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Group of elephant moms protecting a calf

Kashawe Camp: Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe

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The fourth safari destination on our Overseas Adventure Travel Ultimate Africa safari was Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe. At this point in our trip we had spent nine nights in three tented camps in Botswana and Zambia. We had only three nights left in Hwange National Park before we headed back to the city (Victoria Falls and then on to Cape Town.) I tried not to think about the fact that our safari was coming to an end, but tried to remain in the moment and enjoy everything Hwange had to offer. And no, we were not tired of watching and photographing the animals!

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Butternut Squash Risotto: White Wine or Rosé for #winePW 5?

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The theme for the October Wine Pairing Weekend (#winePW) is Fall Fruits and Wine Pairings. Fall fruits…hmm that title made me think of dessert initially. But, then I got to thinking about what a fall fruit is. I pretty quickly determined that squash is a fruit, and not a vegetable as I had assumed, so that opened-up the possibility of cooking a savory dish instead of a dessert. Since butternut squash is my favorite fall squash, I set about finding a recipe using butternut squash.

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Bechthold Vineyard: Ancient Vine Cinsault in Lodi

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The Bechthold Vineyard is 25 acres of Cinsault planted on the west side of Lodi — in the Mokelumne River sub-appellation of the Lodi AVA. This own-rooted vineyard was planted in 1886 by Joseph Spenker. Fortunately the soil on the west side of Lodi is particularly sandy (sandy loam to be exact), and too well drained to allow phylloxera a toehold. That good fortune, along with the family’s desire to preserve this part of their farming history has allowed this gem of a vineyard to remain productive at 128 years of age.

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Rinascimento Wine Company: Building Relationships, Selling Italian Wine

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We spent Tuesday evenings during September learning about Rinascimento Wine Company and its founder Justin Gallen with Protocol Wine Studio and their Twitter-based wine education program #WineStudio. Justin has combined his love of wine and Italian literature into an Italian wine import and distribution business in California. He is busy building relationships with producers and clients alike. He’s a big fan of Italian wines and provided us with four very good reasons we should be too.

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Lafupa River Camp, Zambia

Lafupa Camp in Kafue National Park, Zambia: A Beautiful River Camp

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Lafupa Camp is located at the confluence of the Lafupa River into the Kafue River in Kafue National Park, Zambia. Birding and fishing were spectacular, and we enjoyed evening game drives. We were serenaded by hippos and kingfishers in the mornings and visited by an elephant or two. It was another great stop on our Ultimate Africa Safari with Overseas Adventure Travel.

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Farfalle with Pistachio Cream Sauce and Graci Etna Bianco

#winePW 4: Sicily

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When David posted the theme for the September #winePW (wine pairing weekend) both Pete and I knew right away we wanted to participate. This month’s theme, Regional Food and Wine Pairings, leaves a whole world full of regions to consider. We pretty quickly narrowed our choice to Sicily. We are planning to visit Sicily next year and have already started […]

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Wild dogs in Chobe National Park

Chobe National Park, Botswana: A Bit Dusty But Beautiful in the Dry Season

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Chobe National Park is enormous, about 11,000 sq kilometers in area. It, along with the Chobe Forest Reserve occupy the northeastern corner of Botswana. We explored but a tiny portion of the National Park, mostly along the banks of the Chobe River between Ngoma and Serondela, but also traveled through areas of the park distant from the river. The scenery was beautiful and the animal sightings plentiful.

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