First of all, many thanks to Esther and Ricardo from The Roasting Shed, who made the second meeting of the De Beauvoir WI such a success. Esther and Ricardo – who really do have a roasting shed in their garden in Clapton – gave us an entertaining berry-to-bean talk about the origins of our daily cup of coffee, and brought along tasters for us to try. Ricardo also told us about the coffee-growing Quindío area of Colombia, where he comes from. An interesting and delicious time was had by all.

Big thanks also to DBWI member Bella Bunce, who runs the Proper & Sons deli and café (just along from the Fox pub on Kingsland Road) and who very generously brought along copious amounts of cookies and cakes to accompany our coffee. Julie from Vinvixen once again brought along the wine. Thanks all round.

President Amanda
The meeting involved various bits of WI business: we voted in our committee. Amanda Lovegrove, whose hard work got our WI off the ground in the first place, was voted in as president.

Food Bank
From the June meeting, we’re going to be collecting for the Hackney Food Bank which provides food and other essentials to families in times of financial crisis. There will be a collecting box next to the entrance so that you can, if you wish, drop in a tin or two. Below we give a list of items suggested by the Hackney Foodbank (strangely, they say no baked beans or pasta, please).
Milk (UHT or powdered)
Unrefrigerated fruit juice
Tinned fruit (in juice)
Tinned meat, fish, vegetables
Tinned or dried soup
Rice (500g or 1k bags, please)
Instant coffee
Cereals
Curry and pasta sauce
Instant mash potato
Biscuits or healthy snacks
Tinned rice pudding
Toiletries
Nappies & baby products
Toilet Roll
Washing-up liquid

Neighbourhood Feast

DBWI member Samantha Selmes is helping to organise a “whizz-bang Neighbourhood Feast event” on Saturday 10 May in the St Peter’s Crypt café, 5.30pm-9pm. It’s a De Beauvoir Association/St Peter’s Community Partnership event and it’s an opportunity to share your favourite food or national dish, bring recipes to give away, decorate your table in national colours, have fun and be creative.
If anyone would like to get involved, please contact Samantha, who says: “The more chefs, the more volunteers to help set up or clear away, the more guests wanting to eat, mix and mingle, the better.”
Full details on the DBA website.

Next meeting: 5 June 2014

Our next meeting will be a sit-and-sew session to make the De Beauvoir WI banner (which we’ll then use for events, campaigning etc). We’ll need materials and some sewing machines for the evening. Further details to be posted soon.

Book Group
The De Beauvoir WI Book Group is up and running, see here for details.