A TOUCH OF ITALY - IN MORNINGSIDE!
U3A has a core of superb course leaders and is especially blessed with our soon-to-
be octogenarian, Anna Masselli. Her expertise is manifold – she shares her vast
knowledge of European History with enthusiastic groups, her Italian Conversation
classes are jam-packed and now, her Italian (of course) cooking demonstrations
have become the flavour of the second Thursday of every month! Anna is the
essence of what U3A is all about and we love her for this.
Her children, who she threatened to murder, made her leave her home in the middle
of last year, as they wished ‘to give her a new kitchen’. Not only did they indeed do
this, they changed her whole house around. She had no idea of what they were
doing but even she admits that the end result is terrific. And the kitchen? –
‘fantastico’. Her ‘kitchen’ is in the up-to-date style of being incorporated into other
living spaces. At the one end, where her lounging area is located, there is a huge
fireplace always flanked by fresh flowers, and standing with ones back to this, one
looks across her dining area and views the magnificent cooking space. A spread of
granite tops, a huge gas cooker, cupboards galore, built in refrigerator and freezer
and to top it all, a cold room! It is in this kitchen, worthy of center-page in any glossy
magazine, that Anna demonstrates her cooking skills. She makes mouth-watering
sauces, pastas, soups, and risottos – all in a no-nonsense, typical Italian Mamma
style. Imagine the cooking smells – onions and garlic being gently sautéed, plump
tomatoes and the freshest of basil – from her own vegetable garden, naturally - being
added, each step carefully explained to her ‘students’ who carefully record every
word. To crown it all, those who attend, sit down around her huge dining table at the
end of the session, with a glass of wine of course, and enjoy her wonderful cooking.
And after lunch one might stroll around her garden where, in specially constructed,
metal, waist-high troughs, she proudly shows her guests her variety of herbs and
vegetables – parsley and sage, peppers and marrows, celery and carrots – perfect
specimens in a kitchen garden.
Back in her kitchen one cannot help but notice that her kitchenware is of the very
best – pots and pans with world famous logos – she says she prefers good pots to
good clothes; her cupboards are filled with every imaginable appliance, beautiful
silverware, and unusual crockery. These surroundings are an ideal backdrop for this
ever smiling, grey-haired lady, with a marvelous face, free of even the lightest touch
of make-up, in her apron, stirring, chopping, laughing, and sharing snippets from her
amazing life.
Currently, Anna is in Italy. She was invited to ‘guide’ a first-time visitor around the
‘sites’. There appears to be no end to her energy, enthusiasm, generosity and
wonderful sense of humour. She is a role model for ‘third-agers’ and proof of one of
the organizations’ principles, namely “to provide from amongst the retired, the
resources for the development and intensification of their intellectual, cultural and
aesthetic lives.”