Beijing Boyce

Kind of…

I added the “babelfish” application. Click one of the flags on the panel and “babelfish” will machine-translate this Web page into that country’s leading language. Whether it ends up making any sense… well, maybe someone out there can tell me.

(Odd, it doesn’t translate into Australian.)

Here’s the panel:

((c) New Line Cinema)

Since we featured Britain’s second-most famous spy - James Bond - in Celebrity Pub Crawl IV, let’s wrap up our final week with that nation’s premier agent of espionage - Austin Powers. Made your Beijing bar recommendations for this free-wheeling and flamboyant playboy, and you’ll be entered into the weekly draw for:

- A package of four books - Insider’s Guide to Beijing 2008, Mandarin Phrasebook, Healthy Chinese Cuisine: A Restaurant Ordering Guide, and Spicy Chinese Cuisine: A Restaurant Ordering Guide - from Immersion Guides.

- A bottle of Grace Vineyard Tasya’s Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon from Torres.

The deadline for entering the draw is Tuesday at noon. The winner will be announced the next day. (Note: I can only ship prizes to addresses in Beijing. One entry per week per person, please. To spread the wealth for this six-week contest, only one prize per person.) To get those brains spinning, here’s the scene from the Electric Psychedelic Pussycat Swinger’s Club:

Upcoming Beijing wine-related events

Thursday, April 10, 8 PM, Palette Vino Shunyi
Inaugural live jazz performance, RSVP with Leo at 8046-4461

Thursday, April 10, 7-8:30 PM, Amigo (Central Park), free
Coriole (Australia) wine event, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514

Thursday, April 10, 6 PM, Carrefour (Shuangjing store), free
2008 Beijing April Wine Fair launch; wine tasting, live music, 20 percent discount on wines; to get an invitation, send your name, address, telephone number and email address to secretary_bjsj@carrefour.com; fair finishes April 27Friday, April 11, 6:30 PM, Sequoia Cafe (Sanlitun), RMB100
Belgian beer and chocolate tasting (five of each) as Sequoia takes one-week break from wine; RSVP with Frank at frank.siegel@gmail.com / 13701-178-073

Saturday, April 12, 9PM, La Baie des Anges
French 80s music night, with RMB20 glasses of wine (Pastis: RMB10; Tsing Tao: RMB15; watching my French friends slaughter pop songs: priceless).

Thursday, April 17, 7PM, Palette Vino at Pekotan (Central Park, Building 12), members free; non-members RMB100
Six aromatic white wines, including Viognier (France, Australia), Torrontes (Argentina), Rulander (Austria), by Palette Wines; RSVP with Nancy Qi at nancy@palettewines.cn / 13811-182-462

Friday, April 18, 7 PM, Palette Vino Shunyi (Pinnacle Plaza), members free; non-members RMB100
Six aromatic white wines, including Viognier (France, Australia), Torrontes (Argentina), Rulander (Austria), by Palette Wines; RSVP with Leo Liu at leo@palettewines.cn / 8046-4461

Saturday, April 12, 19 & 26, venue TBA, 2-6 PM, RMB1900
Wine appreciation course, by Dragon Phoenix; three days includes tasting of 20 wines, ISO glasses, and guides; RSVP with Fongyee Walker at fongyee@longfengwines.com / 13522-147-340.

Thursday, April 24, 7-8:30 PM, Bento & Berries, free
Terramater (Chile) wine tasting, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514

Thursday, May 8, 7-9 PM, Block 8’s Med, RMB100
Ladies Wine Club, featuring Italian wines and five-course meal; contact Kristen at lum.kristen@gmail.comThursday, May 8, 7-8:30 PM, Amigo (Central Park), free
Raminara (Chile) wine festival, by Top Cellar; RSVP with Cedric at marketing@topcellar.com.cn / 13439-467-514

Note: To get a wine event listed, send the event information, preferably in text format, to beijingboyce@yahoo.com.

No sooner does the Homer Simpson Celebrity Pub Crawl end than a beer and chocolate tasting appears on the high-cal radar. D’oh!

In any case, Sequoia Cafe will forgo the usual Friday night wine tasting and instead feature samples of five Belgian beers and chocolates (RMB100). RSVP with Frank at frank.siegel@gmail.com / 13701-178-073.

(Note: If you like chocolate and you live in Beijing, then check out Elyse Ribbon’s group Chocojing, though I’m sure she has enough on her plate this week with Lethal English).