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Apologies for those of you who are waiting for the next section of African Fever! I really need to write about this part of my trip to Tibet.
Many friends have heard me relate this story about our Granda Festa with Barilla Pasta in Lhasa Tibet.

Quite by accident today I was around the suburb of Annandale in Sydney when I stumbled on , believe it or not Casa Barilla!

I had been to Tibet as you know from my previous posts and when I saw Casa Barilla looming infront of me , I had this sudden urge to ring the bell and tell them the story , and I did on the spur of the moment ring the bell and I was asked to enter Casa Barilla!


The place where Casa Barilla is has been one of my favourite buildings for many years and even though I had been inside on a number of occasions when it had previous retail in it, just the mere fact that it was called Casa Barilla , gave the whole place another dimension as the architecture inside is great.

Let's get to the point. I met the co-ordinator of Casa Barilla, her name being Silvia.
I began to tell her that on my trip to Tibet I travelled with about 8 Italians a few Americans and another Australian
Barilla
Granda festa Barilla Pasta!
.

The trip was from Kathmandu to Lhasa, over 1,000km.
During the trip we ate various foods , often not knowing what we were actually eating.

There was one Italian couple who did not often come on our food searching expeditions to unique and individual cafes I suppose you could call them but absolutely nothing like the cafes we knew. They always seemed to snaffle a little blue suitcase that was easily pulled and easily removed from the main luggage.every time we stayed somewhere along the trip to Lahasa our eventual end point.


On arriving in Lhasa after spending many eventful days together, visiting various places
Tibetan Folk Dancing
Stunning costumes and voices
it was time for all of us to go in different directions but before we did we had an evening of Tibetan folk music and dancing.

After which we headed back to our hotel.
There our Italian friends decided to reveal all to us .

I had often wondered what was so precious in this small blue suitcase that they dragged off the tour vehicle each stop along our journey.

They asked us all to go to their hotel room, where low and behold the contents of the suitcase was revealed.
Pasta but not just any pasta and sauce but Barilla Pasta!
Whilst we were all sampling and trying the local foods along the way , they, at every stop were eating tinned tuna and Barilla Pasta with various Barilla sauces.

They decided to finally share the secret with us ....they even had a camping stove!!!!! We were all gobbsmacked but also most delighted as we really were dying to get some food into us that we were used to.

We had tsampa along the way and many interesting Tibetan dishes as well as some of the group trying Yak burgers but as a vegetarian I did not.
The secret blue suitcase
Barilla Pasta Secret revealed.


Pasta Delicious
Yummmm!
Mmmmmm Pasta
Divine food!


If you carefully look above the television there is a feint view of the box of pasta on a blue suitcase.......
We were enjoying the pasta and sauce immensely as the photos reveal.

Whilst we were at 3,300 roughly metres with oxygen at the side of the beds in the hotel rooms , there was nothing stopping us from enjoying Barilla Pasta and sauce , even though breathing was difficult the pasta just slid down between the breaths!!!! Superb , Pasta never tasted better , forget the masterchefs and the Italian style , this was the real Festa of Barilla Pasta in Lhasa, never to be forgotten by any of us.

So hence this blog has finally revealed the Barilla pasta at Himalayan heights.

Silvia loved the tale and I promised this blog tonight .
So here it is for all of you to read.

If you are a Barilla pasta lover they do have classes with masterchefs at the Casa Barilla in Annandale Silvia told me, so try some of their courses.

To all Barilla pasta and sauce lovers if you have a Barilla pasta adventure or story , comment on this post and we could start a Barilla Pasta movement!!!!
Ciao all.Enjoy your Barilla pasta !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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African Fever !

July 13th 2010 01:57
Last year I was lucky enough to have to work in Africa . Kenya and Ethiopia to be exact.
I was excited about the prospect of working in villages and city community centres in craft programmes ( which is my passion of course) to help the women in these villages and the city become more self sufficient.
I know my work would be the tip of the ice berg so as to say and I would just help to a little degree to give them self respect but at least they could feed their children and provide some dignity for themselves and not fall prey to human traffickers..

There is so much woman and child trafficking going on in the world and East Africa is not immune to this disease ,as I call it .
When women are vulnerable so are their children and despicable human beings prey on the weak as we all know ,not just now but throughout history.
We are supposed to be civilized and humane !!!!!!!!

What I have seen throughout the world really is scarey and makes you wonder what actually humans have learnt , in my eyes not too much about respect and dignity of human beings to live and let live.

As one would I researched the areas I was to work in but even all the research did not prepare me for what I was to see and experience.

First of all I landed in Nairobi and my job was to work in a community associated with South B residents, for those not familiar with South B , this is a slum area and I was living just on the outskirts of it where girls and ladies came to the compound to do their crafts to earn a meagre existence.
Placemat Weaving Nairobi
Skilful Hands

The women and girls were the most welcoming, smiling and beaming friendly people I had ever come across and I had been to many places around the world.
As I worked with them daily I learnt of the extreme hardships they faced in the slums.
No running water,no bathrooms or toilets , no electricity and the tiniest of spaces for their homes most made of rusty corrugated iron held together by bottle tops riveted , more likely hammered into the corrugated iron,cardboard inside , dirt floors .Many women without husbands as they had often desserted them leaving them with the children .
Yet they came daily to learn and work , wearing bright coloured clothes and kitenges , with huge warm smiles.

I learnt that many could not afford to send their children to school or if they could send them it was a huge struggle.
I also learnt that they paid rent, can you believe it rent to set up on just bare black dirt with no facilities.Rent that was hefty to say the least.

So basically the money they were earning from their crafting was to pay for nothing more than an existence and a roof over their heads.
Sth B Nairobi
Streets


In a local paper whilst I was in Nairobi I read that 32% of the population in Kenay lived in slums, a totoal sub culture created.

My learning curve was just starting and on what I had heard from my group but as I became more closer to them all and they could see I was genuinely there to help them,I was invited into their world in the slums.
One could not just walk into the place , one had to be invited and a group of girls asked me to visit their homes.
They would take me into their world, I was very honoured .
Slums at a distance
To visit later


As I was having to move on to my next group to a place called Embu which was at the base of Mt Kenya I promised when I returned I would love to visit their homes.
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Off on the Road to Morocco!

June 19th 2010 01:46
Yes, finally a dream come true Off on the road to Morocco, have been wanting to go here for some time now, never got there, as I always ended up somewhere else.

Bob Hope and Bing Crosby with Dorothy Lamour started it all off when I saw their movie many moons ago.
Some of you probably never heard of these three but they did Hollywood movies , a series called Off on the Road to ..........
Full of music ,dance corny jokes and fabulous colour and costumes with corny plots never the less lots of fun.

My reason for going to Morocco is for the colour , texture and crafts.
As an artist ,designer to me it revives ideas and senses and excites the mind.
Also the styles of architecture and the history of the land is fascinating.
Again the movies Casablanca is a draw , hopefully when I get there it will not disappoint, Casablanca that is.

I am headed for many places and am looking forward to all .

Early this morning I heard there was a summit on Whaling taking place in Morocco this week.
Hopefully the world comes to its senses and see that whaling is archaic and unnecessary .NO MORE WHALING!!!!!!

We seem to be destroying this earth in all directions ,from mining, drilling into the soils and mountains, sending missiles , blowing up mountains, drilling for oil, polluting the oceans, volcanoes errupting, sink holes appearing.
Fish being depleted in our oceans , animal species dying out etc etc.....
Somehow humans are not listening!!!!!

Apologies for the digression but as and artist I hold the earth as being sacred.
Our indigenous cultures can teach us a lot but seem not to listen to them either.

Even my experiences in art and craft has been to learn from cultures which are threatened by westernisation, globalisation etc etc .
Arts and crafts are dying out as we know them .

How many people actually know in our western societies about the tactile sensation of natural wools, the earth colours from the soil, the raw cottons that are made by spinning, weaving into textiles, the lovely silk worms who give us silk and how their cocoons are spun , dyed etc.
We need to take the time to learn!!!!

Everyone races to the shopping malls , everything is mass produced and we are brain washed into buying perfection, no faults in our fruits, our clothes , our homes etc.
Nature is perfect in its own way but imperfect in the sense that fruits may never be the same colour or the same size or the perfect taste, natural fabrics woven have imperfections , hand made items for our homes may be more rustic but are made with more love than the machine fabricated products.

Yes we are all different as human beings too, some of us strive for perfection in the look of everything, but there is no such thing.
The earth is ever changing as nature is and as it was meant to be.
So I am off on the Road to Morocco to experience some colour of art and craft and in general the world we live in!!!!!
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Pucker Up!

April 22nd 2010 13:51
Have you ever thought about Kissing ?
I am sure you all have.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Lasting Impressions.

April 22nd 2010 13:31
The previous post had a few pics that were easily recognisable .
So not really rocket science.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Lasting Impressions.

April 22nd 2010 13:31
The previous post had a few pics that were easily recognisable .
So not really rocket science.

[ Click here to read more ]
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Around The World in Pics!

April 7th 2010 12:32
A few more places I have been and maybe you have too.
See if you can recognise the locations.
There are of course some clues here and there


[ Click here to read more ]
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Not writing this time too much , just going to try and stimulate the brain visually.
The pictures may be recognisable at once or may be a bit of a mystery.
There will be clues at times


[ Click here to read more ]
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Designer Ravioli & Bolognaise Sugo

October 4th 2009 11:41
Roast Pumpkin & Sage Ravioli as well as Kalamata Olive & Fetta Ravioli with my Superb Shiraz drenched Bolognaise Sugo!

At present my current state of mind has me focused on food and all I can dream of is creating divine tasting foods that make me feel happy. Many reasons for this but will not go into it now. Just read and enjoy and maybe even try


[ Click here to read more ]
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This is it .....Lhasa

April 29th 2009 14:40
Lhasa at last!!! Everyone would have been wondering if we ever made it.
Yes! Of course we did.
By crossing the Brahamaputra River we finally came into Lhasa. Passing beautiful drawings on rock faces as we drove on the outskirts


[ Click here to read more ]
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