Do you guys remember that little grass roots effort that a bunch of food bloggers participated in last year? The one that raised some $17,000 towards the relief effort in Northern Pakistan and India?
Well, not only is it back, but it's got structure, visibility and a great deal of excitement around it this year. And, it's benefitting the United Nations' World Food Programme
Here at Gastronomie, we have not one, not two, but THREE gifts for you this year. However, we are only releasing information on the first prize today, and not because we don't love you. No, we just aren't READY to release everything at once. So, once you've read about our cool Persian Pantry, and checked out the amazing prizes on offer by other bloggers -- West Coast bloggers' donations are here; the rest of them are most easily found here.
Gastronomie Prize #1: The Persian Pantry, retail value = $75+
- 4.6 grams of pure Khorasan saffron threads, hand-carried from Iran by my aunt
- A bundle of cleaned, chopped and dried herbs for Ghormeh Sabzi, enough for 4-6 servings
- A bag of leemoo-omani, dehydrated persian limes, critical for many Persian dishes
- Kashk (dried or a jar of fresh, depending on winner's location) - most of you have told me this is the single most difficult thing for you to find, and it's so important.
- Resht-e, Persian noodles used to make Aash
- Rob-e Anaar, or pomegranate paste. This is different from the pomegranate molasses you fine in most markets. You'll see why when you receive it
- Sumac, the dried and crushed berries of the poisonous plant. Sprinkle it on Basmati rice, fry up a few kabab, and you have a perfect Chelo Kabab
- Finally, I'll be putting together a selection of sweets and other goodies based on the winner's requests
If you want to bid on this item, PLEASE go to the donation page and bid a minimum of $10 for one raffle ticket. Specify prize number UW38 for the Persian Pantry in the "Personal Message" section of the form, and PLEASE make sure to allow us to see your email address so we can contact you if you win.
Raffle winners will be announced on January 15, 2007 (big "woot-woot" to Derrick, here, as we actually wrote all y'all's names on slips of paper and did drawings last year. He's taking us into the 20th century with a randomizer application.)
So, really, head on over and make a donation. Good things will happen, and you'll feel good about doing it, too!
Tags: Food, Food & Drink, Persian, Iran, Menu For Hope, Charity, Donation, Holidays, First Giving, United Nations, World Food, San Francisco, Oakland