Gung Haggis Fat Choy invades Ottawa:
  
A Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner hosted by Kristin Baetz and Doug McCallum.
  

Doug McCallum and Kristin Baetz play with Lion head masks in their new Ottawa home, as Doug tries to impersonate Toddish McWong - photo courtesy of Baetz/McCallum.
The Gung Haggis Fat Choy home dinner concept is definitely spreading.  While I have encouraged my friends in Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax to invite friends to their homes and raise a glass or a pint to Toddish McWong, there have been some complete strangers sending my their stories and pictures.

Kristin Baetz and Doug McCallum attended the 2005 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner in Vancouver, co-hosted by myself, Shelagh Rogers and Tom Chin.  It was the largest one yet at 560 people.  But Kristin and Doug moved to Ottawa, and so unable to attend the official Gung Haggis Fat Choy™: Toddish McWong s Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner. they created their own dinner party for 30 people with home-made haggis won ton.

Below is the story told through e-mails between Kristin and myself.


Chinese Lions approach the Baetz/McCallum home in Ottawa - reminds me of the 2002 GHFC dinner that almost got cancelled due to a rare Vancouver snow storm - photo courtesy of Baetz/McCallum

Kristin:  Hi Todd....  My partner and I spent the last 4 years in Vancouver, and being of partial to Chinese food and of Scottish decent, we loved attending your Gung Haggis Fat Choy Party.  It was the highlight of our time in Vancouver.  We have recently moved to Ottawa and we decided to host our own Gung Haggis Fat Choy Party in our house…which, though small with only ~30 people, was amazing.  We had lion dancers, bagpipers and off course haggis wontons.  We thought you would like to hear about the! spread of your celebration and enjoy seeing our pictures.

Todd:  Very Cool.... how did you get the haggis won tons?  Did you make them yourself?  Did you use straight haggis or did you add water chestnuts to make them crunchy?

K:  I made them myself.  I was surprised to find that a local butcher sells Haggis year round by the slice (2inches).  Supposedly lots of people fry it up like a steak for dinner.  Used a slice to make the stuffing for our won tons -next year I will remember to add the water chestnuts.   Surprisingly the actually full haggis was big hit, served it like you did with lettuce and plum sauce so people could wrap it, and there was none left by the end of the night.  Who would have thought!! 

T:  Which dinners did you attend in Vancouver?

K:  We attended the 2005 dinner.

T:  How did you originally hear about Gung Haggis Fat Choy? 

K:  I think we first heard of it on the CBC morning show.  You have gotten great support from the CBC over the years.  We also saw some of your posters around town too. 

T:  Can I post your story and pictures to the website?

K:  Sure.  Unfortunately, in all the festivities we didn't get any shots of our bag-piper lead parade through the house with the haggis and all the neighborhood kids following, trying to figure out what was going on.  They weren't too impressed by the sheep stomach thing.


Chinese Lion Dancers bless the Baetz/McCallum home, and help celebrate the very 1st Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner in Ottawa - photo courtesy of Baetz/McCallum
T:  I hope you read the story about Adam Protter in Whistler BC....

K:  I just did.  He put on a quiet a dinner feast!!  We only had Asian and Scottish inspired snack food.  Lots of dumplings, satay, stinky Scottish cheese, Chinese candies, shortbread, gravlax, homemade egg-rolls and the famous haggis wontons.  And most important - lots of different scotches to taste and cases of TsingSao Beer. 

T:  I have wanted to organize a dinner in Ottawa for the last year, but haven't been able to make it out.  Featured in the CBC television peformance special "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" is George Sapounidis - who lives in Ottawa.  Also I have friends Robert Yip who volunteers with Asian Heritage Month Ottawa, and Pierette a former museum curator.  I would love to introduce them! to you - and help create an official licenced Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner that can help develop a local fundraiser for the community - that would spread joy and the values of inter-cultural harmony and inclusion to the Ottawa area....or you could just continue having personal home parties, and raise a dram of whiskey to "Toddish McWong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy."

K:  We would certainly be up for meeting people and helping organize a real dinner one day.  As we have created quite a buzz in our neighborhood (having lion dancers and bagpipers marching out front of your house certainly lets people know a new crew are in residence) we think that for next year we will have another, but larger, house party.  We think we have a lead on a tin flute band and a highland dancer.  Since we know he has an appropriate outfit, we might even invite Senator Larry Campbell next year (HAHA). It is all so exciting.

T:  Thank you very much to you, Kristin, and your partner - for bringing a bright start to my day

K:  No problem.   You brought us two of our most memorable evenings one in Vancouver and one in Ottawa.

All the best, Kristin