Another successful Christmas Makers’ Market pulled off! Thanks everyone for coming out on Saturday to make it such a lovely day. The weather was perfect, we had fabulous stallholders and lots of people came along which was just super.

In particular we would like to thank all our amazing volunteers for the hard work they put in both on the day of and in the lead up to the event.

We are so lucky to have such a generous community here at ACC.

We had a great night last Thursday at Alphington Arts! Here are some photos of few of the Christmas themed lino-prints that we made. Pretty cool, right?

Alphington Arts will run again next year twice a term on Thursday evenings at 7.30pm. It’s lots of fun and a great way to learn new skills and hang out with other creative people in the neighbourhood!

Book in when our new program comes out!

Open again this coming weekend. Pop in to ACC from 11am-5pm to see the works of the four artists using our space, and then grab the map and take a walk around the neighbourhood. It’s a lovely community event - and a great way to do some creative Christmas shopping - ceramics, textiles, sculptures, and amazing paintings! Support local creatives. Enjoy our wonderful neighbourhood.

Hi everyone,

Lots happening this week in the lead up to our Christmas Makers’ Market this Saturday the 22nd of November! The weather is looking good - touch wood - and it’s shaping up to be a lovely day to celebrate another great year here at ACC. We have 25 stalls this year, so lots of opportunities to find perfect gifts.

And while you are shopping we’ll be running Christmas craft activities to keep the kids entertained, and naturally a barbecue to keep everyone happy. We’re also looking for volunteers to help out on the day - see more details later in this newsletter.

Alphington Open Studios will also be starting this weekend, and the inside of the centre will we transformed into a gallery space on both Saturday and Sunday to feature some awesome local artists. How exciting!

And before all this we have another great program lined up this week:

• Garden to Plate this morning from 11.30am-1pm - book online

• 3rd Monday of the Month Book Club tonight 7-8.30pm

• Tomorrow from 1-3pm we are running a special Preserves Group in preparation for the market on Saturday. We will be making jams, pickles and relishes, and we encourage everyone to come along if you can! And donate small clean jars if you have them hanging around …

• Toy Library will also be open tomorrow from 1-3pm

• And 3rd Tuesday of the Month Book Club will be meetomg tomorrow evening 7.30-9pm

• AAA Bowls at Alphington Bowls Club, Line Dancing at the Scout Hall and Alphington Playgroup here at the Centre Wednesday morning from 10am-12pm

• Armchair Theatre Wednesday from 1-3pm

• Crunch on Thursday from 12.30-2pm

• Alphington Arts will be running Thursday evening from 7.30-9.30pm and we will doing linocuts to make Christmas cards! This is a super fun activity and a great way to get into the Christmas spirit. We hope to see you there! Book in online.

• Community Garden and Craft Friday morning from 10am-12pm

• Community Lunch Friday 12-1pm

• AAA Art Friday 1-2pm

Looking forward to a very Christmassy week!

Cheers Leanne

With the combination of rain and sunshine the winter silverbeet and kale is growing out of control, going to seed and ready to rip out. But … before you do this, here’s a recipe to consider …

This week in Garden to Plate we made a FABULOUS! pasta dish - inspired by Jamie Oliver.

it is fabulous because it uses HEAPS of dark leafy greens!!! Reducing food waste from your garden and good for your health - a real win/win.

Here’s the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 packet of dried spaghetti or other pasta (500g)

• 8 cloves of garlic, peeled

• 600 grams of leafy greens, stems stripped out (eg. kale, silverbeet etc.)

• 90 grams of parmesan cheese

• 90 grams ricotta

• 3 tablespoons olive oil

• salt and pepper

• water from the pasta

Instructions

• Boil a pot of water, add salt and cook the pasta

• With 10 minutes to go until the pasta is cooked, add the torn up leafy greens and peeled garlic cloves and cook until wilted.

• Add the olive oil to a blender, then use tongs to transfer the leafy greens and garlic to the blender as well, before whizzing until super-smooth. Add additional water from the pasta to thin out if needed. When silky smooth add the parmesan and whizz again … then add a good teaspoon of salt and lots of pepper to taste (and whizz again).

• Drain the pasta and return it to the pot. Add the sauce back into the pot too and mix it thoroughly through the pasta.

• Serve this very green pasta with lovely white ricotta dotted on top.

Bon Appetit! It’s really good!

Garden to Plate runs on Mondays from 11.30am-1pm. We cook a couple of recipes together each week … and then sit down to share a meal - it’s lovely! Book in online.