Wa Sung Community Service Club Newsletter

Providing Community & Educational Services Since 1952
www.wasung.org
P.O. BOX 1561 Oakland, CA 94604
Wa Sung Community Service
Club Newsletter
January 2016
2016 PRESIDENTIAL MESSAGE
Karen Dea
Happy New Year!
Life is wonderful when you treat yourself and others
with acceptance and patience! Community service has
those traits and brings everyone together! I’m looking
forward in serving the Wa Sung Community Service
Club and the community with the following inspiring
quote from Aude Revier (Editor Air France):
“Embrace the earth, watch over its fragile splendor, tend
to its melancholia and its joy and then strive, little by
little, to change the course of destiny. Cast aside our
doubts. Transform ourselves, to transform our lives.
And, rethink the future, to reinvent the world”
Sustaining the clubs foundational merits (Financial
and Membership) and to discover appropriate changes
for the betterment of Wa Sung’s longevity are exciting
goals for 2016!
The start of the New Year, brings The 63rd WS
Inaugural Dinner Event at The Terraces located in the
Lake Merritt Hotel, January 16th, Saturday, 5:30pm,
please contact Donna Chan Chu to make reservations,
[email protected] or 510 530-5068.
Following is our annual Crab Feed & Silent Auction
Merit Awards fundraiser on February 6th- Saturday,
5:30pm, at the San Leandro Boys & Girls Club for
more information, please contact Cindy Quon,
[email protected] or 510-352-5734.
Hope your New Year resolutions include Wa Sung and
see you soon at the 2 upcoming events!
Inside this issue:
Happy New Year
2
2016 Calendar
3
1/16 Inaugural
4
2/6 Crab Feed
4
2/11 Gen. MTG
5
12/06 X’mas
6
2/17 Santa Visits
10
12/17 Chief
Downing’s Party
12
Advertize with us
14
Directory Ads
15
Eileen’s Corner
16
Special points of
interest:
 Inaugural
 Santa’s Visit
 Directory Ads
 Crab Feed
Happy New Year from Denise,
Delbert, Doris and Debbie Gee
2016 OFFICERS & BOARD
OFFICERS:
President:
Vice President:
Secretary:
Treasurer:
Social Director:
Newsletter Editor:
Karen Dea
David Chang
Peggy Woon
Alvin Liang
Arnold Mew
Deborah Pan
DIRECTORS (2015-2016)
Alex Lock
Cynthia Quon
Jeff Quon
Allan Wong
Genie Young
Yvan Fung
Past President:
Board Advisor:
Jr. League Rep:
Page 2
DIRECTORS (2016-2017)
Donna Chan Chu
Audrey Huie
John Lew
Melanie Lew
Annis Skousen
Cimberly Eng-Tamura
Howard Lee
Doreen Lew
WSCC Director: Cynthia Quon
Edgar Woo and Yvan Fung
Wa Sung Community Newsletter
Page 4
Wa Sung Community Newsletter
Christmas Party December 6th,
2015 at Pier 29
Mr. Dong with New Members Shirley
Dong and Spencer Dong.
Page 6
Wa Sung Community Service Club Newsletter
January, 2016
Page 7
Page 8
Wa Sung Community Service Club Newsletter
December Babies: Nancy Tsui, George Wong,
guest, Richard Stone and Edgar Woo.
January, 2016
Page 9
December 17th, 2015 Santa’s Visit
Page 10
by Deborah Pan
Wa Sung Community Service Club Newsletter
Santa(Richard Fong) went to Lincoln School
and Yuk Yau Child Development Center on a
crisp winter day, in a Toyota Prius, said one of
the Teachers working there. Along with him
came Wa Sung Elves: Wayne Fong, Cynthia
and Anthony Lim, Alex Lock, Arnold Mew,
Rebecca Wong, and of course, Mrs. Santa
Claus: Mrs. Adrienne Fong. Judging from the
smiling faces, all that went had a great time!
January, 2016
Page 11
Chief Donald Downing’s Non-Retirement Party Dec. 17, 2015
(After a lot of adieus, we were able to keep him from leaving.)
Past Presidents Richard Fong (after playing Santa) and Josephine Hui chat with
officers and Wa Sung Members in celebration of Chief Downing’s Retirement.
Members Allen Wong and Alex Lock thank Chief
Downing for his services in our community of Oakland.
Senator Barbara Boxer’s Aide,
Max Chang thanks Chief
Downing for his services.
Mr. John Loh
Past President and Oakland Chamber of
Commerce’s Executive Director Jennie Ong
Thanks Chief Downing for taking care of the
Chinatown Community.
Dentist Dr. Hal Suen and “Mayor of Chinatown” Carl Chan expresses their
gratitude.
Anatomy of a Chinese Banquet
By Eileen Leung
A formal Chinese banquet (nine-course dinner)
is reserved for weddings and birthday parties.
Restaurants stake their reputation and bottom line on
how well they can execute such banquets. Some
banquets feature seafood exclusively. Restaurants
usually offers suggested menus with prices per table
ranging from $300-$1000 (plus tax and gratuity),
although guests can request pricing for a customized
menu, too. Due to the high cost per guest, the
catering cost is often allocated between the families
of the bride and groom depending on how many guests
each side invites. Of course, either side can pay for
the entire banquet, too. It is customary for relatives
and close friends to give money for wedding or
birthday gifts. (Remember, no gifts of clocks,
watches or cutlery.)
Most Chinese restaurants in US offer
Cantonese cuisine in banquets. The prominence of
Cantonese cuisine outside China is likely due to the
disproportionate early emigration from this region, as
well as the relative popularity of Cantonese dishes to
foreign palates. Cantonese cuisine has widely been
regarded as the pinnacle of Chinese regional fare,
because of the immensity and diversity of the
ingredients used. Canton (Guangzhou), a long
established trading port in Southern China, has been
exposed to more imported food products and
ingredients than any other area in China.
Planning a meal with nine or ten entrees is not
easy. Each dish must be artistically arranged to
appeal to the eye and stand out with its own
character; each sauce and accompaniment must have
unique features. The dishes that require longer
cooking are prepared first.
Each item is cut into
uniform sized pieces so each morsel can be
penetrated equally by the cooking method and sauces.
Fish is served last, meaning “May your table be
forever bountiful”. Desserts are rather simple and
can include sweet red bean soup with lotus seeds,
mango pudding or dainty cakes.
A typical menu is listed below with its order of
service:
1. Cold Appetizer Plate: Jellyfish strips, sliced
roasted suckling pig, soy sauce chicken, 5-spice beef
slices, smoked fish
2. Shark Fin Soup in Chicken Broth (Wealth).
Shark’s fin soup indicates wealth because this
delicacy is very expensive. Now illegal in California.
3. Peking Duck with Buns and Scallions
4. Honey Walnut Shrimp
5. Braised Sea Cucumber with Shiitake Mushrooms.
Serving sea cucumber with vegetables is a sign of
selflessness because “sea cucumber” sounds like “good
heart” and this dish wishes the couple to think in a
similar way – to avoid conflict.
6. Lobster in Ginger Garlic Sauce (Red for
Happiness)
7. Jaded Phoenix Chicken
8. Steamed Fish (Abundance). The freshest seafood
is odorless, and is best cooked by steaming.
9. Long Life Noodles (Longevity) for birthday
banquets
10. Dessert (Sweet red bean soup with lotus seeds
signifies fertility for the new couple.)
Banquets are generally served on round tables,
and 10-12 persons can be seated at each table. In this
manner, everyone is seated equidistant from the
center of the table. Chinese banquets are noisy
affairs in brightly-lit banquet rooms. The number of
courses served is also significant. At a Chinese
wedding banquet, eight dishes are usually served – not
including the dessert. In Chinese, the word “eight”
sounds like “good luck.” (The words for “nine” and
“long” are also homophones, words that sound the
same but have different meanings). At a birthday
banquet, nine dishes are served with noodles at the
end. In a marriage, the dragon symbolizes the male
role while the phoenix symbolizes the female role.
This yin-yang dualism, opposite but not contradictory,
is a key concept of Taoism according to Professor
George Lee of San Francisco State University. Taoism
and the yin-yang dualism pervade Chinese philosophy.
Therefore, serving lobster and chicken represents
balance in a new marriage.
White rice is never served at a banquet; the
host expects the guests to be already satiated by the
gourmet food. Often fried rice is served as a last
dish to appease those who must finish a meal with rice!
Tea, alcohol, and 7-Up are almost always supplied.
Offering tea is a sign of respect. 7-Up sounds like
“seven happiness”, since the words for “up” and
“happiness” are homophones.
(In olden days when most Chinese families
lived in the city, alcohol was always served at
banquets. But as families moved into the suburbs and
drove into the city for the banquet, it was considered
unsafe to let guests drive home intoxicated. ) The
fist-guessing game 猜拳 was also popular with male
businessmen as they challenged each other to guess
how many fingers were extended in each fist while
reciting stock phrases expressing good wishes.
Whoever guessed correctly won, and the loser had to
drink. (This is now a lost art.) At the end of the
banquet, waiters always distribute take-out boxes to
the guests because there is usually enough food for
everyone and some left over; this represents
abundance. It is acceptable to take the food home.
Source: Chinese Historical and Cultural Project;
www.chcp.org
Zee, A. Swallowing Clouds, University of Washington
Press, 2002.