lummi island wine tasting dec 8 ’22
Hours this weekend: Open 3:30- 5:30 pm both Friday and Saturday
The cold, rain, snow, and ice on the roads made for a sparse turnout last weekend, so we will be doing much the same wines this weekend as last. plus a bubbly for the holiday season.
We have been testing negative for Covid and feeling a lot better the last several days, so looking forward to visitors again. We notice the clock change to Standard Time last month has made the sudden arrival of darkness in the afternoon still feel a little shocking! The good news is (we are not making this up) it’s now only two weeks till Winter Solstice, when the days will start getting longer again! Yay!
ALSO… please note above the slight change to new Winter hours!
Friday Bread Pickup This Week!
Dried Cherry and Pecan – A levain is made the night before final mixing of the dough using a sourdough starter. This allows the fermentation process to start and the gluten to start developing. The final dough is made with the levain, bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and then loaded up with dried cherries and toasted pecans. A nice rustic loaf that goes well with meats and cheese – $5/loaf
Pan de Cioccolate – Also made with a levain, this bread is a delicious chocolate artisan bread not an enriched sweet pastry dough with lots of eggs, butter and sugar. Rather it is a rich chocolate bread made with a levain, bread flour and fresh milled rye flour, honey for sweetness, vanilla and plenty of dark chocolate. Makes fabulous toast, even better french toast – $5/loaf.
and pastry this week…
Morning Buns – Made popular by Tartine Bakery in San Francisco, these are my interpretation. Made with the same laminated dough as croissants. The dough is rolled out, spread with a filling of brown sugar, orange zest, butter and cinnamon. Rolled up and sliced before baking. As always, quantities are limited, be sure to get your order in early – 2/$5….AND our Holiday Special…
Stollen – Our traditional Holiday bread, made with bread flour, a hint of fresh milled rye, milk, eggs, and lots of butter to enrich the bread for a soft crumb; then it is loaded with a mixture of dried fruit, fresh lemon and orange peel, candied lemon and orange peel, and almonds. Shaped around an almond paste filling then brushed with a glaze after baking made of melted butter, sugar and ginger then dusted with powdered sugar. Mmm-mm, Fabulous! -$10/loaf
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.
Wine of the Week: J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux Traditionelle
Everyone has heard of Champagne, which is essentially a sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France, east and a bit south from Paris. It has such Global caché you would think they invented the method…but mais non, monseieur, they didn’t. The earliest reference to sparkling wine, in the records of the Benedictine abbey of Saint-Hilaire, dates back to 1531. Residents of Limoux believe the so-called “methode champenois” was actually developed in Limoux, in the shadow of the iconic Pic de Bugarach. (shown at left)
By this “traditional method,” bubbles are produced in the wine by a second fermentation that takes place when yeast is added to each bottle, which is then recorked. When secondary fermentation is completed, the wines are uncorked, yeast residue removed, and rebottled. These days, while blanquette de Limoux is still made mainly from the grape mauzac, the more “internationally styled” Cremant de Limoux is predominantly chardonnay and chenin blanc (as in Champagne), with only a vestigial proportion of mauzac– though hopefully still enough to produce sparkling wines that are fresh and grassy with aromas of green apple.
A Farewell Toast to Blaine Wetzel’s World Famous Willows Inn!
photo courtesy of Susy Bando
Islanders have mixed feelings about the decade or so of having a world-famous restaurant here. While looking at some old blog posts, I found a reference to this article from 2015, which has some terrific photos of the carefully crafted servings at the Willows, spectacular views of the Strait from Baker Preserve, and a kindly review of one food writer’s experience during the peak of the restaurant’s success.
While many Islanders have soured on the entire enterprise for various reasons over the years, it seems appropriate to some of us to lift a glass to toast Blaine’s accomplishment in achieving global recognition for his creative efforts, and sincerely wish him good fortune with his next effort, rumored to be somewhere near Puerto Vallarta.
He consistently pleased a lot of people a lot of the time in his own creative way, and even as you read this you can bet a bunch of top chefs are getting in touch with Lighthouse Mission, the bequested new owners of the property, and which has long sheltered and served the homeless in Bellingham. It could all be yours for only $2M…!
Economics of the Heart: Sophistry IS the Republican Platform
Nobody talks about sophistry any more. It’s probably because so many are actively engaged in it that no one needs to talk about it. Sophistry is in the saying and proclaiming and the faux certainty and that’s the point. Indeed, pretty much everything Republicans say lately is well-practiced persuasion using spurious arguments that have no factual basis whatsoever. The same lines are repeated over and over and over in the face of overwhelming evidence that they are false.
This all comes to mind after stumbling on this little piece by Ted Gioia called “The Word of the Year Is: Sophistry.”
So let’s consider it point by point.
1. The sophist is interested in what is persuasive; the philosopher is interested in what is true.
It has been many, many years since anyone has heard ANY Republican make a cogent argument for or against any real idea. They all recite the same talking points with the same angry and dismissive tone as if they were actual policies and some part of a party platform. But there IS no platform, no ambition, no deliverable, only the creation of a belief that there is one somewhere and that it will be Wonderful: the Border Wall, the Muslim ban, the perfect phone calls, the calls for donations. It is all Empty.
2.The sophists, unlike philosophers, do not pursue the truth, but only master the art of persuasion.
See above!
3. In a very real sense, talking IS their vocation, although you might guess otherwise from their rhetoric, which invariably promises more than any sophist will ever deliver.
Listen to anything Mitch McConnell has ever said…on second thought no, no, don’t put yourself through that…you would just nod along with him till he is finished, only to realize that you can’t remember even a single thing he said. How does he Do that…?
4. Despite the shallowness of their thinking, sophists have far more influence than honest and serious thinkers, especially in matters of politics and policy. This is because the sophist’s rhetoric is always shaped by what their audience wants to hear.
This why the Tweetster is so able to control the entire Party; he is just like them, but born to it, a professional scammer and liar, completely out of their league, and they are all helpless against him. Sad!
5. For that same reason, sophists will avoid painful truths that run counter to popular demand. Addressing hard truths is bad for their business.
An old cartoon comes to mind. An old man is sitting on a park bench throwing popcorn to a very large “Bird,” obviously a guy in a not-at-all convincing bird costume, while another guy is whispering to the old man, “Sir, that fellow is making a fool of you…!”
6. Sophists are frequent deceivers and sometimes outright charlatans, whose goal is to make people believe whatever they want—and thus, according to Plato and Aristotle, they are responsible for a large portion of the public’s holding false beliefs.
And now they control vast audiences on talk radio, Fox News, Facebook, Twitter, and more, not to mention budding dictatorships around the world. These guys have been around for a Long Time.
You get the picture, and no doubt it resonates. Below are the remaining points in Mr. Gioia’s list. We leave it to you to read them and observe your own reactions, most likely some kind of nodding, oh-yeah-ing, and forehead-slapping agreement. It’s a great article, both entertaining and thought-provoking, hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
7. If necessary, a sophist can actually argue both sides of any issue—and thus has the skill to make the bad seem good, or evil look like justice.
8. They are often aligned with the rich and powerful, and have a knack for making money from their abilities.
9. In the words of one classicist, the end result is a powerful group of “influencers” (as we would call them today) who are “crudely self-serving” and “frivolously manipulative.”
10. Sophists remain popular despite all these obvious warning signs. That’s no coincidence, because the sophists practice a vocation that deliberately aims at enriching and empowering the possessor of sophistical skills.
This Week’s $10 Wine Tasting
J. Laurens Cremant de Limoux France $16
Long before there was “champagne,” there was cremant de Limoux, a little area SW of Carcasonne with creamy mousse texture, and notes of baked apple, prune, and yeasty minerality.
Domaine de l’Amauve La Daurèle, Côtes du Rhône Villages Séguret ’20 France $17
Grenache blanc, clairette, viognier, & ugni blanc; expressive nose of white fruits, Mirabelle plum, and acacia honey; soft on the palate with lively citrus flavors…delicious and very Food Versatile!
Chateau Auzias Cabardes ’18 France $12
From Carcasonne, 60% Cabernet Franc, 30% Syrah, 10% Grenache. Enticing aromas of black raspberry and mulberry that showcase the Cabardes appellation where both Rhone and Bordeaux varietals may be grown. Fine-grained tannins and lacy, billowing acidity carry that raspberry/mulberry fruit all the way to a fresh, graceful finish.
Pomum Red ’16 Washington $18
Carefully made Bordeaux blend of cab, cab franc, malbec, petite verdot, and merlot; aromas of red fruit-leather and exotic spices; flavors of black cherry, cranberry, and garrigue.
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2072 Granger Way