Chinese theme for a dream

TWELVE guests dressed in red, white and black were treated to fine Chinese dishes in Queenstown at a Dream Dinner evening on Thursday night.

Their attire went with the theme of the evening, which Charlotte Wormald hosted in her house in Top Town to raise funds for the Reach for a Dream foundation.

The foundation sponsors dreams for children under the age of 18 who are diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses.

Wormald, who is self-employed, said when she returned from a holiday in China in April she decided to host the dinner after she saw an appeal for the Daily Dispatch and Reach for a Dream Foundation’s Dreams for Dinner campaign. “When I saw that appeal for anyone interested in hosting such a dinner, I knew that I must make a contribution to reach out to these needy children by hosting the dinner, so that my long-standing friends here can make donations to the foundation.”

Wormald prepared the meals, while her husband Hugh assisted her in the kitchen. Her son, Simon, was the drinks waiter for the evening. “While I was in China, I attended a course at Yangshuo Cooking School where I learned how to cook different Chinese dishes,” she said.

In China, the colour red represents good luck – which is why Wormald asked her guests to wear red with black and white clothes.

The dinner table was decorated with Chinese decor, chop sticks, wine glasses, traditional Chinese bowls and tea-light candles placed on plain red placemats.

A Chinese art-form painting, which translates, “Red beans grow in the south of China and when spring comes, new leaves will come out, I hop文章来源中国酒业新闻网e you can get more of these things because they stand for love” was hung on the walls next to the dinner table.

Guests were served cheat’s shark’s fin soup and sweetcorn and chicken soup. Starters included spring rolls with sweet chilli dipping sauce, son-in-law eggs and spiced honey chicken wings, with the main course featuring red and white prawns with green vegetables, Chinese sweet-and-sour pork, szechuan chicken, stir-fried beef in oyster sauce, wok-fried noodles and egg foo yung.

One of the guests, Ken Clark , said he enjoyed the variety of typical Chinese dishes. “The flavour was awesome, delicate and well-balanced.” Clark said the Wormald family had done a “fantastic job for thinking outside the box to cook a Chinese dinner you couldn’t find in Queenstown and in East London to raise funds for this amazing cause.”