Old China Hands 11 February lunch

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Year of the Tiger

With the golden week of Chinese New Year, Morel’s was closed on the first Friday, so we had the Old China Hands 11 February lunch instead. Great attendance with 38 present!

I organized a small lucky draw to celebrate the 2022 Winter Olympics. Two lucky winners got the pair of Olympic coins, Mark and Ferencz.

Hachis Parmentier

Morel’s Restaurant again offered a great lunch menu. I chose the Hachis Parmentier, that was a great but real filling dish!
See here some details about that dish:
French Beef and Potato Casserole
See: https://www.curiouscuisiniere.com/hachis-parmentier
Hachis Parmentier is a French casserole made with layers of mashed potatoes and beef, topped with cheese.

and

Hachis Parmentier, pronounced HA-she PAR-man-TAY, is a classic French recipe that is pure cold-weather comfort food. It’s perhaps best described as the French version of Shepherd’s Pie. It combines seasoned beef with a layer of silky smooth potato puree and is topped with gooey gruyere cheese.
See: https://entertainingwithbeth.com/hachis-parmentier-recipe/

The desert was also special: “Tiger Chocolate Choux Pastry”!
Here an introduction:
See: http://lovingcreations4u.blogspot.com/2019/04/tiger-chocolate-choux-pastry.html

Edwin Maher, our CCTV star

Edwin and me we go a long way. I already mentioned him in my following post:
“The top 60 foreign experts in China”
https://blog.strategy4china.com/2010/02/the-top-60-foreign-experts-in-china/
It mentions the book “60 Foreign Experts in China”, published in 2009 by the Foreign Languages Press. Listed are the “usual suspects” such as Israel Epstein, Sidney Shapiro, David Dollar, William Lindesay, Norman Foster, Edwin Maher and even Henricus (Hein for the insiders) Verbruggen. Yeah and myself.

I was also on the float with him on the parade of 1 October 2009.
See: https://blog.strategy4china.com/2010/01/gilbert-in-global-times-newspaper-web/

and

Oct 1 Parade last pictures
https://blog.strategy4china.com/2009/10/oct-1-parade-last-pictures/

Many articles published about him… See here a few:
Article China Daily 28 January 2015

The full story: 150128 EdwinMaherCD

Article China Daily 27 October 2017

And in TheBeijinger:

Edwin is currently away to be with family. Looking forward to see him again in our lunches.

Forever bicycles good and bad

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Spotted by a friend

I found out – Forever bicycles good and bad. A friend took these pictures on the street in Beijing. Intrigued I looked up the brand, as we were impressed by the design and the apparently sturdy quality.

 

Turned out the brand is Chinese and well-known. Shanghai Forever is one of Chinese oldest bicycle manufacturers whose brand is one of the most popular among the Chinese bicycling community. Founded in 1940, the bike quickly became a Shanghai staple before expanding into the rest of the country.
In 2001, the Zhonglu Group purchased the Forever brand to develop ‘Green’ and environmental friendly products. The brand is known for their creativity and stable approach to building bikes at a cost effective price.

Their website: https://www.forever-bicycle.com/sy
The website is pretty well-done. But of the 208 different bikes shown, no trace of that one.

Contact???

I used the contact listed on the website to enquire. Bad luck, as so often Chinese websites are not updated and don’t have a valid contact. Pretty sad for such a company.
So, will.yang@forever-bicycle.com did not work.
What could be the reason? Make a choice:

– the bike is a fake Forever
– Will was doing the website but left the building long time ago
– Will does not read English
– the company does not give a damn
– this is China!

Cargo bikes

Those bikes are mostly called “cargo bikes or cargocycles” and come in a variety of models. As far as I know you find quite a number in The Netherlands and Belgium.
See here more details:

Carry Kids On Bikes
Source: https://cargocycles.com.au/carry-kids-on-bikes/

Front mounted child seats
There are a couple of options for front mounting a child seat, and probably the simplest is a seat that attaches to the top of the handlebars – however, the added weight on the steering and much higher center of gravity can affect the handling of the bike.
Better options are front seats that attach to the top tube and steerer of the bike (which requires a level top tube), or to a bar that mounts between the seat post and head stem.

In our experience front mounted seats are best suited to smaller passengers. As they are situated under your chin as you ride, height becomes an issue. Some riders also need to resort to pedaling with their knees splayed out which can be uncomfortable on longer journeys. The big benefit of a front mounted seat is you and your child are able to interact easily, and they often participate in the riding experience (holding the handlebars, ringing the bell etc.). They are a great introduction or stepping stone for shorter journeys and will help your little ones get used to being a passenger on a bike.

A look back on the Rotary Club of Beijing

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Dinner in Morel’s

A look back at the Rotary Club of Beijing, starting with our dinner on 18 January. Small crowd with a special guest, Jingfu, honorary member of the Rotary Club of Shanghai.

We were impressed with our member Kevin who fasted one day so he could deal with the really big trout (I usually recommend it for 3 people to share).

Krankin’ thru China

“Krankin’ thru China”, a program launched by Joshua Dominick and Domonic Corradin, helps people with physical disabilities enjoy outdoor sports like paragliding, horseback riding, swimming, surfing and cycling. They presented their project to our club, on 10 August 2021, see: https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/09/15/rotary-beijing-in-summer-part-1/

They were featured in an article by China Daily:
19 January 2022 – Overcoming hurdles:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202201/19/WS61e75db2a310cdd39bc81e61_6.html
See attached the full article: 220119 Krankin

Otto Bock

See this article of Business Beijing of 1 June 2007 to read how our Georg Hoffman started working with protheses. See: 070601 OttoBock
He presented his project in our club on 17 August 2021.

See earlier post: https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/09/15/rotary-beijing-in-summer/

That’s January 2022

Happy to read this article: 220101 poledancing
I quote:
“Despite studios trying to promote the benefits, there is still a stigma attached to the sport by those who don’t fully understand it.
When I tell some guys I’m a pole dancer, they say, ‘Oh, you’re a stripper?’ I don’t get offended, they just don’t understand that pole dancing doesn’t have to be linked to stripping. I think a lot of people still don’t understand pole dancing and it’s still very niche.”

Indeed some in my circle made a scandal about pole dancing, being pretty ignorant about it.
See my earlier posts:
Pole dancing is a sport, https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/06/30/pole-dancing-is-a-sport/
Pole dancing is a sport (part 2), https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/06/30/pole-dancing-is-a-sport-part-2/

Old China Hands 7 January lunch

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

A special celebration

Our Old China Hands 7 January lunch in Morel’s again celebrated a special event, “King Cake”, see further the background.
Attendance was pretty good with 28 people, despite last minute cancellations.
And of course food was great as always.

As we had two big tables we decided to have a “Lucky King” at each table. See Curt searching in vain for the lucky statue, our Michel waiting patiently for more guests,
We had the same celebration last year: https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/01/24/old-china-hands-8-january/
See some of the many dishes part of the special lunch menu!
In the evening I came back again for another extra King Cake (with ice cream, last pic). Delicious!

6 January: Epiphany

In Belgium, it is customary to eat a king cake (galette des rois in French or driekoningentaart in Dutch) on 6 January to celebrate the Epiphany. At its inception, the Epiphany was a Christian feast that celebrated the revelation of Jesus Christ to the Eastern kings. Nowadays, the celebration has included pagan traditions and is enjoyed by many, irrespective of their beliefs.The Epiphany’s origins can be traced back to the Gospel of Matthew, in which three kings from the East, Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar, are said to have followed a star until they reached Jesus who had just been born. With them, they brought three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

The custom to eat cake that day only came much later from the Roman empire. During the Romans’ Saturnalia, a feast in honor of their god Saturn, the role of the slaves and their masters would get switched around: the masters would make a cake in which they’d hide a bean. Whoever found the bean could then be king for a day, make demands on their masters and express freedom of speech.

Nowadays, Belgians often eat their king cake with their family. The cake is made with puff pastry and almond paste, and instead of a bean a small porcelain figurine, often representing Jesus, is hidden within. Whoever gets the figurine in their piece is crowned king for a day. To ensure fairness in the game, the youngest child has to sit under the table while the cake is cut, naming the recipient of each piece. The winner is then given a cardboard crown and can choose their king or queen!

Source: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zmAqt8uS9VwYnLArUkL1-w

Another “Famous OCH” in the spotlight: Alan

As published by theBeijinger!
“There is something gentlemanly about Alan Babington-Smith, and given all that he has accomplished over his lifetime, as well as the astounding things he has done while here in Beijing, I feel honored to shed some light on the amazing life of this man, whose main occupation now is helping to run the Royal Asiatic Society, Beijing.”

Read the full story: 211211 AlanBabington.pdf

Previously his lovely wife was featured: https://www.beijing1980.com/2021/11/14/old-china-hands-5-november-lunch/

Flowers and birthdays at Morels Restaurant

Posted on by Gilbert Van Kerckhove

Susan and flowers

Great flowers and birthdays at Morels Restaurant, the flowers being the personal artistic work of Susan. Many people think the flowers are plastic and check them… surprised to find out they are all real and often unique. And they are not cheap! I think no any restaurant in Beijing can compete with her arrangements.

The experiment with the liquid to chase away dogs-doing-stuff was on the other hand not very convincing…

Jan, our Dutch friend

Jan celebrated in style his birthday on 7 October with a small circle of friends.

He got pampered with some special presents, one being a telling-it-all T-shirt!

Chef Renaat

Renaat celebrated his birthday on 19 December, along with his chef Zhang. A perfect celebration with outstanding food and wine, for a small group of Belgian, Dutch and Chinese friends,

The dishes

Some of the dishes shown: seafood salad, cakes, home-made appetizers, Dutch veal steak with Sauce Perigourdine (with truffles) and almond potatoes, (real) Atlantic cod fish (DE-LI-CIOUS), pepper steak, gratinated endive with ham, mini steaks with pepper sauce and mushrooms, and more. All with excellent red wine, of course!