lummi island wine tasting march 10 ’17
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread this week
Buckwheat Rye- Buckwheat flour has an earthy flavor that really goes will with meats and cheese. This version is made with a mix of bread and buckwheat flours as well as some fresh milled whole rye meal. The rye and the buckwheat are mixed with the water for a few hours to get the enzymatic activity started and to allow the grain to hydrate before mixing the final dough, which also has some honey to balance the flavor of the grains. Neither buckwheat or rye has as much gluten as bread flour so this bread is a bit more dense that a white flour loaf -$5/loaf
Multi-Grain – Full of whole grain goodness as well as plenty of seeds! Made with a mix of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye flour Loaded up with a nice mix of flax, sunflower and sesame seeds as well. Made with a portion of the flour that is preferemented overnight to enhance the flavor and jump start the natural enzyme activity in fermentation. Makes great toast – $5/loaf
And for a bit of pastry –
Brioche Tart au Sucre – A rich brioche dough full of butter and eggs, rolled out and topped with a bit more sugar, eggs and cream before baking. Makes for a rich and decadent pastry. As always I can only make a limited number and when they’re gone, they’re gone and you have to wait for the next appearance- 2/$5
Friday-Saturday Wine Tastings
For the next few weeks we will continue the Impromptu Tasting model that has evolved when we are away. That is, when people come in to pick up their bread, someone (anyone) can select a bottle of wine from the displays which is then shared in the community tasting. This continues as more bottles are opened and distributed, like, you know, Loaves and Fishes, until Empty, and a Good Time is had by All!
Then on Saturday we have the more structured tasting; see list below.
Why not come Both Days?..!
Letters to Congress
When one becomes disoriented, or traumatized (shades of the same thing), the default mammal response is to raise your head, Get your Bearings, and Reorient. As the signs used to say: Stop, Look, and Listen…and wait for the panicky part of you to integrate your current experience into Some Kind of Meaning.
When Disorientation is Too Much for us to handle, we feel like that painting called The Scream, where things are too Out of Control to make sense of, at least at the moment. These days I can only get so far toward integrating what has happened to Our Country in the last few months, as summed up in this sign I saw at the local Women’s March in January; it pretty well captures how I feel about the current state of our Nation, and why it feels rational to refuse to accept it.
Although we as individuals are powerless, I believe, as Bernie has emphasized, that if millions of us commit to even small actions, it will make a difference. Therefore my commitment is to write a daily, somewhat personal letter to someone who might have a Voice for Change. So far I have only sent three: John McCain, Steven Beshear, and Susan Collins. However futile, it feels curiously nourishing. I do believe that if we All do it, it Will make a difference!
Letters for Algernon
Curiously, when I started writing the above paragraph tonight, the title of this section popped into my head, and I was a bit baffled by how my Unconscious connected Algernon to current politics.
As some of you older folks will recall, way back in the late fifties Daniel Keyes wrote a short story, “Flowers for Algernon,” that won many awards, eventually becoming first a novel and then the movie “Charly,” for which Cliff Robertson won an Academy Award for Best Actor. The basic theme is that an intelligence-enhancing drug makes a lab mouse named Algernon super-intelligent. It is then tried on a retarded young man named Charlie, who jumps from an IQ of 68 to 185. But the effect is temporary, as for-some-months-brilliant Charlie figures out, and his awareness of his inevitable reversion to his former state evoked a particularly poignant sense of grief in the reader. Heavy stuff.
Upon reflection, some two-thirds of our entire Nation is somewhere between the Denial Stage and the Angry Stage of Grief that somehow Yet Another Republican Coup has taken place in our country, with Truly Alarming implications for the future of our Country and, indeed, Civilization As We Know It.
So. Algernon is a symbol of the Profound Sadness we have all been experiencing since November. It feels like the End of the World. But even though we are just lab mice in the latest Republikaaner Experiment, we can still write our millions of little letters, squeak our millions of little squeaks, and make every tiny step they take an Excruciating Ordeal. Mmmmm. Ahhhh, It’s a Curiously Soothing Fantasy…!
Saturday’s wine tasting
Crios de Susana Balbo Torrontes ’14 Argentina 14
Highly perfumed aromas of lemon drop, white flowers, peppermint and white pepper. Supple, pliant and easygoing, with citrus, herbal and floral flavors joined by a hint of licorice.
El Castro de Valtuille Bierzo ’12 Spain 90 pts $15
Pungent aromas of dried cherry, blackcurrant and licorice. Juicy, concentrated and focused, offering smoky, mineral-accented cherry and licorice flavors and a clinging, spice-tinged finish.
Celler Can Blau Can Blau ’14 Spain 91pts $15
Aromas of ripe black and blue fruit with smoky mineral and licorice notes; Seamless texture, with sweet boysenberry, floral pastille and snappy spiciness. Finishes silky and long, with a sneaky tannic grip.
Rubino Punta Aquila Rosso Italy $15
Fragrant and rich, with fascinating mineral aromas, with notes of brandied cherries, mulberry jam, blueberry and blackcurrant, and spices; warm, complex, generous and vibrant.
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