Category: May

New Zealand Food and Wine Connections @ Seafood Room – 25 May, 2017

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New Zealand Food and Wine Connections held at the Seafood room saw a range of Kiwi products showcased including meat, seafood, wines, beer and fruit and vegetables. Some are already available locally including the rather nice Te Mana lamb and the nicely marbled Mt Cook salmon which is tasty as sashimi but melt in your mouth delicious when lightly cooked. Lots of quality NZ produce to enjoy.
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Mariko Hill Relishing HKCC Willow Wielders 8th Straight Title

Although only 21 years of age, Hong Kong women’s captain Mariko Hill has won more titles than most would dare to dream about in a whole career.

For the eighth straight season, Hill was a part of the victorious Hong Kong Cricket Club Willow Wielders team that won the Women’s League. Prior to being knocked off this season by the HKCC Cavaliers in the women’s T20 league, the Willow Wielders had also won seven straight titles in the short-form format. Tally that up and it’s 15 senior titles that Hill has been a part of.

“Winning eight in a row is a great achievement not only as an individual but as a club as a whole. We are probably one of the first teams to achieve this and shows how consistent we are,” Hill said.

“Definitely ranks up there with one of my proudest achievements, we actually didn’t realise it straight after the game but when you think about it, eight years in a row is incredible. We also won seven T20 leagues in a row, which would have been eight if we weren’t beaten this year, so it’s quite remarkable.”

“Over time one of the things that we struggled with was people coming in and out but after a while we’ve built team unity and cherished the time we do get with each other. The coaching staff across those years has helped build that unity and work on our skills.”

Although only 14 when she first came into the team, Hill made an impact from her very first season in 2009-10, scoring a century during that season against Little Sai Wan. Now a genuine all-rounder, she’s a vital cog of not just the Willow Wielders, but also the Hong Kong women’s set-up, which was reaffirmed when she was selected as the tournament’s best batter for the ICC Women’s World Cup qualifiers Asia in 2016.

While captaincy duties with the Willow Wielders fall to Sara Young, Hill still plays a key role as a leader within the team.

“It’s different now, I used to be the young one that just turned up and had fun on the field but now being a senior player and Hong Kong captain and a role model, you need to bring a bit of maturity. But that’s not to say we don’t still have fun!”

“We were all quite new a few years ago so it was quite tough as a few of us had to dig deep but looking at the team now we are quite experienced. Particularly Ashley Hung – she’s come a long way from where she was a few years ago and become one of our main bowlers. Each player knows their roles now and we are more structured with our batting and bowling plans.”

So what’s the secret to the Willow Wielders success? Hill hints it might lie off the field as much as it does on it.

“Since Jasmine (Titmuss) came into the HKCC set-up as a coach, she’s brought the spirit of the game a lot more and we’ve really bonded as a team outside of cricket as well with dinners and people enjoying things rather than just cricket itself. This year meant a lot to all the club members after Anita Miles’ passing so wearing the club jerseys meant a lot to us.”

“There’s a lot coming for women’s cricket, the Hong Kong women’s squad have a lot of players from both our side and the HKCC Cavaliers, which shows the club have a great programme.”

And Hill will only have a short off-season with the Hong Kong women’s squad setting themselves for two important tournaments in the second half of the year. She wants to make amends for the disappointment of 2016 World Cup qualifiers where the team started with two victories only to lose their next four and miss out on progression.

“Looking back at last year we didn’t graft it out, but we can take that into account and go forward,” Hill said. “We don’t want that feeling again of disappointment so I’m looking forward to it.”

Aside from the World T20 qualifiers, the women’s squad will also host Japan, Korea and China in the East Asia Cup, which will be hosted by Hong Kong in September.

Additional reporting and images: HK Cricket

Trafalgar Mongkok Grand Opening – 22 May, 2017

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The third in Trafalgar‘s burgeoning fleet dropped anchor in Mongkok recently at 12-14A Yim Po Fong Street and celebrated it’s arrival with a Grand Opening party on the 22 May with free flowing local brewed ales and ciders. A good time was had by all!
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Divine Evening @ Seafood Room – 18 May, 2017

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Salvador Dalí’s sinister and sensual paintings for Dante’s Divine Comedy were on display at the Seafood Room together with modern art jewellery from Karpov & Karpova. An interesting and contrasting evening to provoke and stimulate conversation hosted by Galerie Les Noms.
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Scallywag to Represent Hong Kong in Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18

Hong Kong will have a team in the Volvo Ocean Race for the first time as the fifth entry to the 2017-18 race was announced in Paris. The team will compete as Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag and is sponsored by Seng Huang Lee and Sun Hung Kai & Co., the owner of supermaxi yacht Scallywag.

Hong Kong will also debut as a Host City in the race with the fleet expected to arrive from Melbourne on 20 January 2018. A series of races will be held during the stopover including the In-Port Race and an Around the Island race.

“This campaign will showcase world class competitive offshore sailing in Hong Kong. I have every confidence that Team Sun Hung Kai/Scallywag will make Hong Kong proud,” said Lee.

Lee who grew up in Sydney, Australia, a stone’s throw from the start line of the iconic Sydney to Hobart Race, said it was watching the fleet leave every year for the start of that race that first got him hooked on sailing.

He purchased the 100-foot maxi-yacht Scallywag in 2016, and won the recent San Fernando Race in record fashion. An entry in the Volvo Ocean Race, one of the most demanding and competitive races in the world, was the next challenge.

The team, racing a Volvo Ocean 65, will be skippered by experienced Australian sailor David Witt, who returns to the Volvo Ocean Race following a 20-year absence, after competing in 1997-98 race onboard Innovation Kvaerner – the boat led by former Volvo Ocean Race CEO, Knut Frostad.

A veteran of the Sydney to Hobart Race, having competed the challenge over 20 times, Witt is regarded as one of the best heavy weather sailors in the sport, and is keen to retest his mettle in the Southern Ocean when the fleets heads south later this year.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for the Scallywag team to represent Hong Kong on a truly global stage,” said Witt. “With the race returning to a more traditional route and competing in One Design yachts, we feel that we are capable of achieving something that has been a life long personal dream.”

With five months to the start, the fleet is shaping up with confirmed entries AkzoNobel (skippered by Simeon Tienpont, Netherlands), Dongfeng Race Team (Charles Caudrelier, France), Mapfire (Xabi Fernández, Spain) and Vestas 11th Hour Racing (Charlie Enright, USA).

The 2017-2018 race, featuring 12 host cities, will start from Alicante on 22 October 2017 and see the teams cover 46,000 nautical miles before they reach the finish in The Hague at the end of June, 2018.

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Andrea Francolini

Food Glorious Food @ Hofex 2017

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The biannual Hofex descended on Hong Kong last week and bc went for a look see, here’s some of what we found. There’s a lot of food at Hofex but the majority of the suppliers, from across the globe, are food service orientated. That’s the provision of the food we enjoy in restaurants, cafes and hotels, from the raw ingredients to machines to technology.

In many smaller places, restaurant groups, but also even in hotel buffets, much of what you eat is outsourced and prepared in a factory or communal kitchens and reheated or finished just before you consume it.

The technology and cooking techniques in the food production area have improved massively in recent years – a simple local example would be the improved quality and options in the bread basket, where very few restaurants have the space/time to make their own – to the extent that with most dishes you shouldn’t be aware of the difference.

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Pizza is now a Hong Kong diet staple, with a plethora of different choices from low end to high end. As the big ‘specialist chains have expanded though the quality of many has noticeably dropped. You can even find frozen Tesco’s pizza in some supermarkets. At Hofex though Cypriot importer and online store www.greekdeli.com.hk was showcasing a frozen Greek pizza from Elliniki Nostimia. It’s tasty, full of flavour, loaded with cheese and available with a range of toppings and an estimated retail price of between $40-60. It should be available soon from outlets around town and also from their online store. And while you’re shopping there try out the various flavours of Greek yoghurts.

One of the big local food factories is Sims and among the many tasty things they were showcasing was a delicious chocolate dome comprising a hard chocolate outer shell, filled with soft moist chocolate sponge and then a liquid chocolate center. A difficult combination to execute successfully on a small scale let alone on a production line. Yet it was delicious. Not too sweet, the sponge moist, and so good we went back for a second later in the week.

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Brand extensions have been all the range among marketeers for a long time with many hoping to replicate, even on a small scale the phenomenal succe$$ of Hello Kitty. You’ll soon find on your supermarket shelves Jack Daniels BBQ sauces and Guinness Beer Brats and meatballs (Park n Shop, Jusco).

From Lativa comes Nelleulla chocolate flavoured with freeze dried fruit and lovely truffles coated with gold and filled with a range of flavours. The Taiwanese know how gold can help sell, and a company created a hand made nougat with a gold topping. Also from Taiwan for coffee lovers is a range of indigenous coffee with unusual flavours including sea salt coffee.

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Melbourne cheese makers That’s Amore Cheese showcased several cheeses including Drunken Buffalo (a matured Buffalo milk cheese encased in Nebbiolo grape skins and lees and matured for six months) and Secrets of the Forest (a handcrafted Buffalo milk cheese mixed with winter truffles and matured in wild hay for six months) both are wonderful cheeses with unique flavours and we hope to see both available locally soon.

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Not all of these are available now, but many should be in a retail or online store near you in the next few months.

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Dongfeng Announce Strong Volvo Ocean Race Team

After wining a leg and finishing third overall in it’s first appearance Dongfeng Race Team, the Chinese entry in the  Volvo Ocean Race 2017-18, announced it’s full crew in Paris as they look to climb to the top step of the podium.

With 160 days to go to the start of the world’s toughest fully-crewed offshore race at Alicante in Spain on 22 October, Dongfeng’s 12-strong sailing squad combines youth with experience. Led for the second consecutive time by Charles Caudrelier of France, the crew counts five Volvo Ocean Race wins, five Olympic campaigns, and 32 Solitaire du Figaro campaigns – including five wins – among its sailors’ achievements.

In addition to Caudrelier, the crew includes Figaro and Transat Jacques Vabre winner Pascal Bidégorry, who returns as navigator. An ocean racing record-setter, Bidégorry was Caudrelier’s righthand man, in the previous edition of the race, and played a key role in the team’s meteo and tactical strategy.

“I wanted a group of people on the boat who will grow stronger in adversity, never give up and have some fun along the way too.”

The French offshore all-rounder Kevin Escoffier, another pillar from the last campaign, is also back in the squad. Escoffier is not only a brilliant offshore sailor but an expert technician and boat builder.

New Zealanders Stu Bannatyne will compete in the race for the eighth time while Daryl Wislang won the last edition with Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing. Also in the sailing team is Jeremie Beyou, the French Vendée Globe podium finisher and one-design offshore specialist, who will be taking on his first Volvo Ocean Race campaign.

 

The team’s two female stars are Marie Riou of France, a four-time world champion in the Nacra 17 class, and Carolijn Brouwer from Holland who has already sailed the race twice with all-female crews.

On the bow and also helping with helming duties is the up-and-coming Australian/British sailor Jack Bouttell, a veteran of three Figaro campaigns.

As before, Dongfeng Race Team looks to establish offshore ocean racing in China and the crew includes three young Chinese sailors – Yang Jiru (Wolf), Xue Liu (Black) and Jinhao Chen (Horace) – originally selected and trained for the 2014-15 race.

Commenting on the squad Caudrelier said: “I wanted a group of people on the boat who will grow stronger in adversity, never give up and have some fun along the way too.”

He added: “We will be living in close quarters for months. We will be wet, cold, hungry, hot, exhausted and desperate for sleep at times, so the relationships we build have to be strong to withstand those pressures. I am happy with the squad we have assembled and I am confident that we will measure up to the task ahead.”

In this campaign Dongfeng Race Team will look to improve on its impressive debut appearance “The key has been to use our experience from 2014-15 and add to it, not rely on it,” said Team Director, Bruno Dubois at the press conference.

“Appointing Charles Caudrelier as skipper was the first step. I know that Charles is more determined than ever to improve on his superb performance three years ago and he has demonstrated that he has the leadership skills to deal with the unique demands of Dongfeng Race Team. But we have added some new ingredients to the mix – high-achieving men and women who bring experience and a hunger for success that fits our philosophy,” added Dubois.

Follow the preparations for the race and the race itself live at www.volvooceanrace.com

Dongfeng Race Team Sailing Team

Charles Caudrelier (FRA), skipper
Pascal Bidegorry (FRA), navigator
Stu Bannatyne (NZL), watch captain
Jeremie Beyou (FRA), watch captain
Daryl Wislang (NZL), watch captain
Carolijn Brouwer (NL), trimmer
Jack Bouttell (GBR-AUS), bowman
Jinhao Chen ‘Horace’ (CHN), bowman
Kevin Escoffier (FRA), bowman
Xue Liu “Black” (CHN), pitman
Marie Riou (FRA), trimmer
Yang Jiru “Wolf”(CHN), pitman

Additional reporting and images: Volvo Ocean Race, Dongfeng Race Team, Vincent Curutchet