chez pim

happy last day of the year, and the new year too

Have a very happy last day of the year everyone, and an even better new days to come in the next year. Yet another year of blogging chez Pim continues to be so much fun, especially because you are around to read it. Really. This year marked a huge change in my life, and together on the blog we laughed, we cried, we cheered, and even jeered. We also cooked a bit. And again we ate and drank our way around the globe, through bad meals and good meals and even better meals. We even got around to doing some good for a change.

Chez Pim has gotten probably more than its share of accolades, but ultimately -all ego and snarkiness aside- this is just my silly blog. I eat because I live, and I write because I love it. I am happy that you are around to share it with. My best wishes to you and yours for tomorrow and many more days to come.

Let me take us into the new year by showing you where I've been hanging this holiday season -yes, dodging hot pans, sneaking a taste of this and that, and all around trying not to get in the way at Manresa. Click on the collage above to see more holiday dinner rush action in Manresa's kitchen. Cheers everyone!

(P.S. Remember to check back tomorrow for the list of raffle winners from the Menu for Hope II.)

Unloved greens

A brief interlude from being a goodie two shoes, I'm going to go on a little rant. A couple of Saturdays ago at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, I wandered over to Mariquita farm stand and saw a pile of the most beautiful baby greens. They looked like happy vegetables. They really did, all bright and green and curly and cute and little. I didn't know what they were, so –as one does- I picked one up and took a bite. It was spicy and crunchy, with a deliciously complex flavor, like fresh salad greens with a little dose of wasabi. That little baby has got a lot going on!

Best Urban Food Blog, said Gridskipper

So Chez Pim just won an award. The 2005 URBS, Urban Blogging Awards, over at Gawker Media's travel blog extraodinaire Gridskipper. That GridPerson was happily skipping by quite a few times this year, so it's nice that his readers found Chez Pim worthy of being part of the, um, URBS.

That's not enough to stop me feeling so cranky today however. Not even with a mention in the CS Monitor yesterday. Why, you asked? Well, as it turned out, that super generous $5,000 donation to the Menu for Hope II was a fake. This was someone's idea of a joke apparently. I wonder who in their right mind would find it funny though. Someone's got to find better things to occupy their time than messing with other people's ernest effort to do something good for a change. We still ended up raising over $17,000 -which is no peanuts mind you- but that sound of $22,000 was so, so, so, so nice. Oh well, à chacun son Karma and all that, I guess.

If you stop by Gridskipper to see the list of award recipients, make sure you check out The Beloved Universe, the winner of World's Best Urban Photoblog, my favorite find from that entire list. Congrats all around and happy holidays to everyone, whatever holiday you chose to celebrate.

P.S. Don't forget to check back here on January 1st for the raffle results. Cheers.

Remembrance Day

South-east Asia earthquake and tsunami remembrance day.

Image credit: Gerhard Richter's Kerzen

Hope is alive and well

we
are
over
$20,000
now

sorry
for
typing
funny
but
i
fell
off
my
chair
and
hit
my
head

Twenty one thousand four hundred eighty six dollars and thirty two cents
to
be
precise

and not monopoly money.....

thank you thank you thank you

Last chance for hope

Last chance to help us on our Menu for Hope II. We've been at this since last Monday, and we are ever so close to raising $15,000 for UNICEF to help support the funds for Kashmir quake victims. If you havn't donated yet, do take another look at the line up of our all star raffle prizes. Perhaps there is something here you wouldn't mind dropping a fiver for a chance at it. We have even more gifts for you, see the entire menu here: in writing, in pictures. Please donate now.

Menu for Hope update: campaign ending tomorrow

We have raised almost $13,000 for our Menu for Hope II campaign, which is scheduled to end tomorrow. There is still time to drop another $5 for another raffle gift you perhaps overlooked before. Do we dare to hope we might make it to $15,000 before the end of day tomorrow? We will never know until we try, yes?

You can take a look at the entire menu, or just see the photo collage of the gifts.

To read more about the plight of the victims of the Kashmir earthquake, see these articles: The Guardian UK, CNN, BBC, Seattle Times.

Thank you so much for you help.

Menu for Hope: in pictures

Here it is, another presentation of our Menu for Hope II, this time in pictures. Move your little mousie over the images and you will see a description of each one. Click on it to see the details at the host blog. Don't forget to drop a few fivers for a chance to win these cool gifts and support UNICEF's funds for Kashmir earthquake victims -but you already knew that part, didn't you?

Over the 10K mark, and unloved gifts

We are, as of this very moment, only $291 away from raising $10,000! (We did it! We are now over $10,000!! Woohoo!) A huge thank you to everyone who pitched in. A million thank you. But we are not quite finished yet, not until this Friday anyway. You could help us get there help UNICEF raise even more money by taking a look at these unloved gifts and put down a few fivers for them. Our food blogging friends have been so generous with their raffle gifts, as a result, more than a few fantabulous gifts are yet unloved -or not adequately loved- in our raffle. I've put them up in this little collage for you to browse at your leisure. I am sure you will find something else you or someone you loved might want for the holidays.

A few people have bought our raffle tickets as holiday gifts. That is such a fabulous idea, don't you think? Get your loved ones something fun for the holidays and help out a very very good cause. If that's not good karma for the new year, I don't know what is.

woo hoo $8,500!!

We made it over the $8,600 mark earlier today. Wow. I am ever so grateful for everyone who contributed, and for all the bloggers who have been so generous with your gifts. Let's keep on rolling to the end of our campaign, midnight PST this Friday!

Also, I seem to have overlooked one contribution, from Belly Timber, who contributed Island Insanity Gift Package. What island? How insane? You just have to go there and check it out.

Donate today and win all these amazing gifts!