Attention all Current hpac "Bookies"

The Monday, May 4, 2011, date for the Book Club meeting has been changed to Monday, April 4, 2011, at 10:30 A.M. The meeting will be at Phyliss Carter's home with Mickey W. Murrell as the discussion leader for the book, Cleopatra by Stacy Schiff. Phyliss will contact all the "Bookies" and send a map with directions to her home.

The Book Club summer meeting will be on Monday, August 1, 2011, at Kay Horn's home with Edie Bishop as the discussion leader for the book, The Big Rich by Bryan Burrough. All members in the club will be contacted during the summer and given the directions to Kay's home.

As of February 7, 2011, the following books have been read by the HPAC Book Club:

Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts / Comfort Foods by Kate Jacobs / Secret Scriptures by Sebastion Barry / Mister Pip by Lloyd Jones / Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Cheviler / Summer Guest by Justin Cronin / Those Who Save Us by Jenna Blum / and Better by Atul Gwande.

HPAC EXPLORING HOUSTON

Contact: Martha Lou Broussard, 713-665-4428 or Linnie Edwards, 713-785-7715

1/25/2011 - A tour of Houston's Asian town area with information and a Tea Ceremony provided at the Chinese Community Center, a visit to a Daoist Temple at the Taipei Culture Center, and a dim sum lunch at the Ocean Palace restaurant.

On Monday, January 25, 2011, the HPAC Exploring Houston group toured local Asian Town sites in Houston. The tour began at the Chinese Community Center. At that location the Tour Guide for the day, Christie Chang, and four other guides from the Center spoke of the differences in various teas and performed a tea ceremony - during which they revealed the proper way to heat, steep and serve tea. Everyone was served two types of tea during the demonstration. The guides also shared information about the size, geography, population, recreation activities, lifestyles and jobs in Taiwan. They compared living in Taiwan with living in Texas and discussed the similarities or differences of the two places. The guides were very informative and answered all the questions that the group asked them. The second tour stop was a Daoist Temple at the Taipei Cultural Center. The Temple is a beautiful and very colorful building. At this location everyone received information sheets about the Temple and the altars located inside, and the entire group was given time to explore on their own the many altars and any other items inside the Temple and to have questions about them answered by our Tour Guide. Our final stop was the Ocean Palace Restaurant, where everyone was served tea and a dim sum lunch. The food on the menu was served family style and consisted of small portions of Chinese food - such as dumplings, spring rolls and other various traditional Chinese dishes - for all to enjoy. The Asia Town tour was most enjoyable and informative. Shown below are photos of some of the experiences that members and guests had that day.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

A guide at the display cases in the lobby of the Chinese Community Center.	Daoist Temple at Taipei Cultural Center.	Kathy Hilterman and Mickey Murrell (L to R) outside the Daoist Temple.
Kathy Hilterman and Kay Horn (L to R) at the steps to the Daoist Temple—Kay is a new HPAC member.	Edie Bishop, Margaret Jones, Martha Lou Broussard and Jennifer Biancardi at Daoist Temple entrance.	Marvin and Winona (LaBrant) Smith, John Biancardi, Linnie Edwards, Fletcher and Phoebe Hicks and Donna Parrish at the Temple steps.
Tour Guide Christie Chang and HPAC President Edie Bishop inside the Daoist Temple.	Millie Tonn in front of one of the altars inside the Temple.	Kay Horn, Kathy Hilterman, Donna Parrish and Winona L. Smith ready for lunch at the Ocean Palace Restaurant.
Winona L. and Marvin Smith with Fletcher and Phoebe Hicks at one of the large round tables at the Ocean Palace Restaurant.	Christie Chang, Tour Guide, explains items on menu for Carol Ann Gold, Evelyn Earlougher and a guest (L to R).	Roseann Hooks, Martha Lou Broussard and Linnie Edwards discuss the dim sum lunch menu with Christie Chang.
Jackie Smith, Jennifer and John Biancardi with Edie Bishop—all are looking forward to trying the items on the dim sum menu being served at the Ocean Palace Restaurant.	Roseann Hooks, Martha Lou Broussard and Linnie Edwards serve themselves one of the dim sum menu items.