world vision and serafina

Today, I went to an event by World Vision for child sponsors. I think it was mostly a talk to keep us inspired to continue donating during these tough economic times ... but I did enjoy it a lot. I don't have a lot of contact with my sponsored child which I feel pretty bad about. I've sponsored Francois from Chad for almost 2 years now, but I mostly just send the birthday and Christmas cards. I did send a letter once but I didn't get a response but I sent it like a year after I started sponsoring him so I figure he's given up on me. After today's meeting, I'm definitely going to make more of an effort. Anyway, the event was at Westminster Chapel - a former sponsored child came to talk about his experience, and several different people shared stories about meeting sponsored children and also how it really makes a difference. At the event, they also gave us each a gift catalogue for Christmas gifts, etc. It was actually neat to see the things you could donate, like goats and chickens ... and then there were things like wells, and farming equipment, etc. You could even sponsor an entire animal farm or send a whole year's worth of animals lol. I also was really excited to see a gift of a loan to help a woman start her own business - wait, isn't that microfinance? :) Anyway, we also got tickets for the World Vision Experience: AIDS exhibit which is coming through in a couple weeks - definitely going to check it out.

For dinner, we went for the 30 for 30 dine around seattle promotion that ends today, and my friend chose Serafina. It was a little Italian restaurant in east Lake Union. I got the risotto fritters, wild boar sausages, and brown butter tartlet. The risotto fritters were good but I think the outside was a bit too crispy for me. The sausages were tasty, and the tartlet had the perfect amount of fruit inside. I thought everything tasted great, but I don't think it is somewhere I would go if it weren't for the 30 for 30 deal.