Buon Appetito Bambini!

Group photograph of all the young chefs. Photo credit: Upper Stone CWA branch members

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By Dr Bianka Vidonja Balanzategui

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A school holiday activity with a tasty difference was hosted at the Upper Stone CWA Hall: Kids Pizza and Pasta Cooking Lessons. The lessons were conducted by caterer and CWA member Sharon Blanco and facilitated by a Commonwealth Government Volunteers Grant that enabled the purchase of suitable kitchen equipment to conduct cooking classes.

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Outfitted in aprons, gloves, hairnets and chef hats the 38 children attending first tackled making pizza dough from scratch. Once the dough was risen and rolled, each child topped their own little pizza with a rich tomato base pre-prepared by Sharon and toppings of their choice. Of course, the best part was eating their pizzas straight from the oven!

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Next came creating fresh pasta. Once Sharon and some of the older children made the dough, every child had several turns at passing balls of the dough through manual pasta machines till the pasta came out the right texture and thickness. Once cooked and topped with a delicious bolognese sugo pre-made by Sharon each child enjoyed a bowl for lunch.  

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There were no hungry tummies by the end of the morning’s cooking class!

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In between the stages of the cooking class the children were invited to decorate their aprons and to complete an activity sheet. Small prizes were awarded to the winners in each activity. Children took home from the class not only experience in making pizza and spaghetti but their decorated apron and recipe sheets.

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The Upper Stone CWA is enormously grateful to Sharon for her outstanding effort in conducting this class. Many thanks too to the CWA members, mothers and grandmothers who stayed on to help. The response from the children was a resounding YES when asked if they would come to another cooking class if it was held.

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