a fabulous dinner helps those without food

a menu for hope, originally uploaded by shaunaforce.

Smoked black cod with fingerling potatoes, sautéed leeks, and remoulade. Lamb chops with endive and black pepper vinaigrette. Squid ink risotto with Dungeness crab, Jerusalem artichokes, and a Madras curry vinaigrette. Bananas and pineapple flambéed in rum.

Doesn’t it just make your mouth water?

It is hard to remember, in the midst of imagining this incredible meal, just how many people are hungry. Of course, I don’t mean the kind of hungry I am now, wondering about breakfast. I mean, hungry.

Food bloggers think about food. Most of us also think about the absence of food.

I am acutely aware, every time I post a piece on this site, of how lucky I am. Even with bread gone bad, or days of feeling wretched and not being able to eat, I am blessed. And I want to give back.

This year, food bloggers around the world are banding together to participate in Menu for Hope III. Last year, the collective group raised over $17,000 for UNICEF. This year, we are giving to the UN World Food Programme, and we are hoping that we can raise far more this year. Come on — it’s the holidays. Let’s go for double of last year!

We all give what we can. Some of my fellow food bloggers are offering free photography lessons, chocolate tours of Paris, copies of their books, and more and more and more. There are so many options. Please, choose one.

This year, I am offering what I can. This year’s prize is.….

Dinner with the Gluten-Free Girl at Impromptu Bistro

As many of you know, I have fallen madly in love with the Chef. You will too, after you eat his food. This year, as our offering for Menu for Hope, we invite you to have dinner at Impromptu Bistro in Seattle.

Whoever has the winning bid for Gluten-Free Girl on Menu for Hope 2006 will have dinner with me at Impromptu. This means, of course, that you need to be in Seattle to collect the prize. However, visitors are as welcome to bid as residents of the rainy city.

Your dinner will include appetizer, entrée, and dessert, as well as wine to accompany each course. That might mean Penn Cove mussels with rosemary, Dijon mustard, and cream, followed by roast pork with a kumquat chutney, sweet potatoes and apples in a red wine sauce, finished up with Meyer lemon panna cotta.

If you need to eat gluten-free, you are in for delight, as the Chef can prepare anything on the menu for you. Here, you can eat with ease, because nothing will make you sick. And even if you do not need to eat gluten-free, you are guaranteed a splendid meal.

I will be there with you, thrilled to meet you and share this food with you.

If you wish to give, here are a few simple instructions as to how:

1. Go to the donations page at First Giving. Donate at least $10. Every $10 bid gives you one raffle ticket for the prize of your choice. If you would like to win the prize from this website, enter in this code: UW16. That number is vital, as you won’t be able to win this prize without it. So, again, that’s UW16. Enter that code in the Personal Messages section.

2. Why not try again? Or enter another raffle? There are so many prizes. You could finish all your holiday shopping this way.

3. Be sure to leave your email address, or otherwise there is no way of contacting you. (Imagine the organizational nightmare of this endeavor!)

4. Check back to the First Giving page frequently, just to see how we’re doing.

5. Finally, on January 15^th, check in at Chez Pim for a list of all the prizes and their winners. Also, whoever wins the prize for this one? Email me as soon as you can, so we can set up our delicious evening!

Whew. That’s it.

Well, not quite.

If you would like to see a list of all the prizes avaiable on the west coast of the United States, check in at Sam’s site, Becks and Posh, for a giant round-up.

Pim,at her site, is keeping a tally of every single prize in the world! Sheesh!

Please give, everyone.

If you have been enjoying the growing love story on this site, or the sound of the food at the Chef’s restaurant, or just want a great meal with someone who is eager to meet you, I hope you will consider this offer.

(Wait a minute! Now I sound like I’m shilling for Ronco!)

Food. Wine. The Chef. A great cause. What more could you want?