Here are the bios of Cameron Collins and Vincent Collins, two Highland Dance Champions who will be performing at Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2004. Should be a blast and I bet they'll get the whole crowd's attention!

Cameron Collins is the 2004 North
American champion and the 2004 Ohio State Champion
and the 3rd Runner up in the WORLD Junior Highland
Dancing Championships which he won this past summer
in Dunoon , Scotland.

Vincent is the Former British Columbia Champion, lst
Runner up in the Ohio State Championship and the lst
Runner up in the Western United States Championship
which he won this past Summer in Pleasonton ,
California.

Both brothers are students of the Former
World Adult Highland Dancing Champion, Angus
MacKenzie.

Gung Haggis Fat Choy 2004 Dinner

Arrive Early:  The doors will open at
5:30pm. We expect a rush just prior to the posted 6:00pm reception
time.  This is the time to go to the bar and get your dram of
Glenfiddich or pint of McEwan's Lager – specially ordered for tonight's
dinner.

Buy Your Raffle Tickets: We have some great door
and raffle prizes lined up.  Lots of books (being the writers we
be), gift certificates and theatre tickets.  Most exciting are the
tickets for opening night of Terracotta Warriors at the Centre in
Vancouver for Performing Arts, opening night tickets for The Plum Tree
– directed by Adrienne Wong (who will also co-host GHFC). 

This dinner is the primary fundraising event for
both the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop and the Gung Haggis Dragon
Boat Team. We have assembled some wonderful prizes, to help raise funds
to support our missions of supporting and developing emerging writers,
organizing reading events, and to spread multiculturalism through
dragon boat racing.

The first appetizer dish will appear once people
are seated, quickly followed by the Piping in of the musicians and
hosts.  We will lead a singalong of Scotland the Brave and give
good welcome to our guests.  I will read my new opening poem Gung
Haggis Fat Choy.

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.  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 do be known that we have an incredible
array of talent for each of our two nights.  This includes
bagpiper Joe McDonald with his fusion band Brave Waves and Qiu Xia
He and Andre Thibault from Silk Road Music – both of these groups
appear in the CBC tv special.

Co-hosts with me for Saturday evening are Adrienne
Wong and Margaret Gallagher.  For Sunday, we have Adrienne and
Heather Pawsey.  On Saturday, 13 year old violinist Alex Sachs
performs, followed later by Vancouver Opera concert master Mark Ferris
– who will debut original compositions.  On Sunday soprano Heather
Pawsey will perform her favorite scottish songs, along with a song or
two in Mandarin.

On both nights we have award winning teen-aged
Highland Dancers Vincent and Cameron Collins, as well a Burns
afficianado Neil Gray, who is also featured in the CBC tv performance
special.

Our non-traditional reading of the “Address to the
Haggis” is always a crowd pleaser.  I hand-pick members of the
audience to join us on stage to read a verse.  Past participants
have included former federal Secretary of State Raymond Chow, Qayqayt
(New Westminster) First Nations Chief Rhonda Larrabee, UBC
Director of the Chan Centre Dr. Sid Katz.

The evening will wrap up somewhere between 9:30 and
10:00pm.  People will leave with smiles on their faces and say to
each other, “Only in Canada, could something like this happen.”

Every year we balance lots of exciting and savoury combinations of
dishes with our favorites, traditional Chinese New Year dishes and
enough to keep the vegetarians happy.  For 2003 we are creating a
very special dish blending Scottish and Chinese culinary skills into
something uniquely Canadian.

Here is the menu for 2004, subject to change at my whimsy and the kitchen's demands:

1 – Cold Plate Appetizer with Vegetarian Spring Rolls, Pork Hock, Shredded Jelly Fish (Shredded
Jelly Fish really is sea weed gluten – it's one of my favorites and was
featured last year on City Cooks with host Simi Sara, prepared by
Joseph Lee, owner of Flamingo Chinese Restaurant.)

2 – 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.)

3 – Special Appetizer Surprise!  (This
is something I have dreamed of for a long time… Take something
Scottish, wrap it in something Chinese, create a special Canadian
sauce, and serve it to a willing and playful audience that understands
the value of multiculturalism and good food innovations!)

4 – Beef Lettuce Wrap (This is
always fun.  Imagine a hamburger without the bun.  Oops…
nothing is holding the patty together either.  Add the Hoi-Sin bbq
plum sauce in the middle of your lettuce and remember that when it
comes to filling the lettuce – less is more.  Otherwise your
lettuce will crack and break and the sauce will run down your
fingers. Delightfully messy!)

5 – Lobster and Crab (Another
dish you can use your hands for… The lobster symbolizes the
prosperity from the East Coast of Canada, and the Dungeness crab from
the West.  I don't know!  It just tastes great and it was
such a hit last year that people forgot we served Peking Duck in
previous dinners.)

6 – Vegetables and Tofu (After
the rich seafood, vegetables and tofu to clean the palate.  It
could be green beans, snow peas, Chinese broccoli… but it's got to be
fresh!  Tofu is great… I grew up eating it since I was a little
kid.  I know a lot of caucasians who detest tofu… maybe this
venerable bean curd staple is the Chinese equivalent of
haggis?)

7 – Haggis (You can't have a
Robbie Burns Supper without Haggis… The first time I tried haggis – I
gagged.  It reminded me of poi – the Hawaiian taro paste.  I
put some haggis in with my rice… it wasn't bad.  I added sweet
& sour sauce.  Plum sauce was great with it.  Then I
learned that I didn't like the lard recipe haggis and there were many
other haggis recipes.  My favorite is from Peter Black and Sons,
found at Park Royal Shopping Centre in West Vancouver.  It is
savoury with Peter's unique and special recipe.  Featured on
CityTV's City Cooks last year two days in a row!)

8 – Crispy Skin Chicken (need we say more – better than Fried Chicken and healthier too! A regular for Chinese banquets.)

9 – Buddha's Feast with Mixed Vegetables (Thin
Rice Vermicelli with mushrooms and vegetable – 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).

10 – Fish Dish (The Chinese
Pronouciation of Fish “Yee” sounds like the word for “coin.”  It
is important for New Year's dishes to evoke prosperity and
wealth.  Often the fish is served whole – our fish may or may not
be – it just depends on the inspiration of the cook, and what is fresh
that day!)

11 – Special Gung Haggis Fat Choy Fried Rice (no haggis!)

12 – Dessert

– Hope you enjoyed these delicious descriptions… Todd 

Dinner starts at 6:00pm.  Be there or be hungry!