Haiti

I know so many of you have donated to the Haiti Relief effort already.  Others, like me, may still be waiting.  Waiting to decide whether to give, how much to give, where to give . . .

If you feel moved to give, I urge you not to wait too long - it's easy to forget these things.  I still kick myself for doing the exact same thing after the earthquakes in China.  I waited . . and then I didn't give.

So, I have decided to join the Blog Away Hunger campaign.  This is a group of bloggers coming together and agreeing to donate a portion of their ad revenue towards the Haiti Relief effort.

I will be donating 5x my ad revenue for the months of January and February to the American Red Cross.  Furthermore, the company I work for has offered to match my donation dollar for dollar (if made by Feb. 12, 2010), resulting in a total effective donation amount of 10x my ad revenue for the months of January and February.*

If you have ever wanted to explore my old posts, now's a great time to do it, since ad revenue is counted by number of impressions (clicks).  I have put some links to my favorite posts after the jump.

If you are a blogger and want to donate your ad revenue as well, check out the Help Haiti Campaign over at Blog Away Hunger.

If you want to make a much more direct impact, please donate directly.  I urge you to give unrestricted funds (instead of earmarking them for Haiti specifically).  This allows the organizations as much flexibility as possible to use the funds where they needed most.
The American Red Cross
World Vision
Doctors Without Borders

Exploring Tiny Urban Kitchen
I often like to do series.  For example, you can check out some of my favorites restaurants in the Boston area or my favorites eats in Southern California.  Many of these series are based on the eating trips that I take, such as the Foodbuzz Festival in November, Camping at Yosemite, my birthday in New York City, Christmas in California, and the current series, celebrity chefs in Las Vegas.

There's the trusty Restaurant Index (which I try to keep as updated as possible), if you ever want to explore by region.

Of course, I don't eat out all the time.  There's plenty of cooking.  As a starting point, there's always the Recipe Index. Some of my favorite cooking posts:

Oven to Pan Seared Steak an awesome method for making steak in a tiny urban kitchen.

Sauteed Hollow Heart Greens I harvesting this "noxious weed" from my pastor's garden and cooked it!

 Ratatouille A simplified yet just as stunning version of Thomas Keller's famous dish

French Macarons I'm not a baker, so this felt like a rite of passage  - and they turned out ok!

Hi-Rise Vanilla Loaf  I was tickled to finally learn how to make my favorite loaf from my favorite bakery!

Mochi Sushi Part I and Part II These were just fun - wacky creative energy flowing

Wheatberry Salad: getting on a health kick lately!  See related posts on Roasted Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Cauliflower, and Green Mango Salad. 

Hello Kitty Rice Crispy Treats - my cousins loved these.  Check out related post about Rice Crispy Totoros.


The following are the recipes I use most often:
Taiwanese Meat Sauce over Rice (Lo Ba Bng)
Chinese Sticky Rice (Nuo mi fan)
Oven to Pan-Seared Steak 
Microwave Steamed Fish With Black Bean Sauce (Chilean Sea Bass)
Lion's Head Casserole
Stir Fried Baby Bok Choy
Cold Asian Cucumber Salad
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
Ro Gen Mian (Ban Genh) - Pork, Bamboo, and Mushroom Soup
Homemade Kettle Corn
Italian Biscotti 
Hi Rise Vanilla Loaf


I love doing the Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 posts.  I've done three so far in 2009:

A Culinary Tour of Hot Pots Throughout Asia
A Stroll Through the Night Markets of Taiwan
and my personal favorite: Kyaraben On Steroids

Of course there are plenty more, but this post is getting long enough.  Enjoy exploring!

Jen

*Because of the Feb 12 deadline for the company match, I will have to do some guess-timating for the amount of revenue that will be generated in the second half of February.