Closed Thanksgiving weekend Nov 29-30 ’24
Reminder– Wine Tasting hours through December
- Friday, NOV 29 CLOSED
- Friday, DEC 6 4-6 bread pickup only
- Friday, Dec 13 4-6 tasting & bread pickup
- Friday, Dec 20 4-6 tasting & bread pickup
lummi island wine tasting nov 22-23
Wine Tasting hours through December
- Friday, NOV 22 4-6 tasting & bread pickup
- Friday, NOV 29 CLOSED
- Friday, DEC 6 4-6 bread pickup only
- Friday, Dec 13 4-6 tasting & bread pickup
- Friday, Dec 20 4-6 tasting & bread pickup
Friday Bread This Week
Rosemary Olive Oil – made with bread flour and freshly milled white whole wheat for additional flavor and texture. Fresh rosemary from the garden and olive oil make for a nice tender crumb and crisp crust. – $5/loaf
Flax Seed Currant Ciabatta – Made with an overnight poolish that ferments some of the flour and water before being mixed with bread flour, whole wheat, and rye flours, flax seeds, and dried currants. A lot of water makes for a very slack dough that is just cut into pieces, for a really flavorful artisan loaf – $5/piece
and pastry this week…
Bear Claws! – Made with a danish pastry dough rich in cream, eggs, sugar and butter. The dough is rolled out and spread with a filing made with almond paste, powdered sugar, egg whites and just a bit of cinnamon to round out the flavor. Then, because bears love honey, topped with a honey glaze after baking. –2/$5
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
This week’s Wine Tasting
Schmitt Pinot Blanc ’17 Alsace $19
Creamy-smooth nose of subdued pear notes adds an earthy element on the palate and adds an earthy element toward a dry, smooth finish.
Humble Roots Shiraz – Viognier ’20 Australia $18
Delightful blend of 98% Shiraz and 2% Viognier; shows layers of fleshy plum, oak, and blackberry with earthy hints of incense, ash, cocoa, black currant, and pepper.
Jacob Williams Barbera ’22 Washington $34
Medium body; juicy red fruit up front opens to a savory and herbal mid-palate and earthy finish. Enjoyable now, but sure to get even better as it matures.
Economics of the Heart: Fear is the Mind-killer
For our entire lives we old-timers have enjoyed broad confidence that our nation’s Constitution effectively constrained our government institutions from partisan over-reach, regardless of party control. Over the past 30 years that confidence has been substantially eroded by the impacts of right-wing fake-news media on our government institutions, including the Executive, Congress, and the Supreme Court.
Today we face not only external enemies, but also a broad array of internal enemies which have been spreading nonstop mis- and dis-information across the media spectrum since 1987, when Reagan’s FCC abolished the guiding Broadcast Fairness Doctrine. Introduced in 1949, it required the holders of broadcast licenses to 1) devote some of their airtime to discussing controversial matters of public interest, AND 2) to air contrasting views regarding those matters. The repeal of the Fairness doctrine opened the floodgates for 24/7 bombardment of anger-mongering political fictions across the broadcast and social media universe. Many if not all of these platforms are sponsored and maintained by very well-funded domestic and foreign enemies committed to our nation’s destruction.
The most familiar, of course, is Fox News, which has been playing the same shtick for decades now. On any given morning every pundit/host begins with the same (word for word) “lie line of the day” about whomever is the day’s target. Some people get all their “news” from these guys. As discussed in a recent post, these decades of misinformation have led much of today’s electorate to believe unquestioningly in a completely fictitious world where they are being victimized by immigrants, college graduates, vaccinations, “wokeness,” children’s books, other religions, and other idiocy. They have heard it all so often they take it for granted as true.
The last 8 years of 24/7 Tweetster Chaos is the direct result of that ’87 FCC decision to legalize the broadcast of outright lies for political purposes. That one political decision in 1987 has brought us here, today, to the brink of both national and global destruction from a number of directions. The T’s recent nominations of so many glaringly unqualified candidates to head our most important government positions has led Authoritarianism scholar Timothy Snyder to believe those selections are to not to run those important agencies, but to cripple them and give the Administration dictatorial control of the entire government with no oversight from Congress or the Courts…a truly terrifying prospect. Some others suggest they are deliberately outrageous to test the loyalty of Republican lawmakers to their lawless leader.
In Congress we are seeing some resistance to some nominations and what we hope is a growing sense of self-preservation of members to protect their Constitutional turf; but Congressional courage against the T has been hard to find. That is scary because it may be our only possible firewall against the Heritage Foundation Project 2025 plan for dismantling the Constitution altogether. We even saw a brief clip of everyone’s least favorite Senator (Josh Hawley) criticizing the nomination list. One would think that all House and Senate members would want to guard their domains of responsibility from the Project 2025 planned overthrow of democracy. On the other hand, we have seen extraordinary inability of most of them to stand up to him.
Scary times. For now have each other, our own values and commitments, our State Representatives and Senators, and State Governments and Constitutions against a highly stacked deck.
If the Tweetster gets his dictatorship, of course, there will be no further need for a Congress, a Senate, or a Supreme Court.
Many years ago a former student, friend, and world-class mountain climber based one of his “motivational talks” on a tense experience climbing frozen waterfalls somewhere in Alberta. Finding the ice was not in great shape, he kept repeating two words to himself to get across safely: Concentration. Commitment.
There are 400 million of us. We’re in this together.
lummi island wine tasting nov 15-16 ’24
Hours, Nov 15-16 ’24
This photo shows:
— a strange-hatted alien chimp on tippy toes deftly parrying a black Lab...OR
— a couple of water pipes sticking out of the wall in the crawl space..?
Friday Bread This Week
Rosemary Olive Oil – made with bread flour and freshly milled white whole wheat for additional flavor and texture. Fresh rosemary from the garden and olive oil make for a nice tender crumb and crisp crust. – $5/loaf
Multi Grain – Uses an overnight preferment of flour, water, salt & yeast before mixing the final dough to begin the enzymatic activity and gluten development in a cool environment. The next day it is mixed with bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat, and rye, with cornmeal, flax, sunflower and sesame seeds for a nice bit of crunch and extra flavor. A great all around bread! – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Rum Raisin Brioche- A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with golden raisins and chunks of almond paste and topped with a chocolate glaze before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like? -$5/loaf
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
This week’s Wine Tasting
Chapoutier Belleruche Blanc ’21 France $14
Delicious blend of grenache blanc and roussanne; fragrant and perfumed with a light, grilled-lemon note over ripe melon, and a lingering palate of rich white peach.
Riebeek Pinotage ’21 South Africa $14
Cold soaked overnight and fermented on the lees in 80% French and 20% American oak, and blended with unoaked wine to enhance fresh fruity flavors.
Cloudlift Halcyon Cabernet Sauvignon ’18 Washington $36
From Gamache and Elephant Mountain Vineyards; bold aromas of currants, anise, black cherry, and herbs lead to bright raspberry and dark cherry flavors and a bright, lingering finish.
Economics of the Heart: GDP by Presidential Party
FDR photo by David Beach/Flickr/cc
Over the last hundred years or so, there has been an observable pattern in the relationship between Presidential party and changes in Gross Domestic Product (GDP), as shown in the list here . While each era presents its own economic booms, busts, and challenges, a relatively consistent pattern of economic philosophies has followed each party over the last century.
The 20’s were shaped by substantial overconfidence by investors, which led to a disproportionately high stock price/earnings ratio, or what today’s Fed Board might call “over-exhuberance.” Overconfidence had led to overproduction of steel, iron, and durable goods, which caused drops in sales for large manufacturers across the economy, rapidly falling prices, and the implosion of the entire economy.
The crash hit bottom around 1932, when FDR was elected. With the help of some extraordinary people with innovative ideas, his administration introduced a number of game-changing economic stimulus policies based on the ideas of English economist John Maynard Keynes. Metaphorically, Keynes basically said that the economy is a circular flow among consumers, producers, workers, households, and government. Imagine all of these players sitting around a large table, each beginning with equal stacks of coins. At a signal, everyone starts passing coins to the person on their right. They get income from their left, and spend to the right, holding back more or less as they choose, without knowing exactly when the game will end.
After a few minutes it becomes clear that everyone has a different sense of how much or little they want to keep in their pot; some tend to horde, while others just keep passing it through. And the real economy is just like that. The Depression didn’t end until around the end of WWII. The US economy crashed originally because the wealthy had taken so much for themselves that sales crashed. FDR gradually brought it back with vast debt-supported spending both before and during the war effort, both of which kick-started the broader post-war national economy. Manned by GI Bill-educated vets, the postwar fifties was a great time to to be a kid in the US.
But none of that changed the fundamental nature of the players. From the 20’s to today, the Very Rich still feel entitled to vastly disproportionate shares of the pie, at the expense of the masses. Going back to our table, we can see a consistent pattern across the decades. Republican administrations immediately lower taxes on the very wealthy under the false claim that they “create jobs,” even when those jobs pay subsistence wages at best, even today paying workers hundreds or even thousands of times less than the owners or top execs, often not enough to house or feed a family.
The pattern that emerges is that Democratic administrations keep the money going around the circle, stimulating the economy so everyone has enough to get by with dignity. But Republicans pile it up in their money bins to earn interest, taking it out of circulation, lowering worker incomes and spending. Ironically, their compulsive avarice not only leads to widespread suffering; it also decreases their own long-term earnings.
Maybe Republicans think like my old college roommate, who used to say: “There are only so many good deals in the world, so the more people you f**k over, the more good deals are left for you!”
Their first order of business is always to cut their own taxes (Dick Cheney called it “Our Due”), taking $billions out of circulation, lowering demand, sales, employment, tax revenue, output, and employment.
lummi island wine tasting nov 8-9 ’24
Hours, Nov 8-9 ’24
clouds in the slough…
Friday Bread This Week
Poolish Ale – the preferment here is a poolish, made with bread flour, a bit of yeast and a nice ale beer for the liquid and fermented overnight; a great all around bread with a nice crisp crust – $5/loaf
Buckwheat Walnut & Honey – Also made with a poolish, buckwheat and bread flour. Buckwheat is actually a seed (not a grain and therefore has no gluten) that adds an earthy flavor that in this bread is balanced with a little honey. Some toasted walnuts add a nice crunch and just a touch of honey for a little sweetness; goes well with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Rum Raisin Brioche: A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with golden raisins and chunks of almond paste and as if that wasn’t enough, topped with a chocolate glaze before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like. I can only make a limited number so be sure to get your order in early. -$5/loaf
Island Bakery has developed a rotation cycle of several dozen breads and pastries. Each Sunday the Bakery emails the week’s bread offering to the mailing list. Orders received before 5 pm Tuesday (and not already claimed) will be available for pickup at the wine shop Friday from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Contact us at least two weeks before your visit to get on the bread list .
This week’s Wine Tasting
Garzon Single Vineyard Albarino ’20 Uruguay $34
Elegant pale yellow in color; fresh and vibrant nose of tropical fruit with a chorus of subtle citrus and floral notes leads to a round, fresh, lingering palate with a saline minerality and a marked sense of terroir.
MAN Vintners Pinotage ’20 South Africa $12
Aromas of dark coffee beans, red berries, nutmeg, and vanilla spice turning to dark berries and smoky plum; rustic yet silky and juicy, with smooth tannins, balanced acidity, and comforting intensity.
The Wolftrap Syrah Mourvèdre Viognier ’21 South Africa $13
Syrah-mourvèdre blend; aromas of ripe plum, red currant, violets, Italian herbs and exotic spices; vibrant flavors of dark berries and spicy plum with hints of orange peel that linger on a juicy finish. (read more)
Economics of the Heart: The Agony of Defeat
our ferry crossing Hales Passage, Mt. Baker background
So…we taste the bitterness of profound defeat after an 8-year struggle. We grieve for the shredding of our Constitution and the great nation we have loved, served, and felt blessed to have been part of. While half of us voted to keep it alive, a slight majority was brainwashed by a decade of 24/7 mis/dis-information from Russia, China, Fox, and social media bots into believing the same lies they heard over and over for years. The consequences of their gullibility will rock the entire World Order for the foreseeable future and mindlessly destroy our planet’s ability to support life. And there’s nothing we can do about it. Or, as sangha brother Jikai famously put it many years ago:
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded, Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed;
Everybody knows that the war is over, Everybody knows that the good guys lost…
We have suggested for many years that the default organizations of human societies are tribalism and feudalism. At one end of a spectrum the entire group is part of decision-making, and at the other end one or a very few leaders hold complete authority. And lots of variations in between. In any given place over a long enough period of time, chances are that social organization has gone through most of them.
About 40 years ago, a an interesting and cheerful guy named Ernest Callenbach wrote a little book called Ecotopia. The premise was that for various reasons Washington, Oregon, and California broke away from the rest of the US to form its own nation. I was on the faculty in Environmental Studies at Western (“WWSC” in those days), where the book became the “book of the Quarter.” Callenbach visited for several days and there were lots of discussion sessions. I presented a paper called “The Economics of Ecotopia” for a meeting of the Society for Utopian Studies ( a fascinating group of people!) the following year.
The recent election results emphasize that our broader West Coast region more strongly supports broad, sustainable, pro-environmental policies with long-term incentives and constraints to slow global warming as much as possible as soon as possible. The incoming Administration and Congress still deny that global warming is a real problem. And that is a Real problem.
Everything we know about Project 2025 suggests its main goal is to concentrate wealth and power into a very few selected hands, at any cost. Its policies offer no discernible social benefits and a long list of social costs. On the other hand, one expects the corporate types would keep an eye on their bottom lines as climate damages mount. Though the next few years promise to be Ugly, climate destruction is not good for anyone’s bottom line, and will mostly affect local and county budgets and require federal action.
Media is all feeling toxic at the moment, so we are backing off for a bit. We walked Ulee down to the coffee stand by the Beach Store this beautiful morning, schmoozed with friends, toasted the reassuring “moat” that separates us from the mainland, and actually laughed a bit. Because, you know, we’re already in Ecotopia and hope to start exhaling in the near future.
2072 Granger Way
