Home Christchurch Branch Newsletters Christchurch ...

Christchurch Newsletter – March 2010

129

Next Meeting – Thursday 25th March at 7.30 pm.

Rewi Alley Education and Cultural Centre, 32 Matipo Street

Gold coin donation (suggest $2). Bring & Buy table!

Speaker – JASON BLAZEY

Chinese Artefacts, Antiques, Collectables

Jason Blazey grew up in Rangiora and as a child grew up being told stories and the history of China by Courtney Archer, who taught at Shandan with Rewi Alley. Years later the interest in China was rekindled and Jason started to collect artefacts from China. Over the past 10 years he has collected 900 artefacts; some dated before AD, some have come from palaces in China. As part of his collection he has: ivory figurines, calligraphy, coins etc.

Jason will bring a selection of his smaller items and tell us about them.

He is also an advisor to the Canterbury Museum and has close links with the Chinese community. One day he would like to have a museum to house his collection.

MEETING DATES FOR 2010 – Please note them.

Speakers/topics will be in future newsletters.

29 April – 27 May – 24 June – 25 July (Sunday afternoon to be confirmed) – 26 August –

September/October – Banquet – 28 October – November/December – Prize Giving.

NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2010

The conference will be held in Hamilton 21 – 23 May. Judy Livingstone and Annette Hill will represent our branch.

2010 Annual General Meeting

The president, Judy Livingstone thanked the retiring office bearers and committee members for all they had contributed to the branch in many different ways. They were Diana Madgin, Pauline Berryman, Gretchen Tong and Bing Hou. Ken Bain was thanked for his work auditing the annual accounts.

President: Judy Livingstone.

Vice Presidents: Bill Willmott, Luba Roth, and Simon Courtney.

Immediate Past President: Helen Bain

Secretary: Annette Hill.

Committee: Jane Hole, Deborah Rhode, Gretchen Tong, Ailsa Dodge, William Qiu, Dave Adamson, Anna Lu, and Vivien Qin.

LANTERN FESTIVAL – 6/7 March in Victoria Square

Congratulations to all who made this event so successful. It was absolutely wonderful to see so many people having a great time enjoying the spectacular performances, such as the Mongolian Rock Band, the wide variety of stalls and especially the fantastic lanterns of all sorts of shapes, brilliant colours, and sizes. On Saturday evening it was wall-to-wall people across the whole square and on Sunday it was easier to move around – just!

Our stand, which was in a large tent with the CDC and Rewi Alley Academy, enjoyed a steady stream of interested folk. Make sure you go next year and be prepared for a crowd.

SHANGHAI WORLD EXPO – May 2010

Margaret Pierson and Eric Livingstone will be going to Shanghai as members of the group that has been invited by the Shanghai Youxie. We wish them well and look forward to hearing about their trip later in the year.

EXPO UPDATE The New Zealand Pavilion is expected to attract 40,000 people a day when the expo event runs for 184 days from May 1 to October 31. It is the biggest World Expo, and the Chinese were talking of it as the biggest grouping of people for a drawn-out timeline event of its kind. About 70 million visitors – mainly Chinese – were expected on the downtown 5.2 square kilometre site straddling the Huangpu River, and the Kiwi stand had been picked by local media as a “must visit” part of the event.

Visitors will be met by kapa haka (traditional Maori) groups with about 60 to 70 Kiwis due to attend the site and help make the New Zealand experience a friendly and welcoming one.

The Maori theme will continue with the entrance to the building looked over by Tane.

MARBLED EGGS – (Easter eggs?) The Chinese use black tea in making marbled eggs, or porcelain eggs, as they are also called – an unusual snack to be eaten with a cup of tea. For 4 persons, you will need 8 eggs, 3 tablespoons black tea, 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce and 1 teaspoon salt. Place the eggs in a large saucepan, add 2 litres water, bring to the boil. and then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the eggs and place them in a dish of cold water. Do not throw away the water in which the eggs have been boiled. When the eggs are cool, remove them from the water and tap the shell of each egg with the back of a spoon until the whole shell is covered with a network of cracks. Return the eggs to the saucepan of water in which they were boiled. add the tea, soy sauce and salt, bring to the boil. and then simmer for 30 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the eggs to cool in the liquid. Remove the eggs from the cold liquid and gently detach the cracked shells. On each egg, there should be a handsome web like pattern with the appearance of weathered marble or porcelain. Cut the eggs in halves or quarters and serve as an accompaniment to other cold dishes, or as a garnish for a hot dish. If not required immediately, the eggs can be stored, unshelled and in the liquid, preferably in a refrigerator, for up to 2 days.

Remove the shells immediately before serving.

FESTIVE EGGS The above recipe can be used to create eggs for festive occasions. Use less tea and replace the soy sauce with natural pigments. Here are some suggestions: tomato puree, scarlet; beetroot juice, pink or crimson; blackberry juice, mauve; blackcurrant juice, pale blue; mushy peas, pea green; cocoa, fawn. Success will depend on the quantities used and your skill and patience as an experimenter.

CHINESE PROVERB – Nothing in the world is difficult for one who sets his mind to it.

You can view a PDF of the Christchurch Branch Newsletter – March 2010.