Dustin Francis Photography

If you follow me on Twitter and/or pay attention to my status updates, on Facebook, you might notice that one of the things I do is eat 🙂  I guess I’m what you would call a “foodie.”  A couple of my closest friends are foodies as well and we love to go out for a terrific, breakfast, lunch or dinner…or any other thing for that matter.  Kenny is a dear friend and happens to work close by at a wonderful Italian restaurant called Paesano’s.  Kenny is the go-to guy when it comes ordering the wine and coordinates most of the wines at Paesano’s.  To say he is passionate and knowledgeable about wine would be a huge understatement…HUGE!  Read a few words from Kenny HERE.

Kenny told me about a wine and a wine dinner that he was super excited about and I had to go to both support him and the restaurant, as well as experience the wine dinner.  I brought a long my backup camera with a 50mm lens just to grab a few shots of Kenny and the dinner, but when I got there, I was surprised to see a gorgeous set-up with the table, food, wine and all!  I ended up grabbing quite a few shots and I wanted to share with you all, so you can get a feel of what I like to “do for fun.”

Massimo Furlan is a Vintner from Italy, where produces wines for Ornella Molon and Vigna Traverso Wineries.  Massimo is a very warm and kind man, who is really easy to talk to and great to listen to…especially when he’s talking about wine and Italy.  Massimo was in Michigan visiting different cities and meeting many people who enjoy his wine and he told us a bit about each wine that was presented at the dinner.

I had a fantastic time at the dinner and being surrounded by people who were there to enjoy the food, wine, and good company.  I’m so glad I decided to go and am very happy that with 30+ people, the dinner was such a great success.  Kenny, wonderful job in organizing the dinner and thank you for inviting me, it was great to see you do you thing and enjoy a wonderful dinner doing so!

On with the pics….

Chef Isabella’s cookbook, “perbacco isabella!”

Kimmie did an awesome job with all the details, it was so inviting!

Kenny and Massimo

The first pairing was a 2007 Ornella Molon Prosecco with some tasty prosciutto and montasio, e grissini.

Owner Mike Roddy introducing Massimo…

Kenny telling everyone exactly why they are there.  It was all because of the Schioppettino and Kenny busted out the Wine Bible to read to everyone what exactly that spicy, “gunshot” wine was.

Kenny amusing everyone, a very common thing 🙂  He is also a man of many faces.

After the Prosecco/prosciutto appetizer, the first pairing was rabbit shaved cabbage, apples, and a black pepper honey-buttermilk dressing with a 2007 Traverso Friulano.

The second pairing was gnocchi malghese style; potato dumplings simply served with butter sauce, porcini and grated cheese and a 2006 Traverso “Troj.” The gnocchi was the best I have ever had…I actually ate slow for once 😉

Massimo saying a few words about the Schioppettino…

The lovely Melissa Hickman who helped make the dinner possible…

The final pairing was a classic beef goulash with smashed smoked potatoes and the 2007 Traverso Schioppettino.  I will say that the goulash and pairing was perfect!

Chef Isabella came out when we were finishing up the goulash.  She did her homework and created dishes that are traditional to the region of Italy where the wine is produced, which made Massimo and all of the dinner attendees extremely happy and content.