Zina and the Stereophonic Punx

However, I must break away from my normal routine to tell you about some interesting musical “characters” who I met on the subway this past Sunday on my way home from the Pudong District. They are a fledgling Czech band named Zina, (after the lead singer), who is currently playing at the Le Royal Meridien Hotel on Nanjing Road in downtown Shanghai.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/lemeridien/property/overview/index.html?propertyID=1945

Alike the thousands of lovely Chinese citizens whom I’ve met this year in Shanghai, the two members of the Czech Republic group have come up to me without hesitancy in a warm platitude of international diplomacy. Zina saw my face and immediately began speaking English, outside of her current fluency of both Chinese and Czech languages. I was star-struck by the guitarist John, who invited me to the Meridien over the weekend for some quality show tunes and American jazz singing. The band Zina is seemingly multi-talented with a sound background that originated from the sonic basements of the UK almost twenty-five years ago. The sound is the in-your-face “rebel yell” type of music called punk that was a classic 1970’s uproar of pop culture’s voice in the UK. This sound highlighted musical stars such as Billy Idol and the Sex Pistols.

I will escort my friends, (USA, France and Shanghai), to join me in enjoying some fine international music. You can visit the Zina and the Stereophonic Punx website at: http://www.zinapunx.com

Chinese Students Study Abroad

I will miss three of my students who will be traveling abroad to further their international studies next month. All three of my students are native Shanghai residents who will study in the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The duration of study will from four to six years in their combination of travels and I wish them the best. What a lovely global adventure that awaits them! Good luck to my fall 2008 study abroad students.

Cowboy Recipe #1

From time to time I will offer some great American home-style country cooking recipes that are quick and painless for all of my Shanghai residents. They require no oven use and the preparation is usually just a few ingredients. Here’s the first recipe:

Ni Hao! Ciao! Bye-bye!

Cowboy Kabobs

Source: Kraft Kitchens

18 wooden skewers (10 inch)

1/3 cup A.1. Original Steak Sauce

1/3 cup KRAFT Original Barbecue Sauce

2 tsp. KRAFT Prepared Horseradish

1-1/2 lb. beef top round steak, cut into 1/2-inch strips

9 pearl onions

1 large red or green pepper, cut into 9 strips

SOAK skewers in water for at least 30 minutes. Meanwhile, mix steak sauce, barbecue sauce and horseradish until well blended; set aside.

THREAD steak strips onto skewers; place an onion or pepper strip on the end of each skewer. Place kabobs in glass dish; coat with steak sauce mixture. Cover. Refrigerate 1 hour, turning occasionally.

PLACE kabobs on grill over medium coals. Grill 4 to 6 minutes or until steak is cooked through, turning occasionally.

Makes: 6, 3 kabobs each             

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