Chinese New Year banquet Jan. 22
Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, January 17, 2012
- <p>Carol Burch (standing) answers questions from beginning mah-jong players during a night of introducing locals to the popular Chinese game, Thursday, Jan. 12, at Fishtrap's Coffin House. The gathering, a free Big Read event, drew a packed house of active participants – 24 players at six mah-jong tables. Mah-jong isn't a simple game to learn, so most attendees indicated their interest in a follow-up instructional session, which has been tentatively planned for Thursday, Feb. 2. Instructor Burch also gave a short lecture on the game's history at last week's gathering. This year's Big Read focuses on Amy Tan's novel, "The Joy Luck Club," which is about relationships between Chinese mothers and their Chinese-American daughters.</p>
Fishtrap’s Big Read will offer a free presentation on “What is Real’ Chinese Food?” by Bee Bee Tan-Beck at the Joseph United Methodist Church at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19.
Tan-Beck is a professor of Asian American Literature who also was scheduled to give a lecture and book discussion on “The Joy Luck Club” at Tomas conference room in Enterprise Wednesday, Jan. 18.
Tan-Beck has also been a food writer and critic, with extensive knowledge about the cultural significance of Chinese food.
Enterprise’s Happy Garden Restaurant will host a Chinese New Year banquet of eight-courses of traditional dishes in conjunction with the Big Read at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 22.
Seating is limited to 75, and tickets are available for $20 each at The Sheep Shed in Joseph, The Bookloft in Enterprise and Blonde Strawberry in Wallowa.
Next week the Big Read will host Greg Nokes, author of “Massacred for Gold,” a book about the massacre of up to 34 Chinese miners on the Snake River, for a lecture and book discussion. It is scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 25, in the Tomas conference room in Enterprise.
For a complete calendar of The Big Read events, contact Fishtrap at 541-426-3623 or go to www.fishtrap.org.
