lummi island wine tasting labor day weekend sept 1-3 ’17 artists studio tour
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread this week
Spelt Levain –Spelt is an ancient grain similar to wheat and has a nutty, slightly sweet flavor. It has gluten but it isn’t as strong as the gluten in traditional wheat. This bread is made with a levain, or sourdough, traditional bread flour and about 1/3 spelt flour and fresh milled whole spelt. Makes a great all around bread – $5/loaf
Buttermilk Currant – A really flavorful loaf made with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat, and a little honey, lots of currants and just a little rosemary to round out the flavors. Makes great toast and even better french toast- $5/loaf
And for pastry this week, a Labor Day tradition…
Hamburger Buns – bread flour and freshly milled whole wheat, some milk and butter for a tender crumb and topped with a flavorful onion topping. Great with any kind of sandwich – not just hamburgers! – 4/$5
Doors of Lyon
Our Studio Tour artist this weekend is Mary Beth Watkins, our neighbor across the road and down a short path through the woods. This is a reprise of her show of the same title back in May of 2011. Since then we have also been in Lyon, famous for all kinds of things, but particularly the food and, in our small circle, the doors as well!
A brief search online for information about these beautifully made, richly carved and heavy front doors did not reveal a history or explanation. However, it did reveal a website with lots of photos of these doors. Curiously, the very first one is the same door we featured in this blog for Mary Beth’s first show of these photos six years ago!
We welcome comments and links to more information about the Lyonnaise penchant for putting such effort into their entrances. In the meantime, we hope you stop by and take a look at the whole collection this weekend.
Tristan Returns!
A couple of years ago we had a great run with our friend Tristan, for several years a wine rep from our favorite importer Small Vineyards who developed their portfolio of French and Spanish wines. Tristan came to the wine shop of several Studio Tour occasions to pour some of the wines he represented over the weekend. He has been scarce the past two years because he started his own wine importing/distributing company, Vinea Imports, specializing in Spanish and French wines.
Tristan will be here pouring wines from his portfolio on Saturday and possibly on Sunday. As with Small Vineyards, these are terrific wines at bargain prices, so we encourage you to come by and taste through some interesting wines!
Tator Talk
Earlier this year we chronicled the illness and loss of our younger dog Cooper. And how our grief led us to adopt a new puppy from the same breeder, Ulee. And even about the evolving relationship between Tator and Ulee.
Well, about a month ago our senior dog Tator (aka ‘Stole my Heart in the First Minute”) started slowing down and losing energy. And getting a lot less tolerant of Ulee. Seemed too fast a decline for chalking up to “Age,” so we took her in for some tests. A blood count revealed the strong likelihood she had a nasty autoimmune blood condition, Immune-Mediated Hemolytic Anemia or IMHA: her immune system was destroying her own red blood cells.
The Protocol for this condition is to suppress the immune system with steroids, including prednisone. Within a week of starting heavy doses, she began losing the ability to stand up or walk. She has had a hearty appetite, drinks lots of water, relieves herself regularly (with a little support), and a chest x-ray today revealed no abnormalities in heart or lungs, definitely Good News! So…over the next few days we will be tapering her off the prednisone and monitoring her muscular function along with her red cell count. Best case scenario is that she regains her strength and muscular control (she has always been very athletic and graceful) and her red cell counts continue toward normal. All healing thoughts, prayers, and wishes are welcome. Stay tuned.
Mar a Lago Update
There’s a New Feeling in the Air. A Prelude to Fall, perhaps…? We feel it as a sort of Burden, a psychic Weight on the Shoulders, a tendency toward Despair on one level. But on another, it is a Glass Growing toward Overflowing with Insults to All we Hold Most Dear. We grow Weary of this Strange World in which wherever we go, whatever we do, Fifty or a Hundred or a Thousand times a day we are Bombarded with the Latest Outrage from the Tweetster. Like a Burlesque Magician pulling rabbits from a hat, or cards from his sleeve, or a coin from behind your ear, the Spotlight is Ever Fixed Upon Him.
And a lot of little voices are rising within us, telling us this is Not Entertainment, it isn’t Fun, and it isn’t Productive. The feeling is becoming a gut-level Need to see this Entire Circus torn down, and all the Freaks and Clowns and Fake-Reality Acrobats put back on the Carnival Train and sent back to The Twilight Zone where they belong.
The Tweetster is a Media Creation, a product we consume every day, and we have been willing geese force-fed for the eventual harvesting of our engorged livers. We are all Addicted. We need to start saying “No.”
This week’s wine tasting
Friday’s tasting list is undecided. Think of it as a Surprise. Saturday and Sunday we will pour the following wines from Vinea Imports:
Jane Ventura Blanc Seleccio ’15 Spain
Aromas of white fruits, citrus, white flowers and aromatic herbs; intense, unctuous and very fresh and crisp. Long, persistent finish.
Chateau de Carguilhes Corbierres Rose
Nose of zesty fresh redcurrant and strawberry sherbet and mineral notes, echoed in a round, smooth and ripe mouth of raspberries and strawberries, and zingy gooseberries.
Bodegas Ayuso Estola Reserva ’15 Spain
Warm aroma of spices and ripe fruit; wide and round palate, great buy!
Chateau Les Croisille Cahors Malbec “Croizillon” ’15 France
100% malbec organically farmed by hand; aromas and flavors of black cherry, saddle leather, blackberry, cocoa and spice.
Pardas Negre Franc ’14 Spain
Cab Franc, Cab Sauv and Sumoll aged for one year in oak; intense herbaceous nose with notes of bell pepper and raspberry leaf and aromas of wild berries; medium-bodied, with a fine texture, round tannins and moderate acidity.
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2072 Granger Way