Click! Yellow for Bri and Win 5 Food Items of Your Choice or a Handmade Scarf

The vivid yellow in my mango chicken recipe from four days ago makes it eligible for this month's Click! theme of Yellow for Bri. I normally don't submit to photo contests because I don't take pictures with anything fancy, just a Canon SD 1000. I have terrible lighting in my home. I shoot pictures on my dining table, in a tiny kitchen with one small window. But I really liked the colors, the brilliant yellow of the mango, the jewel-like tones of the red and green bell peppers. But mainly, I'm writing about this so you'll know about Bri of Figs with Bri. I've never met Bri. We've only commented a few times on each other's blogs. What you should know is that she is battling Stage IV breast cancer. Two-and-a-half years ago, at the age of 28, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy and chemotherapy. After two years of relatively good health, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body -- lungs, lymph nodes, and bones. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. You can read more of her story on her blog. I also include more info below about the fundraiser set up by Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi for Click! June 2008 Yellow for Bri. October 27, 2008: Briana Brownlow passed away in her sleep at 3:20 a.m. Rest in peace dearest Bri. Bee of Jugalbandi has written a lovely tribute to her memory. First, I want to discuss my fundraiser for Bri. Remember the Malaysian and "backlist" goodies I mentioned in my Terrible Twos post? Here's your chance to get double entries. You can double your chances for $10 vouchers so you can select anything from this array of Malaysian and Indonesian mixes or one item of your choice from my backlist of recipes. AND you're also eligible to win 5 food items to fill this box. Food item choices must be within reason and I reserve the right to reject anything, but I pulled a few things from my pantry to show you. For example, you can request my favorite American cookies of Pepperidge Farm Mint Brussels, a jar of my preferred brand of curry paste to make Vietnamese chicken curry, rice vermicelli noodles, rice paper, and coconut cream powder. Or of course, any other pantry items of your choice. And if none of the food options tempt you, perhaps you'd like a handmade scarf, knit by me? I thought pink for breast cancer seemed appropriate. You may choose this wool handknit pink and grey scarf. The scarf is approximately 5 feet long and about 6 inches wide. The yarn is thick and thin as it meanders for a wonderfully textural effect. I used two balls of yarn. Knit with 13-gauge bamboo needles. Handknit by yours truly over the course of several weeks. Here's a close-up so you can see better. Or if you live in a warm climate and a wool scarf is just too much for you, I'm currently crocheting this scarf. It's made from a thin acrylic yarn intended for babies so it's lightweight. This is so you get a general idea of what it'll look like. If you choose this as your prize, you'll have to wait until I finish it. No idea of when though. So here's how my fundraiser for Bri is going to work: For each $10 donation you make to Bri, you get an extra name added to my current Terrible Twos random drawings for $10 vouchers from Asia Supermarket 365 and one item from my backlist of recipes. If you didn't fill out the survey, I am making an exception if you make a donation. You may only win once from each drawing, but your chances are greater with each $10 donation. So if you donate $20, you get three chances to win for each drawing. Your comment gets you one chance, and $20 gets your name added two more times. You may donate more if you wish. I will be selecting the winners for these drawings on Saturday, June 14. In addition, each $10 donation gives you a virtual raffle ticket to win my fundraiser for Bri in which you may choose among any 5 items of your choice to fill that box, or either one of those pink scarves. Deadline for this drawing is June 30. I will pick a winner after that date and announce it on the blog. You can then tell me whether you would like the box of food or a scarf. Please go to either the Jugalbandi or Figs with Bri websites, scroll down to the Chip In box and click through to make your donation. Then forward a copy of your receipt to me at wanderingchopsticks (at) gmail (dot) com so that I can put your name down for the drawings. You must tell me whether you live in the US, Canada, or Bermuda and would like to be entered into the Asia Supermarket 365 $10 vouchers drawings. And whether you would like to be entered into the one item of your choice drawing. Otherwise, I will assume that you only want to be entered into the drawing for this fundraiser with a choice of 5 items of food or a scarf. I will ship worldwide. The raffle prize code for this is "Wandering Chopsticks." Read my San Gabriel Superstore post so you can get an idea of where I will be buying those 5 food items. And if that still doesn't tempt you, there's a whole bunch of other raffle prizes that other bloggers are donating. Below, I've included info from Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi, who are organizing the event.

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This is an appeal on behalf of a group of food bloggers who are friends of Briana Brownlow @ Figs With Bri. Bri was diagnosed with breast cancer two and half years ago. A mastectomy, chemotherapy and two years of relatively good health later, the cancer is back. It has metastasized to other parts of her body. At the age of 15, Bri lost her 41-year old mother to the disease. Now, she’s waging her own war against breast cancer. More about it here. She is going through intensive chemo and other treatments and needs to focus single-mindedly on healing and finding what treatment works best for her. Her health insurance, unfortunately, does not cover holistic alternatives which she would like to try. Bri and her husband Marc have enough on their plates right now in addition to worrying about her medical bills. The team organising the JUNE edition of CLICK at Jugalbandi has organised a fundraiser to help Bri and her family meet her out-of-pocket medical costs for ONE YEAR. CLICK is a monthly theme-based photography contest hosted by Jugalbandi. This month’s theme is: YELLOW for Bri Yellow is the color of hope. Through the work of the LiveStrong Foundation, it has also come to signify the fight against cancer. The entries can be viewed HERE. The deadline for entries is June 30, 2008. The fundraiser will extend until July 15, 2008. The target amount is 12,000 U.S. dollars. We appeal to our fellow bloggers and readers to help us achieve this. Bri deserves a chance to explore all options, even if her insurance company thinks otherwise. There’s a raffle with exciting prizes on offer. After viewing the list, you may make your donation HERE or at the Chip-In button on any participating site. Your donation can be made securely through credit card or Pay Pal and goes directly to Bri’s account. This month’s photo contest also has some prizes. Details HERE. You can support this campaign by donating to the fundraiser, by participating in CLICK: the photo event, and by publicizing this campaign. ***** 1 year ago today, the queen of fruits - mangosteen.