BJ FOoDiEs ‘Magic’ Dinner & Hilton’s Charity Auction

The first BJ FOoDiEs event of 2012 is setting up to be a double-whammy!  Switching things up, this is one of the very first times that a BJ FOoDiEs dinner will not be held on a Sunday, but on a Friday night. And since most of those in attendance have a charitable heart and generous spirit, it only makes sense to see BJ FOoDiEs teaming up with the Hilton Beijing, The Beijing Beatles, and Hoegaarden for the 2012 Charity Auction!

So mark you calendars for next Friday, February 10 for a night dedicated to the spirit of generous giving and good food. Not only will foodies be spoiled with a special dinner, those who make the highest bids for Beijing’s Dashing Bachelors and Bachelorettes will again be once again rewarded with another dinner at One East!

The night’s rundown is quite packed in, so by signing up for the BJ FOoDiEs dinner, you’re also signing yourself up for a full-on charitable evening with all proceeds going to two very special charitable organizations: Morning Tears and Magic Hospital.

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A Very Merry Kagen Christmas Charity Party for BICCO

Charity Christmas Dinner at Kagen (photography courtesy of Nora Tejada)

On Saturday, December 10, Kagen Japanese Restaurant hosted a Christmas Charity Dinner to benefit the Disabled Chinese Orphans of BICCO (Beijing International Committee of Chinese Orphans) and with about 130 generous patrons in attendance, we somehow managed to reach our goal of raising over RMB 200,000!  That is an insanely high number because that means each person donated on average RMB 1,500!

Originally, the deal was set that for each ticket sold, RMB 500 would be donated directly to BICCO (which was already really generous of Kagen Restaurant), but in the end, owner Alan Wong generously donated ALL ticket sales to BICCO, meaning that the entire ticket sales (RMB 600 each) went to the children of BICCO.

In addition to ticket sales, we also managed to sell a butt-load of raffle tickets (raising RMB 9,400) and many silent auction prizes went for higher than it’s actual value (raising RMB 31,757).

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Animal House: Holiday Benefit for Orphaned Animals

LDS Discovery: GungHo!’s Turkey Hot Pot Tradition

Annual Turkey Hot Pot Tradition

It really should be no surprise that GungHo! Legends John and Jade are the masterminds behind my newest LumDimSum Discovery: Turkey Hot Pot.

LDS Discoveries are normally reserved for finds I uncover in various dining establishments around Beijing (click here for previous posts), but I couldn’t pass up writing about this discovery because this could easily be imitated and replicated in the comfort of anyone’s home! Yes, you can try this at home too!

Always scheming up new adventures, new recipes and new concoctions to share, this happens to be a relatively new tradition (second year running) and John & Jade were kind enough to introduce me to their world of turkey hot pot.

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Beijing’s First Greenland Bazaar in Greenland Garden

Introducing Beijing’s first Greenland Bazaar! Might be something worth checking out next Wednesday, November 30 from 10AM-3:30PM.

And while you’re in the Lido ‘hood, you can stop by the new GungHo! Pizza HQ for some scrumptious salads and organic wholewheat crust pizza!  If you haven’t already, try all-time favorite: their Pumpkin & Sweet Potato Pizza.  See their website here.  To vote for GungHo! in theBeijinger’s Pizza Cup, vote here.

Greenland Bazaar Event Details: 

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Save-the-Date: BICCO’s Christmas Charity Dinner

As soon as Thanksgiving is over, the trees, lights and holiday decorations come flooding out as everyone begins gearing up for Christmas and New Years! Hopefully by now, most of you have awoken from your turkey comas and you are in the holiday mind set to begin Christmas shopping and party planning.

There are many upcoming gala dinners, holiday balls and Christmas dinners coming up in the next few weeks, but be sure to mark your calendars and save the date for this event in particular – “Unlock the Future”, which is a Christmas Charity Dinner and Silent Auction that will take place on Saturday, December 10.

We have a goal of raising RMB 200,000 in ONE NIGHT with all funds raised on this evening to be donated to Beijing International Committee for Chinese Orphans (BICCO)‘s Shunyi Orphanage Rehabilitation Program to help support over Chinese orphans and children with disabilities.

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GungHo! 2.0 Launches New Lido Branch TODAY

Last night, I was invited to a sneak peek of the NEW! GungHo! 2.0 branch in Lido and I before I knew it, 3 hours had gone by!  With a combination of media and business associates, all had come to see the new GungHo! Headquarters!

Located in the space of the old Pete’s Tex Mex, just west of Jenny Lou’s, GungHo! occupies a freakin’ monstrous space. They have taken over all four floors (basement for their Central Kitchen, 1st floor store, 2nd floor office space and 3rd floor GungHo! Culture Training Center), it’s a huge leap from their original mini-pizza joint in Gongti.

In their new space, everything is brand-spanking new.  The Central Kitchen space will soon be in full operation, able to accommodate up to 8 GungHo! restaurants (yes, they plan to expand ALL over Beijing).  They have tons of storage space, a designated hygiene area (we were all given hair caps to wear before we could step inside) and massive cooking area.  The 1st floor (for customers) is spacious, they also have giant kitchen, a long menu board and plenty of seating with tall benches and comfy stools. But my favorite bit has to be their top floor where GungHo!’s brilliant company culture is groomed and improved every day.

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LumDimSum Discovery: Gungho! Salads Rock

On the topic of healthier options, who would guess that a pizza place would have such exceptional salads?  But as you all already know, Gungho! Gourmet Pizza Factory is not like other pizza joints.  Their pizza is not soaked in grease and they even offer an organic whole wheat crust option.  And more than pizza, they have a wide selection of fresh spinach pastas, calzones, desserts, fresh juice and fresh salads!

I had previously sampled a few of their salads like their low-fat greek salad and house salad which were all fresh and good, but not mind-blowing.  That was before I tried their Thai Beef Salad (created by celebrity chef Jun Trinh) which is off-the-hook amazing and their Tropical Salad is also one of my new favorites!  Both salads are fresh, filling and leaves you addicted so that I find myself just craving Gungho!’s salads more than their pizzas (and I love their pizzas)!

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