Menu For Hope III

As the holidays approach, so does the annual Menu For Hope raffle, started by the lovely Pim three years ago. Last year, a whopping $17,000 were raised for Unicef. This year, the money will be going to the UN's World Food Programme. Let's try to surpass that amount! With the fantastic prizes up for grabs, I'm hoping it won't be too difficult.

From a gleaming red KitchenAid mixer to dinner for two at L'Atelier de Joel Robuchon in London to coffee with Thomas Keller (or maybe a tea with Harold McGee?), there is sure to be something for everyone out there. And at $10 a ticket, how can you not participate?

Here's how to do it. Go to First Giving where you can make a donation (or several), and note what it is you'd like to win (a full list of prizes is here). If the company you work for has a corporate matching program, there's a box you can check so that we can collect those additional funds, too. The winners and their prizes will be announced on January 15.

And what will I be offering up as a prize this year? Well, myself. Not that way! Dirty birdy. If you've always dreamed (or, let's face it, even if you haven't) of joining me in my kitchen while I cook and curse my way through a newspaper recipe, this is your chance! I'm offering up my services as a sous-chef (co-chef?) and dining companion. You get to choose a recipe, from the New York or Los Angeles Times, of course, and we'll cook it and eat together. Our culinary adventures will be, of course, photographed and documented on this site and you'll be the envy of all your blog-reading friends. Or maybe of absolutely no one. But we'll have fun! I promise.

If you'd like to specify the particular prize of moi, then make sure you type in the code UE06 when placing your donation. That's "my" code and will let Pim and the administrators know how to bookmark your donation. But there are so many wonderful prizes to be had that you might have some trouble deciding which ones to go for. How about all of them! Go! Donate! What are you waiting for?