Flavours of the World ~ Italy Part I

 Hello lovely friends!  I am so excited to share the photographs of our recent Italian dinner with all of you today...

To celebrate the completion of a study on a specific country, we like to plan a special dinner from that country, incorporating as much of the traditional cuisine and decor as possible.

If you have been a regular reader of this blog for some time, you may remember the French dinner we had a few years ago...  What fun we had preparing and researching for the celebration and how I loved sharing all the happenings with you!  {Read In a French Frenzy Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4)

Although I no longer join my sisters for Five-in-a-Row, I still enjoy listening and learning right along with them and helping them in the food preparation, as it is a passion of mine.  They have been busy with the book Clown of God and learning a little about the Renaissance, Italy and much more.

This Sunday past we delighted in the delicious flavours of Italy and had a few friends round to partake in the tasting and feasting...

Nancy and Beth, with just a little supervision from Mom, put together a spectacular table and menu, and I had the pleasure of helping make the pasta, ciabatta and side dishes and taking the photographs...  I was also elected as chief dish-washer, floor scrubber, cleaner-upper and what have you *smiles*...

Now do enjoy and I hope this post leaves you excited and inspired to take a few Italian cookbooks out the library and get cooking!  And I hope you enjoy the few sayings I added to this post which truly capture the essence of Italy...

The beautifully laid table, complete with red checked tablecloth and napkins (sewn by Mom and Nancy), white crockery and white candles in wine bottles...

Adults enjoyed Italian wine while we children were content with red grape juice...

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“A tavola non si invecchia” (While at the table, one does not age.)  - Italian Saying

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We had lovely Italian cafe music playing in the background which really created such a wonderful ambiance...

Napkins were rolled up and secured with fresh rosemary stalks...

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“The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later, you’re hungry again.”  - George Miller

Candlelight...

Place settings, made by Nancy and Beth were placed in a traditional pastry twist... 

“Tomatoes make it Italian, garlic makes it good.”  - Alice May

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“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons.”  - TS Eliot

The menu was printed out and placed on the table for the guests to see what was to be served and when...

And now for the courses...

Everything was made from scratch, including the ciabatta for the bruschetta, and the breadsticks...  A few of the delightful recipes to follow in part two in a couple days!

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Aperitivo ~ Garlic Dip, Breadsticks and Olives...

Primi ~ Rustic Bruschetta...

Beth being busy in the kitchen...

Secondi ~ Italian Meatballs with Tagliatelli...

Contorni ~ Creamed Spinach and Mashed Butternut...

Dolce ~ Tiramisu...

Caffe ~ Espresso and Crostoli (Italian Pastry Twists)...

Buon Appetito, dear readers!

Italy is at the top of my list of places to visit and tour...  Do you want to visit Italy?  If so, what places would you most like to see?

Hoping your week has been blessed!

~ Kelly-Anne ~