My birthday

Last Saturday 7.12 was my birthday, I'm turning into 26. Feeling old already! This year, I made a small party and invited some close friends to celebrate with.

Some handsome sushi, mango passion fruit cheesecake.











I received the Elie Saab perfume as a gift, Le parfum Eau de parfum intense, my favourite scent. The scent of orange blossom and rose honey which make it ultra sensual and feminine & Elie Saab body lotion. How much I love these smells.

One early morning when I came to school, a friend handed me a gift, the Elizabeth Arden with green tea refreshing body lotion and the other gave Fedora hat in summer. Thank you very much, I don't need big party to be happy.

Strawberry Cheesecake Parfaits

I made these parfaits almost 2 years ago, felt a bit strange to make this post today. Anyway, this is a pleasant dessert and very easy to make so I think it's good to share. Recipe is adapted from my favourite blog with step by step instructions.

Ingredients

1 pound (500 gr) of strawberries

 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

 1 cup (100 gr) butter biscuits

 2 tablespoons melted butter

 12 ounces (360gr) cream cheese

 1/2 cup (125ml) sour cream

 2/3 cup (90gr) confectioners' sugar

 1 cup (250ml) whipping cream

 1 teaspoon almond extract

 Instructions

1. Crush the biscuits finely 
2. Mix the crumbs with one tablespoon sugar, and 2 tablespoons melted butter. 
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, mix the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and almond extract. In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. 
4. Using a spatula, gently fold the cream cheese mixture with the whipped cream just until combined. 
5. Slice the strawberries into a larger bowl, sprinkle them with a tablespoon of sugar and toss them around the bowl a little. 
6. Then we are going to need four glasses. 
7. Place about a tablespoon of the crumbs in the bottom of your glasses. 
8. Then layer some of the cheesecake filling, then add some strawberries and repeat this procedure once more. Refrigerate for about 1-2 hours before serving 

Tivoli gardens, part 2

It takes months to have a new post. But you know, school, work, and other things... have taken all my times. They are also a very good excuse for my laziness!

Tivoli gardens is the second oldest amusement part in the world. My hostel is very near to the place so I have a chance to visit there every evening when I was in Copenhagen. It is also where my friend bought for me a Fedora hat for my birthday as an early gift :)

                   

 



                    





You might be disappointed with the ice cream because it was not tasty at all. And what's about the price? Everything is expensive in Denmark.





                    



Wagamama noodles

                  



                  

                  

Copenhagen, part 1

Perhaps none of us that doesn’t know about the fairy tale “The Little Mermaid”. In my childhood reading, I believed that the story has a happy ending but since I grow up, the Little Mermaid has become a sad love story for me. The Mermaid has given up her life and her identity in order to gain the prince’s love and a human soul.

But when the prince marries the princess, her hearts breaks, she has only one chance to become the mermaid again by killing the prince, to let his blood drip on her feet. She chooses to scarify herself instead of killing him. She dies and her body dissolves into sea foam, turns into spirit and be with the air…

I wished I could one time visit the homeland of the author, Hans Christian Andersen. And I got a chance to visit it this summer. Copenhagen, a very modern city but it still brings me the feeling of a fairy land with the beautiful castles, buildings, king and queen…









The sight when I was in Canal tours in Copenhagen

Nyhavn is a perfect place in summer to enjoy the food, coffee and ice cream. You can watch people and the boats go by.  It is also the area where there are many prominent artists living. Hans Christian Andersen was living in one of these.

The water is this emeral green, so pretty!





Some flowers on the way to see the Little Mermaid

The Little Mermaid statue is one of the most important tourist attractions in the city. She is made of bronze, 125 cm tall, 175 kg weight and also a victim of vandalism for several times. She is very small, someone told us not to be disappointed to see her because it is too small compare to our imagination. But I knew it already. Though it was a little bit windy but the weather favoured to us, sunshines for the whole journey!

Buffet in my class

Last Wednesday was the day that all students in my class has to cook his/her own country food. It was fun and interesting to taste the foods from different countries from Europe, Africa to Asia. My classmates are from Spain, Morocco, Pakistan, Russia, China, Mozambique, Thailand and me Vietnam...So, I got the chance to taste international lunch at once.



I made spring rolls and many friends like it. They were asking for the ingredients but since I don't have the recipes with exactly show how to do it. I just put the minced chicken, shrimp, dry shiitake mushrooms, cellophane noodles, eggs, salt, sugar, and pepper, and mixed them together, rolled and fried in pan with oil. They are pretty much simple, isn't it?

Stockholm, 2013

I visited Stockholm 3 weeks ago after 2 years, but I just felt like yesterday because I got the same feeling and excitement. 

My favorite time on board: “testing” the products. 12 hours on board for one way is pretty much. So besides eating, talking, my friend and I went to tax free shop to look around. It was where I found my new beloved perfume : Elie Saab le parfum. I’m saving the money to buy it. When the night came, I went to watch the music show and had some drink…

The quality of buffet on board has been degrading. Some food was still the same but their tastes were so boring comparing to the last 2 years ago. The nice thing was that we were eating next to the window where we could see the sunset on the sea. I didn’t take the camera with me but the sight was really great. Writing these line I still imagine myself sitting near the window enjoy the dinner watching the sun goes down to the orange red cloudy horizon.

Pop up some beautiful Guerlain make up products.

Arrive in Stockholm

Having some strawberry cheese cake at Sundbergs Konditori, the classic coffee with milk. My friend order Sacher cake and cappuchino.













This trip I was supposed to watch the cherry blossom but unfortunately the flowers weren’t bloom yet. When I asked people where is Kungsträdgården (the King’s Garden in Swedish), they showed and I saw nothing. Only trees with branches, a little pinky, nothing as I expected. At home I thought it was a beautiful garden, the flowers must all bloom right now, and all in pink…:(













Playing chest under flowers garden, cool!

Porvoo, part 3

This set of photos taken by my iPhone. Sometimes I wonder whether my iPhone 4S can replace the Canon DSLR? Because it is lighter and also take good photos with wonderful lighting, which I can carry any time with me!





           





          

          

          





          

         









          

          

          







          

           





           

All taken by iPhone