in praise of sardines

Behind the paper: framing and plumbing

After an unexpected 3-day weekend (my block lost power for 24 hours during Friday's storm), my construction crew arrived Monday morning to discover that all their tools had been stolen in the middle of the night. The thieves broke into the site's lock box, then used the wheelbarrow and dolly to move everything into their truck. My construction crew now takes everything of value off the premises before heading home. Apparently gangs of thieves regularly hit construction sites in San Francisco. They swipe valuable items like tools and copper pipes, then pack their loot in containers and ship it overseas, sometimes as quickly as hours after the theft.

After this inauspicious start to the week, my crew quickly regrouped and worked in earnest. I am so impressed by their resilience and work ethic. They are true professionals. Old walls came down, new ones went up, and plumbing began.

In other good news, I'm thrilled to tell you about a happy discovery that we made a few weeks back. When we removed the sheet rock and insulation from the walls, we learned that the siding of the 100-year-old building's exterior walls was built from beautiful old-growth redwood. This week the crew carefully removed the panels to preserve it. Eventually, we will plane and sand the panels on site and use them for decorative elements in the interior of the restaurant. Reclaiming and reusing the building's wood is one way that we are working to keep the design as green and environmentally friendly as possible.

By the time you read this, I'll be on a plane flying south in search of sun and warmth. I have a date with a hammock on a beach in a country famous for its toucans, manatees, jaguars, spider monkeys, corral reefs, and Mayan pyramids. Any guesses? Unfortunately, this means I'll miss today's announcement of the Menu for Hope winners. I promise that I'll get in touch with the winners of my (and Shuna's and Alder's) prize just as soon as I get back into town. I don't know about you, but I can't wait to discover who I will be cooking for!

Menu for Hope: $10 buys you eggbeater + vinography + me

I've sweetened the pot for my Menu of Hope prize, UW17, "Contigo conmigo."

I'm excited, humbled, and honored to announce that wine blogger extraordinaire Alder Yarrow of Vinography and superhuman pastry chef Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater and Sens restaurant have joined forces with me.

You read that right.

Three savory courses cooked by me.
A different wine for each course from Vinography's Alder.
Dessert prepared by Eggbeater's Shuna.

If you will UW17, your evening will go something like this. Together with your 7 lucky guests, you'll start your evening gathering around my fireplace sipping an aperitif selected by Alder. Then you and your friends will sit down at the long cherry table in my dining room where I will serve you 3 Spanish-inspired savory courses, each one paired with a different wine from Alder's extensive personal wine collection. You'll finish off your evening with dessert lovingly prepared by Shuna (and a dessert wine from Alder, natch).

All that for $10!!!

Go NOW and donate! There's only one day remaining. Specify UW17 for this prize.

Buy as many tickets as you can.

One (or ten) for yourself.

One for each of your loved ones (hint: put the ticket in your friend's name and let her know in a card that you donated money to the World Food Programme on her behalf... and that she may win a fabulous dinner party).

Last I checked, there were less than 60 tickets purchased for this prize, so your chances of winning are excellent (especially if you buy more than one ticket).

Remember, win or lose, all your money goes towards supporting the farmers and children of Lesotho, Africa. So, really, we all win.

Menu for Hope: UW17 "Contigo conmigo"

As many of you already know, Contigo  is the new name for my restaurant set to open the middle of 2008 at 1320 Castro Street in the Noe Valley neighborhood of San Francisco (read more about the restaurant here).

The name is Spanish for "with you." The name highlights one reason we go out to eat: connecting and reconnecting with friends and lovers, perhaps over a plate of charcuterie and a bottle of Cava. I like to expand that circle of friends to encompass our connections and relationships with farmers, ranchers, cooks, servers, diners, neighbors, lovers, trees, bees, and the person sitting next to us at the kitchen counter.

I'm thrilled that my first real post since announcing the name Contigo is about another relationship: our connection to our brothers and sisters in Africa who struggle daily with hunger and survival. Longtime IPOS readers will remember Menu for Hope, the annual fundraising event where food bloggers and others in the food industry offer prizes to raise money for humanitarian causes. Last year we raised over $60,000 for the UN World Food Programme.

This year Menu for Hope again partners with the WFP. Specifically, the funds raised will go towards partnering with rural African farmers to supply grain for school lunches to children in Lesotho, a tiny kingdom in Africa. Founder, organizer, and host of Menu for Hope, Pim Techamuanvivit of Chez Pim, explains the reason we chose this program:

We chose to support the school lunch program because providing food for the children not only keeps them alive, but helps them stay in school so that they learn the skills to feed themselves in the future. We chose to support the program in Lesotho because it is a model program in local procurement - buying food locally to support local farmers and the local economy."

Read more details about the UN World Food Programme and Menu for Hope on Chez Pim.

UW17 "Contigo conmigo"

This is the third year in a row that IPOS will offer a prize for Menu for Hope. I'm dubbing this year's prize "Contigo conmigo." Conmigo means "with me." The winner of my prize, UW17, will literally dine with me.

I will host a 4-course dinner party for 8 people in my home.

That's right. Together with his or her 7 most favorite friends, the winner will be invited to be guests in my Noe Valley flat one night during the upcoming winter/spring before Contigo opens. I will personally cook every part of your meal in my kitchen or fireplace.

I'll work with the winner to choose a mutually acceptable date and to tailor a menu to his or her tastes, one that will showcase my restaurant's focus on seasonal, sustainable California fare with Spanish flair.

This is your chance to be the first kid on your block to say you've eaten at Contigo! Imagine the smug satisfaction as you lean up against the water cooler and casually drop the line before Contigo opens. "Oh, that old place, I ate there months ago. Be sure to order the sardines."

You'll get a unique behind the scenes look at the evolution of a restaurant's menu, the kind of inside look usually limited to restaurant investors and friends.

Best of all, you'll get to spend an entire evening hanging out conmigo, the handsome and witty raconteur and bon vivant behind your favorite website on the internets! Hahaha! Just kidding. The actual best part is that I'll cook for you without making you wash the dishes.

There's some flexibility to the prize. The winner and I can discuss alternatives, such as the possibility of holding the party at their home or converting their prize into $300 worth of gift certificates to dine at Contigo after it has opened.

To Enter

If you're interested in buying into the Menu for Hope raffle, here's what you need to do:

1. My prize is one amongst many, many others. Choose a prize or prizes of your choice from the complete prize list on Chez Pim. The West Coast prizes are detailed on Rasa Malaysia.

2. Go to the donation site at First Giving and make a donation.

3. Please specify which prize you'd like in the "Personal Message" section in the donation form when confirming your donation. You must write-in how many tickets per prize, and please use the prize code. Each $10 you donate will give you one raffle ticket toward a prize of your choice. For example, a donation of $50 can be divided amongst 2 tickets for UW01 and 3 tickets for UW17. Please write 2xUW01, 3xUW17.

Check back on Chez Pim on Wednesday, January 9, 2008, for the results of the raffle.

Thanks for your participation, and good luck in the raffle!
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* Note to players of the Name Game. Don't worry. I haven't forgotten. I'm going to announce the winner of dinner for two at Contigo in a few days. I needed to take some time off from blogging to get caught up on my sleep, bills, cleaning, cooking, sleep, work, my social life, sleep, stuff like that. Thanks for your understanding.