DietelEarly European Adventure Day 2 - Give your body to the game

Today was full of food.  What an experience, not just a culinary experience but a business/sales experience as well. 

We started off our day traveling to Bissone for a tasting at Backstage Ricevimenti & Banqueting (well at least that's where I started my day, Vince and Warren started their day in the gym...good for them).  Alex Barbisotti and his team did a wonderful job.  We walked into the room and spread before us was a feast fit for a king. 

Some of my personal favorites were:

These little salted bread nuggets (none if us can remember the name of)

Battered and fried crudités:

And these little dishes of lasagna:

Alex and his team were very engaging and attentive to what Warren was looking for. It was great seeing them work as a team, taking notes and getting excited about the concept of the event. 

So much fun!!  We left happy and stuffed.  With only 2 hours until we were to be at the next tasting we had time for a quick stop at another potential venue. 

However, tastings in Italy include a lot of  wines which result it site visits like this....

Still stuffed from tasting number one we headed to tasting number two which was a very different experience.  The food was very flavorful but the caterer didn't seem to understand the concept Warren was looking for.  This was their third meeting and still there was no regard for the details being asked of him. He didn't take notes and at the end of the meeting he asked Warren to email him the details of what he was looking for even after we just spent 2 hours telling him.  Wow what a business lesson. I can't wait to return home and talk with the team about paying attention to the client and the relationship difference between these two caterers with their clients.  It really was a shame because the pictures we looked at prior to tasting the food were wonderful but logistics are the clients top priority and the comfort level was just not there.  However, some of the food was very flavorful. Some culinary finds: 

Quince Jam cubes with cheese.  So tasty and I know my team can come up with a beautiful concept for serving something similar. 

Yummy vegetarian lasagna:

Pesto pasta shells with almonds: 

And a variety of wonderful desserts: 

However you can tell by the look on Warrens face there just wasn't a personal connection made here and he had had just about enough of this guy talking all about himself and the events that's he's done and not enough about the event Warren was looking for.  

At the end of the night I was so full my stomach was bloated like I was 7 months pregnant.  We walked a mile and a half back to the hotel in a cool rain and I colaspes in bed with the worst tummy ache I've had in a while.  I knew I should not have been eating all that wonderful food all day but how can you resit? Sometimes you just have to give your body to the game.   Work Work Work