Charity Fundraiser with a CNY Theme

The lion made its way around the room

Last night we attended a fundraiser for the Alzheimers Society of BC, which raised almost C$150,000 from selling seats for a Chinese banquet, donations, and silent auction. 

Even though the last day of Chinese New Year was the day before, the event gave people one last chance to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, with a lively lion dance and the God of Wealth stopped by every table where people wanted to have selfies with him.

Our lo hei topped with truffle sauce

The dinner, held at the Continental Seafood Restaurant in Richmond, did a pretty good job of churning out food for over 400 people. The dishes were a bit different from the usual fare, starting with lo hei, a southeast Asian tradition of using chopsticks to throw ingredients up in the air for a chance at higher promotions or larger prosperity. Needless to say it was a messy start.

However, the salad made of vegetarian ingredients that were finely sliced was delicious when mixed with a truffle oil sauce. It was so good I had seconds.

Another dish we haven't eaten for a while was fat choy, or black moss. It was in a dish of braised sea cucumber, Japanese tofu and choy sum. 

There were other traditional banquet dishes like salt-baked chicken and steamed fish, but the carbohydrate was called ginger rice, made with wild rice and red rice for a healthier twist. In it were bits of vegetables and egg white. The older folks didn't like it so much, as they felt the wild rice wasn't cooked through enough and was hard on their teeth. The ginger flavour was quite prominent.

A healthier carb dish using red and wild rice

For dessert, we had osmanthus jelly with wolf berries, and of course sweet dumplings filled with black sesame in red bean soup. The red bean soup wasn't cloyingly sweet, thanks to the use of monk fruit as a sweetner. 

I put in bids for a few things in the silent auction, and was surprised to win two out of the three.

One was a Chinese restaurant coupon for four people to dine on a set menu, the other a gift box filled with snacks, jam, tea and chocolate sourced from BC companies. I definitely donated a lot this year for a good cause!