OFF-ICE HOOPLA: Thunderbirds Minor Hockey Association — one of the largest amateur hockey leagues in the province with some 1,100 players — staged its premier fundraising event. Hockey mom and dads left their kids at home with babysitters to attend the James Bond 007 Thunderball, the organization’s 10th off-ice hockey hoopla and charity dinner held at the Hellenic Centre and fronted by gala chair Joyce Gillespie. A capacity crowd filed into the community centre to mingle and partake in fun and games in support of financially strapped kids and families wanting to get into the game. Yours truly fronted the spirited live auction of one-of-a-kind hockey experiences. Ice time with Canuck’s Manny Malhotra, Henrik and Daniel Sedin and former Canuck Kevin Bieksa thrilled hockey fans the most and garnered the evening’s top bids. It helped the organization post a record haul to keep costs down and help underserved kids get into the game.
READY, SET, EAT: Dine Out Vancouver, the city’s favourite food and drink festival, returns with an expanded list of culinary experiences that truly make this year’s celebration more of a food festival than discount dining. While 280-plus restaurants will continue to offer prix fixe $20, $30 and $40 menus, the 15th staging presented by Tourism Vancouver is also offering a host of food experiences for wine and craft beer enthusiasts, as well as master classes for budding mixologists. Dine Out will also serve up its first-ever Chinese New Year Feast and Dine Out fundraiser benefitting the United Way. Kicking off this year’s foodie fete on Jan. 20 is the Soup Experiment. It will see chefs supply an ingredient to a collective soup. Students from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts will chop, season, stir and cook the ingredients to perfection, and then serve samples to the public. The soup will be provided at a suggested donation with proceeds to help underserved kids access nutritious food. More than 100,000 people will participate in the 16-day festival said Dine Out coordinator Lucas Pavan at the festival launch party.
A TASTE OF COOKING: Sharing greater insights into Metro Vancouver’s competitive culinary scene, celebrated chefs David Hawksworth of Hawksworth and Nightingale, Angus An (Maenam, Longtail Kitchen and Fat Mao Noodles), Lucais Syme (Cinara) and Franck Point (Faubourg) headlined the Richmond Chamber of Commerce’s From the Kitchen to the Boardroom event. The sophomore affair saw the culinary stars participate in the dining forum centred on food, business and entrepreneurship in the food industry. A crowd of 250 not only heard from the revered chefs, they enjoyed a five-course meal created by the four men. The brainchild of chamber executive director Matt Pitcairn and board chair Rob Akimow, the night of fine dining and networking also saw the chamber contribute $5,000 to David Hawksworth’s Young Chef Scholarship Foundation, a national non-profit created to provide a platform for talented young Canadian chefs to pursue a culinary career.
CALL FOR COURAGE: Eighteen years ago Shirley Broadfoot, Anne Murnaghan and Susan Rose convened in the basement of Coast Mental Health’s former Mount Pleasant offices and conceived of the Courage to Come Back Awards. The province-wide campaign, which recognizes individuals who have overcome tremendous adversity, illness or addiction, has generated $10 million to promote recovery of persons with mental illness. The Courier-sponsored event takes place May 16. Gala chair Lorne Segal kicked off the 2017 campaign at the corporate headquarters of Silver Wheaton.
