Tag Archives: non-profit

Institute for Justice dinner

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Jim is on the board of the Institute for Justice, and we had the board and almost everyone in the organization (approximately 44 people) over for dinner last night.  Robert, Jim’s nephew, came out and helped cook.  Without him, we would never have been able to pull this dinner off.

The menu was as follows (no photos, sorry!  when there are 40+ people in your house, you forget mundane things like taking photos of the food.)

  • Cheese & Charcuterie with Garlic Grilled Baguettes
  • Lamb Shanks with Rosemary Orange Gremolata
  • Oven Roasted Herb Shrimp
  • Moroccan Vegetables
  • Couscous
  • Tunisian Beet & Potato Salad
  • Pineapple with Lime Honey and Lemongrass
  • Tossed Salad
  • Fresh Berry Salad
  • Chocolate Pots de Crème

As with all meals, I was responsible only for the Chocolate Pots de Crème, cleaning up the house, and doing dishes during the day.  J  And the good news is that there are lots of leftovers, so I can continue to leisurely eat my way through this meal.

Jim has been on the board of IJ for over 20 years.  IJ was founded in 1991 and is a civil liberties non-profit.  They defend people’s rights relating to private property, economic liberty, free speech, and school choice.  In addition to being an incredible group of dedicated professionals, they are also really fun people to hang out with.  (As an example, within 60 seconds of arriving at our home, there was already a pool game underway.)

You can find out more about this extraordinary organization at www.ij.org.

Sips & Suppers 2014

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We attended one of the Sips & Suppers that were hosted last night.  Sips & Suppers benefits Martha’s Table and D.C. Central Kitchen.  Chefs from across the country (and sometimes from around the world) cook meals in private homes to benefit the charities.

Our dinner was prepared by Scott Drewno of The Source and Peter Chang of Peter Chang (he has pop up restaurants throughout Virginia).  The theme of the dinner was Chinese New Year (which is actually on January 31 this year–the Chinese calendar is based on the lunar calendar so the date changes every year).  It will be the Year of the Horse.

We started the evening with a variety of hors d’oeuvres, most of them very spicy (a specialty of Peter’s).  Accompanying these was a 2005 Vilmart Coeur de Cuvee champagne.

The amouse bouche was a Chinese tea egg custard, consisting of a lapsang souchong tea-smoked egg served with caviar on top.  I am afraid that all I can show you is the empty egg shell because I ate all of it before I thought to take photos (this will be a recurring theme in this blog post).

tea-smoked egg with caviar (empty)

tea-smoked egg with caviar (empty)

The first official course was a quartet of Chinese New Year dumplings.  The crescent shape of the potsticker dumpling is a similar shape to the gold “coins” from the Yuan Dynasty and symbolizes prosperity.  Accompanying these dumplings was a 2007 Louis Latour Corton Charlemagne.

assorted dumplings

assorted dumplings

The second course was a Chinese-style steamed lobster.  Red (the color of the lobster) is the color of joy and happiness in Chinese culture.  The wine served with this course was a 100 point wine, the 1999 Chapoutier Ermitage Cuvee de l’Oree.

Chinese-style lobster

Chinese-style lobster

The third course was a dry aged New York strip accompanied with a spicy five vegetable stir fry.  The five vegetables represent the five blessings of the New Year (longevity, riches, peace, wisdom, and virtue).  You’ll have to take my word for it that the presentation was beautiful, as I was too busy eating the dish to take a photo.  The accompanying wine was a 2001 Rudd Oakville Estate Proprietary Red.

The final course was a Chinese New Year tangerine cake and house made fortune cookie served with a banana custard with a blood orange glaze.  The pronunciation of the word “tangerine” in Chinese is similar to the pronunciation of the word “money” and symbolizes prosperity.  There were two dessert wines served with this—a 2009 Doisy Daene L’Extravagant and a 1927 Alvear Pedro Ximenez Solera.

tangerine cake, banana custard & fortune cookie

tangerine cake, banana custard & fortune cookie

The meal was a smashing start to what I hope is a fabulous New Year!

Best Buddies Miami 2013

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We flew down to Miami last weekend to attend the Best Buddies Miami gala.  Best Buddies is an organization that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities with friendships, employment, and leadership development.  We’ve been involved with the organization for 20 years, and Jim is on the board.

The Miami event is especially entertaining because the crowd is some of the best people watching ever.  (Can you say “physical enhancements?”)  This year, Carlos Slim was the guest of honor at this year’s gala, and he and several family members flew from Mexico City to attend.  He is an amazingly unassuming person, happy to meet everyone.  We also met his daughter and son-in-law, who have also been generous supporters of Best Buddies.  The musical performer was Sean Paul.  We had a really fabulous time at the gala.

We spent the rest of the weekend in Miami, just hanging by the pool and enjoying the warm and sunny weather.  It was a wonderfully relaxing weekend and perfect timing, as we enter the crazy holiday season.

You can find out more about Best Buddies at www.bestbuddies.org.

And here’s a photo from the event of Jim and me:

Best Buddies Miami 2013

Best Buddies Miami 2013

Best Buddies Challenge 2013

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October 19 was the date of the Best Buddies Challenge in Washington, DC.  (It was also the date of Homecoming for our high schooler, and Jim was in Japan for the weekend, but I digress.)

Best Buddies is a charity that helps folks with intellectual disabilities with friendship and job prospects.  The organization was founded by Anthony Shriver and is dedicated to improving the lives of those with intellectual disabilities.  Each year, a fundraiser is held in DC that consists of a 100 mile bike ride, a 62 mile bike ride, a 20 mile bike ride, and a 5K run/walk.

This year’s DC event was made especially challenging due to the government shutdown.  As a result of the shutdown, the 100 mile bike ride was canceled and the 5K run/walk, which is usually held on the Mall, was moved to Morven Park in Leesburg, Virginia instead.

The challenge was a tremendous success this year.  The weather was perfect—low 60s with a little bit of sun.  Turnout was amazing.  Kevin Spacey, the Wolff Brothers, and Capital Cities were all there (as well as the Red Rocket cheerleaders).  And, most importantly of all, Best Buddies raised $2.5 million at the event.

Full disclosure:  we’ve been supporters of Best Buddies for 20 years, and Jim is on the board.

You can find out more about Best Buddies at www.bestbuddies.org.

Hobbesian Choice

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We were presented with the dilemma of the following choices:  (i) 7 5th grade boys (10-11 years old) at a black tie event for Children’s National Medical Center; and (ii) 20 8th grade girls (13-14 years old) at a Taylor Swift concert.

As a practical matter, there was no choice in the matter.  Jim is Chair of CNMC, so his presence was a requirement at the Children’s Ball.  Fortunately, I enjoy Taylor Swift’s music, and the concert was quite fun.  As it turned out, a great time was had by the boys, who all cleaned up quite nicely.

Children's Ball 2013

Children’s Ball 2013

And a fabulous time was had by all the girls.

Taylor Swift concert 2013

Taylor Swift concert 2013

The only complaint I had was that I had underestimated the frequency and pitch of the squealing by 8th grade girls.  My eardrums may never be the same!

Sips & Suppers

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We went to a supper hosted in conjunction with Sips & Suppers, a fundraiser benefiting Martha’s Table (marthastable.org) and DC Central Kitchen (dccentralkitchen.org) where local chefs prepare meals at the hosts’ homes.

At the dinner we attended, the chefs were Scott Drewno from The Source (wolfgangpuck.com/restaurants) and Erik Bruner-Yang from Toki Underground (tokiunderground.com).

The chefs decided to do a Chinese New Year themed meal.  (Chinese New Year is on February 10 this year.)  Jim was responsible for pairing the wines, which was surprisingly difficult because Chinese food does not pair well with wines, as a rule.  The spices used in Chinese cooking often overwhelm the delicate flavors of the wines.  But, as usual, he succeeded splendidly!

The courses (and paired wines) were as follows:

Appetizers consisted of XO financier in a butter emulsion and shrimp salt, grilled rice cake tater tots with seasonal pickles, toasted nori and chickpea flour, fermented pork salad, garlic chive dumplings with pork, king crab and mustard, and a “wonton soup” duck dumpling served with roasted chicken broth.  The wine was a 2002 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blancs champagne.

The first course was an Eight Treasure Chawanmushi served with pickled Acadian red snapper, apple and charred garlic chives.  The wine was a 2009 Louis Latour Corton Chardonnay.

8 treasure chawanmushi with picked acadian red snapper with apple and charred garlic chives

8 treasure chawanmushi with picked acadian red snapper with apple and charred garlic chives

The second course was Chili XO longevity noodles served with prawn and bay scallop takoyaki.  It was served with a 2006 Vietti Barolo Brunate.

chili xo longevity noodle with prawn and bay scallop takoyaki

chili xo longevity noodle with prawn and bay scallop takoyaki

The main course was a roasted Peking duck served with pork rib, five spice broken rice and Satsuma.  The wine was a 2001 Rudd Estate Oakville Estate Proprietary Red.

roasted peking duck with pork rib, 5 spice broken rice and satsuma

roasted peking duck with pork rib, 5 spice broken rice and satsuma

The pastry amuse-bouche was a tangerine sorbet served with a crushed fortune cookie.  The accompanying wine was a 1990 Rayne Vigneau Sauternes.

tangerine sorbet with crushed fortune cookie

tangerine sorbet with crushed fortune cookie

And the dessert was a deconstructed sticky cake served with a five kernel streusel and pandan ice cream.  And the paired wine was a 2004 Girard Late Harvest Zinfandel.

deconstructed sticky cake with five kernel streusel with pandan ice cream

deconstructed sticky cake with five kernel streusel with pandan ice cream

The food itself was delicious, with the Peking duck as one of the highlights (yes, I freely admit that I am very partial to duck).  Still, the duck was amazing even given my bias.  Other highlights were the “wonton soup” appetizer (more duck, I know) and the tangerine sorbet (no duck there).

The company was also great fun.  The guests mostly consisted of people we didn’t know but connected with only a degree or two of separation.  It was easily one of the most fun fundraisers we have ever been to!

Best Buddies Miami

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We took the kids with us and spent this past weekend in Miami where we attended the Best Buddies Miami gala.  Best Buddies (www.bestbuddies.org) is an organization that helps people with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing them opportunities for friendship, employment assistance, and leadership training.  We’ve been involved with the organization since 1994, and it remains one of our favorite charities because of the tremendous work it does to assist one of the most marginalized groups in our country and in the world.

The Miami gala is one of our favorite events every year, partially because there are very few cities that have better people-watching than Miami.  This year’s gala did not disappoint.  It was held at Marlins Stadium ($350 million of public funding at work!), and Far East Movement performed.  (I have to digress here and mention that the parents of the Asian musicians in this band must be so proud.  It’s just what every immigrant parent dreams their child will grow up and be—a hiphop star.)  And rather than describe the many outfits that left very little to the imagination, you will just have to take my word for it.

We stayed at the Fontainebleau, and this was the view from our hotel balcony.

view from the Fontainebleau

We did manage to spend a few hours by the pool and by the ocean, after homework was done, of course.  It was sunny and in the mid-70s in Miami, as perfect weather as it could be.  Great cause, great event, great weather, and a wonderful time had by all.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

Epilepsy Therapy Project board meeting

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We attended an Epilepsy Therapy Project board meeting this past weekend in Los Angeles.  Naturally, on the way to the hotel after landing in LA, we stopped for a late lunch at this restaurant:

In-N-Out burgers

Next to Shake Shack, they have the best burgers around!  Not to mention that their fries are superior (but, then, I’m not a fan of crinkle fries).

The board meeting was very productive.  Faculty from UCLA who were working on various issues relating to epilepsy gave presentations on their research and clinical findings.  Some real progress is being made, although we have a long ways to go, especially in getting potential new therapies out of the lab and into clinical trials and then to patients.  The costs of clinical trials are prohibitive (in the millions of dollars) and the FDA is slow to approve new treatments.  It can all be immensely frustrating for families who are desperate to have their loved ones’ seizures controlled with minimal side effects.

The most heartrending presentation I saw was a video on infantile spasms where a 16 year old girl is crying desperately for her mother as she suffers a bout of seizures.  It was extremely difficult to watch.

Folks from the Epilepsy Foundation also joined us at the board meeting, as we are discussing a broader and deeper partnership with the Epilepsy Foundation that can further the research priorities of ETP and combine them with the support and advocacy functions at which the Epilepsy Foundation excels.

We also went on a SUDEP awareness walk (you can see the group gathered here):

ETP

SUDEP stands for Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy.  No one quite knows what happens, but some patients who suffer from epilepsy die suddenly with no obvious explanation.  It’s not a well-understood or well-communicated phenomenon, and it is heartbreaking for the families, many of whom were never informed of this possibility.

One of the things that I have learned to do better from my time on the board at ETP is to put things in perspective.  I cannot imagine the strength it takes for these families to cope with their loved ones’ seizures and the aftermath.  It’s why ETP is so important to me, with its mission of getting more therapies to those suffering from epilepsy.

 

Children’s National Medical Center

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I am going to try and do a blurb for every non-profit that we are involved in over the next several weeks.  Today’s topic is the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, DC.  Yesterday, we attended the annual “Christmas in Washington” production.  This production has been going on for 30 years and is generally attended by the First Family.  This year’s performers were Cee Lo Green, Victoria Justice, The Band Perry (yay!), Justin Bieber (the girl-child went wild), and Jennifer Hudson (who blew us away with her vocal talent).  The event raises money for CNMC every year.  The tremendously impressive thing about CNMC is its somewhat bifurcated mission.  It accepts any pediatric patient, regardless of the child’s family’s ability to pay.  In Washington, DC, where over 30% of the children live in poverty (defined as $22,000 for a family of 4), it is so important to have medical care available to the most vulnerable of our population.  At the same time, Children’s is on the cutting edge of pediatric research in a variety of areas.  Both these missions take an enormous amount of money to accomplish, and fundraisers such as “Christmas in Washington” are so helpful in meeting the needs of Children’s.

I am, of course, biased, as Jim is the Chair of the Board of Directors for Children’s.  🙂  That being said, for a children’s hospital to treat those in need with limited ability to pay and be on the cutting edge of pediatric research is unusual and an amazing accomplishment.  You can find out more about Children’s at www.cnmc.org.