a BBQ party, my auntie and cousin brought me a cake, my brother helped me out to decorate the house, and my high school classmates came to cheer up with coke, haha. It was like my 18th birthday party, sweet and pure.

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Happy kitchen: Avocado with condensed milk and coconut meat

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It’s sweet, creamy, fatty but good for a diet, and only 5 min  to make.

My dear Beard,

I met  Darija  at a hostel in Edinburg, Scotland when backpacking around the UK.  She’s a young and beautiful Croatian girl who lives in Sydney.  I liked her very much and we decided to explore the city together. The first thing we did was trying to find avocado in town because Darija said: “I love avocado, and I haven’t had it for such a long time!”. And that “long time” was, well,  four days.

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