ArtsFund Woman of the Hour, Arlene Wright

Woman of the Hour, Arlene Wright with Jan Rogers

Yesterday, a group of friends got together for lunch to celebrate our dear friend, Arlene Wright's upcoming ArtsFund Lifetime Dedication to the Arts award.  She is being recognized for her leadership and financial support of the arts in our region.  Arlene has served on the Advisory Board for Pacific Northwest Ballet, on the Seattle Symphony Orchestra Board of Trustees, on the ArtsFund Board and on the Seniors Making Art Board of Trustees.

Our hostess, Joyce McCallum
with Cathi Hatch

Joyce McCallum hosted a lovely luncheon at the Rainier Club where we had a chance to congratulate and toast Arlene prior to the big ArtsFund luncheon which is scheduled for the week after next.  It was also fun to hear Arlene tell us about the childrens' books that she and her husband brought to the United States many years ago now as they built their company and about how she originally found the books.  The name of the series is The Story Box and several of us hope to find copies of the books as childrens' gifts for the future.

Nancy Strom, Diane Kuenster,
Trudi Syferd



Toni Hoffman, Sue Raschella,
Penny Thackery

Jan Rogers, Carol Anderson,
Susan Taylor

The luncheon was lovely with a flavorful spring pea soup followed by a roasted chicken breast entree and the most amazing medley of desserts I have ever seen on one plate.  The pastry chef came to explain each of the offerings on our dessert plate and each item was impressively dusted with this rare ingredient or drizzled with that special sauce.  See photo below.  I got a nice email from Chef Bill Curtis following the luncheon with the complete list of the many sweet morsels that were included on each dessert plate:

• Chocolate-espresso chiffon cake with giandjua(caramelized hazelnut chocolate) mousse, vanilla langue du chat cookie, espresso sauce
• Pomegranate jelly (Madeline shaped gel)
• Vanilla eclair
• Meyer Lemon pudding cake with balsamic macerated strawberries, peach-yuzu sorbet, pistachios
• Honey chocolate ganache dome, caramel sauce
• Matcha green tea macaron sandwich with passionfruit mousse, rhubarb and strawberry-rhubarb sorbet
• “PB & J”…muscovado gelee, peanut butter mousse, praline dust

Arlene's admirers and celebrants included her daughter, Chrissie, and friends Diane Kuenster, Susan Taylor, Nancy Strom, Trudi Syferd, Penny Thackery, Toni Hoffman, Sue Raschella, Kathie Price, Carol Anderson and Jan Rogers.