lummi island wine tasting june 30 ’23
Open Friday, June 30, from 4-6pm
Good News #1… Our plans to be away this weekend just changed to avoid a forecasted heat wave, so we WILL BE OPEN Friday, June 30 from 4-6pm for wine tasting and sales!
Good News #2… Beginning July 7, we will be expanding our summer hours to be open both Fridays and Saturdays from 4-6pm!
Blue sky, blue water
-view from island side ferry dock
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, sesamOn Tuesday this week, the Chair of the Ferry Advisory Committee (I am a member) announced a “special meeting” for today with the clear intention of circumventing the decisions that had been made both at our last meeting on June 14 and the subsequent Council meeting on June 20 to postpone any decisions on a radical ordinance change submittted by Public Works (since when do the regulatees get to rewrite the regulations??). The clear intent of the special meeting was to override the decisions already made and push the Council to pass the insane new rules that would remove ALL the guardrails on what costs PW could pass off as “ordinary maintenance.”e 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
Polenta Levain –– Also made with a levain, aka sourdough, from a starter fed and built up over several days, then mixed with bread flour and polenta in the final dough mix. This bread is a nice rustic loaf with great corn flavor. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Pain aux Raisin – made with the same laminated dough as croissants. The dough is rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with a mix of golden raisins and dried cranberries that have been soaked in sugar syrup. Rolled up and sliced before baking. These
To get on the bread order list, click 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: Lambert de Seyssal Petit Royal France $22
The village of Seyssel, in Savoie in the French Alps, has a history of viticulture dating back centuries, having built a reputation for floral-scented charmers from the local grapes, Molette and Altesse. Produced in the méthode traditionnelle and aged for two years sur latte, the Petit Royal is unequaled in the world of sparkling wine. Nose of alpine flowers, dried fruit, wildflower honey, and a toasty, yeasty note give this the wine an utterly delightful aromatic richness and complexity. Serve it with various salty toasts to kick off your next dinner party, or pop one open to liven up a night at home with a big bowl of mac and cheese. Versatile!
Lambert de Seyssal Royal Seyssal France $22
Great sparkling wine from the Savoie region; 50% Altesse, 50% Molette from clay/limestone soils. Stacked sur latte for 3-4 years, yielding complex aromas, fine perlage (bubbles), and crisp acidity. Yummy stuff!
This week’s wine tasting
Lambert de Seyssal Royal Seyssal France $22
Great sparkling wine from the Savoie region; 50% Altesse, 50% Molette from clay/limestone soils. Stacked sur latte for 3-4 years, yielding complex aromas, fine perlage (bubbles), and crisp acidity. Yummy stuff!
Natura Rose ’21 Chile $12
Cold-soaked before pressing and cold-fermented on the skins to develop rich and nuanced aromas and flavors of grassy lime, tropical fruits, and lychee, with a crisp, lingering finish.
Angeline Cabernet Sauvignon ’20 California $14
Deep garnet hue with aromas of lush cherry, cassis, and plum lead to rich cherry and plum flavors and lingering notes of vanilla and creamy oak…seriously over-delivers for its modest price tag.
Economics of the Heart: Crossing Lines vs. Lines Crossing, pt 2
courtesy www.dogtopia.com
It has been an intense week in our local ferry liaison world. At the time of last week’s post about all of this, tensions and temperatures were rising quickly, and dialogue was deeply stressed and reactive between the two opposing viewpoints in the “conflict.”
On Tuesday this week, the Chair of the Ferry Advisory Committee (I am a member) announced a “special meeting” for today with the “clearly hidden” intention of subverting decisions that had been made both at our last meeting on June 14 and the subsequent Council meeting on June 20 to postpone Council consideration of a radical ferry rate ordinance change submitted by Public Works (like, since when do the regulatees get to rewrite the regulations??). The clear intent of the special meeting was to override the decisions previously made and create a back door through which to remove ALL the guardrails on the kinds and magnitudes of costs PW could pass off as “ordinary maintenance” in computing our fare burden. (I am not making this up).
The short version of a very long and complicated story is that a volunteer citizens’ group (including two very good lawyers and not affiliated with Lifac) worked very hard to identify several ways in which the meeting violated the WA Open Meetings Act. As a result, around mid-day today the meeting was officially cancelled– a HUGE victory for the grass roots effort and a welcome sense of relief after a long and difficult week. For the moment, anyway.
Some residents are angry at the Lifac Chair in particular for putting us all through this trauma. And that is certainly fair to some degree. But it is also true that these experiences reveal how much the entire system is broken and dysfunctional. The Ferry Committee has essentially ignored since its inception nearly all of its codified responsibilities (see below), and instead has focused most of its attention on deferring to Public Works. Presently, about 4.5 of the 7 Lifac members seem to believe that their primary responsibility is to give PW everything it asks for, a consistent majority. So while there is a bit of breathing room, let’s take a moment to speculate how in the world we got here, and if and how the system might be fixed.
The founding statute of the Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee (WCC Chapter 2.145), defines its charge as to “provide review and recommendations to the Whatcom County Council and Executive on issues that affect the ongoing operations and infrastructure of ferry service to Lummi Island…and also provide a forum for those who depend upon Lummi Island ferry service to voice their ideas and concerns about the ferry service.”
The specific charge of the committee is to advise the county council or the county executive on the following functions:
A. Review and provide recommendations on proposed changes to ferry operations and fares;
B. Review at least annually ferry revenue and expenditures, ferry fund balance, and actual versus targeted fare return;
C. Assist the county in collecting information from ferry riders on actual and desired ferry services, concerns, and ideas for improved service;
D. Analyze and develop recommendations to continue and improve the cost effective operation of ferry service to Lummi Island;
E. Research, review, and make recommendations regarding ferry replacement, long-term planning, parking, transportation to and from ferry docks, alternative docking locations, alternative funding sources, and other major capital and operational issues regarding ferry service to Lummi Island. (Ord. 2012-005 Exh. A).
Your attention is invited in particular to the fact that the ordinance is silent about any liaison between Lifac and Public Works, which operates and maintains the ferry and related infrastructure.
On the face it is a bit hard to imagine why there might be much cause for policy disagreement. But it turns out that over the dozen or so years the committee has existed, the necessity of some ongoing liaison with Public Works, which operates and maintains ferry operations and infrastructure, seems to have morphed Lifac into a sort of satellite department of Public Works. Each new member picks up the vibe and many start to believe that their real job is to make sure Public Works gets whatever it asks for. And in the meantime the responsibilities and tasks listed above receive minimal attention or are completely ignored.
To be clear: there is now an established, majority “culture of obeisance” to Public Works on Lifac that prevents it from attending to its responsibilities to serve the needs and interests of ferry users, who include not just island residents, but the entire flow of commerce between island and mainland. In its present configuration Lifac is creating problems faster than it is helpng to solve any. There is no simple fix for that, but it falls to the Council to address the present ongoing dysfunction. In, you know, mho.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
2072 Granger Way