A Menu of Hope
Feed
the Poor! Save the World!
(Forget
the Cheerleader!)
As a new
blogger, I'm always interested in participating in food events
whenever I can. A Menu of Hope is really
very because very simply, hope
is what we
live for and it's what gets us through the rough and tough.
This is a fund-raising campaign started by Chez Pim
3
years ago to originally raise funds for Tsunami victims. Last
year US$17,000 was raised in
12 days for Unicef. This year's
event is happening from December 11-22 and proceeds from this
year's donations go to United Nations World Food
Program.
From 11
December, fellow food bloggers around the world will publish posts
(like this) encouraging readers to purchase an online raffle ticket
for individual prizes. These prizes have been donated or sourced by
food bloggers and will be food or wine related. Each raffle is
US$10 (SGD$15.50). All donations will be collected by a third-party
organization First
Giving. You can
start buying your raffle tickets from
Monday, 11 December 2006.
If you would
like to participate, here's a list of this year's hosts:
US West Coast: Sam
of
Becks and
Posh
US East
Coast: Adam
the
Amateur
Gourmet
US (the
rest): Kalyn
of
Kalyn's
Kitchen
Canada:
Jasmine of
Cardamom
Addict
Europe:
David
Lebovitz of
Davidlebovitz.com
Latin
America: Melissa de
Leon of the
Cooking
Diva
Asia
Pacific: Helen
of
Grab Your
Fork
For many of
us this amount is truly affordable amount and it's what we can do
for many living without hope of a tomorrow.
Panettone
Christmas
Carbs... *Evil!*
What is it about them that give so so much comfort? Something
seemingly so innocent and inviting. Their pretty colours and pretty
packaging are all a setup - that works!
And all you want to do is stuff your face with them. Maybe it's the
season of depression too that encourages such self inflicted force
feeding tendencies. Whatever!
I
just want more! Will do the diet thing after Chinese New Year!
Christmas breads are a lovely and wicked part of holiday weight
gain. Yes, still in bread making mode and so Panettone
a
richly aromatic and sweet wild yeast bread of the Italians made
it's way into my kitchen. When I first saw this recipe in
The Bread Baker's Apprentice : Mastering the Art of
Extraordinary Bread by Peter
Reinhart, it was one of the first to be marked to be baked.
I kneaded this by hand and it took me a long time. I became one
with the dough, my hands and dough were fused as one. Kneading
requires you to not only move your arms but your hips and knees and
shoulders and feet to get enough energy into your hands and arms to
knead the dough. It was quite a sight. But it was all worth it
because I finally windowpaned! Woo!
It was well worth it because the baked bread was wonderfully soft
and moist! This recipe calls for a wild-yeast starter or sourdough
starter. I acquired mine from Sourdoughs
International but you can
make your own - this
requires some days and patience.