GungHaggisFatChoy

Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddle on Sunday Feb 7th

Todd — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:53:00 -0800

Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddles False Creek and takes in pre-Olympic sight-seeing.

We have a dragon boat team of keeners.... who wanted to paddle in February. It was our first paddling practice since early November, when we had a few practices after paddling in the Ft. Langley Cranberry Festival Canoe Regatta. Fifteen people jumped into the dragon boat for 11am practice on Sunday Feb 7th,

And... I think... I really needed to paddle to get myself warmed up for paddling in the dragon boat flotilla that will accompany the Olympic Torch Relay on Feb 12th, for when Gold medalist Olympian Hugh Fisher will pass off the Olympic Torch from a dragon boat to Olympian Kamini Jain in a voyageur canoe.

I only paddled for half the practice. if that... I also coached some of the paddlers a bit for some 1-on-1 coaching for only half the time. I steered for the remaining half, after switching with Stephen Wong, who started off steering for the team.

The team met at the parking lot for False Creek Yacht Club for 11am, then had a quick warm-up, then headed to the boat for 11:15am, headed over to Alder Bay to pick up Debbie, then back to FC Yacht Club to pick up a paddler named Tony who arrived late after his morning meeting. Next we paddled towards and past the Burrard St. Bridge to show paddlers where the lights are for the from the nightly spectacular light show.

I pointed out where the boat launch for the Burrard Marina is, where dragon boat paddlers for the flotilla that will accompany the Olympic Torch Relay will organize.

Next we paddled Eastward to Granville Island to identify the Ferry dock at West Side of Granville Island, where the torch will be handed to torchbearer Olympian Hugh Fisher. We looked over at the bright yellow building, formerly known as Bridges Restaurant, that is now being transformed into the Swiss Pavillion. At the North end of the Granville St. Bridge is a floating hotel lodge that has been towed down from Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands) that is normally lodged at Langara Island.

We took a little stretch, then switched sides. I took a turn at steering, and let veteran paddlers Stephen Wong take his turn for paddling. Just East of Granville Island is the Spruce Harbour Marina, where nearby, is the area where Hugh will pass the torch to Kamini Jain in the middle of False Creek. Hugh will be in the dragon boat, and pass the torch to Kamini in the voyageur canoe. There are great viewing areas from both the North and South sides of False Creek, so it is perfect for cameras and television crews to set up for a unique photo opportunity.

We spotted the big black pontoon floats that are being used for security to block off the boat traffic in the East Bay, that are positioned along Cambie St. Bridge. We paddled along beside it and waved to the officers in the Police Boat, guarding the perimeter, that includes the Olympic Village.

Next we paddled near the Yaletown ferry dock, where Kamini will hand the torch to a runner, after she climbs out of the voyageur canoe. The torch will then proceed up the streets towards Georgia Street, where it will arrive at the First Nations Aboriginal Pavillion where there will be a blessing ceremony. This will be one of the final stops of the Olympic Torch before it travels to the Opening Ceremonies about 2 blocks down the street to BC Place Stadium, later in the evening.

It was a good paddle, and our paddlers were happy and pleased that I would be a part of the dragon boat flotilla accompanying the Olympic Torch Relay. But most of all, the paddlers were all happy to be paddling again, and in friendly company. Many times I heard somebody say, "I'm just here for the social aspects" as we paddled back to FC Yacht Club.... by about 12:30pm.

The next plan was to have lunch. I promised that I would treat everybody to dim sum lunch, if they came paddling.

We were at Floata Restaurant for dim sum, at 1pm, at least my car was. Other people got re-routed by traffic diversions. By the time they arrived, there were lots of dim sum selections on the table. Haw-gow shrimp dumplings, Siu-mai pork dumplings, Lo-bak-goh pan-fried turnip cake. We also tried a special appetizer plate that included jelly fish, crispy pork skin and bbq pork. There was also shanghai style dumpling with shrimp meat and green vegetable, steamed pork bun, sliced-almond covered shrimp balls, fish cakes, and more! I also ordered house special chow mein with crispy noodles, and Geurng-chow-ngor-hah flat rice noodles with sliced beef.

This was Katie's first time having dim sum in Vancouver. She's originally from Ontario, and only been in Vancouver almost a year.... and somehow never found her way to dim sum yet.

Georgia pronounced that the meal was "heaven"

GREAT LUNCH!!! and we finished off with Chinese egg tarts for dessert.

Georgia Straight: Todd Wong cancer recovery story in "Traditional Chinese Medicine enters the mainstream"

Todd — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:31:00 -0800

Todd Wong recounts using complimentary/alternative medicine to battle cancer to Georgia Straight writer Charlie Smith.

It was 21 years ago, when I found himself in emergency at Lion's Gate Hospital. The first time he heard the word cancer was when he asked the attending specialist what the word "oncology" meant that was stitched on the doctor's white jacket. 5 months of chemotherapy is a long time. It was certainly made easier by the Reiki and Therapeutic Touch energy work that my mother did on me, and the many visualization exercises that I did each day. I was way to weak to play accordion - but I did when I was finally strong enough months later. When I returned to Simon Fraser University, I took as many courses with health and illness themes as possible including: Health and Illness in Sociology, Health Psychology, Women's Health and Health Issues, Psychopathology, and even directed studies courses.

It was much better than the alternative.

Without treatment, the doctors told me that I might have lasted 2 weeks. My lungs were half-full of fluid, the tumor was half the width of my chest cavity and pushing on my vital organs. There was bruising on my chest from internal pressure.

We do what we can, and I am glad to be alive and making my contributions to Society.

Traditional Chinese medicine enters the mainstream

By Charlie Smith

Chinese medicine expert Karen Lam has felt more acceptance in recent years.

Vancouver library worker Todd Wong knows better than most that life occasionally delivers a rude surprise. In 1989, Wong came back from a trip to New York feeling rundown. At first, his doctor diagnosed a recurrent viral flu. Only after visiting an oncologist did Wong, then 29 years old, learn that he had a germ-cell tumour related to testicular cancer. It required emergency chemotherapy to deal with a growth in his chest the size of a large grapefruit.

“The first night I’m in the hospital, the doctor tells my parents, ‘There is a 60-percent chance your son will survive because we only discovered this very, very late,’ ” Wong told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “I was 29 years old, really active, and the doctors never suspected anything.”

Wong, a fifth-generation Chinese Canadian, was visited regularly by his mother, who wanted to give her son therapeutic touching to help him heal. She asked about doing energy work known as Reiki, because this is what she had practised at home. “The doctor told her, ‘If you want to do that, you can take your son out of the hospital,’ ” Wong recalled.

His mother kept coming to the hospital every night to surreptitiously practise Reiki on her son, and Wong’s grandmother brought affirmations from a book by Louise Hay called You Can Heal Your Life. Later, he called a psychology instructor at Capilano College (now Capilano University) to learn how to practise visualization. When he was well enough to attend Simon Fraser University, every course he took had a focus on illness and health. “I did directed studies on the relationship between stress and illness,” Wong said. “I learned that psychoneuroimmunology [study of the interaction between psychological processes and the nervous and immune systems] was only coined as a term in 1980.”

Two decades after Wong’s recovery, he sees much greater cooperation taking place between allopathic and complementary health practitioners. The B.C. Cancer Agency is backing a complementary medicine education and outcomes program, which is examining how to safely combine complementary approaches with traditional cancer treatments. The team, led by principal researcher and UBC nursing professor Lynda Balneaves, is exploring the most effective ways to support cancer patients in making decisions in this area. In addition, the researchers hope to enhance health professionals’ understanding of this area.

Meanwhile, the U.S.–based National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, which is part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, has been conducting scientific research on complementary and alternative healing practices for 10 years. It also trains researchers in this area and disseminates information to allopathic practitioners. For example, it has noted that acupuncture has demonstrable therapeutic benefits for low back pain, and that tai chi may benefit older adults with osteoarthritis in the knee.

During his recovery, Wong visited naturopath and acupuncturist Larry Chan, one of the founders of Integrative Healing Arts on Vancouver’s West Side, who helped him think “outside the box” about the origins of illness. Wong is convinced that health is about finding balance and looking at the body system in a holistic framework rather than focusing exclusively on germs or viruses. Integrative is one of several facilities—including the Broadway Wellness Centre, Cross Roads Clinics, and Finlandia Natural Pharmacy and Health Centre—that offer an interdisciplinary and complementary approach to health care.

Read the rest of the article here: http://www.straight.com/article-284396/vancouver/tcm-enters-mainstream

Olympic Torch to be carried by dragon boat in its final journey to Opening Ceremonies

Todd — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:36:00 -0800

Dragon boat to carry the Olympic Torch!

The last day of the Olympic Torch Relay Feb 12th will feature Dragon Boats and Canoes as Olympic gold medalist Hugh Fisher, from a dragonboat, will hand off the torch to Kamini Jain, in a voyageur canoe, in the middle of False Creek. This event will take place on February 12th in Vancouver BC. Details and exact times will be released soon.

Fisher won Olympic Gold and Bronze with Kayak partner Alwyn Morris at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Kamini Jain competed in K-1 single kayak events in 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Games. Fisher is one of the founders of the False Creek Racing Canoe Club which has helped to shape dragon boat racing in Canada and also influence it's development in North America.

Kamini is the current head coach of the FCRCC, and took the Mixed team to gold and silver in Sydney Australia for the 2007 IDBF World Championships. FCRCC-cored Premier Mixed: 2nd at 500m (by 0.51 secs!), 4th at 200, 1st at 2K

It's going to be exciting as 6 dragon boats (20 paddlers) and 6 outrigger canoes (6 paddlers) make up the escort flotilla, that will accompany the torch bearing boats. It will bring back memories of the torch first arriving in Canada after landing at the airfield, and then arriving to BC's Provincial Legislature Building in Victoria, carried by First Nations cedar canoes.

And I will be one of the paddlers in the flotilla! Yippee!

Here's the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team at the 2009 Rio Tinto Alcan Dragon Boat Festival. One of these BuK boats will probably be used to transport the Olympic Torch in the final legs of the relay to the Opening Ceremonies at BC Place Stadium.

The six dragon boats and outrigger canoes will be paddled by False Creek Racing Canoe Club, and some other clubs. I think I will be on a boat where paddlers from different teams have been invited to participate. I am very excited at being invited.

Back in the summer, I did a video audition to be a torch bearer for the City of Vancouver, as two library workers would be included amongst the selected workers from police, firemen, city workers and parks workers. Sadly, I wasn't chosen - but I know our library workers are deserving and wonderful people, especially my friend Judy Caldwell, who is a librarian, and dragon boater. Judy is one of the founders of the Abreast in a Boat dragon boat team of breast cancer survivors, and we were both awarded the 2008 BC Community Achievement Award.

I've been involved with dragon boats in Vancouver for many years. I attended the first dragon boat races on False Creek in 1986 during Expo 86. I joined my first team in 1993. Soon I was coaching other teams, and competed in Victoria races in 1997 and San Francisco in 1999. I was invited to join the Alcan Dragon Boat Festival Race Committee in 2000. In 2003 I helped to found the Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat Race, as board member of the CCC Dragon Boat Association. The Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team has been active since 2002, and dedicated to promoting multiculturalism through dragon boat paddling. We have put Taiwanese dragon boats into the St. Patrick's Day parade in 2004 and 2005. The team has been filmed for tv documentaries for French, German and Canadian television, and also for an upcoming documentary movie.

This is one of my favorite pictures of the Gung Haggis team, at the 2007 Vancouver International Taiwanese Dragon Boat race! Imagine holdin the Olympic Torch from the head of the dragon - but these Taiwanese boats won't be used for the Olympic Torch Relay.

Here is information about viewing the Olympic Torch on False Creek from the False Creek Racing Canoe Club Website:

After covering 45,000 Km across Canada, the Olympic flame will be crossing the waters of False Creek on its final journey to BC Place for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics ...

... the next-to-last leg of the Torch Relay, on February 12th, will be from Granville Island to Yaletown!

That a final-day leg is on the water - really, it's a bit odd when you think in terms of Winter in Canada - is a recognition of the importance which paddle sports have in many parts of Canada, especially in & around Vancouver and the Lower Mainland ... even in Winter!

That the leg is on False Creek is recognition of how many people see the Creek as the central hub of their training & racing & simple recreational-paddling activites - not just FCRRC, but all the other clubs & groups & individuals using it too.

And too, of how much the Creek has changed since it was primarily a very unfriendly-to-recreation beehive of industrial activities, before Expo 86 - when the first Dragon Boat events took place there.

Key details (there might be more to come a bit later in the week - stay tuned):

on February 12th, departing from the FC Ferry dock at the West end of Granville Island, the Torch will be carried in a Dragon Boat and a Voyageur Canoe to the Yaletown dock at the Quayside Marina. Full details & map here, and in the Vancouver2010 Interactive map (go to Day 106 & select Vancouver)
Kamini Jain, FCRCC's Head Coach, and Hugh Fisher, one of FCRCC's founders, both of whom have competed in paddling events at the Summer Olympics for Canada, have been honoured by being chosen as Torch Bearers for the False Creek leg

So let's all get out to watch the Torch's voyage, and cheer Kamini & Hugh.

Suggested viewing points are Granville Island, the Granville Street Bridge, the Seawall either side of David Lam Park and the Cambie Street Bridge
Eager to absorb all the Olympic spirit of the final day? Come down to Granville Island earlier, and follow the torch as it makes its way through the streets before crossing the water (see the map for full details of the two days - 105 & 106 - that the Torch is in the city)

Two cautions:

Boat traffic (including canoes, kayaks, etc.) will be extremely restricted during this time!

... taking out your own boat (or one of the Club's OCs or Marathons or K/C-1s) to view the Torch Relay will likely result in being turned away and missing the view you can get from on-land viewpoints

Make sure you allow yourself lots of time to get there, and don't plan on parking on or anywhere near GI either (see News item for more on those topics)

For more information on the Torch Relay and other Olympic events visit vancouver2010.com

http://www.fcrcc.com/events/olympic-torch-relay

http://www.canadianoutrigger.com/messsubj.cfm?pid=2721

http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/olympic-torch-relay-interactive-map/

http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/olympic-torch-relay/stories-from-the-road/day-106---alternative-modes-of-transportation-in-vancouver_236610kB.html

Did Muk Muk, the Olympic sidekick marmot, see his shadow today on Ground Hog Day?

Todd — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:12:00 -0800

Ground Hog Day in balmy British Columbia.
Did Muk Muk see his shadow?
We don't have ground hogs, we have the Vancouver Island Marmot, and are currently over-run with Muk Muks!

Did Muk Muk see his shadow this morning? Ground hogs don't live in Vancouver or Whistler, site of the 2010 Winter Olympics - but marmots do. It rained this morning. I doubt that Muk Muk saw his shadow... Too bad - Vancouver doesn't get 6 more weeks of winter that Eastern North American will get, as predictedy by Punxsu...tawney Phil in Pennsylvania, Wiarton Willie in Ontario and Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia.
http://www.nationalpost.com/story.html?id=2512533

We saw a television news story that snow is being trucked to the Cypress Bowl Olympics site for Free style skiing and Snowboarding. It's coming all the way from Manning Park! Way past Hope and the Fraser River! I guess there isn't even any snow at Hemlock Valley!

News results for snow, manning park, olympics

CTV.ca

Trucks start moving snow to Cypress Mountain from Manning Park‎ - 9 hours ago

The great Olympic snow job is under way. ... VANOC to bring in snow by helicopter from elsewhere in the Cypress area and truck in snow from Manning Park. ...

2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner brings a bit of Scotland back for everybody!

Todd — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:45:00 -0800

"Bringing back a bit of Scotland for everyone" was how Toddish McWong described the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Throughout the evening, Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, shared stories of his recent trip to Scotland. He had gone to Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh.for the finale weekend of Scotland Homecoming Year, and wrapped up a long year of Scottish celebrations that had started with the 250th Anniversary of the poet Robbie Burns and finished with a closing reception at Scottish Parliament where a life-size picture of him had been included in the photo exhibit This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada. By the end of the evening, Bill Saunders, giver of the Immortal Memory, had received a bow tie in Burns Check brought all the way from Burns Cottage in Alloway, and almost every guest walked home with a lovely Burns 2010 calendar courtesy of Visit Scotland, which had been shipped from Edinburgh specifically for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner.

The evening started off soon after 6pm, with a piping in of the head table and performers by the Gung Haggis Pipes & Drums, led by pipe major Bob Wilkins. All the guests rose to greet the procession, as host Toddish McWong, introduced the band and the performers to the audience.

The pipers and the performers stood at the front of the stage. It was an amazing array of colours and costumes as wollen tartan kilts and chinese embroided silk clashed and complimented each other.

Co-host Tricia Collins dressed in a Saltire blue Chinese silk top and wore our Fraser Hunting Tartan mini-kilt from the Gung Haggis dragon boat team. She shared with the audience how her own Irish-Chinese ancestry came to Canada via Guyana (British Honduras), similar to the first governor of Canada, James Douglas, whom she is writing about for her next project..

Joy Kogawa read the "Selkirk Address" to bless our food and dinner. In 2006, Joy was our featured author and she read a new work then. The Historic Joy Kogawa House Society is one of the non-profit organizations that receives monies raised by the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.

Joe McDonald performs "The Rap to the Haggis" as he "cut ye up wi' ready slight." Co-host Tricia Collins looks on, as she witnesses this strange ritual for the first time.

Wong leads a chorus of "Gie her a Haggis" and "Gie Vancouver a Haggis", as she rouses the finale to this rowdy and interactive version of the sacred Burns poem.

5 "men" were selected to recite the Burns poem "A Man's a Man For All That" included "The Bearded Lady". Left to right included a Judge, Parks Commissioner/teacher Stuart Mackinnon, Kilt afficianado and dragon boater Raphael Fang, The Bearded Lady, and a kilted friend from Richmond. All stout men who gave good readings of the verse, finalizing with Mackinnon singing the last verse.

Throughout the evening, Wong and McDonald led singalongs of "When Asian/Scottish/Chirish Eyes Are Smiling" and "Loch Lomand." These singalongs encouraged audience participation and took a warm surprise turn when McDonald had men only singing "Ye take the High Road" chorus of Loch Lomand, immediately followed by an outstanding version of the Women only singers.! The women were clear winners!

Special poet of the evening was Larissa Lai, who read from her new book of poetry Automaton Biographies. Each year the Gung Haggis dinner features a different poet. Larissa also briefly explained how she teaches Burns at University of BC, in her role as an Assistant Professor in the English Department.

Special theatrical performance was done by playwright/actor Marcus Youssef accompanied by writer/comedian Charles Demers. They did a stage reading of Youssef's critically acclaimed play Ali & Ali and the Axis of Evil. The segment poked fun at Multiculturalism and Scottish history and culture, to great effect.

Birds of Paradox is a musical instrumental trio, featuring Lan Tung (erhu), Ron Samworth (electric guitar) and Nealamjit Dhillon. Their playing was sublime and took turns highlighting each performer. It was exciting to see the erhu played with soaring passages, trading phrases with the picking and fretwork of the guitar, all accompanied by the polyrhythms of the tabala drums. Of note, Dhillon had first performed with Joe McDonald at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners in 2001 and 2002 as the musical duo Brave Waves.

Highland Dancing was the surprise hit of the evening performed by Aidan and Alex Huang from Kelowna, sons of drummer Dan Huang. They are only 6 and 9 years old, but they showed poise and control as the young boys are experienced competitors in Highland Dance competitions. The boys certainly enjoy their Chinese and Scottish heritage.

Bringing the evening to a more serious tone, Bill Saunders, president of the Vancouver & District Labour Council, gave the Immortal Memory. He recounted Burns life, from a "ploughman's poet" to the "toast of Scottish high society" in Edinburgh. He described the values and beliefs of the poet, then went on to postulate what Rabbie would be like today as a poet. Saunders painted a portrait of a young community activist, fighting for social justice and gender equity, wearing a hoody, criticizing the elite, and protesting against the economic and social conditions that promote and cause homelessness.

Raffle tickets were drawn and the top prizes were quickly given out: Vancouver Opera tickets to Nixon in China, The Monkey King, upcoming productions from Firehall Arts Centre, Neworld Theatre and UBC Opera. Arsenal Pulp Press and Harbour Publishing had donated books such as Larissal Lai's first novel "When Fox is a Thousand" and Charles Demers' "Vancouver Special" as well as Fiona Tin Wei Lam's "Enter the Chrysanthemum."

The Gung Haggis Pipes and Drums, performed again, first weaving their way through the audience, easily filling the large restaurant space with the skirl of the pipes and the beats of the drums. They winded their way to the stage, and performed 3 numbers. Todd and Tricia thanked the volunteers, production coordinators and the audience before leading a singalong of Auld Lang Syne with the first verse in Mandarin Chinese.

The evening ended with lots of smiles and compliments. Here are some of the comments:

"Thanks, Todd for another fantastic Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. " - Joan Young of Historic Joy Kogawa House Society

"Awesome night, Todd!! Great job. " - Desmond Rodenbour

"Gung Haggis Fat Choy was just as Amazing as I had always dreamed. You should be very proud of what you've done." - Lorraine Murphy

"I just wanted to say thanks for your efforts and creativity in bringing about the Gung Haggis Fat Choy event. I attended tonight for the first time, along with a mix of Scottish and Chinese friends and we all enjoyed ourselves and our table-mates." - Paul

2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner a big success - thank you to our performers, support crew and volunteers... and our audience!!!

Todd — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 17:38:00 -0800

THANK YOU to OUR GUESTS
for attending
Gung Haggis Fat Choy

44 tables were filled for almost 440 guests at the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Our performers put on a great show, and people were on their feet for the Gung Haggis Pipes & Drums.

Special thanks to co-host Tricia Collins, poet Larissa Lai, musicians Joe McDonald, Birds of Paradox (Lan Tung, Ron Samworth and Nealamjit Dhillon), playwight Marcus Youssef, author/performer Charles Demers, The Bearded Lady (Naomi Singer), Immortal Address given by Bill Saunders.

Making it happen were stage manager Charlie Cho, sound engineer Carl Schmidt, seating and volunteer coordinators Debbie Poon and Dave Samis, Ricepaper editor Patricia Lim, our wonderful volunteers from Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team and Ricepaper Magazine.

More thanks to our prize sponsors... Vancouver Opera, Arsenal Pulp Press, Centre in Vancouver for Performing Arts (Four Brothers Entertainment), Firehall Arts Centre, Newworld Theatre, Harbour Publishing + more...

Pictures are being posted up soon.... I will write a review tonight.

Gung Haggis Dinner is Sold Out!

Todd — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 11:30:00 -0800

SOLD OUT
Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner!

Sorry but there are no more tickets available for Gung Haggis Fat Choy
The Firehall Box Office closed off on tickets sales for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner on Friday Night.
We did take late reservations by phone on Saturday.

For 2010, we redesigned the dinner for only 400 guests - instead of 500+ last year.
The Firehall Arts Centre printed out 345 tickets for our guests + we have performers and volunteers - so we have reached our goal of 400 people. We hope to have a more intimate dinner party for our 400 best friends for the evening!

But you are unsure of your ticket reservation
- please call me - Todd Wong ASAP
Call 778-846-7090,

Because the nature of the dinner is a 10 course sit down banquet - Advanced reservations is always the best. We have to have many of our culinary specialties prepared ahead of time.
We don't like to have to turn away people at the door - but we have to if there is nothing to serve them.

What to expect at the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Todd — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 17:43:00 -0800

What to expect at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2010 Dinner

picture by Patrick Tam

The Arrival

Arrive Early:

The doors will open at 5:00 pm, All tables are reserved, and all seating is placed in the order that they were ordered.

If you bought your tickets through Firehall Arts Centre, come to the reception marked Will Call under the corresponding alphabet letters.

We have placed you at tables in order of your purchase. Somebody who bought their ticket in December will be at a table closer to the stage then somebody who bought it on the day before the event. We think this is fair. If you want to sit close for next year - buy your ticket early.

The Bar is open at 5:00 and Dinner Start time is 6:00

We expect a rush before the posted 6:00pm dinner time. We have asked that the 1st appetizer platter be placed on the table soon after 6pm. Once this is done, we will start the Piping in of our performers and head table. We sing O Canada from the stage, and give welcome to our guests. Warning: We usually ask you to sing for your supper.

Buy Your Raffle Tickets:

Please buy raffle tickets... this is how we generate our fundraising. We purposely keep our admission costs low to $60 for so that they are affordable and the dinner can be attended by more people. Children's tickets are subsidized so that we can include them in the audience and be an inclusive family for the evening. We have some great door and raffle prizes lined up. Lots of books (being the writers we are), gift certificates and theatre tickets + other surprises.

FREE Subscription for Ricepaper Magazine:

Everybody is eligible for a subscription to RicePaper Magazine, (except children). This is our thank you gift to you for attending our dinner. And to add value ($20) to your ticket. Pretty good deal, eh? Rice Paper Magazine is Canada's best journal about Asian Canadian arts and culture, published by Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop,

This dinner is the primary fundraising event for:

The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dragon Boat team continues to promote multiculturalism through dragon boat paddling events. Some paddlers wear kilts, and we have been filmed for German, French, and Canadian television documentaries + other

Since 2001, Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, has been a partner in this remarkable dinner event. ACWW works actively to give a voice to ermerging writers. ACWW is the publisher of RicePaper Magazine.

Histoic Joy Kogawa House committee joined our family of recipients in 2006, during the campaign to save Joy Kogawa's childhood home from demolition. The Land Conservancy of BC stepped in to fundraise in 2005 and purchase Kogawa House in 2006 and turn it into a National literary landmark and treasure for all Canadians. In 2009, we celebrated our inaugural Writer-in-Residence program.

The FOOD

This year haggis dim sum appetizers will again be served. Haggis is mixed into the Pork Siu-mei dumplings Last year we introduced haggis pork dumplings (su-mei). This year we are adding vegetarian pan-fried turnip cake to represent "Neeps and Tatties." The secon

Soon after 6:00 pm the dinner formalities begin. People are seated, and the Piping in of the musicians and hosts begins. We will lead a singalong of Scotland the Brave and give a good welcome to our guests, and have the calling of the clans - all the reserved tables and large parties of 10. This is a tradition at many Scottish ceilidhs (kay-lees), or gatherings.

From then on... a new dish will appear every 15 minutes - quickly followed by one of our co-hosts introducing a poet or musical performer. Serving 40 tables within 5 minutes, might not work completely, so please be patient. We will encourage our guests and especially the waiters to be quiet while the performers are on stage. Then for the 5 minute intermissions, everybody can talk and make noise before they have to be quiet for the performers again.

Check this video from last year's Dinner

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2009

07:59 -

The Performances

Expect the unexpected: This year's dinner event is full of surprises. Even I don't know what is going to happen. The idea is to recreate the spontaneity of the very first dinner for 16 people back in 1998 - but with 400 guests. For that dinner, each guest was asked to bring a song or a poem to share. I don't want to give anything away right now as I prefer the evening to unfold with a sense of surprise and wonderment. But let it be known that we have an incredible array of talent for the evening.

Todd Wong and Tricia Collins will be the hosts for the evening.

Todd Wong is the creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy. A 5th Generation Chinese Canadian who played Robbie Burns in the Battle of the Bards for 2008 Celtic Fest.

Tricia Collins is a actor, writer and playwright. Recently, her one woman play Gravity performed to rave reviews in Vancouver, Montreal and Guyana - home of her ancestors. Tricia happily brings her Irish-Chinese-Guyanese-Canadian heritage to Gung Haggis Fat Choy!

Joe McDonald We always delight in having Joe and his bagpipes. Joe has been with us since 2001 and even performed in the 2004 Gung Haggis Fat Choy CBC tv special. Joe is a multi-instrumentalist and can perform Chinese tunes on his bamboo flute or his bagpipes.

Birds of Paradox is the new group by erhu virtuoso Lan Tung, Ron Samworth on guitar and Nealamjit Dhillon on tabla drums and saxophone. Lan is also the leader of the group Orchid Ensemble.

Larissa Lai is our featured author, author of her new poetry work Automaton Biographies, Her novels are When Fox is A Thousand and Salt Fish Girl. Larissa also teaches Burns' work at UBC English Department.

Marcus Youssef and Camyar Chai are the authors of Ali & Ali and the Axis of Evil. This has become a favorite for many Vancouverites, as the play pokes fun at Asian Heritage Month, Multiculturalism and Scottish history. Charles Demers performs with them

Poetry by Robbie Burns and Chinese Canadian poets. What will it be? We often like to read "Recipe for Tea" - a poem by Jim Wong-Chu, about the trading of tea from Southern China to Scotland

Our non-traditional reading of the "Address to the Haggis" is always a crowd pleaser. But this year, audience members might also be reading a different Burns poem to tie their tongues around the gaelic tinged words. Will it be "A Man's A Man for All That," "To a Mouse," My Luv is Like a Red Red Rose," or maybe even "Tam O-Shanter?"

The evening will wrap up somewhere between 9:00 and 9:30 pm, with the singing of Auld Lang Syne - with a verse in Mandarin Chinese. Then we will socialize further until 10pm. People will leave with smiles on their faces and say to each other, "Very Canadian," "Only in Vancouver could something like this happen," or "I'm telling my friends."

Robbie Burns was born in the year of the Tiger.

Todd — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 16:38:00 -0800

Robbie Burns Was a Tiger...
what about you?
2010 welcomes the Year of the Tiger
on February 14th.

Zig Zag: The Paths of Burns exhibit, Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow

In 1759, a wee bairn of a boy named Robert was born in a cottage in the village of Alloway, in Ayrshire Scotlandm, on January 25th in the last days of the Chinese Lunar Year of the Tiger. Four days later on January 29th, Chinese New Year of the Rabbit occurred.

250 years later, Scotland celebrated the year of 2009 as the Year of Scotland Homecoming, from the 250th Anniversary of Burns' birth on January 25th, to November 30th St. Andrew's Day.

Kelvingrove Museum, Glasglow

Something special about Robert Burns and his poetry have endeared him to the people of Scotland and around the world. He is said to be one of the most translated poets into almost every language around the world. At the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, we sing the first verse of Auld Lang Syne in Mandarin Chinese.

Do you think the Year of the Tiger qualities fit Robert Burns?

Year of the Tiger qualities

The Tiger is said to be lucky vivid, lively and engaging. Another attribute of the Tiger is his incredible bravery, evidenced in his willingness to engage in battle or his undying courage. Maybe he’s so brave because he is so lucky.

Tigers do not find worth in power or money. They will be completely honest about how they feel and expect the same of you. On the other hand, they seek approval from peers and family. Generally, because of their charming personalities Tigers are well liked. Often, failing at a given task or being unproductive in his personal or professional life can cause a Tiger to experience a depression. Criticism from loved ones can also generate this type of Tiger reaction. Still, like all felines, Tigers always land on their feet, ready for their next adventure.

The Year of the Tiger seems to have been significant in the development of Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner events.

On May 11th, Todd Wong was born in 1960, the Year of the Rat. He is a descendant of Rev. Chan Yu Tan, who arrived in Canada in 1896 as a Methodist Lay Preacher. Todd is from the fifth generation that his family has lived in Vancouver.

Toddish McWong in 1993

The first time I wore a kilt was in 1993. Chinese New Year was January 23rd, the Year of the Chicken. Robbie Burns Day was January 25th. I was to wear a kilt and carry a claymore (Scottish sword) in the Simon Fraser University Burns Day ceremonies. Realizing that the two most important days in Chinese and Scottish culture were only 2 days away from each other, I coined the phrase "Gung Haggis Fat Choy" and called myself "Toddish McWong." My picture appeared in the Vancouver Sun and Vancouver Province... and even though I wouldn't wear a kilt or participate in a Burns ceremony again for years... friends would still tease me about wearing the kilt and call me "Toddish McWong."

The next time Chinese New Year came close to January 25th was in 1998. The Year of the Tiger began on January 28th. This was the first Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner on Sunday January 25th. It was held in the livingroom of a North Vancouver townhouse. My friend Gloria and I invited 14 of our friends to help create a multicultural mixing of Chinese and Scottish traditions... and everything in-between and beyond. I had never before been to a Burns Supper before, and had to go to the Vancouver Public Library to look up directions. I brought in poems from the 1998 anthology "Many Mouthed Birds" Contemporary writing by Chinese Canadians. Even back then, the emphasis was on mult-culturalism and inter-culturalism, as we invited friends to play a song or read a poem.

Here are some of the words from that first invitation:

We are creating a celebration of Canadian culinary portions to celebrate the proximity of Robbie Burns Day (Jan 25) and Chinese New Year (Jan 28). We ask you to help us share our unique perspective of multiculturalism with all Canadians, so that we all may better understand each other.

This Sunday, on January 25, we are creating a “Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner” for 20 invited friends. Haggis will be bagpiped in at 6pm sharp and served with traditional “neets and taters.”[sic] Accompanying the haggis will be an assortment of Chinese sauces such as black bean, sweet and sour & chinese plum sauce to help facilitate the palatability of this “offal” dish.

It is important for Canadians to know that we are more that “Two Solitudes.” We are “multi-solitudes” and we must be proactive in our association and integration to avoid separation anxiety and solitary depression. As former lieutenant governor David Lam said, “Multiculturalism is like a pot-luck dinner, everybody brings something - and if you can’t, you offer to wash the dishes.

2009 saw the closest occurrence of both Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year, as January 25th fell on Chinese New Year's Eve. It was also the designated year of Homecoming Scotland, a global celebration to invite all Scots and Scottish descendants home to Scotland to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of the birth of Robert Burns. Chinese New Year ended with the Year of the Rat and welcomed the Year of the Ox. The Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner was one of several Burns Suppers around the world that received one of 250 specially made bottles of 37 year old Famous Grouse blended whisky. 250 for the anniversary of Burns. 37 for the age of Burns when he died. These bottles were auctioned off for charity. We chose to donate 50% of money raised to go to the Burns 250 project, of the Scottish National Trust, for which I discovered that they have a Chinese punch bowl that Robert Burns used at the wedding of his brother Gilbert.

Homecoming Year celebrations went on all through 2009. In October, I received an invitation to Scottish Parliament for the Closing Reception of the "This is Who We Are: Scots in Canada" exhibition. I decided I had to go to Scotland. On November 28th, I finally arrived at Glasgow Airport for my first trip to Scotland, after spending way too many hours in a plane from Vancouver on January 27th, and a 7 hour stopover in Amsterdam. Exhibit curator Harry McGrath had told me that my picture was "featured rather prominently" - but he didn't tell me if was life-size!

Toddish McWong in 2009

My visit was only one week, but I saw many Burns exhibits at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgove and the Zig Zag: The Paths of Burns at the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow. I traveled to Ayr and saw the same Robert Burns Statue that is in Vancouver's Stanley Park. Further down the road, I visited Burns Cottage where Burns was born in the village of Alloway. Burns National Park contains the soon-to-be demolished "Tam O'Shanter Experience" which is being replaced by the Burns Birthplace Museum. A short walk past the Church is Brig O' Doon - the site of the bridge in Burns' famous poem Tam O'Shanter.

Burns Cottage, Alloway Scotland

And now it is 12 years after that first "accidental" Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. The Year of the Tiger is again coming after Burns Birthday. But much later in 2010, on February 14th. For the City of Vancouver, this is also the Year of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games (Feb 12 - 28). What is next for the Legacy of Robert Burns? Well in 2010 Summer, the Robert Burns National Birthplace Museum will open... in the Year of the Tiger.

Burns Birthplace Museum - opening Summer 2010.

Here's a website for 1645-1899
http://pinyin.info/chinese_new_year/cny1645-1899.html

Year of the Tiger
http://www.usbridalguide.com/special/chinesehoroscopes/Tiger.htm

Program revealed for this Sunday's 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Todd — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:41:00 -0800

What's Happening this Sunday at Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner?

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinners always emphasize BC's cultural and historical past and present. While we acknowledge the Scottish and Chinese pioneers that helped to shape this province of British Columbia, we also look to see where we are going and what kind of cultural fusion is happening. This year's program is amazing.

Larissa Lai is the featured author (When Fox is A Thousand, Salt Fish Girl + new poetry book Automaton Biographies). Larissa enjoyed last year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner when Rita Wong was the featured author. Larissa teaches Burns poetry at the UBC English Department.

Lan Tung is the featured musician with her trio Birds of Paradox, with guitarist Ron Samworth and multi-instrumentalist NealamjitDhillon. Nealamjit has performed at Gung Haggis Fat Choy previously with Joe McDonald's band "Brave Waves."
This will be Lan's first time at Gung Haggis Fat Choy, she is a virtuoso on the erhu, and is well known with her group Orchid Ensemble

Marcus Youssef is featured playwright and will perform excerpt from "Ali & Ali and the Axis of Evil" which pokes fun at Asian Heritage Month, Multiculturalism and Scottish history and culture. Marcus is one of the founders of Neworld Theatre with Adrienne Wong and Camyar Chai. Adrienne is a perennial favorite at Gung Haggis Fat Choy. She has co-hosted and last year, she presented a preview excerpt from her Neworld theatre play "Mixie and the Half-breeds." In May 2009, Marcus and Adrienne co-produced and performed in a reading at the Vancouver Public Library for History Joy Kogawa House's inaugural Writer-in-Residence program with Montreal author John Asfour. This is Marcus's first visit to Gung Haggis Fat Choy, he will be joined by Camyar Chai and Charles Demers.

Tricia Collins, is our Chinese-Irish-Guyanese-Canadian co-host. Her recent one-woman play Gravity played to rave reviews in Vancouver, Montreal and Guyana. Tricia has performed in many theatre plays, and recently her work was featured at the Whistler Film Festival in

Gung Haggis Pipes & Drums - including Dan Huang - Drum Sgt of the Kelowna Pipes & Drums.

Alex and Aidan Huang - Scottish-Chinese-Canadian Highland Dancers age 6 & 9.

William Saunders, president of the Vancouver & District Labour Council, will give the Immortal Memory about our Ploughman's Poet

Joe McDonald, official bagpiper of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, will help lead some singalongs and special tunes

Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, will read poems, lead singalongs and maybe play some accordion

GREAT PRIZES....
Tix for "Monkey King" at Centre for Vancouver for Performing Arts
Tix for Vancouver Opera's "Nixon in China"
Tix for Firehall Arts Centre "Where the Blood Mixes"
Great Book Prizes:
Jim Wong-Chu - Swallowing Clouds
Larissa Lai - Automaton Biographies
Fiona Tinwei Lam - Enter the Chrysanthemum
Charles Demers - Vancouver Special
Gu Xiong - The Yellow Pear
Ashok Mathur's A Little Distillery in Nowgong
+ Lots More

Larissa Lai is featured poet for 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Todd — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:38:00 -0800

Larissa Lai, author of When Fox is a Thousand and Salt Fish Girl - comes to Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner

Last year, Larissa Lai was a guest at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner. She enjoyed the event so much she is coming back... as our featured poet! At a reading event at the Vancouver Public Library, Larissa shared with me that she teaches Robert Burns to her students at University of BC. Wow... Perfect!

But Larissa is much more than that... She is an acclaimed poet in her own right, and the author of two novels - When Fox Is A Thousand, and Salt Fish Girl. Both books are in my personal collection. I first met Larissa back in 1994, when I wrote an article for the SFU Student Newspaper, and she was a featured poet for the Go For Broke Festival - the forerunner of Asian Heritage Month.

But I am sorry to share that we will NOT be serving Salted Fish at the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner. While my mother used to (and still does) cook salted fish at home... I have selected pan-fried spicy salted prawns (Jew-Yim-Hah) for the 2010 Menu... one of my favorite dishes.

From www.larissalai.com
Larissa Lai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of English at The University of British Columbia. She holds a PhD from the University of Calgary. Her first novel, When Fox Is a Thousand (Press Gang 1995) was shortlisted for the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award. Her second novel, Salt Fish Girl (Thomas Allen Publishers 2002) was shortlisted for the Sunburst Award, the Tiptree Award and the City of Calgary W. O. Mitchell Award. In 2004, West Coast Line published a special issue focussed on her work. She has been the Markin-Flanagan Writer-in-Residence at the University of Calgary (1997-8), and Writer-in-Residence in the English Department at Simon Fraser University (2006). sybil unrest, her collaborative long poem with Rita Wong, was published by Line Books in 2009. Eggs in the Basement, a long poem based on a vocabulary exhaustion exercise, surprised its writer by telling the story of Moses and Monotheism. It was published by Nomados, also in 2009. Lai’s first solo full-length poetry book, Automaton Biographies, has just been released by Arsenal Pulp Press.

Lan Tung erhu virtuoso is bringing her trio Birds of Paradox to Gung Haggis Fat Choy

Todd — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:08:00 -0800

Birds of Paradox brings cultural fusion music to Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner for 2010

Ron Samworth, Lan Tung and Nealamjit Dhillon make up the cultural fusion trio of Birds of Paradox - photo courtesy of Lan Tung

Lan Tung is a fantastic virtuoso erhu player who has recently toured across Europe and was just in Halifax with Symphony Nova Scotia for a January 7th concert of new music.

For the past few years I have been attending her concerts with Orchid Ensemble as they have explore Ghosts, Origami Paper Folding and Chinese-Canadian history and other special projects. Lan came to Canada fom Taiwan in 1994, she incorporates Chinese music with contemporary expression in her works. Her strong interest in music outside her tradition has been a major drive in her artistic explorations, crossing the lines between classical, contemporary, folk, blues, creative improvisation, and various ethnic styles, such as Indian, Flamenco and Middle Eastern, to expand the horizons of the erhu.

I am really excited that we can present Lan and her collaborative trio Birds of Paradox featuring Ron Samworth and Neelamjit Dhillon in an exploration of composition and improvisation on the combination of electric guitar, erhu, voice, tabla, flutes and saxophone.

Lan is a dynamic force on the Canadian music scene, serving multiple roles as erhu performer, composer, concert producer, and administrator. She has toured extensively in North America, working with composers, musicians, dancers, visual and media artists of various cultural backgrounds. She performs regularly in a number of ensembles: the JUNO nominated Orchid Ensemble (http://orchidensemble.com) performs Chinese and western contemporary music in a trio of erhu, zheng/Chinese zither, marimba and various percussion instruments.

Lan Tung
Artistic Director
Orchid Ensemble
Chinese Music and Beyond...
http://www.orchidensemble.com
http://myspace.com/orchidensemble
http://youtube.com/TheOrchidEnsemble

Vice President of
Vancouver Inter-Cultural Orchestra
http://www.vi-co.org

Tandava
http://tandava.com
http://myspace.com/tandavamusic

Trio - Ron Samworth, Lan Tung and Neelamjit Dhillon
http://myspace.com/samworthtungdhillon

Special Projects
http://myspace.com/triaspora
http://myspace.com/ghostprojectorchid

http://myspace.com/lantung
http://youtube.com/LanTungErhu

Daniel Lee Rest in Peace, 1920 - January 26, 2010

Todd — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:42:00 -0800

Daniel Lee 1920 - January 26, 2010

Daniel Lee saluting at the November 11, 2009 Remembrance Day ceremony in Vancouver Chinatown. The Chinese Canadian veterans always attended the Victory Square Cenotaph ceremonies, which Dan Lee also helped to organize, then they would go to Foo's Ho Ho Restaurant to stay warm, before organizing the Chinatown ceremonies at 12:30pm - photo Todd Wong

"To be a good citizen you got to start at home. Otherwise, a nation is just like a family.
Everybody got to be happy at home otherwise the nation would be in trouble."
- Daniel Lee

With sorrow... we share the news that Grand-Uncle Daniel Lee passed away this morning of January 26th, 2010. He had been in the Burnaby Hospital since Wednesday. His daughter Grace, she said it was quite sudden - his going into the hospital. I had been receiving reports from my mother Betty, as her mother Mabel (Dan's oldest sister at 99 years old) was visiting the hospital each day.

Uncle Dan was born the 11th child of 14, the 5th son of seven to jeweler Ernest Lee, and Kate Chan Lee - the 2nd child, and 1st daughter of Rev. Chan Yu Tan. As a young child he spent some time living in Nanaimo with his grandparents Rev. and Mrs. Chan Yu Tan, after the early death of his father.

When Dan was 20 years old he tried to enlist in the Canadian Army, but was turned away because at that time they did not allow any Chinese Canadians. Instead, he went to aircraft mechanics school in Toronto and graduated two years later. By 1942, Chinese were allowed into the Army due to pressure from Great Britain. Dan Lee was one of the the first Chinese-Canadians accepted into the Canadian Air Force. Soon, he was joined in England, by his brothers Howard and Leonard, plus cousin Victor Wong, who were enroute to the Pacific Theatre to serve with the Army special forces.

In the years after WW2, Dan Lee and his fellow Canadian born veterans would continue to face racial discrimination and prejudice. The were not allowed to join any of the existing Canadian Legions for veteran soldiers. They turned to the oldest veteran organization, the Army, Navy, Air Force Vets of Canada and were accepted to form their own unit - Pacific Unit 280. After WW2, he and his fellow veterans and good friend Roy Mah, petitioned the Canadian Government to gain voting rights for Chinese Canadians, and also to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act. This was accomplished in 1947.

But the challenges weren't over yet. Every year Uncle Dan would write a letter to Ottawa asking for an apology for the Chinese head tax and exclusion act. The Chinese head tax redress movement took on a larger significance after MP Margaret Mitchell brought the issue up in Parliament in 1984, and also when Prime Minister Mulroney apologized to Japanese Canadians in 1988 for the the government's interning of them during WW2.

In the 1980's, Dan Lee would continue to work head tax apology issue. With Douglas Jung, a former veteran, lawyer, Member of Parliament, and the Chinese Benevolent Association, they proposed that a national organization be formed to deal with the Head Tax issue. Dan Lee became one of the founders of the National Congress of Chinese Canadians(NCCC) and a national conference was held. After many years, an apology was finally made in Canadian Parliament by Prime Minister Harper in 2006.

In 1998, the Chinese Canadian Military Museum was founded. Dan Lee's air force uniform was one of the first displays.

Chinese Canadian Military Museum Dinner November 7, 2009
top row: Bryan Larrabee, grand-nephew Todd Wong, Padre Wesley Lowe
bottom row: niece Rhonda Larrabee, Daniel Lee, sister Mabel Mar

In 1999, we held the first Rev. Chan Legacy Family Reunion. Uncle Dan was a consultant for the committee. At the reunion, it was Dan Lee who gave the Elder Address, as he talked about his grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan.

In 2002, the Rev. Chan Yu Tan family was featured in the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum exhibit "Three Canadian Chinese Pioneer Families" - pictures of Uncle Dan and the contributions of himself and his brothers and cousin were included.

In 2007, Dan Lee is one of the lead stories in the film documentary Heroes Remember, produced by the Chinese Canadian Military Museum.

Dan Lee's dedication to community service is exemplary. In 2004, Dan Lee received the Award of Merit from Dominion Command. It is one of the highest honours a veteran can receive. Uncle Dan told me that to receive an Award of Merit, you must first receive the Medal for Appreciation, which he received in 1987. In 1999 he next received the Award for Service.

And through all these years, Uncle Dan would sell poppies in downtown Vancouver for Remembrance Day, and help organize the Poppy Drive every November. He was one of the best sellers. He was also one of the organizers of the Victory Square Cenotaph Remembrance Day ceremonies. In 2004, Remembrance Day ceremonies began at the Canadian Chinese Pioneer Monument in Chinatown. The veterans of Unit 280 would attend both Victory Square and Chinatown ceremonies, even if it was raining and cold.

The contributions that Dan Lee made, will last and be remembered, while he will be missed.

We offer support and love to Uncle Dan, his wife Irene, and their children Vincent and Grace.

Peace & Blessings to all, Todd Wong - Vancouver

Chinese Canadian Military Museum Dinner November 7, 2009
with fellow veterans of Pacific Unit 280 + Ujjal Dosanjh MP.

REST IN PEACE - GRAND-UNCLE DAN

As part of his commitment to community, Dan annually organized the poppy campaign in Vancouver. It's not surprising he was a top-seller. For his community efforts Dan has received many veteran honours, such as the Award of Appreciation, and Award for Service - but none higher than the Award of Merit from Dominion Command in 2004. It's a fitting tribute to the grandson who evidently learned his values and strong faith in community from his Methodist Church pioneer, Grandfather Chan Yu Tan.

See VIDEO of Daniel Lee from the Chinese Canadian Military Museum

Daniel Lee - Canadian Chinese Veterans

www.vac-acc.gc.ca

Daniel Lee, one of three brothers to join the war effort, worked as an aircraft mechanic and went on to a career of dedicated community service in Canada.

Daniel Lee 1920-2010 - picture album on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/53803790@N00/sets/72157623292987932/

Google News Alert for "Gung Haggis Fat Choy"

Todd — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:44:00 -0800

Here are some of the media interviews about Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner + other stories

Every year I do media interviews. On Robbie Burns Day, I was woken up at 7am by a request from BBC Radio Scotland. Yesterday, I did an interview for French CBC television. Monday was Epoch Times. Last week the Georgia Straight did a food feature article. Somewhere in Scotland there is an interview in the Sunday Post. Even SFU, Seattle and North Shore News have stories about Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner this year. Check out the links:

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is the ultimate fusion feast

Straight.com - Carolyn Ali - ‎Jan 21, 2010‎

“People really like haggis dim sum,” says Todd Wong, otherwise known as Toddish McWong. He's organizing the 12th annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, ...

Gung Haggis Fat Choy Celebrates Chinese and Scottish Heritage

The Epoch Times - Ryan Moffatt - ‎11 hours ago‎

At first glance not a lot, but if you ask Todd Wong, founder of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, the two partner together quite well. “In Canada they talk about the ...

Food Calendar

North Shore News - Pamela Stone, Debbie Caldwell - ‎4 hours ago‎

Gung Haggis Fat Choy: The annual Scottish and Chinese cultural, musical and literary event featuring intercultural food, fun, poems and music, Sunday, Jan. ...

Join the Burns Day fun Jan. 25

Simon Fraser University News - ‎Jan 21, 2010‎

And don't forget to stay for Gung Haggis Fat Choy, a fun meld of Chinese New Year and Burns Day festivities, with dragon cart races, haggis and egg rolls. ...

Like a trip home

The Kingston Whig-Standard - Ian Elliot - ‎Jan 25, 2010‎

... and a unique Canadian twist is a Scottish- Chinese fusion born in Vancouver known as Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinners that feature haggis wontons and other ...

Vancouver taste treat: haggis won ton

Crosscut (blog) - Knute Berger - ‎19 hours ago‎

The menu for the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner in Vancouver has been revealed, and it combines the celebratory influences of Chinese New Year with the ...

Food and Culture Topic of Presentation

Opinion250 News (blog) - ‎Jan 9, 2010‎

We also attend boundary-blurring festivals, such as Gung Haggis Fat Choy Day,” says Dr. Iwama, who has a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. ...

SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival - Dragon Cart Winners are the Wellness Warriors!

Todd — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:36:00 -0800

Dragon Cart Racing is a most excellent sport at SFU
- part of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival.

The winners of the dragon cart races were the Wellness Warriors, from the Health & Counseling Department at the Student Services Building. I came up with the idea of dragon cart racing, because I tried to think of ways to adapt Scottish and Chinese recreational activities into a fun way for university students to participate in intramural events. At UBC, there is the Day of the Longboat. At SFU, we have dragon cart racing as part of the SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival. The "paddlers" have to propel themselves by using poles.

McFogg the SFU mascot dog and a SFU piper look on, as Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan and SFU President Michael Stevenson taste the haggis. Stevenson was doing a tour of all 3 SFU campuses. He started at SFU Harbour Centre, then went to the Burnaby Mountain campus, then finished at the Surrey campus. This haggis was made by Bruce Roane of Roane's Haggis.

Happy 251st Birthday Rabbie!

Todd — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:18:00 -0800

Happy Rabbie Burns Day!

Here is the the Robert Burns Statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park, yesterday on January 24th.

The statue overlooks Coal Harbour and Vancouver's West End.

The bronze plaque says the statue was erected on August 25th, 1928 - that's almost 82 years ago.

January 25th was a long day for me. It started off early with a phone call from BBC Radio Scotland.

BBC Radio Scotland woke me up at 7am for a 9:30 am interview. There is 8 hours time difference. After I was woken up, it was hard to get back to sleep, so I got onto the computer and listened to BBC Radio Scotland for awhile. It's always fun to listen to them both on New Year's Eve and Robbie Burns Day. Today was dedicated to everything Burns. They called me back around 9: 25 am and I listened to many different aspects of Burns. It was the program Drive, as many Scots are making their afternoon commute home.

Just before 10am PST/ 6pm GMT, they interviewed somebody having a Burns Supper in Antarctica. It was a fascinating story, about how cold it is there, and how their haggis comes in from the supply ship. And then they said they were going to Vancouver Canada, where Toddish McWong organizes a Robbie Burns Dinner with Chines food. I described the first 4 courses as an appetizer dish with haggis dim sum in the form of pork dumplings (su-mei), pan-fried Chinese turnip cake (for the neeps and tatties), served with honey bbq pork and jelly fish.

Second dish is deep-fried haggis and shrimp won ton, which the radio announcer seemed to like. Dish 3 is vegetarian winter melon soup, followed by dish 4 - traditional haggis served with Chinese lettuce wrap, so people can put some of the mixed vegetable filling with Chinese hoi sin bbq sauce on a lettuce leaf, then spoon in some haggis, and wrap it up like a hamburger to eat it!

Then they asked if I read any of Burns poetry. This was the cue for me to perform my "rap version" of "Address to the Haggis"
I rapped the first verse:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!
Aboon them a' ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang's my arm!

I told them that we have 500 people punching their fists into the air, yelling "As lang's my arm" and they had to laugh and say... "That's all the time we have now..."

Darn - way too short!

Menu revealed for 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner to welcome Year of the Tiger

Todd — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 22:43:00 -0800

What is on the dinner menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner?

For 2009, I introduced deep-fried haggis wonton to Visit Scotland CEO Phillip Ridell. In return Phillip gave me one of only 250 bottles of 37 year old special edition Famous Grouse whisky that was auctioned off for charity. A fair trade dontcha' think? 2009 was Homecoming Year Scotland which started with Robbie Burns' 250th Anniversary Birthday, and ended with St. Andrew's Day (November 30). I was fortunate to be in Edinburgh for the Finale weekends, as my picture was featured in the This Is Who We Are: Scots in Canada exhibit at Scottish Parliament.

There are some changes for the dinner menu for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner. We try to vary the dinner items from year to year, add some new surprises, take out items we are bored with. This is a draft menu - subject to change.
See if you can spot the new additions - not repeated from last year.

1. Floata Appetizer Platter
a. Haggis Pork dumpling (Shiu Mai)
b. turnip cake (Lo-bak-goh)
c. Honey BBQ Pork
d. Jelly Fish

2. Deep fried haggis won ton
3. Vegetarian Winter Melon Soup
4. Diced Vegetable with Lettuce Wrap served with traditional Haggis
5. Pan Fried Prawns with Spicy Salt (shell on)
6. Budda Feast with Deep Fried Tofu
7. Gold Coin Beef - Beijing capital style
8. Deep Fried Crispy Chicken
9. Diced Vegetable Fried Rice
10. Dessert: Mango or Coconut Pudding

10-course traditional Chinese Dinner featuring:

1) Cold platter (Fusion of Chinese and Scottish Appetizers – Won Ton; Haggis Siu Mai; and Jelly fish - Vegetarian spring rolls or BBQ pork).
Dim Sum means "pieces of the heart" or "pieces that touch the heart." Absolutely delicious morsels of delicacy and succulence... and we stuff them with haggis! It's either very good or very "offal." But people are always so hungry they eat it up without realizing they are having haggis. This year, after experimenting with haggis shrimp dumpling (har-gow) we are limiting the haggis stuffing to the pork dumplings.
"Neeps and tatties" are a tradition serving at Burns dinners, so we are adding pan-fried turnip cakes - a staple at dim sum lunches... just like my great-grandma used to make.
Honey BBQ Pork - what more can you say?
Now "jelly fish" - a strange Chinese delicacy... rubbery... weird... textury... the perfect compliment to haggis. Photographers can try stuffing their haggis with jelly fish, for a memorable portrait.

This year, the appetizer platter will be served promptly at 6pm. So we encourage every body to arrive between 5 and 5:45pm, so they can order their drinks from the bar, and browse the silent auction items.

2) Deep-fried Haggis Won Ton (Shanghai style)
We are combining haggis and shrimp in this dish. When I created the first deep-fried haggis won-ton in 2003, it was a gift to welcome CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers and her Sounds Like Canada crew to Vancouver. The gift was all about food and family connections, which included: Pan-fried Turnip cake (Lo-Bak-Goh) that my great-grandmother used to make for me, Apple tarts like those my father would bring home from Chinatown, and for our future generations we created the now legendary deep-fried haggis wonton.

3) Vegetarian Hot & Sour soup or maybe Winter Melon soup.
We have served Hot & Sour soup every year at the Floata, so we thought we would try something different. At the very first legendary private Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner for 16 friends, I cooked up a Winter Melon soup with lemon grass. It was wonderful! It's a good hearty soup full of vegetables that I think Rabbie would enjoy. Very appropriate for Chinese New Year. Shark Fin soup is a traditional soup for wedding banquets, and was one of my favorite soups as a youth, but due to its environmental impact of Shark fishing - it is not an option. I now support the movement to ban Shark Fin soup!

4) Haggis ( piped in with Scottish bagpipes) served with Chinese Lettuce wrap with diced vegetables
We are moving up the Haggis offering this year. In past years, it was menu item #6 or #7. The piping in of the haggis is always an important ceremony at any Burns Dinner. But too much bagpiping can turn a lot of heads in a Chinese restaurant. It is also very important to read the Burns poem "Address to a Haggis" prior to the serving of haggis. So please.... do NOT cut into your haggis, until after we have finished reading the poem. Oh - by the way... We don't usually do the usual traditional reading of the poem.

How many ways can you serve haggis? Take a spoonful of haggis, spread some Chinese plum sauce on it, add some crunchy noodles and diced vegetables with water chestnuts, and wrap it up in a delicate piece of lettuce. Magnificient! Imagine if Marco Polo should have brought back lettuce wrap to Italy instead of noodles? Or if you are vegetarian - leave out the haggis.

5) Pan-fried spicy salted prawns (Jew-Yim-Hah).
This is one of my favorite dishes and is served shell on. Past dinners have found that while people liked the ginger crab, cracking the shell is kind of challenging and messy. With the spicy salted prawns, you can just chew through the shell for more taste and roughage. That's what I do!

6) Buddha feast
This is an important traditional New Year dish - with long rice vermicelli noodles and lots of vegetables and lotus root. All the good things that every vegetarian loves. Long noodles are important metaphor in Chinese cooking... The longer the noodles, the longer the life you hope or expect to have. The Chinese calendar is based on the 12 animals that came when Buddha called. The first animal to see Buddha was the Rat, I was born in the Year of the Rat. The Tiger came third after the Ox.

7) Gold Coin Beef (Beijing Capital style)
It's an Olympic Year.... in Vancouver! So Gold Coin Beef is perfect word symetry. And the last Olympics were in Beijing, the capital of China. I've visited Beijing - it's a big city. I was on a bicycle. After pedaling to Beijing University, I felt I deserved a medal. I also ran the Terry Fox Run in Beijing... 10km! Terry Fox was definitely worthy of a Gold Medal

8) Crispy skinned chicken with shrimp chips
Another dish that was a childhood favorite. Healthier than KFC. And the shrimp chips were always my favorites as a child.

9) Vegetarian Young Chow Fried Rice or E-Fu noodles
This is the dish you eat to fill yourself up, if you are still hungry. We had E-Fu long life noodles in 2008, but a lot of the Scottish people thought that these traditional delicate noodles were too plain. There wasn't a strong sauce on them, and they weren't like chow mein noodles... because they were E-Fu noodles! Maybe it's an acquired taste (like haggis). For 2008, we went back to Young Chow Fried Rice. It's still a very special and tasty dish, that everybody likes!

10) Mango or Coconut pudding
This has been our most popular dessert of the years. Chinese pastries are okay... but mango pudding is better, but we might try coconut pudding this year... more subtle.. It's always a tradition to have something sweet after the meal. We thought about having Scottish blood pudding... but there is a reason why we have the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner in a Chinese restaurant instead of a Scottish restaurant. I like Chinese food better, and that includes the puddings! Julie wants tapioca pudding. I tried the black sesame pudding but it was very strong - Definitely mango or coconut pudding is better.

77 pounds of haggis are ready for the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner

Todd — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:24:00 -0800

77 pounds of haggis for dim sum and traditional one pounders, to be served with Chinese Lettuce Wrap

Haggis display at the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow, Scotland. The furry figure top left is described as a "wild haggis". The bottom right figure wrapped in plastic is described as a "domestic haggis". - photo T. Wong

There are 77 pounds of haggis that I have just picked up from Peter Black & Sons at Park Royal South in West Vancouver. I will deliver them to Floata Restaurant tonight, enroute to my appearance to "Address the Haggis" at the Burns Supper for the Vancouver & District Labour Council.

Many people outside of Scotland revile the poor wee haggis. It is the butt of many jokes. While in Scotland, I visited the Kelvingrove Museum and even found a display of a "wild haggis." (see the picture above). There was an accompanying sign that read:

Some believe the haggis is a small creature with shorter legs on one side of its body, so it can run around the hills more easily. To most people, haggis is a delicious Scottish food, best served with "neeps and tatties" turnips and potatoes.

Haggis model
Haggis scotticus
created in Glasgow Museum's workshop 2005
Haggis
created in a Scottish kitchen 2005

A "ceremonial haggis" should be "as lang's my arm" in length. It is also called a "piper's haggis", because it is piped in at dinners on a large serving plate for everyone to see.

Dim Sum can be translated as "pieces of the heart" or "touch the heart" or "pieces of heaven." These are small portions of food that are succulent and delicious. But what happens when you add haggis to this little heavenly morsels? Will haggis, one of the world's most celebrated and reviled foods ascend to the celestial kingdom?

But you cannot give a proper "Address to A Haggis" if it's already cut up into little wee piece.

Traditional Scots still like to see a traditional haggis at a Burns Dinner. We serve a one pounder of haggis to each table. It might be not enough for 10 Scots guests - but it is more than enough for 10 non-Scottish diners. To solve the problem we encourage people to share.

We also serve a 7 pound banquet haggis that is "as lang's my arm" to our head table. This ensures that it is pretty in pictures... as well as extra leftovers for any of our guests.

Bagpiper Joe McDonald does the honours at the 2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner - photo VFK.

His knife see rustic Labour dight,
An' cut you up wi' ready sleight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like ony ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

- 3rd verse from Robert Burns poem "Address to A Haggis"

Watch Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson cut up the haggis at the 2009 Dinner

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2009
8 min - 29 Jan 2009
www.youtube.com

Now imagine layering a little bit of haggis with Chinese plum sauce, adding crispy noodles, finely diced vegetables and Chinese water chestnuts, and serving on a delicate leaf of lettuce. This is our Gung Haggis lettuce wrap, a cultural and culinalry fusion twist. But people say they have never seen people eat so much haggis, or eat haggis so quickly!

And what does our traditional haggis maker think of all this?

Peter Black describes himself as a haggis rancher.

In 2006, we were paid a high compliment when haggis rancher Peter Black attended the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner with his family! Peter loved what we had done with his haggis.

Peter Black & Sons, at Park Royal Mall in West Vancouver, is BC's largest producer of haggis. Peter's haggis is a family secret with extra spices. It is different from a traditional lard recipe - which I have occasionally gagged on. I describe a Peter Black haggis to be like a nice liver pate, suitable for serving with crackers at your next Super Bowl party.

Be sure to visit Peter Black & Sons at Park Royal South - because there is an annual display of "live wild haggis." Often the haggis is sleeping, and you have to be very careful not to disturb it - but if you're quiet, you can sneak up on it.

Peter Black & Sons with family at the 2006 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, linking hands to sing Auld Lang Syne to bring a finale to the dinner event - photo Ray Shum

Here are some of the menus from our past dinners:

2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu revealed... to welcome the Year of the Ox

2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu announced: now with Mongolian Beef to celebrate Year of the Rat

2007 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy™:Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

2006 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy™: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner - Celebrating the Year of the Dog

2005 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy� at Floata Restaurant

Georgia Straight article about Gung Haggis Fat Choy as ultimate fusion feast!"

Todd — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 09:55:00 -0800

Todd Wong (left) gave Mayor Gregor Robertson a stab at the haggis at last year’s Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, an annual celebration of both Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year. photo Patrick Tam

Georgia Straight article about Gung Haggis Fat Choy as ultimate fusion feast! Interview by Carolyn Ali with "Toddish McWong"

http://www.straight.com/article-281260/vancouver/bring-haggis-ultimate-chinese-feast

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is the ultimate fusion feast

By Carolyn Ali

Chinese New Year is fast approaching, and in Vancouver, that means it's time to roll out the haggis.

“People really like haggis dim sum,” says Todd Wong, otherwise known as Toddish McWong. He’s organizing the 12th annual Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, which takes place next Sunday (January 31) at Floata Seafood Restaurant. In the past, he says, the dim sum appetizers “have been so popular that many people didn’t realize they were eating haggis”. So they’ll be on the menu again this year, when over 500 people dig into a 10-course Chinese banquet that features the Scottish delicacy in unorthodox forms.

In previous years, chefs have combined haggis with crunchy water chestnuts as a filling for deep-fried won tons; mixed it with pork for siu mai dumplings; and even added it to shrimp for delicate rice-dough-wrapped har gow. The highlight, however, is always the whole one-pound haggis, which is brought to each table with great ceremony. It’s then devoured as part of a lettuce wrap along with diced, stir-fried vegetables and a smear of hoisin sauce. (West Vancouver’s Peter Black & Sons Butchers supplies the haggis.)

So what exactly is haggis, and who is Todd Wong?

Special new dishes for 2010 menu at Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner - not just haggis & spam

Todd — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:27:00 -0800

What is being served at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year's Eve Dinner to welcome the Year of the Tiger and Rabbie Burns' 151st Birthday?

The haggis is ordered from Peter Black & Sons @ Park Royal. Next up is the secret taste-testing dinner which is essential to the planning of the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. We we want to make sure the food selection is right. And it is also a wonderful way to introduce the performers to each other, as we combine our talents and creativity to try out new ideas. I remember many rehearsal taste-test dinners when the performers brought out their musical instruments and started playing.

Deep-fried haggis dumplings + Spring rolls - from our 2005 menu - photo Todd Wong

Each year we re-adjust the menu for the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner. We try to find new ways to eat haggis, and new dishes to introduce to people not familiar with Chinese food.

For 2010, I am adding two of my favorite dishes that haven't been featured before. People have enjoyed having deep-fried haggis won ton for the past few years, done both Cantonese and Shanhai styles. We have served up haggis-stuffed pork dumplings (su-mei) and shrimp dumplings (shrimp dumplings). When I created the first deep-fried haggis won-ton in 2003, it was a gift to welcome CBC radio host Shelagh Rogers and her Sounds Like Canada crew to Vancouver. The gift was all about food and family connections, which included: Pan-fried Turnip cake (Lo-Bak-Goh) that my great-grandmother used to make for me, Apple tarts like those my father would bring home from Chinatown, and for our future generations we created the now legendary deep-fried haggis wonton. "Neeps and Tatties" always accompany traditional Burns dinners - so this year the "neeps" will be found in pan fried turnip cakes, which are usually found at dim sum luncheons.

The other new dish will be Pan-fried spicy salted prawns (Jew-Yim-Hah). It is one of my favorite dishes and is served shell on. Past dinners have found that while people liked the ginger crab, cracking the shell is kind of challenging and messy. With the spicy salted prawns, you can just chew through the shell for more taste and roughage. That's what I do!

More menu items will be discussed in the coming days... in the mean time, check out our past menus.

2009 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu revealed... to welcome the Year of the Ox

2008 Gung Haggis Fat Choy menu announced: now with Mongolian Beef to celebrate Year of the Rat

2007 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy™:Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Cultural Connection interview: What is the connection between Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Supper?

Todd — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 23:44:00 -0800

Internet Radio blog link to Cultural Connects - Very interesting interview with Todd Wong, creator of Gung Haggis Fat Choy, by Gary Jarvis.

Kilts are every day garb: Vancouver Style 101 article features Raphael Fang

Todd — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 12:45:00 -0800

Article from Vancouver Style 101 featuring Raphael Fang - a paddler on the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team. Every body wears kilts... or they should... here are some ideas why!

Toddish McWong interview on youtube "Bringing Scotland back to the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner"

Todd — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 09:26:00 -0800

"I went to Scotland for my first time ever last month, so I'm bringing a bit of Scotland to the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner this year"

Toddish McWong on Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2010

01:45 - Yesterday youtube.com

This year, he's bringing Scotland back. For more information, about the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner, go to www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com.

Here's a short little video that my friend Charlie Cho recorded of me on Sunday night. I talk about some of the highlights for the upcoming Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner event in Vancouver on January 31st, Sunday.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy referenced for UNBC next lecture about food and interculturalism

Todd — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:57:00 -0800

Dr. Marilyn Iwana presents lecture about interculturalism, using Gung Haggis Fat Choy as an example. This article includes conversation between Dr. Iwana and Todd Wong, plus the news article from the Prince George Citizen

Kilts Night report for January 7 2010

Todd — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:54:00 -0800

report and pictures from January 7th Kilts Night.

Todd Wong goes electric guitar

Todd — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:16:00 -0800

But I had left my music stand behind. So on January 2nd, Deb and I returned to the house and found ourselves at another music night - but without my accordion. Carol offered me her red electric guitar without even asking if I could play guitar - even before offering me the keyboard in the corner + pictures

My kitty cat PSYCHE has returned to SPIRIT.

Todd — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 14:27:00 -0800

Rest in Peace - June 1993 - January 6, 2010. Psyche was a great cat and had a grand life for 16.6 years, looking after me and my parents. Obituary/ Celebration of Life for Todd Wong's cat Psyche.... + Pictures

Toddish McWong goes to Vernon BC and meets Betty McChan and Dan McHuang.

Todd — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 23:54:00 -0800

Todd goes to Vernon and meets Betty Chan, former Highland Dance champion of Canada, and Dan Huang drum sgt of Kelowna pipe band.

2009 Year of Gung Haggis Fat Choy from Royal BC Museum in Victoria to Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

Todd — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:42:00 -0800

2009 featured photos in exhibits at Royal BC Museum and Scottish Parliament. Other highlights included the inaugural writer in residence program at Historic Joy Kogawa House, and Todd Wong's first visit to Scotland for the finale weekend of Homecoming Year. And there was the 250th anniversary of poet Robert Burns.

Todd Wong on CBC Radio One December 31st - Traditions of singing Auld Lyne Syne for New Year's Eve.

Todd — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 13:10:00 -0800

Why do we sing Auld Lang Syne at New Year's Eve?

Todd Wong be heard today on CBC Radion One 690 AM - ON THE COAST. 3-6pm

They asked me about the origins of singing "Auld Lang Syne" - the Robert Burns lyrics connection and the proper way of holding hands while singing. Of course I threw in similarities between Scottish Hogmannay and Chinese New Year - such as making lots of noise and paying off your debts.

They asked if I will be with friends ringing in the New Year. I said I am at Silver Star in Vernon, with good friends... including Craig Brown who was at my 1st Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, when the only "kilts" we had were Canadian Mackinkaw lumberjack shirts tied around our waists...

Origins of singing Auld Lang Syne in North America are traced back to a Scottish tradition that spread through Scottish and British emmigration.

Wikipedia writes:

Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Eve very quickly became a Scots custom that soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots (and other Britons) emigrated around the world, they took the song with them.

Canadian band leader Guy Lombardo is often credited with popularising the use of the song at New Year’s celebrations in America, through his annual broadcasts on radio and television, beginning in 1929. The song became his trademark. In addition to his live broadcasts, Lombardo recorded the song more than once. His first recording was in 1939. A later recording on September 29, 1947 was issued as a single by Decca Records as catalog #24260

Wikipedia's entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_Lang_Syne
also compares the 1711 version of Old Long Syne by James Watson to the 1788 version of Scots verse by Robert Burns.

GungHaggisFatChoy

Gung Haggis dragon boat team paddle on Sunday Feb 7th

Georgia Straight: Todd Wong cancer recovery story in "Traditional Chinese Medicine enters the mainstream"

Todd Wong recounts using complimentary/alternative medicine to battle cancer to Georgia Straight writer Charlie Smith.

Traditional Chinese medicine enters the mainstream

Olympic Torch to be carried by dragon boat in its final journey to Opening Ceremonies

Did Muk Muk, the Olympic sidekick marmot, see his shadow today on Ground Hog Day?

2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner brings a bit of Scotland back for everybody!

2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner a big success - thank you to our performers, support crew and volunteers... and our audience!!!

Gung Haggis Dinner is Sold Out!

What to expect at the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Robbie Burns was born in the year of the Tiger.

Program revealed for this Sunday's 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Larissa Lai is featured poet for 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner

Lan Tung erhu virtuoso is bringing her trio Birds of Paradox to Gung Haggis Fat Choy

Daniel Lee Rest in Peace, 1920 - January 26, 2010

Daniel Lee 1920 - January 26, 2010

Uncle Dan was born the 11th child of 14, the 5th son of seven to jeweler Ernest Lee, and Kate Chan Lee - the 2nd child, and 1st daughter of Rev. Chan Yu Tan. As a young child he spent some time living in Nanaimo with his grandparents Rev. and Mrs. Chan Yu Tan, after the early death of his father.

In 1998, the Chinese Canadian Military Museum was founded. Dan Lee's air force uniform was one of the first displays.

In 1999, we held the first Rev. Chan Legacy Family Reunion. Uncle Dan was a consultant for the committee. At the reunion, it was Dan Lee who gave the Elder Address, as he talked about his grandfather Rev. Chan Yu Tan.

In 2002, the Rev. Chan Yu Tan family was featured in the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum exhibit "Three Canadian Chinese Pioneer Families" - pictures of Uncle Dan and the contributions of himself and his brothers and cousin were included.

In 2007, Dan Lee is one of the lead stories in the film documentary Heroes Remember, produced by the Chinese Canadian Military Museum.

The contributions that Dan Lee made, will last and be remembered, while he will be missed.

We offer support and love to Uncle Dan, his wife Irene, and their children Vincent and Grace.Peace & Blessings to all, Todd Wong - Vancouver

Google News Alert for "Gung Haggis Fat Choy"

SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy Festival - Dragon Cart Winners are the Wellness Warriors!

Happy 251st Birthday Rabbie!

Happy Rabbie Burns Day!

Here is the the Robert Burns Statue in Vancouver's Stanley Park, yesterday on January 24th.

The statue overlooks Coal Harbour and Vancouver's West End.

The bronze plaque says the statue was erected on August 25th, 1928 - that's almost 82 years ago.

January 25th was a long day for me. It started off early with a phone call from BBC Radio Scotland.

Menu revealed for 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner to welcome Year of the Tiger

77 pounds of haggis are ready for the 2010 Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner

Georgia Straight article about Gung Haggis Fat Choy as ultimate fusion feast!"

Georgia Straight article about Gung Haggis Fat Choy as ultimate fusion feast! Interview by Carolyn Ali with "Toddish McWong"http://www.straight.com/article-281260/vancouver/bring-haggis-ultimate-chinese-feast

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is the ultimate fusion feast

Special new dishes for 2010 menu at Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner - not just haggis & spam

Cultural Connection interview: What is the connection between Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Supper?

Kilts are every day garb: Vancouver Style 101 article features Raphael Fang

Toddish McWong interview on youtube "Bringing Scotland back to the Gung Haggis Fat Choy Dinner"

Gung Haggis Fat Choy referenced for UNBC next lecture about food and interculturalism

Kilts Night report for January 7 2010

Todd Wong goes electric guitar

My kitty cat PSYCHE has returned to SPIRIT.

Toddish McWong goes to Vernon BC and meets Betty McChan and Dan McHuang.

2009 Year of Gung Haggis Fat Choy from Royal BC Museum in Victoria to Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh

Todd Wong on CBC Radio One December 31st - Traditions of singing Auld Lyne Syne for New Year's Eve.

Why do we sing Auld Lang Syne at New Year's Eve?

Todd Wong be heard today on CBC Radion One 690 AM - ON THE COAST. 3-6pm

They asked me about the origins of singing "Auld Lang Syne" - the Robert Burns lyrics connection and the proper way of holding hands while singing. Of course I threw in similarities between Scottish Hogmannay and Chinese New Year - such as making lots of noise and paying off your debts.

We offer support and love to Uncle Dan, his wife Irene, and their children Vincent and Grace.

Peace & Blessings to all, Todd Wong - Vancouver

Georgia Straight article about Gung Haggis Fat Choy as ultimate fusion feast! Interview by Carolyn Ali with "Toddish McWong"

http://www.straight.com/article-281260/vancouver/bring-haggis-ultimate-chinese-feast