Shanghai news - EoC

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Hi,
Slow day so thought I'd catch up with the boards. Many thanks for the wedding congratulations from Robert, ShugPug, AzJon, Fermata, Lady Onogaro, and matteob. Really appreciated it.

Chinese New Year in Shanghai is not what it once was. There has been a ban on any fireworks for the last few years, so it's a lot quieter. There's some good light displays in the touristy places. It has also been bitterly cold, but that was expected.

The wedding went well. My better half was stunning in her Qipao (Cheongsam), leaving me totally in the shade, as she should. The party was fun and raucous. Far too much food and drink, as you may expect. I made a speech that was surprisingly well received, and was enthusiastically endorsed as hitting all the right notes by the senior ranking guest , especially the parts about the importance of family. There is a kind of formality to being accepted into a Chinese family that is less noticeable in the West these days.

What about pens? Apart from stumbling across pre-packed Hero pens and ink for schoolkids (see these packs in most supermarkets), and the occasional display of some Chinese brands in gift shops, the best place to find stuff is in the well-known Fuzhou road.

As other visitors have noted, non Chinese brands run at twice the price or more, so I wasn't going to be buying. However, it was a great opportunity to try pens that I have no chance of seeing in NZ. So, I've had a play with a Pilot Justus and the one with the sutra over urushi. Not impressed much really. Handled a Pelikan 600, very nice. Modern Parkers left me feeling meh. Platinum 3776 (chartres/burgogne) felt small, fragile and cheap. All the Sailor pens were just too tiny too. A Platinum Izumo was exquisite. Looked at several, loved the style and feel of the urushi, but the section was just not right for me.

So I turned my attention to inks and paper. Of the first there was Pilot, Herbin, Pelikan, Parker, and Sailor all at high prices. And there were local brands, Hero, Picasso, Starry and Online, but nothing appealed.

There are a lot of local paper brands, though short of buying them all there was no way to tell if any were FP friendly. Being not wealthy I couldn't do that. In the end I found some Midori pads, letter sized and 50 sheets for USD $4, so I grabbed a bunch of those.

It's been a great trip, though obviously pens weren't the focus, but I assumed that you all would be more interested in that aspect.

Later,

Dave

[Cob]

An excellent report David, it is good to hear that life is going well for you.

Best of luck for the future.

Cob

[Runnin_Ute]

Congrats on the nuptials Dave, and to you and your bride. Best of luck to you in this new part of your life.

[da vinci]

Thanks for the report, and best wishes for the future

[RocketRyan]

Congratulations.

[Lady Onogaro]

I'm glad to hear the wedding went well and was a lot of fun. You should post pictures, if you have them.

What did they serve, food-wise at the wedding?

[Empty_of_Clouds]

I don't recall the names of the dishes, they more or less all turned up at once, my mandarin is poor but getting better, my shanghainese nonexistent. Anyway this is the best I can describe. The following were served as cold dishes:

Soft boiled smoked eggs, halved and with caviar
An okra dish that I can't really describe.
Lotus root stuffed with sticky rice.
Shredded salty chicken.
Pig liver slices with a piquant sauce.
Sweet pork rib with the fat on.
Roasted yams cooked with osmanthus flower extract.

These were served hot:

Roast duck with "8 jewels" stuffing.
Some kind of steamed fish that I can't recall the name of.
Fresh river prawns.
Sichuan pepper chicken.
"Old hen" soup.
King oyster mushroom hotpot.
Pan fried wagyu beef.
Crab and tofu broth.
Shanghai sweet pork and cuttlefish.

Dessert was:

Deep fried sweet rice cakes.
Red bean ball soup.
A walnut confection that looked like a walnut.


And as is customary it was a free-for-all battle of chopsticks in between toasts and speeches.

Edit. Most of the dishes were Shanghai specialities.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

A beautiful lady and her stunned husband.

[Lady Onogaro]

Nice picture, EOC! Again, congratulations. Are you staying in Shanghai long? Or are you back in New Zealand (is it New Zealand?).

[dfo]

congrats.

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Nice picture, EOC! Again, congratulations. Are you staying in Shanghai long? Or are you back in New Zealand (is it New Zealand?).

Thanks! Back in New Zealand (Aotearoa: the land of the long white cloud) now after a very busy month in Shanghai.

[fqgouvea]

A beautiful lady and her stunned husband.

Congratulations! I remember back almost 40 years ago when I was the stunned husband!

[Empty_of_Clouds]

For the paper nerds among us. The image is a silhouette cut from a single piece of red paper. It shows the commitment husband and wife make to themselves and their family. The paper was about 18 feet long!

[Lunaelsol]

Congratulations Sir David! so happy you had roast duck, river prawns and "old hen" in your wedding feast. it will be truly a lucky and happy forever after.

CHEERS!

[Sailor Kenshin]

A belated congratulations!

[Lady Onogaro]

For the paper nerds among us. The image is a silhouette cut from a single piece of red paper. It shows the commitment husband and wife make to themselves and their family. The paper was about 18 feet long!

That is so cool! I guess you didn't get to keep it?!

[Empty_of_Clouds]

Nah! It was part of an exhibition on marriage in Chinese culture. We stumbled across this in the nearby water-town of Fengjing.

The old part of the town is like this:


Although when we we there it was winter of course, and so it looked like this :



Slightly different angle of the paper. When I looked at this picture the first thing that struck me was how happy we look!