March 12th 2015

Passionate About Pasta
Barbara Everest

A lady with a passion for pasta, Barbara attends various food fairs and shows around the County. She makes pasta using natural, local quality ingredients of assorted flavours, including spinach, carrot, beetroot, roasted red pepper, tomato and herb pasta. Barbara will be giving a talk and demonstration on pasta making.

Review of the evening
Barbara had two tables prettily decorated to enhance her products. She had a display of her dried pasta, books, leaflets, tea towels and pretty china on one and her other, the working one, with utensils and ingredients ready for her pasta making. She used to teach and after taking early retirement, decided to make her own pasta. She soon found out that no-one else in Northamptonshire sells their own so was encouraged to find ways of drying it to give it  several months shelf life. After sorting this out, Daily Bread agreed to sell her products in many different flavourings/colours. She experiments with different colourings using natural ingredients as mentioned above.

She demonstrated the art of simple egg pasta and showed us how she makes different shapes. It all looked very easy if you have the right pasta machine, because to do it with a rolling pin was achievable but very time consuming. 

After enjoying the talk and demonstration, many members bought her products.

Competition - La Dolca Vita - (The Sweet Life/The Good Life)
Barbara was complimentary about our Competition table which was good news as we have just made more of an effort to make it look more enticing. 

 
Competition Entries 

1st place was a plate of Italian wedding biscuits set upon an Italian flag, second a photo of a member eating her first (of many) Italian gelatos, and third was a display of coffee maker, cup and saucer, biscotti tin with thoughts of sharing it with a dear friend. Other entries were, chocolate heart, musical instrument, beads, photo of Las Vegas with WI husband enjoying the company of 3 scantily clad young ladies!, tray of chocolates spelling out Life and a collection of Italian chocolate products with an appropriate poster. 

A wide range of ideas and so much more thought provoking than "the longest runner bean ' or 'the prettiest flower'!!