lummi island wine tasting april 21 ’23
Hours this weekend: 4-6 pm Friday, April 21
PLEASE NOTE: The wine shop will be closed until the end of ferry drydock, and reopening Friday, May 26. Friday bread pickup will continue from 4-5:30 pm, and “emergency” wine purchases can be arranged with Janice at those times.
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Multi Grain Levain – – Made with a sourdough culture and a flavorful mix of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A nice mixture of flax, sesame sunflower and pumpkin seeds and some polenta add great flavor and crunch. And just a little honey for some sweetness. A great all around bread that is full of flavor – $5/loaf
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 to make for a nice tender crumb and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Traditional Croissants – Made with both a sourdough levain and a prefermented dough – aka “old dough”– where a portion of the flour, water, salt and yeast is fermented overnight. The final dough is then made with more flour, butter, milk and sugar, laminated with more butter before being cut and shaped into traditional french croissants. –2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Restaurant of the Week: Elizabeth Station
Okay, okay, this is where we usually showcase one of the wines we are pouring this week. But as it turns out we had to go to town yesterday for a bunch of errands (including a beauty shop grooming for Ulee) and had a little time to grab some lunch. Our thoughts turned to Elizabeth Station, next to the old Aftermath Club at the corner of Broadway and Holly in Bellingham.
Though we had not been there for some years, last weekend a wine shop visitor who had been there recently was totally WOW’ed by their pizzas. Since we had to go right by it to get from downtown B’ham back out to the ferry dock, we stopped by to check it out.
They still have a vast selection of 1000 beers from everywhere, with 22 on tap. But the main business is Pizza. And as our wine shop guest had reported, this place takes “pizza” to a whole new level of subtlety, quality, and flavor. Think of it as “the magic of turning ‘pizza’ into ‘Gourmet Dining!’
A brief phone interview with manager/chef Tam Nguyen revealed the simple secret: an ongoing quest to source the best possible ingredients from regional artisan farms, mills, and cheese producers. The quest began when visitors and sales fell rapidly as Covid spread. That led a new vision: to make great pizza that people could order by phone and bring home with a six-pack of one of their wide selection of great beers and minimal contact. The magic was in tying that idea to a growing network of regional sources of the very best ingredients. That commitment makes an impressive difference. So no, all pizza is not created equal. Yum!
This Week’s $10 Wine Tasting:
Phantom Chardonnay ’20 California $15
Entices with its rich layers of green apple and pear that lead into spicy flavors of freshly baked apple pie, while barrel fermentation imparts a creamy, luscious mouthfeel finishing with sweet notes of vanilla and melted caramel.
Monte Tondo Veneto Corvina ’20 Italy $12
Organically farmed; bright nose of fresh cherries and black pepper; fresh and lively palate of cherry, dark chocolate and spice, with supple, well-integrated tannins and a smooth, seductive, slightly spicy finish.
Tre Donne Langhe Nebbiolo ’18 Italy
Dark mauve in color ; nose of red berries, tobacco, and chocolate opens to a balanced palate marked by soft, structured tannins that pair well with well-seasoned dishes, tasty sauces, and roasted or grilled meats.
Economics of the Heart: Price Elasticity of Demand
painting by Nancy Ging
Some bits of Economic Jargon are actually pretty useful concepts. Here in our little island paradise we have been beset for several months with the prospect of a major ferry fare increase. Our community has presented many questions and arguments against many aspects of the proposal, and we have seen some minor adjustments to soften the proposals a bit. Nevertheless, next week the County Council is scheduled to vote on the proposal which, though we have riddled it with holes, and though we have had some teasing indications that our arguments may be getting a little traction, the matter still seems to be on schedule for logic-defying passage in the coming week.
In the midst of all of this, a fairly simple economic concept which is fairly central to the matter continues to be ignored: price elasticity of demand. (read more)
We all operate on some kind of budget, so when the price of something we regularly buy goes up, we try to use less of it or substitute something else for it that will serve the same purpose. If it’s something we must have (gas for the car, say), then in the short run we will pay the higher price while we shop around for a lower one. In the longer term we might carpool, take the bus, or walk to save money. In the case of ferry fares, daily commuters pretty much have to pay the higher fare, at least for a while or until they can move away.
Raising a price brings in more $ per purchase but lowers the quantity purchased. If demand is perfectly elastic, raising your price will reduce your sales to zero. If it is perfectly inelastic, everyone will have to pay the new price until they can find an alternative. In between there will be gains from higher prices and losses from fewer sales. In the case of our ferry, major (300%!) fare increases from 2007-2011 increased revenue for a year or two until many commuters moved away and were replaced by retirees and telecommuters, whose far more elastic demand lets them ride a little less and stay on budget.
In that sense those major fare increases a dozen years ago “poisoned the well” for future fare hikes by pushing away so many commuters. It is anyone’s guess what will happen next week, but we can be pretty confident that demand now is far more elastic than ten years ago and that a major fare increase will bring disappointing revenue changes for the County.
For all these reasons a number of residents are supporting a much smaller fare increase (10% or so), along with a summer surcharge on cash fares, and monitoring of results as a limited experiment on whether it could raise revenue a bit with manageable impact on the community.
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2072 Granger Way