From Yulin

[Randy W]

I guess we have all read where China got tired of their beer being criticized and brought in a bunch of German brewmeisters. Tsingtao and some other brands began doing this around early 1900's. It explains why the beers are described as a "European flavor" or that "deep, dark lager."

 

But they are excellent beers, when I used to drink. (Well, I will take a toot every now and then.)

 

Then of course, the Chinese government took some of them over (Tsingtao). Snow beer, described by local drinkers here as a little better than armadillo piss is the most popular beer in the world.

 

The Stuka brand looks to me like a joke either on the German beer makers or one made up by the Chinese themselves and not atypical, a little off in terms of propriety. A lot of humor comes to mind with a brand like that, and maybe that's what was in mind as well.

 

Randy, you make China an inviting place to live. Cheers.

 

 

A beer commentary with comments just wouldn't be taken seriously without someone quoting the "tastes like piss" line

 

But Tsingtao - the company itself - was a German import - by the Germans - "It was founded in 1903 by German settlers and now claims about 15% of domestic market share." (Wikipedia).

 

It's actually LAST on my list - after ANYTHING else (I don't like the taste).

[Randy W]

 

A loud discussion erupts when a restaurant owner needs to back his equipment truck up to the curb where his restaurant opens around 9PM to 2AM.

The street vendors occupy the street positions until around 9-10PM.

The truck stays there until they re-load the equipment at 2AM.

Watch the lady with the small-ish cart.

 

 

 

This street corner has been off limits to ALL vendors for a couple of days now - we saw the chengguan out there yesterday hauling away carts.

[Randy W]

World Cup Soccer in Yulin

 

[Allon]

 

I guess we have all read where China got tired of their beer being criticized and brought in a bunch of German brewmeisters. Tsingtao and some other brands began doing this around early 1900's. It explains why the beers are described as a "European flavor" or that "deep, dark lager."

 

But they are excellent beers, when I used to drink. (Well, I will take a toot every now and then.)

 

Then of course, the Chinese government took some of them over (Tsingtao). Snow beer, described by local drinkers here as a little better than armadillo piss is the most popular beer in the world.

 

The Stuka brand looks to me like a joke either on the German beer makers or one made up by the Chinese themselves and not atypical, a little off in terms of propriety. A lot of humor comes to mind with a brand like that, and maybe that's what was in mind as well.

 

Randy, you make China an inviting place to live. Cheers.

 

 

A beer commentary with comments just wouldn't be taken seriously without someone quoting the "tastes like piss" line

 

But Tsingtao - the company itself - was a German import - by the Germans - "It was founded in 1903 by German settlers and now claims about 15% of domestic market share." (Wikipedia).

 

It's actually LAST on my list - after ANYTHING else (I don't like the taste).

 

 

I was referring mostly to Harbin beer (there are others) which is mistakenly accredited to the Russians but was actually founded by a German of Polish origin (Jan Wróblewski). Like Tsingtao's beginning's the beer was drank by the local immigrants (call them ex-pats) who came to build the railroad among other projects.That population contributed greatly to the flavors of the beers, even to the extent that the new Chinese owners imported German yeast (and brewers) and were not allowed to use cheaper rice in accordance with German standards set forth in the 1500's. Some competing beers got tired of being beat and imported more German brewers to little avail. Several books tell the tale of American entrepreneurs trying to break into the Chinese market with the beer industry. Anheuser Busch succeeded in getting 27% of Tsingtao. Osnos' book discusses a lot of the history of the beers in China and is a good example of how China always was a capitalistic country with communist overtones.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsingtao_Brewery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin_Brewery#Harbin_Beer

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China [Evan Osnos]

[Randy W]

 

 

I guess we have all read where China got tired of their beer being criticized and brought in a bunch of German brewmeisters. Tsingtao and some other brands began doing this around early 1900's. It explains why the beers are described as a "European flavor" or that "deep, dark lager."

 

But they are excellent beers, when I used to drink. (Well, I will take a toot every now and then.)

 

Then of course, the Chinese government took some of them over (Tsingtao). Snow beer, described by local drinkers here as a little better than armadillo piss is the most popular beer in the world.

 

The Stuka brand looks to me like a joke either on the German beer makers or one made up by the Chinese themselves and not atypical, a little off in terms of propriety. A lot of humor comes to mind with a brand like that, and maybe that's what was in mind as well.

 

Randy, you make China an inviting place to live. Cheers.

 

 

A beer commentary with comments just wouldn't be taken seriously without someone quoting the "tastes like piss" line

 

But Tsingtao - the company itself - was a German import - by the Germans - "It was founded in 1903 by German settlers and now claims about 15% of domestic market share." (Wikipedia).

 

It's actually LAST on my list - after ANYTHING else (I don't like the taste).

 

 

I was referring mostly to Harbin beer (there are others) which is mistakenly accredited to the Russians but was actually founded by a German of Polish origin (Jan Wróblewski). Like Tsingtao's beginning's the beer was drank by the local immigrants (call them ex-pats) who came to build the railroad among other projects.That population contributed greatly to the flavors of the beers, even to the extent that the new Chinese owners imported German yeast (and brewers) and were not allowed to use cheaper rice in accordance with German standards set forth in the 1500's. Some competing beers got tired of being beat and imported more German brewers to little avail. Several books tell the tale of American entrepreneurs trying to break into the Chinese market with the beer industry. Anheuser Busch succeeded in getting 27% of Tsingtao. Osnos' book discusses a lot of the history of the beers in China and is a good example of how China always was a capitalistic country with communist overtones.

 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_China

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsingtao_Brewery

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harbin_Brewery#Harbin_Beer

Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China [Evan Osnos]

 

 

 

Anheuser Busch InBev owns the DoubleDeer Brewery in China, which, for a while, produced the Majiu (Magic) Beer, which was a close second to my favorite - the Monchshof - and VERY similar to Beck's Dark, which was my favorite in the U.S.

 

The Stuka Bier label quotes the German PurityLaw date ("von 1516"), but obviously doesn't follow it. I had to read the Chinese on the label to see that it is made in Guangzhou. The beer girl told us she'd only been on the job for 5 months, so I assume that Stuka Bier isn't much older than that.

 

One restriction imposed by the Purity Laws was what grains could be used for what purpose, and WHEN (as in what seasons would certain grains need to be used for bread). Stuka claims to be a "Hefe-Vollkorn" (whole grain or wheat) beer. Google THAT and all you'll see is German breads.

[Allon]

I see we share the same (or similar) taste in beer. I do not like pale anything. A nice dark lager that you can float a ball bearing on is nice. I just wish I could drink beer like I did when I was younger. And wheat or rice in beer is "simply not done." Although I have to say, an all rice beer taste good as a change, but not for long. I lived on it in colege, but not now. It has gotten to be somewhat of a collector's item and is expensive.

 

The Stuka beer does sound a bit bogus. Or someone had their tongue stuck hard against their cheek when they came up with that one.

[Randy W]

 

TurboTax LIED to me - told me I had ONE more try to efile my return before the IRS would LOCK ME OUT from efiling - I needed three, but finally got it right.

 

To efile, you need your previous year's AGI and/or filing PIN for ID purposes.

 

Apparently, my return last year wasn't processed until November, so my AGI shows up as $0 for ID purposes (I had to figure that out through Google), even though I KNEW I had the correct non-zero amount. I had changed my PIN last year when I went to efile, so that it would be the same as previous years, so I tried a few different PINs until I figured out which one was correct.

 

Finally got it right, and taxes submitted (pain in the rear).

 

 

Just got my tax transcript for 2016 (yes, LAST YEAR) - "No Return Filed"! I checked back through my emails - turned out they had rejected it because I didn't fill in the blank on Schedule D for Total Capital Gain or Loss

 

I'll have to mail it in - should be no fee or penalty, though, since it was paid on time.

 

Kind of goes to show, though - it's a good idea to ALWAYS order your tax transcripts EACH YEAR from the IRS after they've had a chance to process your return. Order BOTH the account AND the return transcripts.

 

 

 

Three things to know when filing from China as an expat

 

1) Use a U.S. address so any mail can reach you in a reasonable time frame

2) When using the "90% of LAST year's taxes" option on the underpayment of estimated taxes form, you need to have filed quarterly (or have paid withholding throughout the year). Use (and PAY by Jan 15) the "90% of THIS year's taxes" option instead.

3) There IS a retired old fart's exemption from the late payment penalty, which TurboTax encouraged me to use for my 2017 return (apparently successfully, since I haven't heard anything about my 2017 taxes).

4) ALWAYS order both the account AND the return transcripts each year, so you know where you stand. You may need to wait 3 or 4 months after filing before they are available.

 

I had figured the underpayment penalty at $25, and included that amount when I paid my 2016 taxes. The IRS says, "Nope! You owe $84.01, due by July 9". No additional payment, fees, or interest are due because of my 365 day late filing. This is the SAME amount I would have owed if I had filed on time.

 

If I had used my Chinese address, the notice wouldn't have reached me for another 3 months, if at all.

 

I MIGHT be able to use the retired old fart exemption for 2016, also, but I don't think I'll bother with it.

 

I had used the "90% of last year's taxes" option before, but only for years when I had withholding.

[Randy W]

A trip to our chicken shack in Rongxian

'

[Randy W]

 

The Former Residence of Huang Shaohong

 

[Randy W]

Country bumpkins - as we drove up to our gate yesterday, there was a guy in a car arguing with the security guard and trying to lift the access arm so he could drive through. His buddy apparently got through in one car as someone was leaving - now HE wanted in, too - through the exit gate!

 

The first guy couldn't get past the second gate to the garage, so he let us go first. But I drove SLOW enough that the gate closed behind me, with him honking up a storm.

 

I've seen people who didn't know how to operate an elevator. One time when I got on the elevator, I was surprised to find a group of people already there. They seemed grateful (and relieved) when I pushed the button for "1", and the elevator started moving.

[Randy W]

I caught Jiaying leaving the tattoo parlor today

 

 

Well, okay- so we didn't drop in!

 

[Randy W]

 

. . . and on to our latest little disaster. This under-the-kitchen-sink plumbing came with the kitchen sink - I hope they replace it with PVC pipe - the traps are completely unnecessary - remember that water flows downhill. Traps seem to serve only to catch a build-up of grunge.

 

 

 

FOUR months later - this pipe had been wrapped in plumbing tape which worked well until now. No replacement parts, so we get this for ¥300

 

 

[amberjack1234]

That's a pretty good looking system. A little complex but never the less nice looking.

[Randy W]

Shopping at the Big Boys' Store - sizes up to 7XL

 

 

 

[amberjack1234]

Yep, when the Chinese bought Smithfield the wife was pissed but they have made a marinated tenderloin with cumin in it that is GREAT. A little pricey I think about $10 bucks for a small one about the size of a rib eye steak but of course round. I absolutely love them. They have them on sale frequently to get folks to eat them for 1/2 price and then continue buying them. I'll get my limit and the wife will too. As you know Smithfield was started right here in NC (Smithfield North Carolina) many years ago and the wife thought that the Chine would take it over and screw it up but they have made it even better I think.

 

Sorry about the wife's ulcer. Was that a result of building her apartment building? It is a stressful thing. A long time ago they recommended very spicy food for users. They were saying that the Capsaicin would kill the Helicobacter pylori but now they are not saying that anymore. A person never knows what to believe.

 

That was a good looking picture of that ribeye that you posted.