Our cultural evening started in true Rotary fashion with a glass of bubbly on arrival, accompanied by delicious canapés. The event was really well supported and the room hummed with conversation until our host for the night – Paolo – invited us to take our seats for dinner.
Each of the three courses was introduced by our host, starting with Italian polenta and Porcini mushrooms and followed by Italian sausage skewers, aubergine parmesan and peperonata (recipes to be available shortly from the cook, Viviana Romanori).
As the evening progressed we were presented with a quiz on Italian culture and history. Guests huddled together on the separate tables and shared their knowledge and more importantly the wine!
As the raffle tickets sellers set to work to raise funds, Jim decided to increase the profits by starting an auction. The first item to be auctioned was ironically an element of our dinner, as the turkey portions had been left in Paolo’s fridge and never made it onto our plates. John and Steve Ch were proud winners of 25 turkey wraps each, shortly followed by William who bid and won a vintage bottle of wine.
We were then treated to a superb recital by Victoria Bawtree accompanied on an electric organ by her husband Adrian.
After our President gave a vote of thanks to our hosts, we were then invited to have a late night shopping spree in the well stocked Macknade shop.
As the evening drew to a close at 10pm we all returned home fed, watered and knowing a little bit more about Italian cuisine, history and culture. And most importantly having raised £618.50 for our Rotary charities.
