According to the USDA, an estimated 16 million children lived in food insecure households in 2008. With the most recent national unemployment rates coming in at 9.5%, I can only image that this number has increased over the last two years. During the school year, these underprivileged children can find at least one free or reduced cost hot meal in the cafeteria of their schools but where do these children find their next meal over the weekends or on holidays?

This is where the “Food 4 Kids” Backpack Program comes in. Every Friday, with the help of the Backpack Program, these eligible kids receive a backpack filled with child-friendly foods such as peanut butter, pop-top canned goods, cereal, raisins, granola bars, shelf stable milk and macaroni and cheese. These backpacks are given directly to the kids themselves without requiring their parents to receive a referral to a local food pantry, pick up the food at a separate location or prepare it at home.

Last winter local food writers Alice Q. Robertson and Caron Golden organized the 1st annual San Diego Food 4 Kids Backpack Program Fundraiser where they were able to collect over $6000 dollars of donations and 1200lbs of food! Pretty amazing and inspirational for a grassroots effort driven by two people! This year the program is back and has gained even more momentum. The monetary drive will last for 6 weeks instead of 3 and, in addition to the donations from individuals, over 30 restaurants in the San Diego area will be contributing a dollar per dish for the month of August to the program. On August 21st there will be a food and backpack drive at the Little Italy Mercato where members of the community will be able bring any donations of appropriate non-perishable food or neutral-color backpacks.

As a little side incentive for those wishing to make a monetary donation – all donors will be eligible for prizes donated by local restaurants, businesses and individuals which will be awarded by random drawing at the end of the event. This year I am delighted to be able to contribute a signed copy of the FoodPornDaily Cookbook as a raffle prize.

The complete information on how you can donate to the 2nd Annual San Diego Food 4 Kids Backpack Program is listed below (cut and pasted from the press release!) Please help us feed those children in need – together, we really can make a difference!

The 2010 “Food 4 Kids” fundraiser has three (3) main components:
• Monetary Fundraiser: A fundraising site has been set up on firstgiving.com/food4kids to allow interested individuals to make monetary donations, add comments and keep track of the fundraiser’s progress. All donors are eligible for prizes donated by local restaurants and businesses which will be awarded by random drawing at the end of the event.

• Backpack and Food Drive on August 21 at Little Italy Mercato: On August 21, a food and backpack drive will be held at the Little Italy Mercato. Members of the community are asked to bring neutral backpacks (as in no logos and preferably black or red) and kid-friendly non-perishable foods (such as applesauce, cereal, fruit cups, mac ‘n cheese, pretzels, etc., and other healthful foods) to the Little Italy Mercato between 9 AM and 1 PM, where Food 4 Kids volunteers and Food Bank personnel will be on hand to collect them.

• Dollar-a-Dish Program: August 1 – August 31: A “Dollar-a-Dish” event is set to run throughout the month of August at participating restaurants. These restaurants will select one of their best selling menu items and will contribute $1 to the Food 4 Kids program for every order of that dish sold during the month of August. At present, 30 restaurants have signed on to participate including: Alchemy, Bencotto, Café Chloe, Cosmopolitan Restaurant, Cowboy Star, Croce’s, Cucina Urbana, Dining Details (Catering,) Gaglione Brothers, George’s at the Cove, Hilton Garden Inn – Del Mar, JRDN, JSix, Kensington Grill, Lotsa Pasta, Nine-Ten, O’Brothers, Pizza Fusion, Playa Grill, Ritual Tavern, Royal India, Sessions Public, Soleluna Café, SoNo Trading Company, Starlite, Stingaree, Terra, The Red Door, Urban Solace and Zenbu.

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We’re eating seared local white sea bass with a roasted date, smoky bacon, toasted almond and sherry broth served with crusty seedy sourdough baguette.

Living three blocks from the ocean in San Diego definitely has its perks – fresh local fish is high on this list. Unfortunately with that close proximity to the ocean comes the transitional “May Gray and June Gloom.” In other words, it’s cool and cloudy nearly every day during these months while most of the country is enjoying a toasty warm summer. I really can’t bitch too much about the weather here, mainly because for the other 10 months it’s sunny and warm, but dammit if I don’t miss the humid sweltering summer heat of the South. Without the heat I continue to cook meals like this well into the summer when most people think that turning on a stove or an oven sounds like the worst idea ever! Regardless of the weather, both T and I thought this was an outrageously delicious preparation of fish and couldn’t get enough of the accompanying sauce, which was sopped up with crusty seedy sourdough bread. If you can stand the heat, get in the kitchen and make this dish! You won’t be sorry, I promise.

Recipes in this post:

• Seared Sea Bass with Roasted Date, Bacon, Almond and Sherry Broth

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We spent last weekend in New Orleans and took a trip the Aquarium of the Americas where we saw this little gem. WTF, right? I guess we should be thankful to have the preserved habitat in the aquarium so that we can remember how awesome the Gulf of Mexico used to be before BP fucked it up. Thanks a pantload, BP.

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We’re eating succulent smoked chicken halves marinated in a mixture of tequila, chipotle in adobo, lime and orange juice and spices.

I was totally planning on making Memorial Day a work day – but for me, a work day means cooking and writing. Fortunately, past Amanda hooked up future Amanda by buying all of the ingredients for this chicken so that I could spend the day playing instead of shopping. I put the chicken in the marinade first thing in the morning then Tyler and I went off to play outside on a several-hour bike ride. When we got back, we turned on the grill and started the smoking process. In a couple of hours we were feasting on some of the best chicken I have made/eaten in years. All in a hard days work, right?

As a side note, if you don’t like chicken, this marinade would work well for pork or shrimp. Only marinate shrimp for 30 minute or the acid will start to change the texture of the shrimp in a undesirable way.

Recipes in this post:

• Tequila, Chipotle and Citrus Marinated Smoked Chicken

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We’re eating spicy Chinese-style blood orange chicken served with steamed rice and garnished with green onions.

Apparently I need a serious vacation to get over my vacation! We’re back from paradise but I’m still not really feeling this whole “work” thing, if you know what I mean! Alas, I do believe I made some promises back in in March or April that I would start updating WWE at least three times a week. I still fully plan for that to be the case, although I’m slow getting started with it.

This dish is one I whipped up over the winter when local blood oranges were in season and I was craving Chinese food without leaving the house. Likely you won’t be able to find blood oranges in the markets since it’s the middle of May but you can always substitute any freshly squeezed ripe orange juice and zest in the recipe.

Recipes in this post:

• Chinese-Style Blood Orange Chicken

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