alumNIGHTS: Summer Series Soirée and Mahjong Party

UBC and Harvard grad Carol Anne Lee (BCom’81) co-founded and chairs the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation. She is also the chair of UBC Properties Trust and the Honorary Patron of the Chinese Canadian Military Museum Society. She has been appointed to the Order of British Columbia, the Order of Canada, and the Independent Advisory Board Supreme Court of Canada Judicial Appointments. She has received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws degree from UBC, an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from BCIT, and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal. She has also received the YWCA Icon Award and the VPD Jim and Vicky Chu Community Safety Leader Award, and has been on Vancouver Magazine’s Power 50 list for the past decade.

Although Nathan Moran moved to Vancouver in August 2021 without any bartending experience, he was working at Laowai’s dumpling shop and underwent several promotions until he became Laowai’s Head Bartender in February 2024. While bartending with Laowai, he qualified for and competed in cocktail competitions, placing third in the national finals for Maker’s Mark’s 2023 Kentucky Challenge, and becoming a top 10 regional finalist for Patron Perfectionist’s 2023. He also received the popular vote in the Chinatown Cocktail Competition with the cocktail recipe available below. Additionally, he has helped with menu design and cocktail creation for Laowai.

The Pineapple Bun Penicillin, a milk punch primarily using ingredients sourced in Chinatown, is the cocktail that Laowai’s Head Bartender Nathan Moran submitted for the Chinatown Cocktail Competition.

For one serving:

• 2 ounces red bean pineapple-infused Johnnie Walker Black
• 0.75 ounces red bean white chocolate syrup
• 0.75 ounces fresh lemon juice
• 0.25 ounces fresh ginger juice
• 3 dashes Ms. Better’s Smoke & Oak Bitters

These ingredients were combined, hand-blended, and then combined with 140 grams of rehydrated toasted milk powder before being strained through an oil filter for the final milk punch. This milk punch was chilled and served neat in a 5-ounce glass with pineapple ginger foam on top.

Ingredient recipes

Red bean pineapple Johnnie Walker Black:

• 350 millilitres Johnnie Walker Black
• 50 grams local pineapple bun
• 25 grams red bean paste
• 85 grams fresh pineapple juice

Combine and emulsify all ingredients. Let infuse for 6 hours. Strain through an oil filter.

Red bean white chocolate syrup:

• 200 grams Giffard white chocolate syrup
• 100 grams red bean paste

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on high until smooth, about 2 minutes.

Toasted milk powder:

• 50 grams dehydrated milk powder

Place in an even layer on a baking sheet. Toast for 6 minutes at 225 C, until golden brown. Rehydrate per milk powder’s instructions.

Pineapple ginger foam:

• 550 grams fresh pineapple chunks
• 150 grams peeled ginger chunks

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Transfer to a metal sheet pan. Freeze overnight. Drip through a superbag in the fridge. Blend dripped liquid with 0.5 per cent by weight versawhip and 0.25 per cent by weight xantham gum. Whip before serving.