1. Giới thiệu trung thu bằng tiếng Anh:

The Mid-Autumn Festival is an important traditional holiday in my country. Mid-Autumn festival is celebrated not only in Vietnam but also in some other parts of Asia as well, such as China, Japan or Korea. And it is often celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar with full moon at night.

In the past, on this day the moon was brightest and roundest which represented the family reunion or gatherings. Therefore, families and friends often came together or harvested crops for the festival.

Nowadays, Mid Autumn Festival is mainly for young children in Vietnam to enjoy the best time of the year. But not only can children celebrate this day but also adults can, adults who wish to have a chance to remind their their childhood and feel young again.

During this exciting Autumn festival, making masks and lanterns is probably one of many activities that take place. A lot of groups of young Vietnamese have created unique and trendy lanterns yet can still preserve the traditional beauty.

So this reminds me back to the time when I was a little kid and living in the countryside where I could contemplate the most oriental feature of this festival, which is the dragon dancing.

Our little alley was teeming with different teams of dragon dancers. Dragon dancers dance to every household in their village, it is like “treat or trick” in western culture, they will not stop until you give them some lucky money.

And when speaking of Mid-Autumn, we can’t help but to mention the Moon cake. The round shape of the moon cake signifies completeness and reunion of families. Making and sharing mooncake is probably one of the hallmark traditions of this festival. But nowadays, in modern time, making mooncakes has given way to the more popular custom of giving mooncakes to family members.

So I have just introduced to you guys one of the most important and fascinating festival in Vietnam and it is Mid-Autumn festival.

2. Một số từ vựng theo chủ đề này:

- Mid-Autumn Festival /mɪd/ /ˈɔː.təm/ /ˈfes.tɪ.vəl/: Tết Trung Thu

- Full-moon Festival /fʊl/ /muːn/ /ˈfes.tɪ.vəl/: Tết Trung Thu

- Children’s festival /ˈtʃɪl.drənz ˈfes.tɪ.vəl/: Tết thiếu nhi

- Lunar calendar /ˈluː.nər/ /ˈkæl.ən.dər/: Âm lịch

- The Moon Lady /ðə/ /muːn/ /ˈleɪ.di/ : Chị Hằng

- The Moon Boy /ðə/ /muːn/ /bɔɪ/: Chú Cuội

- The man in the Moon /ðə/ /mæn/ /ɪn/ /ðə/ /muːn/: Chú Cuội

- The Moon Palace /ðə/ /muːn/: Cung trăng

- Jade Rabbit / Moon Rabbit / Rabbit in the Moon: Thỏ ngọc

- Oriental feature /ˈɔː.ri.ənt//ˈfiː.tʃər/: Nét phương đông

- Banyan tree /ˈbæn.jæn/ /triː/ : Cây đa

- Moon sighting / to gaze at the moon / to admire the moon: Ngắm trăng

- Lantern /ˈlæn.tən/: Đèn lồng

- Star-shaped lantern: Đèn ông sao

- Carp-shaped lantern: Đèn cá chép

- Mask /mɑːsk/: Mặt nạ

- Light lanterns: Thắp đèn

- Lantern parade: Rước đèn

- Platform/ˈplæt.fɔːm/: Mâm cỗ

- Mooncake /ˈmuːn.keɪk/: Bánh trung thu

- Lion dance: Múa sư tử / múa lân

- Dragon dance: Múa rồng

- Bustling/ˈbʌs.lɪŋ/: Náo nhiệt

- Yet vibrant /jet/ /ˈvaɪ.brənt/ : Rực rỡ

- Paper votive offerings /ˈpeɪ.pər//ˈvəʊ.tɪv//ˈɒf.ər.ɪŋz/: Hàng mã

- Family reunion /ˈfæm.əl.i//ˌriːˈjuː.njən/: Gia đình sum họp

- Gatherings/ˈɡæð.ər.ɪŋz/: Tụ họp, sum vầy

- Take place: Diễn ra

- Vivid/ˈvɪv.ɪd/: Nhiều màu

- Contemplate /ˈkɒn.təm.pleɪt/: Thưởng ngoạn

- Teeming with /ˈtiː.mɪŋ/ /wɪð/: Ngập tràn

- Signify /ˈsɪɡ.nɪ.faɪ/: Tượng trung cho

3. Chúc bạn mùa Trung thu 2021 này có những kỷ niệm tuyệt vời, vui vẻ và nhớ mãi <3

#Congratulations! Director Hsin-Chien Huang's latest VR works, Samsara and The Starry Sand Beach, were nominated for the 78th Venice International Film Festival!

The 78th Venice International Film Festival (VIFF) announced the shortlisted nominees for the category of VR Film. Taiwanese new media artist, Distinguished Professor of NTNU, Hsin-Chien Huang, winner of the BEST VR Experience in 2017 with his work La Camera Insabbiata, will again contest for the Leone d’oro this year with two of his latest, sci-fi inspired works, Samsara and The Starry Sand Beach. While the Taiwanese athletes are striving for the Gold Medals at the Tokyo Olympics as we speak, director Hsin-Chien Huang dazzles the jury of VIFF with his visually-stunning and thought-provoking works — bringing cutting-edge Taiwanese VR films onto the international stage and letting world-wide audience sees Taiwan!

Before being selected for the 78th Venice International Film Festival, Samsara episode 1. has already grabbed the Jury Award at SXSW and Best VR Story at the Cannes XR Competition. This futuristic VR experience teleports the audience onto a journey that spans millions of years. Samsara is a Sanskrit word meaning “ the world ”. In Buddhism, it means what we perceive as the world is actually an endless cycle of karma (cause and effect), a cycle of life, death and rebirth in the six realms of existence. In this fascinating VR work, the audience is reincarnated into the bodies of different persons and creatures, experiencing the universe in their new bodies and in search for the ultimate spiritual transcendence.

Samsara depicts an apocalyptical story in the near future where human greed has depleted the earth’s resource. Catastrophic wars to fight for resource resulted in global destruction. Finally, the remaining humans had to leave the Earth and go on a search in space for a new place to live.

Nevertheless, their desperate, long quest for a new homeland… could it be just a loop in space and time? The cycle of greedy domination and total destruction that then necessitates the search for a new home…. may have hopelessly repeated itself over and over again? The constant evolutionary process and so-called progress, without transformation in consciousness and spiritual advancement, is nothing more than a Möbius strip that leads nowhere, perhaps…?

Samsara is an experiment based on the theory of Embodied Cognition. Through interactivity and VR, the audience gets to live inside the bodies of different persons and creatures, experiencing their feelings from within. Perhaps It is when we can perceive the world in different bodies that we may truly appreciate the thoughts of others and empathize with them. An experience that will also help us better comprehend our own existence and learn to live in harmony with all.

Samsara explores a complex of deeply interconnected issues of ecology, technology, natural resource and war, etc. It's a story about a journey humans are forced to take on, after having destroyed the earth with nuclear disasters. The survivors seek a new planet, in the boundless, interstellar space, to carry on their lives. Gradually they evolve into a new life form artificially. Yet, many years passed and they’ve come to realize that they would never make it to the new planet they’ve been dreaming of. In fact, they have simply been returning to the Earth, in different life forms, time after time.

Director Huang applies the concepts of embodied cognition, offering a unique way to contemplate about the nature of life. As the audience are transported into different bodies each time, they gain a brand new perspective to experience the world views presented in Samsara.

Samsara was produced under the guidance of Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) and Kaohsiung Film Archive VR(VR FILM LAB), it’s a sate-of-the-art VR production made 100% in Taiwan. In the VR experience, viewers are transformed into various kinds of animals to interact with the scenes, including species unique and indigenous to Taiwan, such as Taiwan Blue Magpie and Formosan Black Bear.

Samsara Ep.1 features the latest somatosensory technology, including 4D views shooting techniques by the Industrial Technology Research Institute and TAICCA. A digital shooting system comprised of a high-sensitivity 4 million-pixel, full-color CCD sensor and 48 4DV-EX-Z cameras made it possible for Samsara Ep.1 to be taken from an omnidirectional view and shot without any blind spots, creating the ultimate immersive experience.

THE STARRY SAND BEACH, directed by Hsin-Chien Huang and produced in cooperation with Lucid Reality (France) and Oready 瑞意創科 Oready Innovation Lab (Taiwan), is a scientific fairy tale about a unique ecological wonder in Taiwan and Japan, the shiny starry sand beaches. Foraminifera, from the Latin word “foramen” meaning hole, is a single-celled organism that builds a shell with multiple chambers which intercommunicate with one another through holes. On the Qimei Island, Taiwan and the Yaeyama Islands, Japan, beaches have been formed by a specific species of foraminifera with star-shaped shells made of calcium carbonate. Like the real stars in the legends, grains of the starry sand have also been preserving the earth’s memories for millions of years.

THE STARRY SAND BEACH is a real-time 3D interactive VR adventure into the natural and mythological landscape of the starry sand beaches on Qimei Island in Penghu Archipelago, Xing Sha Wan in Kenting National Park and Taketomi Island in the far south of Japan. The experience is full of aesthetically-amazing elements and enriched with cultural and religious significance like Shintoism in Japan. A beautiful, haunting legend tells the story of the starry sand…

The final winners will be presented at the award ceremony held on Sep11. With great anticipation and hopes, Hsin-Chien Huang is expected to bring home again the grand prize for Taiwan!

https://www.labiennale.org/en/news/selection-complete-works-venice-vr-expanded-0

#黃心健 #HsinChienHuang
#samsara #chalkroom
#LaCameraInsabbiata
#VeniceInternationalFilmFestival #VIFF
#Thestarrysandbeach
#LucidReality
#OreadyInnovationLab

Happy Children’s Day 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦✨🌈
They’re the ones that fill the world with sunshine, love and hope☀️

Our first piñata surprise- centre cake of star-shaped confetti ⭐️ You may customise your own topper too!

• Let Them Be Little •
HKD 880
(with “oh baby” topper)

Find out more : (852) 98418877

#piñata #childrensday

Somen is perfect refreshing food for hot and humid summer season :)

Sōmen (素麺) is very thin Japanese noodles made of wheat flour. The noodles are usually served cold in summer with a dashi flavored tasty dipping sauce called Mentsuyu (めんつゆ).

Kids requested me to make Edamame and Corn Nagashi Somen (Flowing Somen). Edamame and corn were pretty easy to catch and eat 😉 Kids enjoyed it very much 👍

Soomen Party (Flowing Somen Machine):
https://amzn.to/2VCzqkd

Basic Nagashi Somen (Flowing Somen Noodles) Recipe:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOjnmdfA0QU

---------------------------------
Edamame Corn Flowing Somen Noodles Recipe

Difficulty: Very Easy
Time: 15min
Number of servings: N/A

Ingredients:
((Toppings))
frozen edamame and canned kernel corn are OK! (Fibers may get stuck in the machine, so you want to be careful.)
Star-Shaped Dried Wheat Gluten are cute: https://amzn.to/3i3z41G
Other Topping Ideas:
boiled eggs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agsRmI4F2mI
Kinshi Tamago (shredded egg crepe) is perfect https://youtu.be/6tgDi2Ny3VI?t=49s
cooked shrimp
simmered Shiitake mushrooms https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_sRN0HvrGA
goldfish tomatoes (optional)
cucumber slices (or thin strips)
ham
shredded chicken
Yakibuta (braised pork) is good
Shiso leaves
Naganegi (long onion slices)
Aonegi (chopped green onions)
ginger strips
etc...
((Somen Dipping Sauce))
Yamasa Mentsuyu (noodle soup base)
https://amzn.to/3xOqyZq
((Somen Noodles))
dried Somen noodles

Directions:
((Somen Dipping Sauce))
I used this Mentsuyu (noodle soup base) btw: ヤマサ ぱぱっとちゃんと これ！うま！！つゆ https://amzn.to/3xOqyZq
Dilute with water as instructed on its package.
((Somen Noodles))
Boil water in a large pot. Add dried Somen noodles in boiling water and gently stir noodles with chopsticks. Cook Somen noodles according to your package (mine was 2 min). Drain the noodles in a strainer and rinse the noodles with hands under running water.

NOTE: You can put about 100g (usually 2 bundles) of Somen noodles in the machine or the noodles won't flow.

((Somen Dipping Sauce from scratch))
* 300ml Dashi broth (using packaged dashi powder saves time)
* 4 tbsp. Mirin (sweet Sake)
* 4 tbsp. soy sauce
In a pot, bring Dashi broth, Mirin, and soy sauce to a boil. You can also microwave until it comes to a boil. Cool in the fridge until ready to serve.

↓レシピ（日本語）
https://cooklabo.blogspot.com/2021/07/Edamame-Corn-Somen-Noodles.html
---------------------------------

Music by
YouTube Audio Library

Follow me on social media. If you have recreated any of my food, you can share some pictures #ochikeron. I am always happy to see them.

♥FOLLOW ME HERE♥
http://instagram.com/ochikeron/
https://www.facebook.com/ochikeron
https://plus.google.com/+ochikeron
http://twitter.com/ochikeron

♥My COOKBOOK available on Amazon Kindle♥
http://amzn.to/2EwR3ah
NO MORE hard copies... those who got one are lucky!

♥More Written Recipes are on my BLOG♥
http://createeathappy.blogspot.com/

♥My Recipe Posts in Japanese♥
http://cooklabo.blogspot.jp/
http://cookpad.com/ami
http://twitter.com/alohaforever

♥and of course PLEASE SUBSCRIBE♥
http://www.youtube.com/user/ochikeron?sub_confirmation=1

The dough is easy to make for these crispy, delicious piped cookies! enjoy!

生クリームに珈琲を溶かして加えると、珈琲の香り豊かな、さくっさくのクッキーが出来ます。
作った人偉いっ、あ、私でした、、笑
クッキーも珈琲も大好きなので、大好きな物をひとつにしました。
何枚でも食べられますっ。
バターはホイップ状にすると、グルテンができにくくなってサクサクの生地になるので、しっかりと泡立て器で混ぜて下さい。
焼く前に冷やすことで形も綺麗に焼き上がりますよ＾＾

レシピは下にあります↓

フォロー&いいね! も お願いします!!!!!!
twitter
https://twitter.com/cookkafemaru
instagram
https://www.instagram.com/kafemaru/?hl=ja

==================================================

最新刊も発売中～本屋さんで見てもらえると嬉しいです!
みんなぜひぜひ買ってねーーーー!!!

大人気YouTuber “cook kafemaru”の
「罪深いスイーツ」
おかげ様で2刷になりました。

Amazonはこちらから購入できます↓↓↓
https://www.amazon.co.jp//dp/4046048948/
==================================================
「世界一作りやすいおうちスイーツ 」
もおかげ様で10刷になりました。
どうもありがとうございます。
ほんとうにありがとうございます!

Amazonで購入できます。↓↓↓
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/4046045116/

もしもお住いの近くの本屋さんになかったら、セブンイレブンの
オムニ7でネット予約し、セブンイレブン店頭受け取りで買うことができます!
=============================================

【Ingredients】23Cookies
2oz Unsalted butter
1.2oz Powdered sugar
●1.8oz Heavy Whipping cream
●2 tbsp Instant coffee powder
3.5oz Cake flour 　

【Directions】
①Mix the ● ingredients and once dissolved.
②Make butter soft and creamy.
Add powdered sugar and mix more.
③Mix it with a whisk until it gets white and soft.
④Add ① and mix.
⑤Add sifted cake flour, and mix with spatula.
⑥Add the mixture from Step ⑤ to a piping bag fitted with a largish star-shaped nozzle and pipe out onto a baking try lined with parchment paper.
⑦Cool it in the freezer 30 mins.
⑧Preheat the oven at 356 °F/180℃ and bake them for about 16 min and serve!

***れしぴ置き場***

【材料】直径3cmに絞り出して23枚できます
無塩バター 60g　
粉糖 35g
●生クリーム 50g
●インスタントコーヒー(粉末) 大さじ 2（6g）
薄力粉 100g 　

【作り方】
①生クリームにインスタントコーヒーを入れてよく混ぜて溶かす。
***綺麗に溶かすためにコーヒーは必ず粉末を使って下さい。
②ボウルにバターを入れてゴムベラで柔らかくしたら、粉糖を加えてよく混ぜる。
③泡立て器に持ち替えて白っぽくふんわりするまでよく混ぜる。
***腕が疲れますが頑張って混ぜるとサクサクの生地になります。
④ここに①の生クリームコーヒーを加えてよく混ぜる。
⑤薄力粉をふるい入れて、ゴムベラで切り混ぜる。
⑥大き目口金を付けた絞り袋に生地を入れて、オーブンシートを敷いた天板に絞り出す。
***クッキングシートを使って絞り出すときにシートが動いて絞りにくいときは、天板の4か所ほどに生地を少し取ってくっつけ、それからクッキングシートを敷くとシートが動かずに絞りやすくなります。
⑦冷凍庫に入れて30分冷やす。
***冷凍庫に入らないときは、小さなシート何枚かにに絞り出して凍らせてしまってください、その後天板に移して焼きます。
⑧オーブンを180℃に予熱し、しっかりと温まったら16分焼く。
***オーブンは前もってしっかりと温めておくと絞り出しの形が綺麗に焼き上がります。

Star shaped bath bomb 'Rainbomb'. The shape is cute, but the dissolving process is more cute! It makes your bath to rainbow! It has a lemonade scent. The bath bomb don't have fizzy sound, so I used BGM. If you don't like the BGM, please check latter part of this video.
#japanesestuffchannel, #bathbomb, #rainbow