When did you first pick up a rugby ball?
Before playing rugby, martial arts, track and field were my sports. When I came to Beijing in 1993 to join the China Agricultural University I remember the first day I went to the training pitch around nine o'clock in the morning. That was my first time touching a rugby ball and that is how my rugby career began.
When did you realize that this is what you wanted to do for a career,...[read more]
You've been heralded as China's finest ever player and an ambassador for the sport here. Ever get recognised on the street?
No, the Chinese rugby scene is not very large. Some friends joke by saying those who play rugby in China should know Johnny Zhang and if they don't they don't really like rugby.
All that tackling and no padding: have you ever had any serious injuries?
Training is hard and is always accompanied by exhaustion, sweat and injuries, but all sports...[read more]
The owners of the St. Regis Shanghai are Yunnanese tobacco chain Hongta. It makes sense then that as part of the expo celebrations they should pull some strings back home and bring Yunnan food to the big city. For just one week, the Yunnan cuisine association sent some of Yunnan's top chefs to the St. Regis to cook up some unusual veggies and healthy Yunnan specialties.
Now as you may or may not be aware, veggies are not my forte -...[read more]
The new IFC Mall in Lujiazui smells of money, in fact it reeks of it. The halls are gorgeous, wide and empty (as are the shops) and everything is all marbly and shiny. If you want exclusivity this is the place to go, a whopping 15% of the stores opening are making their China debut. Just walking through I felt like an imposter and I'm sure I looked like one. I don't think they get many five kuai noodle slurping,...[read more]
I am carnivore, pure and simple. I was bought up in rural France where vegetarianism was a rude word and vegetables themselves were only acceptable smothered in cheese or cream. When my friends were fantasizing about chocolate and Ben & Jerry's (as opposed to Ben or Jerry) I was thinking about an inch thick piece of bloody steak - bloody steak slathered in a sickeningly rich sauce preferably made out of some other kind of meat. Even now when I'm...[read more]
Forgive me if I wax lyrical for a couple of minutes about the virtues of photography but I have to confess I'm bit of a photography geek (general geek if I'm honest - don't tell anyone). Since its development in the early Nineteenth Century the camera has recorded history, changed the course of a war and reflected the world we live in, in a way that would have been impossible to capture in any other medium. It is also an...[read more]
When I was a kid, my only exposure to figs was the bible and my great-grandma's box of Fig Newtons; think evil Egyptian Pharaohs or the smell of nursing homes. As you might guess, neither the concept of stale "fiber boosters" nor heathens burning in hell were very appealing.
Then, after college I made it out of the United States and motorcycled around Crete. I was converted. Oh! They were everywhere! Figs - gorgeous, sweet, luscious figs -- were laden upon...[read more]
CocoRosie are the monikers of sisters Bianca and Sierra, modern nomads with an appetite to engage with the Spirits of Creativity and Imagination. Influences from numerous cultures and types of music fuel their own, melding and building a beautiful chaos that can be unraveled to a string of complexities. It is the style of CocoRosie to, what seems, effortlessly fuse genres like classical opera to hip hop. Bianca (Coco)...[read more]
My vegetarian eyes wet at the sight of black and brown squirrels suffering from heat stroke, resting on their backsides with their limbs pointing toward the heavens. I studied them carefully for minutes, unable to come to a decision. Beside me, mesmerized young families voiced their desires to take the little creatures of varying furs home. Within them lacked what I had; they owned no fragment of concern about the unconscious animals.
I ventured onward through the maze-like and partially open...[read more]
One of the most recommended experiences from my travels is the traditional bathhouse found throughout Seoul and possibly South Korea. These bathhouses are communal and best for the overly self-conscious to help rid yourself of stupid anxieties. Worried about your saggy breasts, ass, or tummy? I'm sure someone at the jimjilbong will have it worse, yet continue to parade around flaunting her goodies.
Centrally located in Seoul, the jimjilbong we went to was small, homey and filled with the requisites: shower...[read more]
A good friend, GP, was recently raving about a salad. We had just awoke, at the crack of 11am, and were downstairs watching a watermelon turn into a smoothie. I was blabbing again about how great the fruit was. "Oh yea, I totally agree," my friend said. "My favorite is watermelon and feta salad."
I'm ashamed to admit, my little "food prejudice demons" immediately started screaming "NO WAY!" Watermelon, as I mentioned in a earlier blog, is to me the...[read more]
Attention all EnjoyShanghai.com users, would Mandarin Morning kindly come to the service desk so we can slap you with a wet fish? While leaflet spam makes wonderful toilet paper when you're running low, and tinned Spam is actually not as inedible as it's made out to be, online spam is relatively useless and we really have no purpose for it. We suggest you find another site where you can mark your territory using urine and excrement.
Thank you for your attention.
There's no surfing involved in this trip for numerous reasons: First, I'm too clumsy to balance on anything. Second, Seoul is far and stormy. Third, surfing may be more expensive than the plane ticket I bought. I mean, I'll need to buy some trees and plant them to offset my carbon footprint, but the two-hour journey cost >200USD. Enough of those rambles.
I'm really aching for live music since the last show was Abigail Washburn's two weeks ago. Regretfully I missed...[read more]
Allright ladies and jellymen, I tried out the gazpacho recipe from last week (with mostly Chinese ingredients instead of "basil, goat cheese etc) and it was awesome and involved little sweating on my part. But I tweaked it again. Here were my proportions
7 super ripe, red, juicy tomatoes. Discard pips, chop
2 small tender cucumbers, roughly chopped
1 lemon, juiced -- seeds removed
4 cloves garlic, chopped. (I stuck the garlic to soak in the lemon juice)
15-20 sprigs of cilantro, chopped roughly....[read more]
I never thought I'd be the one to have a cautionary tale, a message to impart about something that happened and not just to someone I know or had heard about, because these things happen to other people, not me. The story goes that two weeks ago I was admitted to hospital with severe abdominal pain, after three days of trying to convince myself that it didn't hurt that much because I had no idea...[read more]
From this cautionary tale, my advice is this: you need insurance. If you're somewhere where you'd need to pay for anything medical, and I'm guessing for most expatriates in Shanghai this would be the case, then you need to be insured; there's no two ways about it. Chances are you won't ever need it, and in hindsight it's easy to come back from a trip overseas and wish you could somehow get a refund...[read more]
Unfamiliar to Abigail’s music, I went to Yuyintang Sunday on a whim and was immediately possessed by the energy of the band to the point that tears fell from my eyes during three songs. Hormones may be to blame, but the music captured American folk, soul, jazz and funk, blended it into an honest experience. The music made me want to sip slowly...[read more]Posted: Thursday, July 15, 2010 under Special Events
What I'm (non) cooking tonight
One of my favorite things to do is peruse the food and dining section of the New York Times and LA times...especially when I'm hungry, sick of eating noodles or had a particularly unsatisfying lunch. My bookmark is literally crawling with recipes and half-cocked ideas.
While many of the recipes, NYT's especially, can be a little high-handed and relatively impractical in China - it's more for the concept. And a lot of recipes can meld...[read more]
After the down tempo DJ stepped down from the Zhijiang stage, the Caribou crew began their hour-long preparation, which left a crowd of really antsy kids. Every time a band member stepped out of the green room to contribute to the preparation, the bell of anxiety was tolled. "Woooo! Awwww…." Beat. Beat. Beat. "Wooooo! Awww…" Beat. Beat. Beat. My heart palpitated and my nerves wanted that reggaeton nonsense to cease.
The visual experience was so...[read more]Posted: Wednesday, July 07, 2010 under Special Events
How is that weather reports say it’s only 47% humidity when I feel like I’ve been sitting, walking and breathing in a steam room all day? The water fan combos situated at a number of al fresco restaurants blow steam at guests instead of doing what they’re supposed to do, COOL! Being one prone to perspiration, I have created a list of to-dos to keep sane.
First? Watermelons. Monica has written about the glorious fruit from fresh to juice, and I...[read more]
I tell my more gullible friends that on Sundays I race dragons because it makes me feel like the Atreyu of Shanghai. (“Call my name, Bastian! Please! Save us!”). Sigh. But what I really mean is that for the past few weeks my Sunday mornings have seen me peeling myself away from my womb-like bed at the crack of dawn to spend the morning in a hard wooden boat trying to co-ordinate my paddle with 20 other people...[read more]
Well, it's finally that time of year. The time when the only thing that seems worth buying at the fruit stall are the watermelons piled so high, so vibrant green, so cool and fresh looking, that the rest of the fruit looks wane and dusty.
There are three main types of watermelons that seem to be on market. The big seeded red ones -- super sweet, brilliant red, full of seeds. The little red ones -- also super sweet and crisper,...[read more]
King Khan spent some time setting up the environment of the stage, putting up a gold background with an under-the-sea colorful fabric covering it. A hand drawn octopus floated on it. The two characters wore sequined disco pants and King Khan a stunning purple sequined top. I’m convinced that the show’s energy stems from how bedazzled the clothing was. Other possibilities for magical accents? King Khan had a few of his nails also painted purple, to match his top I...[read more]
Relishing the upcoming reprieve from work - despite the unfortunate seven straight days of work in consequence - it feels like a moment for a little storybook time about why we should all be riding dragons down the neighborhood river and stuffing our faces with filling bundles of zongzi.
As with all myths, there are many supposed reasons why we race dragon boats every year on the fifth month of the fifth day of the lunar calendar. The most popular myth...[read more]
You never forget your first time. That wash of vulnerable trepidation as you attempt something important for the very first time; a landmark life experience from which so many more will follow. Your first time away from home. Your first driving lesson, with your dad in an old car he'd bought specially, as you bunny hopped your way through a mowed-in-the-grass pretend crossroads in the field next to your house. The first time you locked lips with a member of...[read more]
My solo reply in kind was to butcher the seminal 1996 hit ‘2 Become 1' by The Spice Girls, a ‘slow ballad focusing on how the bonding of two lovers can become so strong that they practically become one entity, through the act of sexual intercourse' [1]. Their thinly veiled message on the importance of contraception served to encourage a generation of young female followers to develop greater self-empowerment - Girl Power. But, more importantly, it suited my weirdly...[read more]
It seems to be the season for wine tastings, so I would just like to pause a moment to reflect on these events. In terms of spending smarts, wine tastings are not generally events for the masses who count their jiaos and maos. However, I have found that in Shanghai you can increasingly attend these events without searing your pocketbook or offending your palate with rotgut.
I have to say, RMB200 is about my limit. I'm a cheapo though, and a...[read more]
My evening with Marnie began with an unexpected surprise of babe-alicious students from an international school in Shanghai. The high school band's female bassist and vocalist, plus a male guitarist, emerged wearing casual attire with the bassist wearing patterned pajama pants. Vogue magazine would have covered their impeccable style had they been in attendance. Skillful at rousing the crowd, many of which were their peers, the trio knocked out a few tunes before The Fever Machine came to the stage....[read more]
In case you hadn't noticed, there's an Expo in town. And it seems like an increasing number of the people I meet have just arrived for said Expo, or to Shanghai in general, to work or to visit. Upping sticks for a new life, however brief (and especially to China), may be very different to anything they've known before.
So if you're fresh off the plane as once was I, you have much to learn my friend. Remember, ‘There are no...[read more]
6. Be a cunning linguist. Learn some key phrases. Needs must, and my first five phrases in order of importance were: ni hao (hello), xie xie (thank you), zai jian (goodbye), mei you rou (no meat) and dui (yes/agree). (It's the vegetarian's mantra! "Hello! I agree, no meat. Thank you, goodbye!"). Also, Chinese language podcasts you could probably Google on the intranet machine or something. In the meantime, having a Chinese-speaking acquaintance on call 24hrs a day to act as...[read more]
