Hear the Roar! Tiger Ball Brings in $1.3 Mil

Lynn Wyatt and Richard Flowers
Lynn Wyatt and Richard Flowers

The gorgeous springtime weather that Houston experienced this weekend was more than welcome at the Asia Society Texas Center’s annual Tiger Ball, where a pretty pink carpet and a literal truckload of Japanese cherry blossom trees and branches greeted more than 700 guests on Saturday.


Ten-thousand other blooms imported from Thailand, Holland and Oregon and artfully arranged by Richard Flowers of The Events Company set the scene for a gala celebrating the springtime beauty of Japan, all executed by chairs Kathy and Marty Goossen and Akemi and Yasuhiko Saitoh.

A cocktail hour and silent auction — a curator-led museum tour in London, anyone? — kicked off the evening, which honored none other than Lynn Wyatt. Guests, dressed in a colorful combination of black-tie and traditional Asian attire, also perused the new exhibit of ancient Chinese bronze statues and enjoyed the sounds of Japanese taiko drummers before heading into a stunning pavilion erected in the Asia Society’s parking lot. Once again, galagoers were greeted by towering cherry blossoms and origami-inspired cranes and lanterns.

Dinner was, unsurprisingly, inventive and delicious. Anokonomiyaki pancake was served with smoked duck, and the dessert spread included matcha panna cotta, and flambeed-cherry-topped ginger ice cream. After the meal concluded, the dance floor filled up and partygoers — Lynn included! — got their groove on. The evening’s total til topped $1.3 million.

Payal Chana, Divya Brown and Janae Tsai
Dispatches

David Robertson

AS HOUSTON SLOWLY recovers from last week’s severe derecho, it is strangely serendipitous that on May 25 and 26, a little over a week after that unexpected drama, the Houston Symphony will perform composer John Adams’ critically acclaimed Nativity oratorio El Niño, named after the 1997 meteorological phenomenon and precursor to what we now refer to as “weird weather.”

Keep Reading Show less
Art + Entertainment

A rendering of Hotel Saint Augustine (courtesy of Lake Flato Architects and Ten Eyck Landscape Architect)

CELEBRATED CHEF Aaron Bludorn is on a roll. After successfully opening three Houston restaurants including the recent Bar Bludorn, he has set his sights on the boutique Hotel Saint Augustine to open this fall.

Keep Reading Show less
Food