Wine and Spirits Travel

I’m still working closely with Tourism New Zealand in their quest to get readers to experience one of their exciting adventures – for free! The options continue to get more and more exciting and this campaign  offers two trips I’d love to go on. Option No. 1 is called Culture Kaboom and it gives you the chance to explore both the culture and the landscape of New Zealand. You’ll start by landing in a city built over 50 volcanoes and then you will head east to actually see steaming geysers, boiling mud pools and a hot water beach. This area also happens to be the center of Maori culture so you can experience real New Zealand hospitality while you hang out with locals visiting a marae and digging a hangi. To get a glimpse of this breathtaking land, check out this video . Option No. 2 is City Splendour and that’s just what it is. You will have a chance to explore New Zealand’s largest cities – Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. The itinerary includes everything from eatin

Food and wine festivals are always busy days, but I took on quite a bit for Saturday at the Aspen Food & Wine Classic . I had five parties to get to and I was determined to see, taste and listen to as much as possible. We started the day at the Whole Foods Fishmonger Face-Off, which certainly wins the prize as the most unusual event at the Aspen Food and Wine Classic. There were 11 fishmongers from Whole Foods Market stories around the country competing to cut their fish quickly and accurately, as well as answer trivia questions by Chef John Besh that helped educate the audience on making responsible choices on seafood. As you can imagine, there wasn’t much to eat for someone with a fish allergy, but I had Lisa to do the tasting (she raved about everything, especially the Rockfish Pontchartran with Chanterelle and Blue Crab) and I knew there would be plenty of things to save my appetite for and nibbled on some scrumptious mushroom tarts. Aspen Peak Magazine def