The van Hasselt family had a fun day out in Shunyi and thought it would be nice to share. Really without the busy weekday traffic, Shunyi is not that far away. A 20 minute Taxi and you are there from Sanyuanqiao. Every time I go to Shunyi I feel like I am leaving Beijing and going on a little holiday. Our first stop was at the magical Green T House. The first time I went to Green T House I am in awe of the serenity. The second time I took my four year old for some lantern making classes during the holidays and this magical place did not let us down. My daughter was blown away by the surroundings and she had a good run outside pretending to be a fairy and unicorn. The gardens of Green T House are perfect for these kind of adventures. Find Green T House Here.

Next we took a car to Pinnacle Plaza searching for one of the finalists of the Pizza Cup. Our map let us down and we had to find another spot to devour dinner. Low and behold we found a restaurant with a playground outside. Now, Lakers Pizza is not the best restaurant around, but we have to pick our battles as parents. Did I mention there was a playground? While we indulged in drinks my daughter ran around on the playground. She got nice and dirty, like kids do when real fun is being had. We ordered pizzas, none of them would be considered the best pizza ever. But this did not matter as we enjoyed clean air and the sun on our faces. The wine was drinkable and it was hard not to enjoy sitting on a porch somewhere listening to country music. Find Lakers here.  Life is good in the suburbs of Beijing.

Picture Credit: Jessica and Pauline

Green T. House in Shunyi is one of the most magical places in Beijing. I have been once and have wanted to return for a while now. It looks like the October holiday is the perfect occasion, as Green T House has an array of family-friendly events spread over several days, with something fun for everybody.

The festivities start with Mooncake Making on October 1 and 2. I have been very curious how to make these sometimes delicious, sometimes weird-tasting cakes.

On October 4 Green T. House and The Slab will work together organizing a Lantern Making Workshop for families. Mid-Autumn Festival is not just eating cakes and moongazing. During this festival you can also let some lanterns loose.

On October 6 you will probably be happy that the kids are ready to go back to school in a few days, so here’s a workshop to keep your sanity, and hone your skills as a parent. Green T. House is organizing a parenting workshop with Sheri Hansen, author of the book Conscious Parenting in China.

I think I might have to camp out on the pretty grounds of the Green T. House so I can be part of every workshop they are organizing this holiday. For more information scan the QR codes on the posters or check out their website.

Photos: Green T. House and Pixabay

This Sunday is Mother’s Day! Here’s our friendly reminder to not forget this awesome women in your life by giving you a small list of some of the great brunches Beijing has on offer and some great ideas of what to get the woman that gifted you life.

Mother’s Day Brunch at Green T House

Shunyi has some magical spots and this is one of them. Dining in Green T Room’s magical gardens will leave mother very happy as they give her a complimentary glass of bubbly and a dessert. With great ambiance and plenty of fresh teas on the menu this place is sure to give mom the pampering she deserves. For more information and reservations call: 6434 2519.

FEAST at East Hotel Beijing

The brunch at Feast needs to be on any kids friendly brunch list as the kids area is stellar, allowing mom to enjoy some peace and quit. WOW your mom at East , Brunch Starts at 11am, at RMB 388 per adult. Kids between the ages of 7-11 pay half price and kids under 6 eat for free. Domain will also have DIY cupcake classes starting at 2pm till 3pm costing RMB 230 for one adult and one child. Call 8414 9820 for reservations.

Brunch at Brickyard Mutianyu

Brickyard knows how to treat mothers. Head out to the lush, green hills of Mutianyu for some fresh air, life jazz, a buffet, roses and other activities for the kids. The Brickyard is located by The Great Wall Mutianyu and brunch starts at 11am. For more information check the website www.brickyardatmutianyu.com, or make your reservations at 6162 6506.

Blue Frog’s Mother’s Day Brunch

Blue Frog wants you to take mom and treat her to a hearty brunch, served with a complementary Mango Panna Cotta and a special gift. Several locations are in shopping centres scattered around town, like U-Town, Indigo, and the new China World Mall. For more information check their website www.bluefrog.com.cn.

The Bar at Migas

Watch out as the Aperol Sprits begin to take over the city. As the perfect drink for a sunny Sunday on a rooftop, you can bet it will send mother on her way to pure relaxation. Why not send mom with some of her girlfriends for a fun night out. Starting at 6pm Two for One Spritz, located at Nali Patio in Sanlitun.

Mother’s Retreat Beijing

The buzz of the month for mothers is this amazing retreat. If you really want to get back into her good graces, treat her this year for an all relaxing one night stay at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beijing. Adding a life coach and yoga to the mix to make the weekend really special. Contact mothersretreatbeijing@gmail.com for more details or to reserve your spot today.

Here’s our fantastic gift recommendations!

Desiree de Wit Textiles

If you want to promote an event, store opening or closing, sale, and any other fun family friendly event taking place in Shunyi, please get in touch with our Shunyi Correspondent Anjana Kainikkara by emailing anjanakainikkara@beijing-kids.com

Cocktails and Canapés at Clicia’s Designs, Apr 22
Cocktails and Canapés cooking class at Clicia’s Design is back! STARAfood Beijing will transform the tiny kitchen at Clicia’s Designs to host an inspirational cooking class with international flavors. Limited space. For sign-ups, please email starafoodbeijing@hotmail.com.

RMB 350. Fri, Apr 22, 1pm-3pm. Clicia’s Designs, Lake View Place Dragon Bay Villa, Huan Road, Building 1-Unit 8, Shunyi District

Roundabout Charity Book Fair at BIBA, Apr 23 & Apr 25
All Ages. If you missed the last Roundabout book fair, here’s your chance to catch the next one. BIBA is hosting a Roundabout book fair over two days to optimize sales and traffic. As always, all proceeds go to children in need. Stop by to browse their collection and stock up on books for the summer! Sat, Apr 23, 10am-3pm. Mon, Apr 25, 9am-11am. Beijing International Bilingual Academy, No. 5, Yumin Road,Houshayu, Shunyi District (8041 0390)

Cook-for-Hope, Apr 26

Cook-for-Hope is a charity cooking competition cum luncheon at Green T. House in Shunyi. The goal is to raise funds to cover the cost of Baby Pu’s diaphragm and heart reconstruction surgeries. Nine confirmed teams have signed up, with only one spot left. Teams will cook up a storm and indulge all attendees with culinary delights from Taiwan, Hongkong, China, Korea, Malaysia, Western (Nestle staff), Britain, Philippines (New Hope), and Singapore. Gather your friends, sign up to support this great cause, and cheer the participants while witnessing this competition. All donations will go to New Hope Foundation. April 26, 11am-2pm. RMB 1000 per team and RMB 300 per guest. Green T. House, 318, Shungbai Road, Chaoyang District (6434 2519)

All in One Market on Sundays
All Ages. The Riviera Sunday Food Market has now blossomed into the All in One Market. Every Sunday they’ll have vendors from all over Beijing, selling everything from
fashion apparel and household appliances to food and drink. They’re adding loads of more activities for engaging kids, including two huge bouncy castles, face painting, magic shows and more! Free.  Sun, 11am-4pm. Riviera Country Club, No.1,  Xiang Jiang Bei Road, Chaoyang District (8450 6888)

Food & Wine Pairing, Apr 28

All you Wine connoisseurs out there, here’s something that might perk your interest! You don’t need to fight traffic into the city to indulge your taste-buds with great food and fabulous wine. Sign up for this event and you’ll get to enjoy five treats created just for you by Boulangerie. While these are delectable by themselves, paired with five amazing international wines especially selected for this evening by Signature Wine, they’ll be absolutely divine. Apr 28, 7.30pm. RMB 100 Signature Wine Club Members, RMB 120 Non Members. Riviera Country Club. No.1,  Xiang Jiang Bei Road, Chaoyang District (wine@SigWine.com)

Photo Courtesy: Riviera Country Club, Clicia’s Designs, Roundabout, New Hope Foundation, Signature Wine Club.

April is here and spring is finally catching up. Here are some events and classes going on in our neighborhood to get you out and about.

Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.) begins in Shunyi on Thursdays, starting tomorrow! From April 11-May 30, 12:45-3:45pm, join this dynamic course to help you further develop your parenting skills and strategies. Classes are at Beijing International Bilingual Academy (BIBA) — for location information go to www.bibachina.org and for class specifics email counsellingwithnaomi.com.

Springtime often means spring cleaning, and to help with that is the annual ISB Nightingale Charity Club Car Boot Sale — this Saturday, April 13 from 9:30am-1pm. Come and shop, or participate by reserving your car space (RMB 200 if reserved by tomorrow; RMB 300 on the day of event).

Green T. House Living will host its 8th Annual Spring Green Tea Tasting event, offering a leisurely afternoon of tasting from a range of China’s finest green teas selected by Green T. House creator JinR. Additionally, there will be performances, recipes for T. cuisine and snacks, and a special guest benefit concert by Zhao Li beginning at 5pm. This free entry event is on Saturday, April 20 from 3-5pm.

MAC Time invites kids ages 7 and above to come to Green T. House in Shunyi for some outdoor sketching. On Sunday, April 21 from 10am-noon and 2-4pm, this kid’s art class teaches water color landscape and includes tea and snacks. Cost is RMB 220 per child. Contact 8046 1820 or 138 1033 4208 to register before April 19.

Manicures at LeSpa are pleasurable indulgences, and now they’ve expanded their salon services with a new mani/pedi room! Treat your hands and feet royally at LeSpa in the River Garden Clubhouse.

Radiance, where art thou? Haven’t been there yet, but rumor has it the new location at Roma Lake is going to be the place to be! Details forthcoming…

Photo by akoray of flickr.

Green T. House Living in Shunyi has been hosting many exclusive special events the last several months, and March is no different with two occasions you won’t want to miss.

First, on Wednesday, March 6, come enjoy an evening of music performance and charitable giving. This outstanding benefit concert features Los Angeles-based indie pop singer and songwriter Joe Gil, and guest musician Ji Wei (international Guzheng star). All proceeds will go to Agape Family Life House, a Langfang-based orphanage that is the leading facility in China for treating kids with Osteogenesis Imperfecta (Birttle Bones condition). 

Doors open at 6:30pm for a meet-and-greet with the musicians and Agape kids (about 10 of whom will be there); show starts at 7:30pm. This unique event has limited seating to enhance the intimate unplugged-style show, and one of the children from Agape will join in performing a song with Joe on the piano!

Tickets are RMB 500 to help Qing Hai kids receive needed medical care. Contact Aaron at aaronstair@yahoo.com or 150 2663 9857 EARLY to reserve your seats. Attendees will receive personalized gifts including autographed souvenir tickets from Joe, and autographed color pictures of one of the Agape kids. A truly special evening – don’t miss it!

Then on Friday, March 8, celebrate International Women’s Day with a fabulous brunch cook-off from 10:30am-3pm. You and your friends can participate in the cook-off (RMB 500 per team of four max to enter), or just come enjoy the food and activities (RMB 200). Hear inspirational stories from extraordinary women, enjoy music and dance performances, and appreciate a clothing and jewelry fashion show, too! Proceeds go towards Tongxinhuhui, a non-profit organization to support migrant women. Go to www.green-t-house.com for details.

Sports Beijing will take registrations and payments for their spring programs at these Shunyi schools from 9am-2pm:

WAB: Thursday, February 28 (ES Main Entrance)

ISB: Friday, March 1 (HS Cafeteria Entrance)

BSB: Monday, March 4 (Main Lobby)

 Contact activities@sportsbj.com with any questions.

Clicia’s Designs announces its one-and-only spring gem sale, from Wednesday, March 6 at 3pm until Tuesday, March 11 at noon. The spring collection features top-grade imported gems fresh from Brazil’s mines and the Hong Kong Gem Fair. Enjoy 50% off and 5% off for cash sales!  Clicia’s Designs is located at Lake View Place by the Dragon Bay Villas.

Hurry, hurry! A new Parent Effectiveness Training (P.E.T.) class begins TODAY and runs on Wednesday morning for 8 weeks (3 hour sessions). Held at Beijing Riviera, this well-known parenting skills course focuses on the best practices for communication and conflict resolution. Contact instructor Leann Ferry at leannferry1@yahoo.com or 137 0105 0421 for more information (especially about how you can make up this first class…). Cost is RMB 2,500 per student, including the textbook and workbook.

It’s time once again to find out what’s going on in our neighborhood from friends old and new. Come to the INN Neighborhood Coffee Morning at Starbucks on Thursday, February 21 from 10am-noon – no need to RSVP, just show up and enjoy a cuppa and a chat!

Also on Thursday, come to the first of two parent talks by Dulwich College Beijing. From 9-10am at the Riviera Main Campus Library, listen to the expertise of Melissa Pierce, Speech Language Pathologist currently working at Elliot’s Corner (pediatric therapy center). The topic of this talk will be about speech and language development in bilingual and multilingual environments. Please RSVP to rsvp@dulwich-beijing.cn.

Then on Tuesday, February 26 at the Beijing Riviera Country Club, find out about the early stages of literacy development, and how you can support your children to be readers and writers. This talk will be presented by Sarah Humphreys, Head of Early Years at Dulwich, from 9-10:30am. RSVP to rsvp@sulwich-beijing.cn.

New culture and wellness classes are starting up at Green T. House Living in Shunyi. From health to arts and more, this is the place to go for great learning and perfect surroundings. Click here for the class link.

Photo by MyTudut of flickr.
 

December 7 is opening night for the Beijing Playhouse production of “Snow White” – right in our neighborhood at the British School of Beijing at 7:30pm. A fairy tale for the children with a whole level of humor for the adults to enjoy, audience members are invited to cheer during this lively performance. After opening night at BSB, regular performances will be at the National Olympic Sports Center near the Bird’s Nest from Friday, December 14 through Sunday, December 23 – check the website for ticket prices and performance schedule at www.beijingplayhouse.com.

You’ll be reading a lot about Green T. House Living in Shunyi as there are more and more events being held there that appeal to a wide range of people! If you love live music, don’t miss the Battle of the Bands charity fundraiser by student bands from ISB, WAB and BCIS this Saturday, December 8 from 2-6pm. A RMB 100 door donation goes to New Life Centre. Don’t miss this jammin’ event!

Great news for all Tasty’s lovers – it is now back in the Shunyi area at Lake View Place (shopping center by Dragon Bay Villas). Located within the Icemart store, Tasty’s has all of their frozen foods such as pies and pizzas, to their fresh baked goodies like cinnamon rolls, bagels, carrot cake and more. A minimum order can also be placed by calling 159 1059 6300.

Come to a “Fabulous Fur Sale” at Clicia’s Designs and Shayne’s Treasures this Friday, December 7 from 10am-3pm. As the temperatures drop this winter, take a look at these luxury furs in jackets, throws, gloves and more – great prices for the perfect holiday gift! Visit their store at Lake View Place by Dragon Bay Villas.

West Hair Salon is celebrating its second anniversary with a great promotion in December — Save 50% off of hair services all month long! If you haven’t yet tried this salon (and I’ve long promoted their incredible hair wash/head massage service), this is a great time to visit them on the 5th floor of Euro Plaza.

Ok, so the Pinnacle Plaza tailor only moved down a few doors. We still have several tailor options within walking distance if you live near the Pinnacle area (including Euro Plaza), but that far end of Pinnacle is still looking quite sparse…

Back from October holiday and into beautiful autumn weather, here’s what’s going on in and around Shunyi…

NOW is the time to do it – so I need to remind myself – EXERCISE! With the excitement surrounding Heyrobics around the city, it’s just too tempting to pass up now that it’s in Shunyi (in my compound, no less). This week a new class began on the River Garden Villas front lawn (Tuesday morning at 9am), with another class scheduled for this Friday at 9am. Give it a try! Other Shunyi locations are at the Swedish School in Gahood Villas and the British School of Beijing. Get an idea of what all the excitement is about by looking at their website, www.heyrobics.com, and for questions about the Shunyi classes, e-mail susanne.kosovac@heyrobics.com or call 150 1054 7402 or 135 2140 2694.

Green T. House Living in Shunyi will host another fantastic Art & Wine Tasting tonight from 7-9pm, featuring artist Yang Li Ming and Californian wines by Crimson Wines. Entry is free and a la carte dining is available by reservation. RSVP to events@green-t-house.com, 6434 2519, or 136 0113 7132.

Black Tiger Club will host a Women’s Self-Defense Workshop on Sunday, October 14 from 1-2:30pm at their studio in Riviera Plaza (across the street from WAB high school). For girls and women of all ages, this class will help you develop sharp reflexes and reaction skills using an ancient Filipino martial art called Escrima. The workshop is RMB 250 and includes an official certificate of achievement for each participant.  E-mail info@blacktigerclub.com for more information.

The Bollywood craze continues in Shunyi, and the original teacher out here is returning from Bangkok for a special workshop. Irit Ahanam will conduct the workshop at the River Garden dance studio the week of October 15-19 – two lessons per day (the morning lesson will be repeated in the evening). Times are: Monday 10-11am or 8-9pm; Tuesday – Friday 10-11am or 7-8pm (you may come to more than one per day!). Cost is RMB 500; free trial lesson on Monday for those who want to give it a try. Email Irit directly at iritmike@gmail.com.

The monthly INN Shunyi Coffee Morning is this week on Thursday, October 18 from 10am-noon. Meet at Starbucks in Pinnacle Plaza to find out what’s going on in the neighborhood!

Cathay View Garden has another new occupant in its growing plaza (next to Beijing Riviera) – Boulangerie Nanda! Already familiar to many with their freshly baked breads, this new location will expand to include a juice bar, breakfast and sandwiches. The phone number remains the same (8459 0134), but owner Jennifer Yeh also provides her mobile number for inquiries, just in case the move still has some glitches to work out (139 1127 2032).

Photo by www.heyrobics.com.