Category Archives: Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner

Media Alert for January 25th: CBC Radio “On The Coast”, Ming Pao and 24 Hours

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Media Alert for January 25th: CBC Radio “On The Coast”, Ming Pao and 24 Hours

Happy Robbie Burns Day… 
4pm CBC Radio 690AM interview with Priya Ramu, host of “On The Coast”

Ming Pao will have an interview
with me today by reporter Eric Chan.  I met up with Eric yesterday
at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Park in Chinatown.  Eric asked some good
questions about how I felt Chinese and Caucasian relationships were
doing.

“Much better than 100 years ago,” I informed him. 
“In 1907, the Anti-Asiatic league rioted in Chinatown smashing windows
and breaking property.  There used to be lots of animosity between
Chinese and Scots, especially after the murder of Janet Smith, a
Scottish nanny, when the Chinese house boy Wong Foon Sing was
wrongfully accused but later aquitted.

“Today, Chinese and Scots have gotten over their differences, getting married and having Scottish-Chinese-Canadian babies.

“Is this kind of gimicky?” Chan challenged me.

“No…”
I laughed, “Gung Haggis Fat Choy is not gimicky.  It is naturally
occuring, and I am finding it all over the place.  Silk Road Music
creates world fusion music… not gimicky.  Orchid Ensemble works
with Flamenco Mozaico… very incredible!  A book launch for “All
Mixed Up” literary creations by writers who are sometimes half-Asian,
and half-Celtic.  This is occuring naturally.  Vancouver is
Canada's leading city for inter-racial marriages.”

Today, January 25th is Robbie Burns Day.

It's
going to be another busy day.  The SFU Gung Haggis Fat Choy
Festival begins at 10:30am with Human Curling, 11:30 with Dragon Cart
Racing, 12:30 Opening Ceremonies, 1:15 Haggis Eating, 1:30 More Dragon
Cart racing and awards at 2:30pm.

Somewhere between calling play
by play for the Dragon Cart races and emceeing for the Official
ceremonies, I will be interviewed by Bob Mackin of 24 Hours, and film a
pod cast interview with “Guts McTavish” the Scottish puppet with big white eyebrows.

At 4:00pm, I will be down at the CBC Radio studios for a live radio interview with “On The Coast” host Priya Ramu
who will be co-hosting Gung Haggis Fat Choy on January 28th with
me.  A special kilt was made for Priya, and we will check out this
“kilt fitting.”  Margaret Gallagher will also appear on the
show.  She is a special literary performer for GHFC, as she will
be reading a poem she wrote for the chap book “All Mixed Up” – literary
contributions by Hapa (Half-Asian) writers,

Then for 6pm… I
will be attending the Burns Supper for the Burns Club of Vancouver, at
the Terminal City Club.  I am to give the “Address to a Haggis.”

Media Alert: for Gung Haggis Fat Choy – interviews with Todd Wong on Global TV, The Source and CBC Radio-Canada

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Media Alert: for Gung Haggis Fat Choy
– interviews with Todd Wong on Global TV, The Source and CBC Radio-Canada

Wednesday morning I did an interview with “The Link” a CBC Radio-Canada satellite program.  It is aimed at international audience and new immigrant audience.  This show will be broadcast on Robbie Burns Day, January 25th, and they will include our Gung HAGGIS RAP Choy – Robbie Burns Address to a Haggis set to rap music

Today, I spotted the tv interview with Erin Cebula for Global TV's Global Village.  Earlier this week, I heard from friends that they had seen it.  Great spot!  Erin edited in some still pictures of our Gung Haggis Fat Choy performers such as Qiu Xi He of Silk Road Music, and Joe McDonald, bagpiper, cutting up the haggis.  They even showed a picture of me with then mayor, Larry Campbell, both wearing kilts and clashing chinese jackets.  There was also a sequence with Fiona Tinwei Lam reading her poetry, at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy World Poetry Night on January 15th, Monday, at the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch.

And I picked up a copy of  The Source/ La Source, a bilingual newspaper, with an interview and picture of me. 



GUNG HAGGIS FAT CHOY!


When people ask Todd Wong if he has Scottish heritage he answers coyly that “all Canadians
have Scottish heritage…. as they do Chinese heritage.” He has been helping Vancouverites
find theirs for ten years with his Gung Haggis Fat Choy combination Robbie Burns Day and Chinese New Year celebration.
It is a banquet with multiple
courses of fusion cuisine – such as haggis spring rolls – accompanied by entertainment
and music to brighten the spirits at this dark time of the year.



Today I was interviewed by Ming Pao chinese language newspaper
Wow…. spreading the word and philosophy of Robbie Burns… in English, in French and Chinese!

Sandhill Wines becomes the “official wine sponsor” of Gung Haggis Fat Choy

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Sandhill Wines becomes the “official wine sponsor” of Gung Haggis Fat Choy

The multiple award winning Sandhill Wines
was the first BC wine to win a gold medal at the Chardonnay du Monde in
France (1999) and a silver medal in 2002.  “There were only 2
golds given to Canadian Chard for the first time that year,” says
Sandhills creator and winemaker Howard Soon, “and only 14 Gold out of a total of about 800 wines entered around the world”.

Howard Soon, is the first Chinese-Canadian winemaker
and while admitting he is a humble man,  he is also very
creative.  He is also the first winemaker to invite an opera
singer (Heather Pawsey) to
perform beside giant 100,000 gallon wine tanks. How fitting that
Sandhill be the first wine sponsor for Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish
McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

Sandhill
Wines is pleased to be a sponsor for our event, and appreciated that we
are promoting BC's Scottish and Chinese heritage.  There will be a
display banner of Sandhill wines, and there will be a bottle each of
red and white wine on each Premium table.  There will also be
wines included in our evening's raffle prize draw, which will also
include a grand prize of tickets to the Vancouver Opera's Magic Flute
production featuring First Nations heritage and culture.

Last
year we decided to select BC wines to pair with the haggis and Chinese
banquet at the Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner.  One reason is that we
were disappointed in the wine selection at the restaurant. 
Chinese restaurants generally do not serve a lot of wines with dinner,
nor do they stock good selections of wine. The second reason is that
this was a great way to continue the Gung Haggis spirit by not only
recognizing BC history, arts, culture and food, but to also extend it
to wine!  I was delighted that we could find quality wine with
Sandhill at a reasonable price, and recognize the achievements of
fellow Chinese-Canadian Howard Soon.  The third reason… my
girlfriend and I like nice BC wines.

For the 2005 Gung Haggis
Fat Choy dinner, we chose wines from Sandhill, Arrow Leaf and Red
Rooster wineries and put a bottle of red and a bottle of white on each
of the premium priced tables.  It was still the tail end of the
Year of the Rooster for last year's Gung Haggis Fat Choy dinner, so we
thought it was a nice touch to recognize the Chinese New Year zodiac

I
actually met Howard at the inaugural Okanagan Summer Wine Festival held
outside Vernon BC, at Silver Star Mountain Resort in August 2003. 
It was a small wine festival outdoor in the Silver Star Village. We had
a nice chat, and I shared with him that I had been working with explorAsian Festival and I thought he should be listed in the Asian North America Timeline Project.

117
1) Kathryn Cernauskas, Heather Pawsey, Karen
Shumka and Master Winemaker Howard Soon. 2) peformance in the wine
cellar next to barrels of wine. 3) performance next to the 100,000
gallon wine tanks.

Here is an article about opera singer Heather Pawsey singing in a wine vat, at the invitation by Howard Soon:
Vancouver Courier – “Tasting Notes”

Here are some articles about Howard Soon and Sandhill Wines:

Gismondi On Wine

Howard
Soon believes that the 2003 vintage of that wine, which sells for
$12.99, is a better wine. That victory in competition was not a one-off
event. …

Calgary Herald: Not Soon forgotten Howard
Soon dreams of a winery that will house his wines, some of the most …
who work with Soon on a daily basis to grow the perfect grapes for his
wine.

Howard Soon Interview by John Schreiner
An interview with Sandhill Master Winemaker, Howard Soon: ''When a guy buys a bottle of wine, it is an expression of a place.“

Gung HAGGIS RAP Choy – Robbie Burns Address to a Haggis set to rap music

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Gung HAGGIS RAP Choy
– Robbie Burns Address to a Haggis set to rap music

To my dear Scottish
Friends…

literary friends…

musical friends…

intercultural friends…



Here is something to welcome Robbie Burns Day Eve.

My new musical gift to the world for Robbie Burns Day:



You guy are in INSANE!!  :-)
That's hilarious - I love it!!!! 
- Heather Pawsey, opera soprano

Gung HAGGIS RAP Choy

(see MP3 attachment below)


performed by
Toddish McWong & Joseph McDonald w/Brave Waves
produced by Trevor Chan  – The No Luck Club Mix

Todd Wong aka “Toddish McWong” is a 5th generation Chinese-Canadian who has been holding “Gung Haggis Fat Choy:
Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinners for 10 years.  He is also a writer
and poet, and plays a mean but joyous accordion.

Joseph McDonald is a multi-generational Scottish-Canadian
bagpiper/singer/songwriter and has performed at every Gung Haggis Fat Choy
dinner since 2001.  He is leader of the band Brave Waves .”
features new world music fusion with bagpipes, South Asian tabla drums,
chinese flute, sitar + other
world instruments.  The bagpipe instrumental track titled “Gung
Haggis Fat Choy” and is available on the Brave Waves album Havens of Light“

Trevor Chan is Canadian born mastermind behind “No Luck Club“,
a
Chinese-Canadian instrumental hip hop band.  No Luck Club is
recently returned from a cross-Canada tour, and released their album
“Prosperity.” In 2005, No Luck Club released a mash-up titled Our
Story, that included historical quotes about the Chinese head tax.
Listen to it on No Luck Club on radio3.cbc.ca or Dogma Radio

 


ENJOY….. 
Toddish


SEE the Live performance of Gung HAGGIS RAP Choy, at the 10th Annual Gung
Haggis Fat Choy: Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner.

January 28th, Sunday 5:30pm
Floata Restaurant
#400 – 180 Keefer St .
Vancouver Chinatown


Tickets available from Firehall Arts Centre 604-689-0926

Fundraiser for Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop / Ricepaper Magazine, Joy
Kogawa House, and Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team



And now the guidelines…


This music file is intended for personal use only…

Please do not post in public or play in public or for profit, without
permission.

For written permission contact:

Todd Wong  

phone:  778-846-7090
e-mail:  gunghaggis @ yahoo .ca
www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com


Joseph McDonald

Phone
604-435-2954



Copyright 2007, SOCAN

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

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2007 Menu for Gung Haggis Fat Choy™:
Toddish McWong's Robbie Burns Chinese New Year Dinner
– Anticipating the Year of the Pig

What:     Gung Haggis Fat Choy™ Dinner
When:    January 28, 2007 – Sunday
Time:     Reception 5:30 pm – with Dim Sum appetizers
             Dinner 6:30 pm
Tickets:  Call Firehall Arts Centre 604-689-0926
Advance Price:
$80 (+ $5 ticket charge) premium seating with wine
$70 (+ $5 ticket charge) regular seating

Our selections are not a real “traditional” Chinese New Year dinner menu – but a blending of favorites, and brand new fusion-fare.  It is created to help introduce “real Chinese banquet fare” to Scottish-Canadians and to help make “haggis” safe for Chinese-Canadians.  And if you are Ukranian-Italian-Japanese-First Nations… that's alright too!

Here is the menu for 2007, subject to change at my whimsy and the kitchen's demands:

Haggis Dim Sum Appetizer buffet
This will be available upon people's arrival soon after the reception starts after 5:30pm
We have also told the restaurant to have TWO bars open for 5:30pm



1 –  Deep fried Haggis Won Ton
Haggis Wun Tun was first created in September 2003 when I walked into New Town Restaurant in Chinatown with a Haggis from Peter Black's and asked them to make won tons for me to take to the CBC Radio reception to welcome Shelagh Rogers and “Sounds Like Canada” to Vancouver. It's been a favorite ever since.  We ask the restaurant to mix the haggis with water chestnuts to make it crunchy – yum yum!

2- BRAND NEW –  Haggis Haw-Gow (Shrimp Dumplings) and Haggis Su-Mei (Pork Dumplings)
Both of these new items to haggis cuisine were greeted with approval.  Shrimp dumplings (Haw-Gow) and Pork Dumplings (Su-Mei) are classic cantonese dim sum.

3 – NON-Haggis Dim Sum – Vegetarian Spring Rolls + Haw-Gow (Shrimp Dumplings)
Because we knew there would be people who wouldn't want Haggis in the Shrimp Dumplins or  their Vegetarian spring rolls.

4 – Hot & Sour Soup
Always a favorite for everybody – and vegetarian to boot!  Warms up the innards on a cold January night.  I am sure Burns would approve.

5 – Ginger Dungeness Crab
The West Coast equivalent to Nova Scotia Lobster and better tasting too! Flavoured with Ginger, it's always been one of my favorites.  The best way to eat crab is to have somebody else crack it and de-shell it for you.  If your husband, wife, boyfriend or girlfriend won't do this – invite somebody else.

6 – Sticky Rice Taro
I can hear the voices already saying… “What?”  As a kid attending family dinners, my favorite dish was always my mother's special sticky rice dish “noh-my-fan.”  This dish was recently served at my grandmother's 95th birthday dinner and I LOVED it. Why the taro?  Why the haggis?  It's icky and slimy and better than tofu… well maybe it's worse.  But the Hawaiians love it.  And Hawaiian culture is Soooo multi-cultural!  Taro is the main ingredient of poi – their traditional starchy staple dish.  But the best way to have Taro is as “taro chips” – just like potato chips – but starchier.



7 a) – Haggis
You can't have a Robbie Burns Supper without Haggis… We serve the best haggis that I have found.  It comes from the Highlands of West Vancouver… or rather the Lowlands of West Vancouver's Park Royal, from Peter Black & Sons.  Over the years, I have always tried to entice Peter to come attend Gung Haggis Fat Choy.  One year, I even brought them deep-fried Haggis won-ton.  Finally, Peter came last year, bringing his family.  And guess what?  His youngest son has a Chinese girlfriend!
Peter's haggis is like a nice liver pate.  It is not too oaty, and it has many nice spices.  Try it with sweet & sour sauce.  But the Plum sauce is best. 

7 b)  Lettuce Wrap
We serve a vegetarian lettuce wrap.  We had so many vegetarians who lamented that they couldn't eat the duck or the pork or the beef lettuce wrap… so now it is a vegetarian lettuce wrap.  Very tasty.

We encourage people to combine Haggis with the lettuce wrap…. Take a large spoonful of haggis, plunk it on a lettuce leaf, add the vegetarian filling, smother it with Hoi-Sin Chinese plum sauce, and it's great.  People really like it.  Before we invented the haggis lettuce wrap, there was always plenty of haggis left over.  But now… everybody eats it up.  We blame it on the lettuce wrap.

8 – Buddha's Feast Mixed Vegetables
So called because it is a favorite vegetarian dish for Buddist Monks.  It is also a traditional New Year's fare to bring enlightenment for the coming months.  The long fun-see rice vermicelli noodles are like “angel hair” pasta.  Did you know that it was Buddha who first summoned the animals to come see him, and that he would name the years of the Chinese Zodiac after them? The Rat arrived first. I was born in the year of the Rat.

9 – Deep Fried Shrimp balls with fruit salad.
This is a Floata Restaurant specialty.  The shrimpballs are lightly deep-fried to a nice light crunch.  The salad is melons with a mayonaise sauce… very much Hong Kong style.  While, not one of the Chinese-Canadian dishes that I grew up with, but the Chinese members on our Gung Haggis Fat Choy dragon boat team really like it, and they assure me that it is a traditional style food dish for Chinese New Year.

10 – Dessert 
This will be a mix of traditional Chinese New Year pastries We do recognize that not everybody like to have red bean pudding after a banquet dinner.  We will definitely NOT have blood pudding – Go ye to a Scottish resturant for that stuff

Hope you enjoyed these delicious descriptions…

Each year we are challenged by the logistics of serving 400 to 500 people at the same time, in coordination with a fantastic musical and literary show.  Every year we try to improve on the presentation and the execution of our event, while making it fresh with adjustments to both the menu and the performance schedule.

So…. reception starts promptly at 5:30pm.and the dim sum appetizers will be available because we know people will be hungry.  TWO bars will be open, and wine will be available for the Premium tables, so you won't have to wait in line at the bar.

After meeting numberous challenges at the 2005 dinner, we have resolved many problems.

1- Tickets purchased prior to January 20 have been mailed out, along with seating plans – to avoid queue lineups at the door.  Tickets purchased after January 21st are held at the door.  There will be 3 lineups:  A-L, M-Z, and VIP, sponsors & Performers

2 – Patrons are assigned table numbers and tickets will have the buyer's name + table number on it
If your table number is odd, you go through one door, if your table number is even, you go through the other door.  We will have ushers to guide you.

The 2006 show will focus more on the performances and the food will be enjoyed when it shows up.  We will try to serve the food in a timely manner, that hopefully will not disrupt the major performances.
This is dinner theatre… it is interactive with singalongs and we wish people to have fun.

And of course… the entire program and menu is subject to change.  We do our best to create a fabulous meal and evening of entertainment.  And the best way is to be sensitive to the audience, the performers, and meeting any challenges that come our way.



I have brought together exciting new performers for 2007, as well as some favorites from years past.  We are very happy to see the return of Silk Road Music and opera soprano Heather Pawsey… and they will be leading a collaboration together!  New for this year is Leora Cashe and No Luck Club.  Leora sings wonderful jazz gospel, and we plan to include her in a singalong too!  No Luck Club will provide our reception music, and producer Trevor Chan has been working with Joseph McDonald & myself on refining our new and improved version of “Address to the Haggis” that we call “Gung HAGGIS RAP Choy.”

On the literary edge, Lensey Namioka is our featured author, reading from her young adult novel Half and Half, about a family that is… half Scottish and half Chinese!  Margaret Gallagher returns not as a host or singer – but as a poet and author.  Margaret has contributed to a new anthology titled All Mixed Up which highlights Hapa (Half Asian culture).  We have a sneak preview of a brand new play written by Charlie Cho and Grace Chin.  It's fun and appropriate, and know you will like “Twisting Fortunes.”  And Robbie Burns… is represented by Dr. Ian Mason, president of the Burns Club.

I look forward to sharing the surprises and joys of Gung Haggis Fat Choy™ 2007 with you!

Toddish

Ó 2007 Todd Wong

Vancouver Sun: Todd Wong & Gung Haggis Fat Choy in Malcolm Parry column “Town Talk”

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Vancouver Sun: Todd Wong & Gung Haggis Fat Choy in  Malcolm Parry column “Town Talk”

Here's what Vancouver Sun's social columnist had to say today:

Vancouver Sun, Saturday, January 20, 2007 – page B4

TODD WONG, the three-decade city assistant librarian, is in the midst of a yearly program that is truly one for the book.  It's a Gung Haggis Fat Choy, the mini-festival of the Sino-Scotch arts he launched in 1998 with a Robbie Burns Chinese New Years dinner for 16.

Some 500 are expected in the Floata restaurant Jan. 28, when “Toddish McWong” and broad-caster Priya Ramu will emcee at a banquet involving haggis-shrimp dumplings, haggis-stuffed tofu and haggis won ton.  Diners and guest artists will also sing Scotland the Brave, My Chow Mein Lies Over the Ocean and other favourites.

The Kilted, plaid draped Wong kicked off this year's shenanigans with multi-cultural poetry readings at the library's central branch Monday.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy is as nuttily indigenous – and therefore as praiseworthy – as the now-defunct World Bellyflop Championship and the Nanaimo-Vancouver Bathtub Race.

Perhaps the future will include a scholarly comparison of the Great Wall of China and Hadrian's Wall, the former built to keep belligerent troublemakers out of China and the latter to keep them in Scotland.

note: I actually told him I was a library assistant.

Media Alert for Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Global TV with Erin Cebula's Global Village

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Media Alert for Gung Haggis Fat Choy:

Global TV with Erin Cebula's Global Village

Erin Cebula interviewed me on Monday evening, just prior to the start
of the GHFC World Poetry Night at the Vancouver Public Library.  I
had first met Erin when she was co-hosting Urban Rush on Rogers, in
2004.  That interview was all about the then upcoming CBC tv
special “Gung Haggis Fat Choy.”

In 2004, we hosted 2 GHFC dinners on the Saturday and the Sunday, each
around 220 to 240 people attending.  I brought some haggis won-ton
to the show which Erin easily tried… but her co-host Russell took a
pass.

“I'm the one with the stomach of steel,” laughed Erin, when I recounted our first meeting.

This time Erin was amazed that our little dinner has grown into an
informal  festival with four related events.  She wanted to
feature me for her show “Global Village” and also asked for some
pictures of previous dinners to show the audience what it was
like.  I sent her a picture of the 2005 dinner with myself and
then Mayor Larry Campbell – both dressed in Chinese jackets with our
kilts!

Look for Global Village to be running from today and through to next week!

Media Alert for Gung Haggis Fat Choy: Malcolm Parry in Vancouver Sun

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Media Alert for Gung Haggis Fat Choy:
Malcolm Parry in Vancouver Sun

Wow!  I've finally made the Malcolm Parry society news column.
Mr. Parry came by on Monday to the GHFC World Poetry Night at the Vancouver Public Library, and took a photo of me.

I have met him in the past at Ricepaper, ACWW, and Vancouver Asian Film
Festival events…. and he did drop by the GHFC 2004 dinner.

But in this morning's Vancouver Sun's preview for Saturday… there was
a little picture of me, with reference to a Sino-Hibernian
celebration.  We'll have to check Saturday's Vancouver sun for the
whole picture and article.

Media Alert for Gung Haggis Fat Choy: CFUN's “Best of Food & Wine”

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Media Alert for Gung Haggis Fat Choy: 
CFUN's “Best of Food & Wine”

Listen to CFUN 1410 AM on your radio, for Saturday 12 noon, January 20.
I will be interviewed by Kasey Wilson (food) and Anthony Gismondi (wine), for their live show Best of Food and Wine.

Kasey called me today, and she is thrilled to have me on their
show.  She loves the intercultural spirit of Gung Haggis Fat Choy
and agres that FUN is important.

I will be telling her about the haggis dim sum we are preparing, and
how the Robbie Burns Chinese New Year dinner concept developed.