Cartolina 28 April & 2 May

John Anderson is an Auckland-based architect who has lived and worked in Italy, and has strong family connections there. The Authentic Italy Tours that he organizes with his Italian brothers-in-law, take the visitors through a journey of discovery of the less known but truly magnificent Italian places that are often obscured by the classical destinations. In this program John describes all four itineraries.  

Recipe: Spaghetti with prawns and Radicchio di Treviso (click on 'read more!' for the recipe) 

Cut a couple of slices of pancetta into small pieces, soften in a little extra virgin olive oil, then add the radicchio leaves, washed and only partially dried, cover and cook until soft. Set aside.

Take the prawns from their shells; we’ll use the heads and shells to make a little stock. Dice a small carrot, half onion and one celery stalk, tenderize in oil, add one glass of white wine and let evaporate; add the shells and cook, covered, for 20 minutes. Then strain through a colander, squeezing the shells.

Now dice garlic and a chili pepper, put them into a wok with a little oil to tenderize. Add the stock and two or three ripe tomatoes, chopped, and cook briefly. Then chop the radicchio and dice the king prawns. Add both to the sauce and cook a few minutes. In the meanwhile the spaghetti will be cooked al dente, and ready to be tossed into the sauce. Stir well and serve hot.
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Cartolina 14 & 19 April

Pat Unger talks about the Bill Sutton exhibition at the Cristchurch Art Gallery: Watercolours of Italy. Pat first met Bill Sutton as a mature student in his course at the University of Canterbury, then they became friends when she worked as art critic for various newspapers (including The Press). Eventually after Bill’s death in 2000, she helped as a trustee to organize his works. Her book “The biography of Bill Sutton” was published in 2008, the second is still to be published.

And here is the rest of it.

Mike Crean & Jeff Plowman - Revisiting war sites

Linwood Community Arts Centre, 7.30 pm Wednesday 21 April.

Mike and Jeff travelled to Italy in 2009 with the delegation of World War II veterans.They will be talking about the trip and the war sites they visited.
Jeff wrote one of the chapters in the book 21 luglio - 4 agosto i giorni della liberazione which records the New Zealand contribution to the liberation of Firenze and the Chianti area.

Entry free

And here is the rest of it.