Italian dinner and film night

Italian dinner and film night

The recent Italian night was a great success and we must thank Roy and Sue for their hospitality in hosting us for the event. We had a great 4 course Italian meal consisting of an antipasto platter, Minestrone soup, a main of Chicken Parmigiana followed by Tiramisu for dessert. The meal was finished off with a glass of Limón Cello cocktail and a Ferrero Rocher chocolate. After the meal we watched the movie ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ which brought back memories for those of us who have been to that area of Italy.

There were even a few people dressed in Italian colours of green, white and red – also a gondolier and a garlic seller directly from the local market!

     

Mid-winter polar plunge

MID-WINTER POLAR PLUNGE

About 40 members of the group came along to Katikati Naturist Park recently for the annual Polar Bare Plunge. Of those, over half actually took the plunge in the outdoor pool. It was a beautiful sunny day (after the frost) with the air temperature reading 13^oC and the pool reading 11^oC. However several said it “took their breath away” as they jumped into the water. A quick dash back to the spa along with some warm mulled wine (thanks Linda) and savouries warmed the plungers up again. During happy hour we showed a slideshow of our trip to China which everyone enjoyed, learning a lot about this huge country in the process. This was followed by a pot luck dinner in the rec room. Then it was back into the spa or sauna to finish off the day. 

Dinner at Chinatown

In May, twenty three members of the group enjoyed a drink together at World’s End bar before going next door to Chinatown for a sumptuous meal. The array of both Asian and European food at Chinatown never fails to astound me.

It gave Col and me a chance to practice eating with chopsticks before we left for our trip to China and we also celebrated Ray’s 81^st birthday with a cake and appropriate candles.