Today I am diverging away from the usual foodie posts to focus on a more personal and serious note with no photographs or quirky anecdotes.
Over the summer one of my closest friends, P lost someone very dear to her to cancer, an individual who I had the great priviledge of knowing. It is almost impossible to completely comprehend how one copes with the loss of their mother.
P and her family have founded the Seashells Foundation in the memory of her mother, with the hopes of establishing an undergraduate nursing scholarship at The University of Sydney. This is a true testament to the strength and love of the family.
In order to raise of the funds for the scholarship, P and her siblings are organising a number of events and personal challenges such as partaking in the annual City2Surf. On her own, P is undertaking the challenge of giving up all things caffeine in the month of August, which includes what most of us foodies love the most, coffee. For a university student this is not any easy challenge to undertake!!
I urge you to consider:
- The amount of money that we spend on our favourite cup of coffee each week
~$4 per cup x 7 = $28 (not an insignificant amount!)
- The difficulty we would have with forfeiting our daily dose.
It would be extremely difficult to ‘kick the habit’
If we each gave up that cup of coffee for one week or even one day and donated what we would have spent to the Seashells Foundation, that amount could go a long way in supporting the development of fantastic nurses in our hospitals.
I am so proud of P and her family’s vision is incredibly inspirational. I would truly appreciate if you, my fellow foodies would take the time to read about P’s cause below and consider my proposed idea on how to contribute.
If you have any queries please feel free to comment below or visit the Seashells Foundation Facebook Page!
Ming xx
Philippa Gives Up Caffeine!
Anyone who knows me knows that it is very rare to see me without a tea, coffee or can of diet coke in my hand! I love the stuff! However I am not going to drink any caffeine for the whole month of August and I want you to sponsor me to do this.
Why? Well as many of you know my wonderful Mum passed away last December. So my siblings and I want to do something in memory of her, something that she herself would have supported. She spent December in the hospital. The hospital was a great experience! The staff were well trained and professional. She had top quality care on every front. She had doctors who were intelligent and good doctors, they cared and they knew what they were doing. However it was the nurses that cared for her the most. They are the ones who are with you all the time, who do the day to day care of the patient. They took the chance to get to know my Mum and the whole family and made the hard time in hospital much easier. I am sure many people have similar stories of the gift that a good nurse can be.
However we realised that we were blessed by talented and especially well trained nurses and that getting trained is a process that takes both time and money. To become a great nurse you have to have a solid education from a great university. Education was also something my Mum had a passion for. So my siblings and I decided that there was no better thing to do in her memory than establish a charity that works to support nurses and their educations! We are going to start this support by establishing nursing scholarships at a top University in Australia – the University of Sydney.
And this is where the lack of caffeine comes in. To endow a post graduate scholarship at the University we need $600,000. This may seem like a huge amount, but we believe that, with your support, we can reach this goal! Whether that be by sponsoring me in my caffeine fast, one of my siblings in their fundraising adventure or holding your own fundraiser we would love to hear your ideas! But an easy way to help is to sponsor me. No caffeine for the month of August, and many headaches later, I hope to raise some decent amount of money!
So please, consider sponsoring me to help us set up this scholarship! You can sponsor me electronically at https://www.alumniandfriends.usyd.edu.au/BethSpenceMemorial.asp (you have been referred by Philippa Spence) or by giving me cash. Because this is being done in partnership with the university, the donations are all tax deductible. Anything you give will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much!
Philippa
My insta-surveying had me eyeing the “Ultimate Toastie” special BUT to my the disappointment of my increasingly large winter appetite, I was told that this highly photographed dish is only served on Friday to Sunday! No matter, this momentary sadness was salvaged by the prospect of trying the “Eggs Blini”; Buckwheat blini, cured king salmon, salmon caviar, broccolini, sauce Mikado and poached eggs. Usually, ‘Benedict-type’ eggs are sometimes rather heavy, but thisdish was quite the opposite. Eggs were poached to oozing perfection, blini was fluffy and slightly sweet and was complemented perfectly by a tangy sauce and delicious cured salmon. Never having seen this on a cafe menu before, I thought it was rather unique and definitely something I would recommend for poached egg enthusiasts and those looking for a dish that is not the ‘run-of-the-mill’ brunch option.
hello it's ming. 