Birthday Dinner!!

Last night we went to Fossano to have dinner at Giovanni & Brunella's house for Giovanni's 45th birthday!  The big 45!

Giovanni made a yummy dinner.  He likes to cook, but thankfully took it easy for his own birthday.  We had focaccia, prosciutto and salami for an appetizer.  Accompanying that was a fizzy Barbera wine called Biricchina that Fabri and I brought from one of my favorite wineries, Roagna Igino.  The wine was perfect for aperitivo or appetizers.  Very happy with that pairing!

Brunella, Lulu and I loving the vino!

Giovanni made some pasta arrabbiata (spicy red sauce).  That's Fabri's favorite sauce and we were happy for the lightness of the dish.....because the next course was a cheese sampling!  I do not remember all the cheeses we ate but they were generally yummy and we had honey, fig jam and a special Piedmont jam called cugna to accompany them.  I tried for my first time a goat's milk blue cheese.  With the cheeses we drank a deliciously Barolo-like 2004 Nebbiolo wine.  It was strong, but it was so good.

The party people!

Then we had the cake and some sweet Moscato wine to accompany it. After cake we hung out on the sofas for a while.  Lulu was very talkative and played a lot with Fabri and I.  We sang songs from her song book I made her for her 4th birthday.  We posed for pictures and Lulu photographed us.  Then she spent a while jumping on Fabri and beating him up before being my hair dresser and manicurist while wearing my shoes.  Sometimes you need an evening playing with a 4 year old. 

My portrait by Lulu.