The 24th annual multi-course celebration Meals on Wheels NWI Dine with the Chefs Gala included a number of “firsts” on March 2 at Avalon Manor in Hobart.
A record capacity of just more than 450 guests generated more than $178,000 for the nonprofit organization, raising funds to feed those in need.
It’s been a slow grow for returning to totals enjoyed pre-pandemic when COVID-19 canceled/compromised the fundraiser in 2021. The event raised $75,000 with its return in 2022, more than $110,000 at the 2023 event, and increased to $130,000 last year.
For nearly a quarter of a century, a team of hard-working, regional, notable chefs have donated, cooked and prepared the six-course incredible dinner spread enjoyed by those gathered for this great cause. The idea for an annual charity dinner gala gathering began in 2001, hatched by Arlene Jawor, then community relations director for Meals on Wheels of Northwest Indiana (who began as a volunteer in 1978), teamed with prior executive director Margot Clark, the latter who was in attendance Sunday and founded Meals on Wheels NWI with others in July 1977.
Sunday’s event included the unveiling of the inaugural Margot Clark Award, a new annual honor bestowed to an outstanding individual who has contributed to the efforts and success of the organization. The first recipient was Centier Bank, applauded for being the employer visionary to be the first to allow employees to leave during the workday to have a comfortable window (while still on the pay clock) to deliver meals as a volunteer for Meals on Wheels NWI.
Based in Merrillville, Meals on Wheels NWI is now under new leadership, with Ryan Elinkowski as CEO succeeding Executive Director Sandra Noe, who had been with the organization for an incredible 37 years guiding expansion.
Meals on Wheels NWI delivers nutrition to seven counties in the region, more than 2,000 meals a day, including hot meals, cold snack suppers and frozen meals to Starke, Porter, Lake, Newton, Jasper and Pulaski counties.
The courses for Sunday’s menu began with assorted appetizers such as the fontina stuffed meatballs created by Meals on Wheels NWI Executive Chef Keith Peffers and other featured chef specialties like carbonara deviled eggs, alligator bites and pork onigiri canapes. A soup course was omitted this year. The paired salads featured a choice of Elysian Fields Salad or Green Mango Salad.
Following next, the fish course showcased Cobia Escabeche on a bed of mashed sweet potatoes, before the main entrée of Deconstructed Beef Wellington with Robuchon potatoes and herbed carrots. The dessert highlighted cream puffs and tres leches cake.
During the dinner’s “sunrise cocktail hour” before the noon dinner start, Chef Tammy Pham of Asparagus restaurant in Merrillville served samples of her new canned signature Asian Pear Martinis, a popular menu choice at her dining location.
When I asked for a shared libation recipe to feature, Chef Pham offered me her Lychee Martini recipe. I remember lychee fruit being a popular pick in Jamaica when I visited there in November 2006. While a native fruit of China, Taiwan and Vietnam, it later became a cultivated favorite in the Philippines and Jamaica. The fruit was heralded as far back as the year 1279 as the preferred fruit of the royal court and emperors. By the time European travelers and Chinese immigrants brought lychee to Jamaica, the locals found it ideal to serve with a light sponge cake and drenched in cream as a popular dessert for holidays and celebrations.
It wasn’t until 1962 that the dark, large pit-like seed of lychee fruit was found to be highly toxic, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, after an alarming number of annual spikes in poisoning deaths during the lychee harvest season in May and June.
Columnist Philip Potempa has published four cookbooks and is a weekly radio host at WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at philpotempa@gmail.com or mail your questions: From the Farm, PO Box 68, San Pierre, Ind. 46374.
Chef Tammy’s Lychee Martini
Makes 1 cocktail
2 ounces Malibu rum
1 1/2 ounces Skyy Vodka
3/4 ounce fresh lychee juice
1/4 ounce pineapple juice
1 peeled and sliced lychee fruit for glass garnish
Directions:
1. Pour all liquid ingredients into shaker with ice cubes.
2. Shake vigorously and immediately strain in chilled glass.
3. Garnish glass with fresh fruit and serve immediately.
