Chinese feasts !

Well, after the first Chinese feast on Monday, when I was invited to a dinner offered by the Chinese Bridge Federation, I had a marvellous evening last night - I was invited by the President of Zone 6 to a private dinner at a restaurant in "downtown" Shanghai. It all started with a bus trip to the restaurant - an adventure in itself as it is a Chinese Holiday this week and the streets were thronged with people, wandering all over the road, with street vendors selling everything from clothes and souvenirs to food and drink.

We made it safely to the restaurant which was in one of the old buildings and is used for private parties. And the food started coming - I have never seen so many courses ! There was something for most tastes, and it was a real challenge to try them all. I found that I really don't particularly like jellyfish ... it had been (I think) fried, and was kind of like a solid crunchy but nevertheless jelly-like texture - I can't describe it better than that. I bottled out on the sea-cucumber, but tried most of the other dishes. Some I liked better than others, but there were some really fabulous ones among them. The slow cooked pork was memorable and the braised beef nothing short of magnificent. I was surprised to find foie gras and caviar (not togther - as separate dishes!) on the menu and I have no idea what variety of mushrooms we ate but they were excellent. There were some amazing vegetable dishes including one of the smallest peas (or maybe a variety of bean) that I have ever seen and were quite stunning! I discovered that I can live without ever eating Lotus again, and the shrimps with ginko aren't very interesting unless you dip them in the vinegar/soy dipping sauce. The company was fun and it was a great evening.

This morning started with reading the bulletin as normal, but it was full of bridge hands so I didn't linger over long with it !! Then there were some reports to type up and get ready for the WBF Women's Committee Meeting which is on Friday, then a report to write for the Executive Committee about the World Wide Bridge Contest (by the way, don't forget to come and play in that next year will you !!)

Then I went on a search through the building for the on-site organiser which gave me some exercise (it's a BIG building!). I didn't actually find her but I did find a good view out of the windows next to the lifts, so that is what the pictures are - the big tower is the very famous Shanghai Telecoms tower, and the view is just up the street - as you can see, even mid-afternoon it is very busy.

Having failed in my mission to find the person I was searching for, I returned like a good girl to my desk and sorted out the lists of transnational teams

The bridge progresses successfully I gather - the playing conditions seem excellent and the teams are happy which is the really important thing at these events!

Now, as it is 7.15 pm, I am going to upload this and go to find some food !

Oh that wonderful smell of toner !

Well, the BGB Sims have been finalised, and the results are printed - we have two printers here in the office and Mark gets so cross with me when I am doing the results because I take them both over completely and he can't print anything for about two days ! Now we are getting them all into the envelopes with the heat winner prizes etc ready to wing them off to you in the next couple of days. The office has that warm and wonderful smell of toner and hot printers - luckily it has been mild and I have been able to have the door open for a little while.

In the meantime I am busy getting the paperwork ready for the EBU Spring Sims and the World Wide Sims, as well as getting hands to the commentators for the EBU and BGB Autumn Sims, nagging the commentator for the Summer Sims, looking ahead to the Children in Need, tripping over the boxes of booklets for the Charity Challenge Sims, and waiting for the delivery of the booklets for the BGB Spring sims so I can trip over those as well!

Fortunately for me (and the family) none of this impinges on my kitchen, which is a Work Free Zone - I love cooking and it is the time of my day when I can relax and be creative ... seems I make a reasonable hash of it, as my friends like coming here to eat ! Last night it was honey & soy chicken parcels served with cardamom rice and stir-fried vegetables ... yummy.

So - back to the sims I guess ... ho hum !

Monday Monday

Having spent the weekend painting the hall, it is back to my desk with a vengeance this morning.

The WBF Charity Pairs start tonight - I hope we manage to raise lots of lovely money for the WBF School - Results and information is here, and you can make a donation even if you can't play!

There is also a mass of information to go onto the EBU site and I will be working on that this afternoon, then it is onto the Regulations for Shanghai, deep joy and an update of the pages about the World Championships. I will post a message here when I have done the update, so do keep coming back and having a look.

Starting Point!

Well, everyone else is doing it - there are blogs appearing left, right, centre - every which way. So, I thought I would give it a rock ! It may well prove to be a great way to communicate, with bridge news and info, and even (oh vanity) for a way to tell you about about myself and my work both in and out of the bridge scene.

And a quiet Saturday seemed like a good time to start - I am not really working, just doing a bit of tidying up of the files on the computer, and getting rid of some rubbish, dealing a few sets of boards for Simultaneous Pairs, a job that always slugs the computer I do it on, and I thought - hey, why not, let's see what this blogging is all about!

I will use this blog to try and keep you informed of some of the things that are happening in the bridge world, but you may find it interspersed with rather more personal stuff, so if you find that boring ... well, don't read it !