Menu For Hope

There are only 2 days left before Menu For Hope closes, and everyone is in a final push for the event. Last year's event raised a total of $60,925 for the UN World Food Program, and hopes are high that even more can be raised this year. Right now, there is over $45,000 raised and fingers are crossed we can top last year's amount. The money is going to support the school lunch program in Lesotho, helping keep kids in school by providing them with regular meals there, and teaching local farmers sustainable farming methods.


All your raffle ticket purchases will go directly to this cause, and it might net you a great prize as well. There are some fabulous things on offer - a Kitchen Aid mixer for the Americans, fantastic assortments of wine, food stuffs galore (including my paella kit), and a meal cooked by Heston Blumenthal or a tour of the El Bulli kitchens.

Tickets cost $10 each (or £5 in the UK - bargain). Details on how to bid on the item of your choice can all be found on Chez Pim, as well as a list of all the items on offer. Getting bidding - there isn't much time left.

Menu For Hope

Today launches this year’s Menu For Hope, an event created by Pim at Chez Pim in order to raise money for those who need it. This year’s beneficiary is the Lesotho school lunch programme (to keep children fed – and going to school – while attending their daily classes), organized through the UN World Food Program. The event is run as a raffle, in which you buy a ticket for the item(s) you want to win, and then you wait with baited breath until you find out whether or not you’ve won what you most covet. There is a huge array of exciting things on offer, and though I can’t compete with a meal cooked by Heston Blumenthal, I am making my own small contribution which I hope will tickle someone’s fancy.

I am offering up a starter paella kit (prize code UK06), to help you bring a touch of Spanish ole into your lives. In the kit are a paella pan for 2, 1 kg of calasparra rice, sweet paprika, saffron, and a home-made booklet of some of the best paella recipes I’ve found, put together from various cookbooks and websites. All the goods are bought from the wonderful Brindisa foodstore in Exmouth Market which anyone in the area really ought to check out – they do fantastic sausages, cheeses, and general Spanish foodstuffs. The only thing I ask of anyone bidding is that they let me know how their first meal went, and they make the effort to pronounce the word correctly (it’s pah-AAAYY-ya, people, not pa-ELL-a; drives me a bit nuts, that does). I am willing to ship this to anywhere in the world.

Menu for Hope runs from 10 December to 21 December, with the raffle winners being posted on Chez Pim on Wednesday 9th of January. Tickets cost $10 (a piddly £5 in UK money) and you can buy multiple tickets for multiple prizes. All the money goes to help people who need help, and you could wind up with some goodies for yourself - I believe that's what's referred to as a win-(hope-to-)win situation

To enter:

1. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from our Menu for Hope at Chez Pim for the global list of prizes, or at Cooksister for the UK prize list. You must make sure to check the terms and conditions for the individual prizes BEFORE you bid, as some will come with restrictions regarding where they ship to or how long the prize is valid for.
2. Go to the donation site at First Giving and make a donation.
3. Please specify the prize code of the prize you'd like in the 'Personal Message' section in the donation form when confirming your donation. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. If you are buying more than one ticket, please indicate how you would like the tickets to be allocated. For example, a donation of $50 can be 2 tickets for EU01 and 3 tickets for EU02. Please write 2xEU01, 3xEU02. Remember, the prize code for this paella kit is UK06.
4. If your company matches your charity donation, please check the box and fill in the information so we could claim the corporate match.
5. Please check the box to allow us to see your email address so that we could contact you in case you win. Your email address will not be shared with anyone.
6. Cross your fingers, and check back on Chez Pim on Wednesday January 9 for the results of the raffle. I’ll post the result on here, as well, in case anyone is curious.

Best of luck, everyone, and start buying those tickets (for either me or Heston, I don’t mind).