chez pim

Of Last Chances and Best Odds. Also, How to Fix Your Screw-ups.

Today is the last day of our Menu for Hope V.  If you haven't donated yet, this would be the time.  And if you need a little help nudging, here's the list of our fabulous prizes that will give you the best odds at winning in our raffle.  Take a quick look?  These are really wonderful prizes that have somehow gotten a little lost in our big list, so if you want them, you have really good odds at getting them.  $10 a pop, as usual, and we will thank you, the WFP will thank you, and the kids and farmers in Lesotho will really thank you!

(By the way, I've been answering emails from donors who made a mistake in the donation form and either didn't tell us which prize they want or gave us the wrong prize number.  No worries, we can fix it easily.  Email your problems to [email protected] and we'll get it all straight for you.)

UW09 Blogher '09 conference pass
UW35 Rancho Gordo gift basket
UW17 "I Wanna Be A Food Writer" Package
UW41 two tickets to the Lexus Grand Tasting, the finale event at Pebble Beach Food & Wine
UW31 Three Cookbooks from Ten Speed Press
UW29 Gourmet Gift Basket
UW06 Popcorn Gift Set
UW42 Barrel Tasting & Vineyard Tour at Windy Oaks
UW39 Autographed book by Amy Goldman

a few more great prizes and the final days of Menu for Hope V

Menu for Hope has quietly crept up to over $47K now, with just under three more days to go.  I am blown away and also ever-so-humbled by the generosity of everyone even in times like these. 

We have four more prizes to add to the West Coast and Wine blog list today.  I think these are fantastic prizes that should be enough to entice more of you to donate $10 or $20 (or another $10 if you've already given) to help us help the WFP this year.  These prize entries might be late, but they are really favorite

UW40: Dinner for two with wine pairings at Michelin-2-star Coi in San Francisco

My friend the talented chef (and also a contributor to the NY Times Food Section) Daniel Patterson will treat a lucky winner of this Menu for Hope prize (plus her/his even luckier friend) to a scrumptious tasting menu at Daniel's two Michelin stars restaurant Coi in San Francisco.  The post dinner sojourn next door is on you, however - wink, wink.  If you've never been to Coi, this is your chance to try.  I know I'm biased, Daniel and his gorgeous wife Alexandra are very dear friends of ours, but I'm telling you, Coi is the most exciting restaurant in San Francisco--there is nowhere else I'd rather eat at the moment.  Drop a tenner and try your chance?

UW42 Barrel Tasting & Vineyard Tour at Windy Oaks

Windy Oaks Estate Winery and Vineyards is located at the southern, coastal end of the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation, 1,000 feet up on a ridge overlooking the Monterey Bay.  They also happens to be one of my favorite wine makers, not locally but anywhere.  They make delicate, elegant wines with judicious use of oak and fruit.  Just delicious, delicious stuff that's also very food-friendly.  They are offerring to host a private cheese and barrel tasting of their award-winning, highly rated estate Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, for 8 people.  Judy & Jim Schultze, the proprietors and winemakers, will lead the tour and provide the barrel tasting.  The afternoon will consist of a walking tour of the beautiful 15-acre vineyard, with wine tasting on the ridge overlooking the Monterey Bay.  Artisanal cheeses and local breads to complement the wines will accompany the sample tasting.   After the walk, you will return to the winery, nestled in the redwoods, and taste from our unreleased vintages still in their French oak barrels. Jim, the master winemaker, will explain his Burgundian style, innovative all-gravity winemaking techniques, from harvest and crush, through to barrel aging.  The event will last approximately 2 hours.  This is a perfect event for anyone who is interested in how premier grapes are grown, and artisan wine is made, in a small family estate vineyard and winery.

UW41: two tickets to the Lexus Grand Tasting, the finale event at Pebble Beach Food & Wine

Sunday's Lexus Grand Tasting at Pebble Beach Food & Wine is the final event of this sure-to-be fantastic weekend.  The impressive chef line-ups include Traci Des Jardin of Jardiniere in San Francisco; Bill Corbett, Pastry Chef at Restaurant Michael Mina in San Francisco; Michael Mina; David Myers of Sona in Los Angeles; Nancy Oakes of Boulevard in San Francisco; and Michel Richard of Citronelle in Washington DC.  Enjoy over 300 wines from 200 of the world's most prestigious wineries.  There will also be opportunities for book signings and photo sessions with some of the weekend's chefs.  I look forward to be at the event and hopefully meet the lucky winners of this prize!

UW35 Rancho Gordo gift set

Our good friend the rancho gordo Steve himself offer this prize, which includes a selection of his world-renown beans plus his fantabulous new book, Heirloom Beans.  He's promised to sign it for you too, in the most elaborate Rancho Gordo manner, even.

Menu for Hope campaign extended to Dec. 31st

We are doing so well considering the economic climate, let's see if we could raise a little bit more money if we extended the campaign for a few more days.  The new deadline for Menu for Hope raffle is December 31st, midnight PDT.

Thank you so much for your support, and happy holidays to you and yours.

Kicking the second week into gear, Menu for Hope is now over $20K!

The second week of our Menu for Hope V has begun, and we're doing marvelously well - all things considered - at over US$ 20K.  At this very moment I am writing this post we are at $20,465.00, to be precise.  We have quite a way to go before catching up with what we did last year at $90K, so please don't quit yet.  If you've already given and tried your luck at a few prizes, perhaps you can tell a few friends and see if they had a tenner to spare for us and the children and farmers in Lesotho?

Something of a tradition now for us, going into the second week, is our customary pimping out - as our friend David Lebovitz elegantly put it - of prizes that are great and deserving of a little more lurve.  David himself pointed up - or pimped up, to stay with our metaphor - quite a few himself.

Of course, as the grande poobah of this campaign, I must first say I love all the prizes evenly (thanks food blogging and food-wine loving friends for offering these amazing prizes!).  But as a greedy fool who wishes she could play in the raffle herself, I guess I could point out a few that I would love love love to win...

Through their eyes

Just like we did before last year's Menu for Hope, not long before this year's campaign began our friend Richard Lee at the WFP dropped off a bunch of disposable cameras with the children at White Hill Primary School, one of the beneficiary schools in the remote areas of Lesotho.  We wanted those children to share with us their world, through their own eyes and not mediated by the lens of the pros. 

What returned with the cameras was no less than astonishing, especially considering that some of these children have hardly seen a camera, never mind having worked with one.  Here's a selection of my favorite shots from this year's lot, and if you haven't seen the ones from last year, you should check them out as well. 

Menu for Hope and the World Food Program

Last year's Menu for Hope raised over $90K.  In case you're wondering about what happened to that money, here's a little report from the World Food Program.

It bought 388,000 meals in Lesotho schools, which fed over 19,000 poor hungry children with school meals for a whole month.  The children received food in primary schools across the remote mountainous areas of Lesotho, which are the poorest and hungriest parts of the country. 

Some of the money was used to buy food from local small scale farmers practicing sustainable farming methods in remote areas, providing them with guaranteed market for their products.  In 2007, the WFP bought 8 tons of maize from local farmers.  In 2008, with the funds from Menu for Hope 4, we bought 36 tons of maize from small scale farmers, four times as much as the year before.  This increase is very important, as showing the promise of a reliable market encourages farmers to invest more on their farms and in turn produce more.

This buy-local initiative is a win all around, for the farmers, for the children and the WFP, since it costs around $150 less overall per ton to buy from the local small scale farmers in Lesotho than buying and transporting the food in from abroad to the remote areas of the country.  This is also a win for the environment, as it uses a lot less fuel in transport.

Why should we continue our support for this program?

Menu for Hope V: master list of raffle prizes

Updated with new prizes!

UW01: Master Food Styling Class II Workshop, January 31 & Feb 1, 2009, Los Angeles, California.

Our West Coast host Matt of Matt Bites had this to say about this prize. "You're bidding on a two-day workshop in Los Angeles, California. In this 2-day seminar you'll learn about styling, plating and garnishing breakfast foods as well as working with real ice cream and frozen desserts. Although this is a level 2 class offered by Denise I'm more than positive you'll get so much from this workshop. And if you're a food blogger chances are you have some experience with getting food on your plate to look good already. Please note that this is a new curriculum not offered before so it's extra exciting!  To top it all off I'll be there the entire time taking pictures of the class and working with you on the photo aspect of it all."  From Mattbites and the amazing Denise Vivaldo of Food Fantatics

UW02 and UW03 (two prizes): O Olive Oil Butler Trays

Again from Matt, "The amazing folks at O Olive Oil have donated again this year to Menu Of Hope and I'm pleased to offer their two gifts here. What you're bidding on is an O Olive Oil Butler Tray complete with an assortment of oils and vinegars. But not just ANY oil and vinegar. As you may know I'm obsessed with everything they do because they are all about quality and flavor. Not to mention amazing wonderfully gracious guys. These Butler Trays can go for a lot and make the best gifts but of course I wouldn't fault you if you kept them for yourself. I promise to look the other way. "

UW04: $100 King Arthur Flour Gift Card

Susan at Wild Yeast. If you're a baker, you already know the King Arthur catalog, the premier souce of flour and other baking supplies.  If you haven't heard of them, then you should get a raffle ticket for this prize immediately, where have you been?  Susan at Wild Yeast is offering $100 gift card.

*

UW05: Cuisinart ICE-50 Ice Cream Maker

A very special prize from David Lebovitz.  The lucky winner will be churning out ice cream all year round with this fabulous, professional-style Cuisinart ICE-50 Ice Cream Maker!

This heavy-duty, stainless-steel machine will have you lapping up all sorts of ice creams, sorbets, and sherbets with just the flip of a switch.

Donated by Cuisinart USA, this machine is self-refrigerating and ready when you are. No need to pre-freeze canisters—just pour your mixture in, and soon you'll be scooping out all of your favorite flavors.

This prize can only shipped to continental US.

UW06: Popcorn Gift Set 

From Lara Ferroni of Cook & Eat.  Here's what Lara says: When I found out I was taking photos for a book on cookbook entirely based on popcorn, I was a little stunned. I tried to think of even 10 recipes, and came up short. But after shooting over 20 different recipes for this popcorn book (which contains over 60 recipes), not only was I not sick of popcorn, I had an entirely new appreciation for the treat. Here are a few ideas: popcorn s'mores! popcorn bananas foster!  Gorgonzola and Green Onion! Popcorn Shrimp with popcorn in the batter! I've pulled together this simple popcorn package to let you share in some my new discoveries.  This kit includes:  16 oz. of premium white popcorn 1 oz. asiago and cracked black pepper seasoning 1.6 oz. tangy dill and garden herb seasoning 1.8 oz. sweet and salty kettle corn seasoning a small jar of my homemade zhatar mix 4 oz. grapeseed oil sprizter 8.45 oz Urbani White Truffle Oil A copy of Popcorn One large bright red popcorn bowl

UW07:Best of the Ferry Building Gift Basket

From Anita at Married with Dinner, the very best from Sf Ferry Plaza, including
- Truffled artichoke tapenade from Lulu Petite
- Santa Rosa plum preserves from June Taylor
- Youk's Sauce from Prather Ranch
- Holiday Breakfast Blend tea from Peet's
- A pair of artisan "dark milk chocolate" bars from Recchiuti
- Ojo de Tigre beans from Rancho Gordo
- Rio Fuego "Very Hot Sauce" from Rancho Gordo
- Extra-virgin olive oil from Bariani
- Rosemary Salt from Eatwell Farm
- Bittersweet chocolate ganache from Scharffen Berger
- Beef jerky from Fatted Calf Charcuterie
- A copy of the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market Cookbook

Menu for Hope V: prizes from Chez Pim

Today is the day!  Menu for Hope begins!  This year is our 5th annual campaign!  Let's see if we can at least match the $90K we raised for the UN Wolrd Food Program last year!  And let's see how many exclamation marks I can cram into this one short paragraph!!

This year's Menu for Hope will again benefit the school lunch program in Lesotho, as well as support the WFP's local procurement initiative, which contracts local farmers to grow food to supply the feeding program. You'll be hearing more about this program and the children and farmers who benefited from our support last year throughout this campaign. Stay tuned for more.

Before all the prizes come in from all the local hosts, let me just first tell you a few prizes I've begged, borrowed, and stolen to entice you to drop $10 for a raffle ticket to try your chance at one of them.  Yes, it's that easy.  For each $10 you donate to our Menu for Hope, via the spiffy online tool on FirstGiving, you are entitled to one virtual raffle ticket of your choice. 

UW19: Dinner for two with wine pairing included at Manresa, plus a personal tour of the Manresa Biodynamic Garden. 

This year, again, my sweetie David has agreed to cook up a special tasting menu for two at his Michelin-two-star Manresa restaurant in Los Gatos.  And, yes, again, the wonderful sommelier Jeff Bareillles has promised smashing wine pairings to match David's delicious menu.  The lucky winner (and a guest) will also get a personal tour of the Manresa biodynamic garden, also known as Love Apple Farm in the Santa Cruz mountains.  You can meet Cynthia Sandberg, our wonderful farmer, and see where the amazing produce that supply the kitchen at Manresa comes from.

UE15: Bo Ssäm dinner for eight

Who hasn't heard of Emperor Chang of New York and his Momofuku empire?  Lucky for us, David Chang is as generous as he is talented, so, ....drum roll.....we are happy to offer you a Bo Ssäm dinner package for eight very lucky people at Ssäm Bar - yes, that's 8, as in you plus seven of your dearest friends!!.  The package includes the famous Bo Ssäm whole pork butt, roasted to the crisp-yet-melting perfection, with all the delicious accoutrements, 12 raw oysters, and enough appetizers and desserts to feed eight hungry mouths.  Tien Ho, Ssäm Bar's talented chef himself has promised no less than a spectacularly spectacular feast in support of our Menu for Hope.  (You're on your own on the drinks though.  Frankly, we are a little afraid of what pork-induced euphoria from the Bo Ssäm would do to your thirst...) (Photo cribbed from the NY Times.)

UE16: Gourmet Book Club's honorary membership for 2009

Each month Gourmet magazine choose a book for their book club.  The winner of this prize will get a copy of each month's selected book sent to them for the whole year.  You can follow along the excitement, join cooking projects on their forum, watch cooking videos from the author of the month's selection.  Regular members of the club can purchase each selection at 40% off the regular prize, but if you're the lucky winner of this prize, you'll get each month's selection sent to you for an entire year.  Do your cooking library a favor and donate $10 to Menu for Hope and try your luck at this prize.

UW21: Free coffee for a year at Lulu's at the Octagon in Santa Cruz, CA.

Lulu's is an artisanal roaster and cafe in Santa Cruz, CA.  Not just any artisanal cafe, but my *favorite* local one.  That's where I go most mornings when we don't make coffee at home, and where you can, sometimes, find a few of my baked goods on sale (when I'm in the mood, which is rather rare of late.)  My friend Manthri, the owner, has offered a very generous prize perfect for someone in Santa Cruz who loves coffee.  The winner of this prize will get one coffee of their choice every day for the entire year of 2009--any coffee on the menu at Lulu's, a royale (David's choice), a Chiara (mine), or even one brewed from their Clover machine, your choice!  That's over $1,200 worth of delicious, delicious coffees.

UW20: My upcoming book The Foodie Handbook, hot off the press right into your hands!

Have I told you I've been working on a book?  I must have.  It's long overdue, and finally it's almost here.  Well, by almost I mean next summer!  It's called The Foodie Handbook: the (almost) definitive guide to gastronomy, published by Conran Octopus in the UK and Chronicle Books in the US.  If you're the winner of this prize, you'll get one of the first books right off the press, yes, autographed and all.  I might even kiss it for you.  As soon as I get my hands on one actual print copy, I'll send it off.  See if you're lucky enough to be among the first to read this new masterpiece sure to be a smashing hit on this coast and that, donate $10 to Menu for Hope today.  (Hey, you know and I know that humility is not my strong suit so why pretend? Ha!)

Looking for more prizes?  I'll post the complete list here on Chez Pim as soon as I have it later today.  Meanwhile, go check out prizes from other regions on these regional host blogs.  If you're a blogger or have a prize to donate, there's still time, contact your regional host today.

Europe *including* the UK
Sara of Ms.Adventures in Italy
US: West Coast
Matt Armendariz of Matt Bites

US: East Coast
Jaden Hair of Steamy Kitchen

Canada
Meena Agarwal of Hooked on Heat 

Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand
Ed Charles of Tomato

and, last but not least, our special Wine Blog Host
Alder of Vinography

Or, if you're ready to give now, just go on to our donation site at FirstGiving.

Menu for Hope V launches Monday

In case you haven't heard, our annual Menu for Hope begins again next Monday. 

You don't know what Menu for Hope is? What, you've been living in the mountains somewhere, cut off from the food blog world? Well, fret not, here's a list of frequently asked questions to answer your every query. Read it and join us! (If you're on Facebook, join us there too.)

What is Menu for Hope?
When will this year's campaign take place?
Who is the beneficiary of this year's campaign?
Who collects the money?
How can I help?
  I'm a blogger
  I'm a restaurateur, author or food/wine producer/seller
  I'm a food blog reader or a food lover

In case you haven't heard, our annual Menu for Hope begins again next Monday. 

You don't know what Menu for Hope is? What, you've been living in the mountains somewhere, cut off from the food blog world? Well, fret not, here's a list of frequently asked questions to answer your every query. Read it and join us! (If you're on Facebook, join us there too.)

What is Menu for Hope?
When will this year's campaign take place?
Who is the beneficiary of this year's campaign?
Who collects the money?
How can I help?
  I'm a blogger
  I'm a restaurateur, author or food/wine producer/seller
  I'm a food blog reader or a food lover

The Thai paradox: or, how Thai fried bananas keep you thin

Everyone's always talking about the French Paradox.  You know, the one about how the French eat all that fatty stuff, cheese, pasttries, and drink loads of wine but stay healthier than most Americans.  Well, there's another paradox we should all be pondering.  We should call it the Thai paradox.  Oh, no, I'm not talking about the protesters occupying both of Bangkok's international airports, simultaneously apologizing to stranded passengers for causing them "troubles" and hunkering down for the long haul, the country and her precarious economy be damned.  That's not so much a paradox as children throwing a gigantic tantrum.  I'm also not talking about the one where the "democratically elected" ruling parties insisted on nominating the brother-in-law of the dude they had just thrown out of the country for corruption (and myriads of other unmentionable crimes, be they real or imagined) knowing full well that it would just exacerbate the tensions.  And so it did.  And so here we are.  A stand-off of epic proportion, the "final battle" as they are calling it.  How tremendously sad.

No, no, I don't want to think of any of that.  I'd rather think about Thailand at her much happier times, about her much more precious assets than those supposedly stolen by the ousted PM Thaksin.  Yes, I'm thinking about the food, that intricate, delicate, and at times deliciously puzzling cuisine that is Thai food, the main cultural asset for which, I fervently hope, the tourists will return after this mess is over so they could see, feel, and experience the real face of my Thailand.

Let's get back to the paradox in question, shall we?  You must be wondering what it could be.  Well, if you've been to Thailand, I'm sure you've seen all that deep-fried foods we eat.  It seems if we can toss just about anything in a little batter and fry that baby we're happy to eat it.  Dip it in a sweet sauce or a spicy one.  Eat it wrapped in a fresh leaf of lettuce or by its own lonesome self.  Politely eat it off a plate or conveniently and unceremoniously dump 'em in a little paper bag for the road.  Yes, just about every snack-y street food-y stuff you get in Bangkok is deep fried.  Yet, look around Bangkok, you'd be hard pressed to find an obese Thai person.  We are a nation of people with the metabolism of a hummingbird.  Don't hate us because we're beautiful, we say: hate us because we can polish off this whole bag of deep-fried bananas and still be thinner than one of your thighs.  Ok, ok, I'm just kidding.  Well, half kidding. 

And, now, apropos of - not so much nothing as - a very bad joke, here I give you the recipe for Thai fried bananas, Kluey Todd, as we say on the streets of Bangkok.