Dine at Mine with SHC at Lakaz Maman

Wednesday 15 May 2019

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Dine at Mine event at Lakaz Maman with Southampton Hospital Charity which involved an evening of chatting, games, a bit of fizz & a delicious menu of food cooked up by the Masterchef winner Shelina Permalloo. Whilst the evening was full of fun, its main reason was to show us exactly what the Dine at Mine events are really about.

Dine at Mine is a really fun and easy way for you to raise money for your local hospital (or even a specific department)  by having a few friends over or your family, you can do it as a community group or with your colleagues, basically anyone that enjoys food. May is the Dine at Mine month, so it would be great if some of you could get involved this month ideally but don't worry, it can be done at any time throughout the year.




Dine at Mine was the brain child of Southampton Hospital Charity who have also created a number of fundraising materials to help you on the way to organising a fun evening including party games & posters. The event helps the Southampton Hospital Charity raise funds for the hospital and enables departments to use the money for much needed resources.

Now, don't go thinking "Oh I won't be able to raise much so there's no point". The smallest amount really does make an impact. It may go towards equipment, or art, a nice space for patients to go to with their visitors, some money towards upgrading a ward area or even just some radios for a bit of entertainment. It might not sound much, but it really does make a difference.

Southampton Hospitals are specialists in many areas of care and treatment. Southampton Children's Hospital is one of only 4 that can provide specialist services on site. Wessex Neurological centre is a centre of excellence that serves over 3 million people in the south including the channel islands. Southampton General Hospital has one of the largest cardiac centres in the UK and is one of only 12 hospitals that treat adult and child cancers.
We are extremely lucky to have such specialist hospitals so close to us & charitable donations make a huge difference. Trust me, I've seen it.

I know lots of people love doing runs or skydives for charity but that isn't accessible to everyone and honestly not everyone wants to do something like that, so throwing a dinner party with your nearest and dearest is a very good alternative to chucking your self out of a plane ( props to anyone that has or would do it though!)
You can even put your own twist on the evening! Have a theme, whether that be a foodie theme or a dress up theme, although a murder mystery night would be a good'un.

You can find your own fund raising pack here




For the Dine at Mine with Southampton Hospital Charity, myself and a few bloggers headed to Lakaz Maman for a Mauritian feast. We got to mingle with people from the charity, people that have experience the benefits of it & people that work within the hospital.

We started our evening with a little bit of chatty and part of a game just before the first part of the meal arrived on the table.
The appetisers consisted of Anana Confit which is street style Pineapple with a bit of a kick, Butterbean pate with rote crisps, Aubergine baja in chickpea batter,  Gato Piment Mauritian chilli cakes.
Now, I am one fussy eater but I did dive in and try everything and I have to say, the chilli cakes & butterbean pate were my favourite but the aubergine was a close runner up.

The main course was aubergine & sea bass curry as well as butterbean rougaille served with fragrant rice including sides of carrot & coriander salad  and also green chilli chutney. I can not remember the last time I had a meal full of so many amazing flavours.

Of course there was dessert which was a tropical coconut pavlova with passion fruit and a raspberry coulis inside. Not my usual dessert choice but my god did it go down well. It was just the right balance of sweet and refreshing to end the meal.



It's so so easy to wonder into a hospital and not have a second thought about how everything works but it was really eyeopening to be able to speak to people from different walks of life to see how the Southampton Hospital Charity has impacted them, whether its working or benefiting from the funds.

I can say first hand that these funds are vital and really do make a difference to someones hospital stay, the hospital needs them, the patients need them, the staff need them. At some point, we will all benefit from it. Even something as simple as having the funds available to a department to pop a bit of art work up really makes a difference, something that small can change the way someone feels about a room they will be sat in. It helps the departments to make their wards dementia friendly by colour coding areas making a hospital stay a little more manageable for someone with dementia. It helps to fund equipment, patient and visitor chairs, games and radios, the smallest things make an impact & you holding a Dine at Mine event will help immensely.

So, thinking about it?
You can find all the information you need at Southampton Hospital Charity including the amazing work they have done.

Emily-May x

* Press event - Food was complimentary. See disclaimer.

2 comments:

  1. This is such a fantastic idea, I might suggest this to my manager!! The food looks delicious too :) xx

    Holly | www.gollymissholly.uk

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