I went to Toronto Taste today, an annual fundraising event put on by Second Harvest. My old roommate and good friend is one of the coordinators for Second Harvest and she plays a big part in this event. Last year was my first year attending, and I was really excited to go this year.
I’m a huge fan of the Food Network, and my favorite personality is Bob Blumer. I love the Surreal Gourmet and especially Glutton for Punishment. One of the first episodes of Glutton for Punishment that I saw had Bob doing the Alpe d’Huez climb, which is part of the Tour de France. If you read my blog regularly you might know that I love cycling, and here was this guy combining two of my passions, cycling and food! After he reached the top of the climb, he ate an incredibly indulgent French meal. Anyway, I got to meet him at this event and he was a very nice guy.
One of the highlights of Toronto Taste was their live auction, and one of the items up for auction was a dinner party for 10 people hosted by none other than Bob Blumer himself. My two friends and I were enjoying some food and wine when we heard Bob Blumer come up onto the stage, and excited at the prospect of this dinner party, we quickly decided (mostly at my urging) that we should bid and split the cost in the unlikely event that we won. So we ran over quickly, I threw my hand up as they were calling for $500. I found it odd that nobody else was bidding, and was totally surprised when I won! Wow! I was so shocked in fact, that I didn’t realize that I had won an auction for something else entirely and it cost me $500. The auction that I had won was pretty much for me and one other person, so I would’ve been out at least $250, assuming I could find someone who wanted to participate with me AND donate half of the cost to Second Harvest. I went into this thinking that I wouldn’t even win, and that if I did I would be splitting the cost with 9 other people.
Anyway, the Bob Blumer dinner party auction ended up bringing in a whopping $12,000, only because Bob announced to the $4700 bidder and her two friends that he would do three separate dinner parties, one for each of them, if they all agreed to donate $4000 each. The ladies all agreed and everyone was really happy (except me).
