Results tagged “charity”

As promised, Houstonist mingled with about 275 intrepid people who came out to experience their first Flavor Tripping party on Friday night at The Social. And although the lines were sometimes long to get in and to get at the food, people had a wonderful time tripping the night away.

Tomorrow is officially the day to participate in Dining Out For Life, benefitting AIDS Foundation Houston. This is the easiest ever way to make a donation to a great cause, just go out to eat - you know you're gonna eat anyway, so, make it count - you can pack a sack lunch Friday. Participating restaurants ("eateries") will be donating 33% of your food bill to AFH, well - all buscept the Little Bitty Burger Barn on Pinemont who has ponied up for a full fiddy. So, if you work or live in the area, hit them for a meal to get a larger donation (half of your bill - that's HUGE) and some seriously good sliders. There's really no reason not to get in on this, there are over 150 participating restaurants. What? New place, not sure if it's worthy of your food dollars? If we haven't told you how much we love it (or not), then pay these guys a visit and see what your peers have to allow.

Great news!! If you have not checked the list of participating eateries in the Dining Out For Life list, Niko Niko's is participating!!! Houstonist had lunch w/ a couple of peeps this week. As always, it was delish - we chose rice for our starch to accompany the gyro plate, it's creamy and flavorful - we'd love the recipe, just saying. We've had the potatoes and the fries previously, both are very good choices, as well. The portions are huge, and we love the gyro plate, in particular because you get a choice of side, a little pita, lots of luscious gyro meat, topped with red onion and tomato and yummy sauce and a bonus dolmade on the top. We can't seem to consume more than half of our plate in one sitting - no matter how hard we try.

Houstonians, mark your calendars now to participate in Dining Out For Life on Thursday, April 24th. What a fabulous way to raise funds for a cause, you lift your fork, feed your face and pay for dinner like you always do - whammo, you just donated! All you have to do to make a donation is go out for breakfast, lunch, dinner or "D: All of the above" on the designated day at a participating restaurant and 33% of your food bill goes to AIDS Foundation Houston or AFH! Plus, you can make the deal even "sweeter" by having a dessert! What better logic can you have for ordering Patsy's Chocolate Monkey Cake as a chaser for your Debris Po-Boy (for you who do not know, a Debris Po-Boy can bitch slap a French Dip into next week, every time - cause it is much mo' bettah) at Danton's Gulf Coast Seafood Kitchen??? Last year, AFH helped over 5,000 Houstonians with monies raised who are either HIV-positive or have AIDS, the more we can raise, the more people we can help. AFH provides clients with housing, food assistance and case management.

::Flash Yo Stache at Vinyl Ranch:: It's back all you Urban Cowboys and Girls: Vinyl Ranch at Leon's Lounge. And this time a little twisted (at the edges). Tonight's 4th installment of the honky tonk party at Leon's Lounge brings a whole new level to the shindig. Local charity Mustaches For Kids will team up with Vinyl Ranch creator, Dave Wrangler, to create a meeting of the 'staches! How perfect is this? Be on...

No trips to the record store this week; our best pick for new music is only available on iTunes. This is Me Then features early gems from Common’s career, including tracks from his groundbreaking record, Resurrection, and four old school music videos. -We thought Common was great in American Gangster -Next up, he's filming a movie with Angelina Jolie -Buy This is Me Then: The Best of Common Listen to cool music and help out...

If you see a lanky, red-bearded biker pedaling down I-10 in the next day or two, that’s A.J. Rowell, a passionate biker and fundraiser from North Carolina. So what’s he doing in Houston? Mostly just biking, in fact that’s pretty much all that A.J.’s done for the last six months on his trans-America bike tour. A.J. pushed off from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska on June 2nd with 90 pounds of gear strapped to his road...

So, normally here at Houstonist, we try to promote events--arts and otherwise--that are open and (ahem) FREE to the public. Every now and again, though, something costing cash-o-la is so cool, so fun, SO important, that we simply MUST promote it. In this case, well, there's a lot of cash-o-la involved. But it's for such a good cause!!! We are not necessarily flush with cash today...or, well, any other day. But YOU, dear Houstonist...

Houston! We’re going to be rounding up current food and wine events once a week, so you don’t have to. Previously, we posted these gastronomic opportunities, along with festivals and the like – having let that slip was criminal! Once again, Culinary Adventures comes your way!!! Tour de Donut – “The Sweetest Bike Ride in Texas”Sunday, November 4th – beginning at 8:00 a.m. Sun & Ski Sports @ Katy Mills Mall $25/participant in advance $35/participant...

Feel like it's time to give back? Someone did someone nice for you and you haven't paid it forward? You screwed someone over and now you've gotta get your good karma back? We've got the answer - treat yourself to a gourmet 3-course dinner! It's not often that eating out can be considered charity work. This week in Houston, your dining escapades can actually do some good for the world. Houston's annual Restaurant Week...

Houstonist's 'Heart of Gold' is a regular feature that gives a little love to the people that make a difference. Yes, we randomly get that touchy-feely. So sue us. And share your ideas with us too! Because shaving is just so uncharitable, Houston is holding its very first Mustaches For Kids fundraiser event. Didn't think kids needed mustaches did you? Well, think of it like a walkathon where the walking is replaced with facial hair...

"Biggio" is the word on many bloggers minds this week, so this'll be a pretty Astros-heavy week here at the blog roundup. - Orange Whoopass is putting together some of the most poignant tributes to number 7. Here are a couple of them. - Biggio didn't break the all-time hit-by-pitch record (he came two short, but still holds the modern-era record). Plunk Biggio breaks it down with a great tribute, and some finger pointing. -...

While most of the baseball world was focused yesterday on the races for the final playoff spots, including the Mets historic collapse in the NL East, as usual, Craig Biggio was just doing his job, just like he's done for the past 20 years. But for the first time in 20 years, Biggio won't be going back to work today. For those of us who grew up in Houston, Biggio is just as much a...

Our favorite at-work timewasters over at TMZ.com are reporting that Houston's pop/R&B princess herself has reunited with original Destiny's Child member Michelle Rowland to open an apartment building: The Knowles-Rowland Temenos Place Apartments, for people trying to improve their situations who might not otherwise have a place to live. Through her charity, the Survivor Foundation, Beyonce and her family are building and financing the building, which will be a 48 unit "short term to longterm...

Houstonist likes volunteering for good causes. We also like concerts that are free. Boost Mobile RockCorps is offering both, with the pay off being a ticket to see Taking Back Sunday next month at Warehouse Live. RockCorps was founded less than 5 years ago, in hopes to inspire volunteerism in young adults, encouraging them to be active in local community activities. Since the non-profit group also believed in the power of music, they teamed up...

If her friends could see her now! As TLC's Trading Spaces bubbly host, Paige Davis, made her Houston debut (her first performance with the travelling show was last week in San Antonio) as "Charity Hope Valentine" in last night's Opening Night of Sweet Charity, we couldn't stop wondering,...would Vern have used that color on the walls? Frank, maybe, but Vern? Being this was our first time seeing the Tony-Award winning musical, we weren't sure what...

Sweet Charity Opens Tonight at the Hobby Center Sweet Charity, starring Trading Spaces darling, Paige Davis, opens tonight and runs through July 8th at the Hobby Center. Charity Hope Valentine is the eternal optimist. While working at the seedy Fandango ballroom, she is often taken advantage of and continually experiences bad relationships. Finally, she seems to have met a decent fellow in Oscar. Trying to hide her true profession, she lies to him and tells...

This Saturday, from high noon until 7:00 p..m., Houston Roller Derby's Machete Betties are holding a fundraiser and mudbug bash at the West Alabama Ice House @ 1919 West Alabama. If you are a roller derby fan, or just want to see some hot chicks, while consuming even hotter crawfish and ice cold beer, then this is a great way for you to spend a Saturday afternoon! There will be some great live music for...

The African Children's Choir, which is made up of children ages 7 - 11 who are all orphans of the AIDS pandemic and civil violence in Uganda and other countries, will be performing at two very prestigious venues tonight and again on Sunday. Tonight's performance is on FOX's American Idol. This is part of a special "Idol Gives Back" episode. During the show, viewers can make their donations to the Charity Projects Entertainment Fund by...

Something we missed over the weekend in the story of the city vs. The Center Serving Persons with Mental Retardation: On Sunday, the Chronicle published a letter from former City Attorney John Wildenthal about agreements the city had made with social service agencies like The Center. You may remember that the Chron talked with Wildenthal, who served as city attorney from 1964 to 1966 under Mayor Louie Welch, about the situation last week, and...

Remember how Ken Lay and Jeff Skilling's desks were being auctioned for charity on eBay? Well, when the auctions closed Saturday night, Skilling's desk had a new owner, but Lay's didn't: The high bid of $25,000 for the former Enron chairman's desk fell $1 short of the reserve price of $25,001, the Chronicle reports. Oh, the heartbreak of eBay! To refresh your memory, the two desks — identical, massive pieces of furniture designed by Gensler...

Houstonist is gearing you up for Houston Roller Derby! First, buy some Season Tickets. Second, head to RocBar tomorrow, say 6ish until 9ish and have a drink with the ladies of Houston Roller Derby. Yes, the Houston Roller Derby is having a Season Kick-Off Party. Bring your "A" game, cheesy suave pick-up lines, if you feel so compelled (good luck with that) and some folding money or really good plastic (the kind with available spending...

Parents in Bellaire are being warned to keep an eye on their kids so their kids don't get an eyeful of an unidentified man's naughty bits. The man has already exposed himself to one 10-year-old girl, and based on information about that incident, it seems he'll do it again if the opportunity presents itself. It happened like this: On Sunday afternoon, the girl left home to visit a house across the street to ask if...

This Saturday Houston Ultimate Community (HUC) is hosting the Fifth Annual Huckin' for Laura tournament to benefit Houston Habitat for Humanity. Ultimate, as defined by the Ultimate Players Association, is: Player defined and controlled non-contact team sport played with a flying disc on a playing surface with end zones in which all actions are governed by the 'Spirit of the Game™. As defined by Houstonist, Ultimate is fun as hell and a great way to...

A Celebration of Conservation Houstonist loves our adult beverages and we love our fine dining, but when you can do both of these things at once and call it charity, it becomes more than love, it becomes event obsession. Now that you know this about us, we can introduce you to our current event obsession, happening tonight at The Oceanaire Seafood Room. The Oceanaire Seafood Room is one of the newest additions to the...

FactoryPeople Weekend Pop-up Store @ FineSilver Gallery FactoryPeople, Austin’s hub for fashion, music and culture, is hitting the road with everything from designer deals to DJs to create a weekend of shopping at Houston’s FineSilver Gallery. Kicking off on Sat., Jan. 27 (11a – 7p) through Sun., Jan. 28 (11a – 5p), FactoryPeople will showcase its handpicked Spring ’07 collections and end-of-season bargains with 10% of all sales benefiting local non-profit Workshop Houston. On...

Last week we told you about an enterprising Spring man who decided to cash in on last week's cold snap by selling a chunk of naturally formed Houston ice on eBay. Now for the rest of the story: When the ice auction ended, the hunk of cold stuff fetched a respectable $26 — not bad, really, considering you can make it at home for free. Houstonist talked to the seller, Mathew Cournane, about the auction....

Didn't get any ice at your house during the Great Storm of 2007? Well, don't worry: Thanks to eBay, you, too, can own a genuine chunk of naturally formed Houston ice. No kidding. According to the eBay listing, which you can find here, the chunk of ice was taken from trees and road signs in the Houston area. But there's more: The winner of the auction will also get two fig leaves with ice droplets...

In an unexpected show of holiday spirit, someone left four Harris County deputy constables an anonymous gift recently: hundred-dollar bills stuck under the windshield wipers of their patrol cars. No one knows where the money came from, and the cops reportedly thought it was a prank at first — but apparently it was a genuine gift. (We hope there were just four patrol cars parked in the lot, or else some officers are going...

After watching a news report about famine in Ethiopia, Boomtown Rats lead singer Bob Geldof (now “Sir Bob Geldof,” thanks to this aid effort) called up his friend Midge Ure (from Ultravox) and decided to gather up British musicians to record a benefit song. The supergroup Band Aid was formed, and their song “Do They Know it’s Christmas” resulted in millions of dollars in relief for famine in Africa. Due to its success, Geldof...