Eat, Drink and Give Haiti #eatdrinkandgive

This is my first chance to sit down and arrange my thoughts about an absolutely epic food and wine event, Eat, Drink and Give, held two nights ago at Roy Thomson Hall as a benefit for Doctors Without Borders and their contributions to aid relief in Haiti.

The format was simple and brilliant: for $75, $100 or $150, ticket-buyers were treated to a sensational selection of donated food and drink samples; in many cases, chefs and winemakers of the calibre of Brad Long and Norm Hardie were doing the serving and pouring themselves.

It would be nearly impossible to list even the high points of such a generous smorgasbord, but here are some impressions from my whirlwind evening:

• Possibly the most delectable single taste was the beef carpaccio (pictured) with spicy mayonnaise, olive tapanade and shaved parmesan from Noce (875 Queen West, 416-504-3463).
• Another huge contender would have to be the chipotle-flavoured elk shepherd's pie with house smoked ketchup, potatoes and winter vegetables served up by executive chef Kevin McKenna from Earth (1055 Yonge Street, 416-551-9890), the sister restaurant of Globe Bistro (124 Danforth, 416-466-2000).
• Of out-of-town participants, I was impressed by the head cheese with piccalilli made from Cumbrae's Berkeshire pork, provided by Treadwell (61 Lakeport Road, Port Dalhousie, 905-934-9797). They're also participating in the Cuvee gala in Niagara, coming up on February 19.
• As for wine, I blushingly confess that I went for the VIP ticket, which allowed me upstairs to try such an array of delights that – if you can imagine – I actually bypassed the Nicolas Feuillatte champagne in favour of other things. More than anything else, I loved the citrusy, apple-y nectarlike 1998 Poetica Chardonnay from Southbrook. I had it with some of the – was it Chaumes? – cheese from the Cheese Boutique, and really almost stopped eating or drinking after that (even though I had just started), because the combination was so perfect.
• Of all the reds I tried, I have to say I loved the 1999 Heitz Cellar Trailside Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, a Napa Valley wine that had a beautiful dark colour, and both smelled and tasted like woody herbs: mints, catnip, rosemary, hyssop, eucalyptus – the flavours kept shifting in the glass. I thought it woud be lovely with lamb, which goes so well with all those tastes. (I just hope I get a chance to write about the 20 or so other wines I tried some other time.)
• Among other delights, it was great to meet or reconnect with some people I mainly know from Twitter, like Steven Wilson, chef at The Local on Danforth (@DaLocalChef), Krystina Roma of Rosewood Estates winery (@RosewoodEstates), winemaker Richie Roberts of Fielding Estate (@richiewine), cheesemaker Ruth Monforte (@MonforteDairy), meat-smokin' genius Darryl Koster (@BusterRhinosBBQ) and particularly Joel and Dana of Well Preserved (@WellPreserved), among many others. The atmosphere was so happy, even though the cause was so much the opposite!

On a side note, I had tweeted that I would give a jar of my grapefruit lemon marmalade to the first three people who asked me for one. I had no sooner taken my coat off when Manny (AKA @basecadet on Twitter) of Café del Manolo snagged the first jar. Later, I was asked by (pictured) Paul Morrison (@ekkridon), who made such a splash at last December's Foodiemeet Bake Off with his Tandoori shortbread tarts with passionfruit curd, and Lauren Simmons (@laurendorphin), who has the handy talent of managing to look attractive while eating. I'm still trying to figure out how to get a couple more jars to one or two people who asked me after I'd run out.

I don't yet know the total raised, but, judging from the attendance and the soaring bids at the live auction, I have no doubt it's well into five figures, all to be matched by the Canadian government. The organizers and those restaurants, wineries, bakeries and other professionals who gave so generously deserve huge thanks. I'd certainly be up for Eating, Drinking and Giving to another worthy cause in the future; let's hope it would not have to be in response to any such tragic event as the Haiti earthquake, though!

Postscript: On February 12, this notice appeared on the Eat, Drink and Give website: The organizing committee of Eat, Drink and Give is proud to announce the total money raised for Medecins Sans Frontiers and their efforts in Haiti was in excess of $42,000. This amount qualifies for the government matching program that ends today. A special thanks goes out to our sponsors – Lifford Wine Agency, Vintages, Foodiemeet, Spotlighttoronto.com, and Mediaspex.