A Feast of Festivals and Ping Pong Too

Seems like a bit of a cliche to travel almost five thousand miles to China just to play ping pong. But ping pong diplomacy was once again the order of the day. No Richard Nixon this time but Brian, our own Mr. President stood in for him as well as capturing the C event. No diplomatic incidents and the third almost annual HIT ping pong tournament went off without a hitch. Once again we were a multi-national group with the Russians and Iranians dominating both in numbers as well as placing first and second in the A event.

As proud Canadians, it was our pleasure to host a Victoria Day bash for all our foreign friends. All came with most not caring what the reason was, they just came for Nonie's baked goods. Games of Pin the Crown on the Monarch and That's Definitely Not Cricket kept the gala from going gaga or perhaps it was the Chinese Stout I managed to find in the grocery store.

Next up in the festival lineup was Dragon Boat Festival. All Chinese Festivals have a back story and the Dragon Boat Festival has the best one I think. As the story goes, the festival commemorates the life of Qu Yuan who was a wise and erudite (Their words not mine) official in the court of Emperor Huai. His stand against corruption and bureaucracy angered others in the court. They poisoned the Emperor against him and he was eventually exiled. He witnessed the failing of his country and when he heard that it had been conquered by another warring state he become so despaired (Their word not mine) that he threw himself into the river Miluo and drowned. Fishermen rushed to the scene but were unable to find the body. To prevent the fish from eating his body the fishermen threw zongzi, eggs and other food into river. Zongzi is made with glutinous rice and wrapped in a banana leaf. It can also include meat, dates, eggs and other fillings. It is given as gifts to friends, family and colleagues much like moon cakes.

Celebrating Dragon Festival involves staying up all night and then watching the races that start at 5:00 am, or so we were led to believe. Lined up on the rail ready to go at 5:00 we discovered that the races would start at 7:00 and precisely at 7:30 the first boat arrived then over the next 30 minutes saw another handful of boats arrive. Nonie provided an ongoing commentary as she had raced dragon boats for three years. And that was that. Thankfully Nonie and I found a hotel down by the Songhua and managed to fit in a few hours of sleep between the pre-race dinner and the race itself.

It has been our goal to introduce "Brunch" to as many Asian and Middle Eastern cultures as possible because as a meal, it does not exist in their cultures. . We manage to fit in a brunch introduction with our Iraqi neighbours in May. They enjoyed pancakes with maple syrup along with a batch of Nonie's Wife Saver an egg and bread dish covered in corn flakes. Tastes better than it sounds. What we have discovered in these attempts is that every culture has a pancake like food that sounds like it could be covered in maple syrup. Maple syrup, don't leave home without.