A great end to 2010 and a cracking start to 2011!

The 2010 CFC Cocktail Party heating up...

Happy New Year everyone!

I am thrilled to report that 2010 ended on a high note, with a total of $1775.00 raised for Preston’s Good Samaritan Inn via our end of year cocktail party.  An absolutely brilliant result all round and a wonderful time had by all.  Many thanks to the staff at the GSI for their fabulous support, particularly Shannon Smith who came and spoke about the great work done at the house on the night.  A big thank you also to artists Celia Dymond and Adam Turnbull, tea connoisseur Angelina Yannuccelli and DJ Claire Baster for their generous donation of goods, the sale of which added significantly to the total funds raised at the event.

Two exciting events are already being planned for 2011, details of which have been posted on our Dates, Tickets & Funds Raised page.  I hope as many of you can join us for one or both of these events, which promise to be a lot of fun.  As always, donations of goods and/or services we can auction off on the night of both events are very warmly welcomed.

To everyone who has supported CFC in our two and a half year life to date I would like to extend a big thank you!  To those who have yet to come along to an event, we very much look forward to welcoming you to our growing community  in 2011.  May you have a happy, healthy and safe year filled with epicurean delights!

CFC End of Year Cocktail Celebration!

After a terrific re-launch in September, with $240.00 raised for Save The Children, I am excited to announce details for the end of year CFC Cocktail Celebration, raising much needed funds for Preston’s Good Samaritan Inn.

Commencing at 7pm on Friday 19th November, the event will be held in the upstairs private area of The Gertrude Hotel, complete with lounges, outdoor deck and private bar. Entertainment to be announced shortly and a variety of items will be auctioned off on the night.

Tickets are $35pp which includes a selection of gourmet canapes (vegetarian and non – and there will be enough food to well cover you for dinner for the night) will be served throughout the evening and drinks will be available at at bar prices. The remainder of your ticket fee covers entry, entertainment and a $10pp donation to Shekinah.  Tickets must be pre-purchased on Paypal on our Buy Tickets / Donate page no later than Friday 11th November. A limited number of tickets will be available at the door on the night.

Really hope to see as many of you there as possible. Spread the word, invite your friends, family and colleagues and come and have some good pre-Xmas fun and frivolity for a very worthy cause!

CFC to re-launch Friday, September 24, 2010!

It is with great pleasure I announce the re-launch of Chew for Charity!

Regrettably (as you will see in my last post), personal circumstances prevented me from continuing to coordinate the group after successfully running it for one year, so in June 2009 we (reluctantly) stopped operating.  I am pleased to say though that we are now back with a vengeance – hoping to attract new members to the group and to grow and prosper over some fantastic food, wine, conversation and of course, all with the aim of raising much needed funds for various Australian charities!

Our re-launch dinner is scheduled for this coming Friday night, the 24th September, at 7pm at the legendary Bedi’s Indian Restaurant, 118 Park Street, South Melbourne.  Cost is $40pp which includes an authentic Pakistani banquet dinner (vegetarians catered for) and a $10 donation per head to a charity named Save The Children, specifically supporting the Pakistani flood crisis.

The venue is fully licensed or BYO wine for $3 corkage a head extra. There is a strict limit for this dinner of 30 places so if you would like to come either RSVP to me directly via this email address (pls indicate if you intend to bring guests) or RSVP ‘Yes’ on our Facebook event page, which is located here

15 places have already been booked, leaving 15 places still available as of Saturday 18/09/10. Please note: payment for the dinner needs to be made up front and by cash on the night when you arrive.

Really hope you can join us to get CFC back up and running! Your support is much appreciated. Any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me.

For more information please visit the following websites:
www.bedisrestaurant.com.au
www.savethechildren.org.au

June Dinner Last Hoorah for CFC!

I wanted to inform everyone that for personal reasons, I have made the difficult decision to discontinue running Chew for Charity, which will mean next weeks dinner is indeed (sadly) our last!

I would like to sincerely thank everyone who has offered such an enormous amount of support and assistance in helping make Chew for Charity such a success over the past 12 months.  To have raised over $6000 for various charities via 6 dinners has been extremely rewarding and would not have occured without the extreme generosity of all of you.

That said, if anyone is interested in taking the reigns to keep CFC up and running, please don’t hesitate to touch base with me.  You can contact me on 0409 971 124 or via email at chewforcharity@gmail.com

Thanks again for everything,
Jen

June Dinner Supporting Cystic Fibrosis Victoria

I am pleased to announce that proceeds from the June dinner, to be held on June 18 (see details in previous post) will be going to Cystic Fibrosis Victoria. CFV exist to promote research, increase awareness of Cystic Fibrosis and provide education, support and advocacy to Victoria’s Cystic Fibrosis community.  For more information on CFV visit www.cfv.org.au

June CFC Dinner details

After a few months hiatus, I am pleased to report that details of the June 2009 CFC dinner have now been confirmed!

Dinner will be held on Thursday 18th June, 2009 at 7pm at Colmao Flamenco Authentic Spanish Restaurant, 60 Johnston Street, Fitzroy. Cost will be $45pp which includes a variety of tapas including Grilled Spanish sausage (Pinchos), Spanish Omelete (Tortilla), Garlic Mushrooms (Champoñones al ajillo), Meatballs (Albondigas Colmao) and Garlic Prawns (Gambas al ajillo) along with a dessert of Churros (Spanish doughnuts).

The venue is fully licensed and BYO wine only ($5 corkage per bottle).

The charity which the evening will be supporting will be announced shortly. More details can be found on the restaurant’s website at www.colmaoflamenco.com and tickets can now be purchased on our Buy Tickets page.

Hope to see as many people as possible there!

Victorian Bushfires

Just a short note to send our thoughts to everyone who has been impacted by the devastating bushfires here in Victoria over the past week. Anyone wanting to donate to the Victorian Bushfire Appeal should do so by visiting www.redcross.org.au Volunteers will also be needed much further down the track when the media hype and coverage subsides, so should you be interested in helping to re-build those communities affected please register your details at www.govolunteer.com.au

CFC Feb Update / Special Events in March

Many thanks everyone who attended our vegetarian dinner at Enlightened Cuisine last Thursday. Although only a small dinner we managed to raise $200 for the Good Samaritan Inn in Preston which is great.

To provide further support to the Inn and to coincide with the forthcoming Melbourne Food & Wine Festival (7-23 March), we are also hosting three specialty events with limited places available for each. These events are as follows:

An Organic Wine Tasting hosted by Michelle Gadd of organicwine.com.au will be held at The Small Block Cafe, 130 Lygon St, Brunswick East on Thursday March 12th from 8pm onwards and will include an informative presentation by Michelle on the benefits of drinking Organic wine as well as an extensive tasting session accompanied by gourmet cheeses. Discounts will also be offered to all who attend on purchasing wine. The cost for this will be $35 per head with a limit of 30 places.

A Chocolate Appreciation Class hosted by Thibault Fregoni, owner of Monsieur Truffe handmade chocolates (http://monsieurtruffe.wordpress.com/) at 90 Smith St, Collingwood will be held on Thursday March 19th from 6.30-8.30pm. Thibault will be providing a wealth of insights into the craft of chocolate making as well as allowing all attendees the opportunity to taste and purchase a wide range of the chocolates he makes. The cost for this is $40 per head with a strict limit of 12 places.

A full day Gourmet Food Bus Tour hosted by yours truly (Jen Clark) will be held on Saturday March 21st departing from Collingwood. This tour will visit some of Melbourne’s leading food establishments including Veneziano Coffee, Casa Iberica, Mediterranean Wholesalers, A1 Bakery and much more. A delicious mezze lunch at Brunswick’s brand new Baba Restaurant (visit www.babarestaurant.com.au for more info) as well as a copy of Allan Campion and Michelle Curtis’ ‘Foodies Guide to Melbourne’ is also included in the price. The cost for this is $120 per head with a strict limit of 20 places.

To buy tickets to any of these events simply go to the Buy Tickets page and click on the relevant links.  Hope to see as many of you as possible there!

Tickets Now On Sale for February Dinner

Tickets are now available for the February 12 CFC dinner which will be held at Enlightened Cuisine, an award winning Asian-influenced vegetarian / vegan restaurant in Queensbridge St, Southbank. For more information you can visit their website at http://www.ecuisine.com.au

Dinner will commence at 7pm and the venue is BYO wine ($5 corkage per bottle) and/or fully licensed. The cost per head will be $40 which includes a 3 course meal comprising entree, main and dessert.

Bookings will close on Friday 6th February. To book simply visit the Buy Tickets page on the CFC website.

All proceeds from the dinner will go to the Good Samaritan Inn, part of the Shekinah Homeless Services Inc network. The Inn provides crisis accommodation and support for women and children who are homeless or at risk of homelessness as a result of domestic violence or other reasons. For more information visit http://www.shekinah.org.au

Hope to see as many of you as possible on the night for what promises to be a highly creative vegetarian feast!

First CFC Update for 2009

Happy New Year! Hope you all had a relaxing and enjoyable Christmas and new years break.

Just a quick update to let you know planning is now underway for our next CFC dinner, to be held on Thursday February 12th. The cuisine for the next dinner will be vegetarian with the precise location / charity to be supported confirmed shortly. Don’t forget to mark this in your calendars now!

To coincide with the forthcoming Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (held between the 7th and 29th March, 2009) we will also be coordinating a series of smaller, ’boutique’ style events during this month. These will include the following:

- Full day bus tour exploring Melbourne’s food and wine hot spots including morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea
- Organic wine appreciation class, to be hosted by Michelle Gadd, founder of organicwine.com.au
- Chocolate appreciation class, hosted by Thibault Fregoni, founder of Monsieur Truffe, Smith St, Collingwood

If you would like to register interest in any one (or more) of the above events, I’d love to hear from you. Numbers will be strictly limited for these events so please register your interest early. Simply shoot me an email with the events you are interested in and your details, and I’ll keep you informed when further details come to hand.