Showing posts with label Hope Foundation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hope Foundation. Show all posts

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Everyone’s a winner at the Curry Night for Hope in The Grainstore

 Everyone’s a winner at the Curry Night for Hope in The Grainstore

All ready! The calm before the curry.


A couple of weeks back, I spotted a notice on social media about a Curry Night in the Grainstore at Ballymaloe. This could be different, I thought, and read on. A couple of things confirmed my first thoughts and hooked me in. One was that it was a fundraiser for Hope and the other was that Green Saffron’s Arun Kapil, the spice expert, was involved in the curry. Hard to resist the combination of a good cause and a good curry. Win win, I said, and booked my tickets.


Mol an oige! While she didn’t quite use that phrase, Hope’s Honorary Director Maureen Forrest (who set up the organisation in 1999), used it as a theme and praised the many young people who have helped Hope over the years. 

Hot in the kitchen. Arun's selfie
with Aoibheann and Liam in background.


Two of the current students, Aoibheann and Liam, had led this Curry Night Fundraiser and, with help, especially from Arun and Olive, put on quite an evening including cocktails and mocktails, the curry, dessert and lots of raffles sponsored by local businesses such as Frank Hederman, Cully & Sully, Green Saffron, Supervalu, Sage,  and others including Ballymaloe itself. I didn’t win any of the prizes but I still consider myself a winner such was the feel good factor.


Just to give you a taste after the event, here’s the menu:


Jolly Jaipur Cocktail or Mocktail with Smoked Salmon (marinated in Panch Phoran, Lime Juice and soft herbs) and Gol Gappas (chickpea, potato and tomato chaat). This was served upstairs, quite a “noisy” upstairs as the 100 plus diners gathered.

Curry, Dahl and Naan


Soon we all trooped downstairs, quite eagerly, to our tables. Orderly queues were organised as the main dish was served buffet style. And that was Chicken Korma, Red Lentil Dahl, Roast Cauliflower and potatoes in spices with rice, Raita and the best ever Naan! An excellent plateful.


Raffles were held during the interval and we finished with dessert at the table, another lovely dish of Mango Kulfi (ice-cream!), Garam Palmiers with rose and pistachio sprinkles. 






Students Liam and Aoibheann, well supported here by a generous East Cork community (acknowledged by Maureen Forrest) have been given the opportunity to raise funds for the Hope Foundation and travel to Kolkata, India, to visit the homes and hospital that Hope have set up in order to protect and educate children in poverty.


Since 2003, HOPE have been working with schools across Ireland through Development Education. “Engaging with students is one of the best ways to raise awareness of the work we do with street and slum children in Kolkata. Development Education is driven by the strong belief of ‘students helping students’, whereby learning and understanding the reality of poverty inspires young people to take action for change. We consider all students from primary, secondary and third levels who are involved with our work to be Ambassadors for HOPE; reaching out to young people far less fortunate and taking real steps to a better, more fair world.”


For more info contact HOPE’s Schools Coordinator – schools@hopefoundation.ie.

Monday, May 5, 2014

Afternoon of food, fun and Hope

Afternoon of food, fun and Hope.

We enjoyed ourselves at Ballyseedy (Cobh Cross) yesterday as part one of the Hope Foundation's Eat4StreetKids ended on an enjoyable note. Amateur cooks of all ages brought their sugar and spice dishes - mainly sugar! - to the Bakestone Cafe where judges Lilly Higgins, Joe McNamee, Ali Honour, Gautham Iyers and Christine Girault had the tough (?) task of picking a winner.

While they were deciding, we were royally entertained by a lady originally from the southside of Chicago, Karen Underwood. Karen was delighted to help out and indeed put in a tremendous session.

Then came the judges’ decisions and there were quite a few prizes awarded. But really, all entrants were winners on the day, all willing to put in the effort, just like Karen Underwood and the judges themselves, to help out the underprivileged kids of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).

We all got a chance to sample the food and must admit that my favourite was the Donkey’s Wedding Cake! Quite an afternoon and indeed, I was a winner myself, picking up a hamper of the famous Clonakilty Black Pudding in the raffle.  I think the only thing I missed out on was the bouncy castle!

The fund-raising for the Kolkata kids goes on and the focus this month switches to participating local restaurants and their customers. There are a number of options for both. One suggests either the customer or the restaurant adding fifty cent for Hope to the bill and another suggests the customer posts a picture of a dish to Twitter or Facebook and the restaurant pays the fifty cent.

Check it all out here or contact organiser Maggie Hogan at maggie@hopefoundation.ie or 021 4292990