Shaolin Journeys

[GeneChing]

This truly is a Shaolin food article, not a 'journey', but this thread is dying on the vine, and this article is so odd, so ttt.

Eight months at Shaolin and he never figured out where he could go to get some sinews flesh? Anyone know this guy?

Rose Bar Gatekeeper Nur Khan Likes Meat and Martial Arts

On the Gramercy Park Hotel's roof.Photo: Melissa Hom
You need an iron constitution to be the moat minder of one of the city’s most-sought-after rooms — Rose Bar creative director Nur Khan wakes up at 10 a.m. and usually attends to his loyal customers till at least 3 a.m., five or six nights a week. To stay strong, he eats steak — and a lot of it! He also practices martial arts — several years ago, when he spent eight months training at Shaolin Temple, he had to forgo meat and found he wasn’t a big fan of a vegetarian diet. Anyway, who wants to be a vegetarian when you’re buddies with the maître d’ at Waverly Inn and can eat there a few times a week?

Saturday, May 24
I stayed in town for the long holiday weekend to avoid the hustle and bustle of the Hamptons. I had a late brunch at home — a cup of tea, a bowl of fresh fruit, cantaloupe and strawberries, and a cheese omelette.

I had dinner with friends at Keens Steakhouse, a sort of undiscovered New York gem that has a great old-English-pub vibe. I don’t think the people that frequent Rose Bar go there — there’s no scene up there. I had a salad, creamed spinach, New York sirloin, lamb chops, and a nice bottle of wine.

Sunday, May 25
I had a late lunch with friends at Bar Pitti before I went to the Murakami exhibit. We had spinach, spaghetti Bolognese, and a bottle of water.

For dinner I went to Omen. It’s really private and discreet. I had edamame, an avocado salad, shrimp and vegetable tempura, assorted sushi, and, of course, sliced sirloin steak. I have steak practically every night for dinner —my body just craves meat. Anything that had hoofs on it at one point makes me happy.

Monday, May 26
I usually have breakfast at home. I had my cup of tea and bowl of Cheerios.

During the weekdays I usually have lunch at Rose Bar. Monday I had a bowl of chicken soup and water. My lunches during the day are typically fairly light. I like to dine in between meetings. I have a lunch menu for the Rose Bar — we serve it from noon to 3 p.m. It’s pretty mellow during the days — I start to see people coming in later in the afternoon, around 4 p.m. From 4:30 p.m. straight through evening we’re pretty busy.

I usually have a late dinner, like 9:45ish, then come straight [back] to the Rose Bar after. I had friends in from out of town — I had a very light dinner at Mezzogiorno, which consisted of a salad of mushrooms, tomatoes, mozzarella, and bottle of water and bottle of red wine.

I try not to eat late after work. If I’m having a craving, we have some really good Kobe-beef burgers, which I’ll nosh on from time to time.

Tuesday, May 27
I had a cup of tea, fresh assorted fruit, and a bowl of Cheerios.

For lunch, a bowl of tomato soup and bottle of water at the Rose Bar. I carried on with meetings.

Dinner at the Waverly Inn was a salad with fresh green peas, sirloin steak, a bottle of red wine, and a nice glass of cognac. I’m at the Waverly at least twice a week — Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson are my former partners. I’m fortunate to say I don’t have a problem getting a table there. It’s a very social scene — it’s basically my crowd here at Rose Bar pre-****tail time. Everyone has dinner there and then they come over to me. There’s a lot of table-hopping.

It’s funny because the maître d’ Emil [Varda] is a very good friend of mine; we go way back. He was asking me, “I have so many people calling me from London to get into the Rose Bar. I can’t give your phone number out, can I?” I said, “No, you know the situation…”

Wednesday, May 28
Breakfast at the house was a cup of tea and a cantaloupe

Lunch at Rose Bar was fresh minestrone soup and a bottle of water.

I had a nice dinner before I went to the Hilfiger sessions at Webster Hall. I went to Raoul’s, which is probably one of my favorite restaurants in New York. I had a salad, artichoke, spinach, the old standby steak au poivre (it’s one of my favorites — they do a really nice job with the sauce, and it’s a good cut of meat), and a nice bottle of red wine. It’s unpretentious — you can hide away in the back.

One of my favorite casual places is Serge Becker’s La Esquina. It’s really laid-back and you can kind of vanish there. It was more sceney when they opened, but everyone’s so cool there that it’s very easy.

[GeneChing]

It's a little better than the NBC one.
Click for vid. I like "Show-lin"

Shaolin temple is the birthplace of Kung Fu
Updated: Aug 22, 2008 07:44 PM
Scott Swan/Eyewitness News

Many Chinese children watch martial arts movies and dream of becoming a grand master in Kung Fu. In one town, there are 65 schools that teach the art - it is known as the birthplace of Kung Fu.

If you spend any time in China and you'll find yourself at a temple. For hundreds of years, they've provided a peaceful retreat, a place to worship, a spot to reflect. But head to the mountains in central China and you'll find why one temple is different.

"Shaolin Temple is the birthplace for Zen Buddhism," said General Grand Master Warrior Monk Shi Yan Xiu. "And for Shaolin Kung Fu."

The breathtaking fighting skills of the Shaolin monks lure 1.5 million visitors every year. The monks perform with swords, spears and sticks.

Shaolin Kung Fu dates back to the 6th Century, inspired by a monk who began exercising during meditation. Today, 80 Buddhist monks live at the Shaolin Temple. Their dorms are simple, but say their lives are fulfilling. They burn incense candles to continue a long tradition of worshipping Buddha.

"All the monks must have prayer, to pray in morning and night," Shi Yan Xiu said. "This makes religion, discipline and training work together."

The intense training of 200 warrior monks is something most tourists don't see.

"As a warrior monk, we ask them to practice as much as possible," Shi Yan Xiu said.

Some warrior monks will stay here all their lives. Others will leave after several years of training. A few of the monks will set their sights on the highest goal at Shaolin.

"When you grow up, you can decide if it's the life you want. If you want to become a real Buddhist monk," said Shi Yan Da, a Buddhist monk.

Dreams of becoming a Kung Fu master begin at an early age in China. Thousands of students at the 65 Kung Fu schools learn various forms of Shaolin.

Seventeen-year-old Wu Yang became hooked as a boy.

"At a young age, I watched too many Kung Fu movies and was influenced by the movie stars," he said.

Now, he's one of thousands of young Chinese enrolled in private Kung Fu school. The children spend three hours a day in school and four hours training.

"The environment of the school is very good and I like to study Shaolin Kung Fu," said Li Cong Ying.

School leaders say only three percent of their students have a realistic chance of becoming a master. Only a few have ever been selected to become a warrior monk.

"Real Shaolin Kung Fu is from hard work. You must practice for a long time and then you can get the real Shaolin Kung Fu," said Buddhist monk Shi Yan Da.

Kung Fu may be the stuff of Hollywood lore, but the roots of the ancient martial arts run deep in the temple's hallowed ground.

[Kevin Huang]

The traditional kung fu arts are very much out there.

However, one's perception of what a traditional kung fu art is will influence the direction in which one travels in order to find it.

There's a certain type of practitioner who is so convinced that the answer MUST lie elsewhere that he refuses to acknowledge that what he seeks is right at his doorstep.

[GeneChing]

Check out Will the Real Kung Fu Please Stand Up by Jonathan Poston.

[Kevin Huang]

In that article, Jonathan Poston wrote "It was the traditional training like in the Matrix or Karate Kid that intrigued me".

With that kind of preconceived notion, it would be very hard to find a real life school that teaches that way. That's because Matrix and Karate Kid are MOVIES with IMAGINARY training scenarios.

Real life kung fu is nothing like movie fu, in training or application.

[Songshan]

In depth articles about shaolin kung fu. Though it seems that newer authors are discovering Shaolin. Yes, traditional shaolin kung fu is out there....it does exist.

[iron_silk]

I enjoyed reading the article partly because I take genuine interest in hard work training. Something I have yet to accomplish.

Thanks for sharing Jonathon Poston.