OPAM & An Italian Treat!

Hello all! I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. I haven't had the weekend I planned ... But that seems to sum up this year! 😜 Part of my weekend plan was to do this post yesterday ... But that didn't happen! I dragged GB kicking & screaming (actually he was more resigned! 😂) off to the shopping centre to tackle the Christmas shopping. We actually did pretty well & crossed most gifts off the list, but by about 3pm we'd been trampled & prodded enough by the "Holiday Cheer" that we felt like we needed a big glass of Christmas spirits ... With ice! 😂 And as it was around 40 degrees & muggy, we decided to treat ourselves to a salted caramel frappe & watch a movie at GB's work ... Among many other audio visual things, they install home theatres & have a display theatre in the showroom ... With air con! 😂

However ... Today after doing a few grown up chores, I've added emailed tallies to the spreadsheet & blog hopped to collect the rest of your finishes for November ... Big thanks to those who emailed tallies &/or made sure their sidebar list was updated. It's a big help to me. 😁 Well ... I've concluded that everyone has been busily sewing for Christmas because November was the biggest tally for the year ...

191 FINISHES!

YAY! Well done everyone! And the random draw winner is ...

MARIA

Congrats Maria! Drop me an email & I'll send your prize PDF pattern to you to play with. 😁

Now, with all of the doings here over the last month or two, I've done very little sewing, so don't have any pics to share ... But November was birthday month for my Bestest-Buddy-Since-We-Were-Nine Lynette & as a fun way of celebrating, we signed up to be part of a pasta making class. Mama Mia! 😂 The class was hosted by the lovely Kat & mischievous Sonny, the dynamic duo behind Foodie Shots photography. As well as taking superb photos of colourful culinary cuties, Kat has a passion for encouraging people to rediscover the pleasure of simple, traditional food prepared well using local produce. And the class was held at one of Lynette's & my fave play date destinations ... Bunnyconnellon.

Lynette & I were joined by 10 other fun & friendly people to learn the art of pasta making from local chef, Steve.

Here's Steve in demonstration mode.

Then it was our turn. We all made pasta dough from scratch & half was bundled up to take home & the other half fed through the handy pasta roller to make our lunch. Here's Lynette concentrating hard. 😜

And here's my efforts. 😁 Two things ... It was a STINKIN HOT day that made it a bit challenging to keep the pasta dough from drying out & made us all 'glow'. 😉 And second ... Thanks to the lovely lady who took these two pics for us while we had floury hands. 😁 Of course once the pasta was made & cooked ...

... It was time for lunch! 😋

Handmade fresh pasta with a simple tomato sauce ... & a glass of Bunnyconnellon wine, of course! 😜 And afterwards ...

Lots of plates that didn't need to be scraped. 😝

And a Happy Birthday cheers to my Bestest-Buddy. 😘 We had a fantastic time & would definitely look at attending other cooking workshops organised by Kat & Sonny of Foodie Shots  If you're stuck for gift ideas for friends or family members who are foodies, why not treat them to a workshop or  ... Like Lynette & I ... Attend one together. For those of you not far from our little corner of the world, I know the lovely Kat will be organising more workshops next year so check out her Facebook page to keep up. I would HIGHLY recommend Foodie Shots workshops, as this was the friendliest, most relaxed, best organised workshop I've ever attended. Kat had everything on hand ready to go ... & Sonny helped put everyone at ease by making us laugh. 😁 And it goes without saying that any time spent at Bunnyconnellon is enjoyable, especially with my Bestie ... Although it does make the husbands a little nervous! 😂

And on that note, I'm suddenly feeling peckish! 😂 So I'm off to find some Bunnyconnellon olives to have with my cheese, crackers & G&T. 😁 Have a fantastic week! Til next time ...

BEAR HUGS!

CHEERS!

KRIS