Hop to it: To the delight of their many friends, Johnny and Anne Hsu ushered in the Year of the Rabbit by once again hosting a traditional banquet at their Palace Chinese Restaurant.
Invitations to the annual holiday happening are coveted, and guests include a wonderful mix of Chinese community leaders, politicians, business figures and friends from the numerous charities that the hosts support.
Hors d’oeuvres are served while everyone mingles in the bar area, catching up on news and personal milestones achieved in the previous year. Then it’s on to the main dining area for a multicourse meal that begins with the traditional “toss to prosperity.”
This involves having everyone taking their chopsticks and tossing the ginger, carrots, red cabbage and other ingredients in the smoked salmon salad that is placed on Lazy Susans in the center of each table.
After that, folks settle in to enjoy duck soup and a series of fish, fowl, beef, noodle and vegetable dishes.
Those celebrating this year included U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman and his wife, Cynthia; former Denver City Councilman Rick Garcia, who recently became the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s regional director, and his wife, Loretta Martinez; James Mejia, candidate for Denver mayor, and his wife, Heather Riley; and attorney Woon-Ki Lau and his wife, Margaret.
7News anchor Bertha Lynn and her husband, Larry Naves, a former judge who is now with Judicial Arbiter Group Inc., were happy to find that her former colleague, Ernie Bjorkman, was there too. He’s now the spokesman for ClearChoice Dental Implant Centers, and was introducing his girlfriend, Sue Price, a former reporter in Salida now teaching English as a second language.
Others helping to ring in the new lunar year were actress Moon Lee Law; Michelle and Tom Whitten; radio talk show host Mike Rosen; Henry and Joan Strauss; Russ and Margaret Givens; Bill and Bei-Lee Gold; Mary Lee Chin and James Wagenlander; Sheldon and Jan Steinhauser; Gary and Gayle Ray; and Joe and Shu Sinisi.
Joe’s parents, Randi and J. Sebastian Sinisi, had booked the palace for the younger couple’s wedding reception, but a glitch with Shu’s visa prevented her from leaving China in time. “So they set up a screen, and I was there by Skype,” Shu recalled.
Coming right up.
Chapter One in the 2011 edition of Tables of Content, a series of private-home dinner parties put on by the University of Denver Humanities Institute, takes place Thursday. History Colorado president Ed Nichols and his wife, Meg, are the hosts; Carlotta LaNier, one of the Little Rock Nine, will discuss her book, “A Mighty Long Way.” Willis Wood is the series chair; Susan Reid is president of the Humanities Institute board. Call 303-871-2466.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, x and GetItWrite on Twitter
