Yunchan Lim Dazzles Vancouver Audience

Standing ovation for Lim at the Orpheum

South Korean pianist Yunchan Lim is 20 years old and burst onto the international music scene two years ago when he was the youngest person to win the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition two years ago.

He was in Vancouver today to perform for a concert put on by the Vancouver Recital Society at the Orpheum Theatre and not surprisingly most of the people in the audience were South Korean!

Youngest Van Cliburn winner at 18

Lim arrived this morning from San Diego and immediately went to the Orpheum to get used to the piano and his surroundings; when he arrived there was already a female fan waiting outside at the side entrance!

On stage he looks even younger than 20, and is painfully shy, partly because he doesn't speak much English, and suddenly becoming famous must surely be overwhelming.

The concert program started with contemporary composer Hanurij Lee's piece "... Round and velvety-smooth blend..." which sounded like raindrops. It was a very short piece of about five minutes and Lim left little time for the audience to react when he immediately launched right into JS Bach's Goldberg Variations, which consists of an aria and 30 variations.

Lim played all of them in succession, with a lot of expressive range, from conservative and quiet for the aria, which built up to tremendous energy and movement for the 30th and last variation, and then back to the soft delicate notes of the aria again.

Lim receiving bouquets from fans

Needless to say as soon as he finished playing his last note, the audience jumped to their feet and clapped and whooped loudly. Lim came out three or four times, bowing, and fans rushed to the stage to give him several bouquets of flowers, and even a teddy bear which he placed in the piano as he played an encore (Liszt). He didn't even wait for the crowd to sit down when he started playing his encore piece.

He leaves tomorrow morning for New York to play at Carnegie Hall and then back to South Korea for more concerts. 

It is clear that music is the medium through which Lim communicates with the world; he feels right at home with the instrument. At only 20 years old -- 21 later this month -- Lim is definitely one to watch in the years ahead.

Yunchan Lim 

Hanurij Lee ... Round and velvety smooth blend...

JS Bach Goldberg Variations

Review: Quanjude iDen Tries to Impress

Carefully sliced duck meat at Quanjude

iDen & Quanjude Beijing Duck House has kept its Michelin one-star rating for the past three years in Vancouver, though most Chinese gourmets pan the place.

Some describe the interior like it is from a movie set with a grand-looking entrance and dining room with high ceilings, while the private room has over-the-top decor that is very dramatic.

Nevertheless, service is definitely a strong suit here -- and literally, as the head male servers wear blue tuxedos, and other servers wear brown vests and pants. There's even a non-Chinese server who remembers VIP customers. 

Sweet and sour pork with fruit

In general they are attentive to diners' needs, though one wonders when the menu will be more substantive.

We had lunch here yesterday, invited by VIP customers who have a membership at the restaurant. They think it's value for money, with the good service, and a small private room for five of us.

But the food is hardly impressive. We went here about two years ago and this time it hasn't changed much.

The set lunch menu is C$88 per person, with a few appetisers, a soup, and of course the famous Peking duck, and dessert, tea or coffee. 

While the decor looks nice, the food is made from inexpensive ingredients. Case in point -- to whet our appetites we were served marinated broad beans, followed by the duck soup, a cloudy milky looking broth with finely diced silky tofu, squares of seaweed and thin sheets of fried egg. 

We were also served crispy chicken. One would think of karage, or large chunks of boneless chicken, but here they were tiny bite-sized pieces that were hardly substantial.

Next came sweet and sour pork, with peppers, red onion, pineapple and large plump blueberries.

Our dishes were changed before the Peking duck arrived at our table and a chef came to slice it. He gave us a piece of the skin to dip in brown sugar, and it wasn't particularly hot or crispy, which made it taste oily. 

Glutinous rice balls with osmathus

But we were impressed by the thin slices of duck meat with a bit of the skin that we wrapped in thin pancakes with cucumbers, spring onion and plum sauce.

After three or four of these pancakes you are pretty much full, though there is still a full plate of sliced duck on the table waiting to be eaten.

The good thing is that you can pack up the meat for takeaway complete with pancakes, the sauce and condiments.

For dessert, one I haven't had in a while -- small glutinous rice balls in a sweet osmanthus soup with rice served in a tea cup.

We also had large cups of latte, which kind of overwhelmed the delicate floral-performed dessert.

We're still wondering why Quanjude iDen has a Michelin star... 

iDen & Quanjude Beijing Duck House

2808 Cambie Street

Vancouver

(236) 477 7777

Trump and Vance's Public Spat with Zelensky

Zelensky (left) with Trump and Vance berating him publicly

Appalled. Embarrassed. Outraged. Insane.

How do you describe what happened in the Oval Office today when Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky was berated by US President Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance?

Zelensky was set up to come to Washington for a dressing down which pleased Russian President Vladimir Putin to no end.

Trump and Vance raised their voices, trying to strong arm Zelensky into begging for help in front of the cameras.

But Zelensky held his ground -- we have a deal only if you can promise security for Ukraine.

Instead Trump and Vance tried to denounce the Ukrainian, claiming he was not respectful, and that he should thank them.

At one point Zelensky said that some day the US could be threatened by Russia. "You have a nice ocean and don't feel now, but you will feel it in the future," he said.

Badiucao's cartoon: "I am not playing cards"

Trump got angry and cut Zelensky off. "Don't tell us what we're going to feel," he said, raising his voice. "You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now."

"I'm not playing cards," Zelensky said calmly. "I'm very serious, Mr President. I'm the president in a war."

Then Trump said, "You're gambling with World War III. And what you're doing is very disrespectful to the country, this country, that's backed you far more than a lot of people said they should have."

Vance chimed in. "Have you said 'thank you' once this entire meeting? No."

It was two schoolyard bullies against a guest. How diplomatic.

A reporter even had the gall to ask why Zelensky didn't show up in a suit. The Ukrainian president is at war. How about asking Elon Musk the same question?

Sitting next to Vance was Secretary of State Marco Rubio looking like he wanted to sink into the couch and disappear.

But he later backed Trump on social media: "Thank you @POTUS for standing up for America in a way that no President has ever had the courage to do before."

Others gave similar praise, perhaps terrified of the consequences if they didn't stand with Trump.

Meanwhile a lot of Americans on social media apologised to Zelensky or voiced their shock and utter embarrassment of what happened, and that they stood with Ukraine.

Trump's abrupt about turn is breathtaking and shocking, but he has done it.

As Trump has unified Canada over the threat of tariffs, he has now united the EU to provide more support to Ukraine.

There's going to be more people and companies around the world who will boycott the US. It's in a desperate need of eggs now because of bird flu, with a dozen eggs costing over US$7 for a dozen. The US is looking to import eggs to fulfill demand, but if Trump wants to play hardball, then he'll have to pay more for imported goods, starting with eggs.