lummi island wine tasting may 12 ’17
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread this week
Seeded Country Hearth – A nice artisan bread made with bread flour and about a third fresh milled whole wheat. Loaded up with pumpkin, sunflower and poppy seeds for lots of crunch and flavor. A great all around bread -$5/loaf
Buttermilk Currant – A really flavorful loaf made with bread flour and almost half fresh milled whole wheat. A little honey for sweetness balances the flavors of the whole grain, buttermilk makes for a soft and tender crumb. Then lots of currants and just a little rosemary round out the flavors. This bread makes great toast and even better french toast- $5/loaf
And this week’s pastry…
Gibassiers – A traditional french pastry made with a delicious sweet dough full of milk, butter, eggs and olive oil. Orange flower water, candied orange peel, and anise seed bring great flavor to these pastries. After baking they are brushed with melted butter and sprinkled with more sugar. Ooh La La! – 2/$5
Didy’s Gift
Didy Lutz was the artist for our first real Art Show about ten years ago. The poster shown here is one we made for Didy’s show, using one of her paintings that we have hanging in our living room. Didy and her husband Martin grew up in Switzerland in the thirties, met young, and eventually married. They lived all over the world as part of Martin’s career as a civil engineer. Their native language was High German, and they carried themselves with a warm and inviting Dignity.
Martin passed away several years ago, and Didy followed him just last year. So it was something of a surprise to hear from their son Chris, whom we had met in the wine shop back in 2010, that he was engaged in a process of distributing many of Didy’s unsold paintings to her old friends and family. He posted photos of the collection and invited each of us to select our favorites, in order, (which was not easy, because we liked all of them!), and he would hopefully be able to send us one we liked. Well, two days ago a package arrived with four paintings from our list of ten “favorites!”All in all it has been an unexpected, undeserved, and touching gift.
We encourage our readers to visit the site and browse through these images to get a taste of Didy’s style: abstract and colorful and evoking with each work a timeless and captivating “right nowness” that was one of her particular gifts.
May wine
The occasion was our friend Thurid’s 80th birthday last Sunday. The first thing you have to know is that 80 is to Thurid as 60 is to most of us. The second thing is that she and her late husband Bob introduced us to Didi and Martin (see above), eventually leading to our show of Didi’s paintings and the recent arrival of the new ones mentioned above. And the third thing is that just about everyone on the Island knows and loves her.
So it was no surprise that when Thurid thought she might have a little birthday celebration, LOTS of people got involved. The setting was the Community Garden at the Curry Preserve, on an astoundingly beautiful Spring Sunday. There were rows of tables laden with delicious dishes and more tables laden with delicious desserts! The entire scene deserved to be rendered in oil by one of the Impressionist Masters who could have captured the Magical Light and Shadow of the day.
There was one Other Table next to the food with a Large Bowl of May Wine, the traditional celebratory beverage of May Day celebrations. May wine is made by infusing riesling (in this case a Washington riesling) with fresh flowers of Sweet Woodruff, found in abundance in most northern climes in early May. The infused riesling is then combined half and half with sparkling white wine (in this case Italian prosecco), and garnished with a few blossoms of Sweet Woodruff.
All you need to know is that it was absolutely Delicious, and we hope to mix some up at the wine shop very soon!
Signs of Madness Escalate
Well, it’s been another Busy Week in the Nation’s Capital. Any casual observer would have to concede that the Efficiency with which the new so-called Administration can create Chaos is constantly improving, perhaps even accelerating. Though at first glance that seems more of a Shortcoming than an Asset, the strategy so far has been working Flawlessly. Such is the Magic of Complete Control of Government.
The current Chaos surrounding the Firing of the FBI Director is a case in point. While the Well-Fed Media Pundits and Congressional Politicians Pose and Postulate about What It Could Mean, the Family Fascists are sitting around the pool planning their next Outrage. And all along the Republikan Faithful are unwilling to act because it might hurt their Polls at Home. Somehow, through some kind of Time-Space Warp, we have all been caught up in some Dark Mitch McConnell Wet Dream where the Spoils all Flow toward the most Blatant Hypocrisy.
Our Challenge is highlighted by the recent firing of FBI Director Comey. As the legal and Constitutional Violations of the Administration mount and Accumulate, more and more depends on the resiliency of our layers of Bureaucracy to continue Doing their Jobs and adhering to their oaths to Defend the Constitution against All Enemies, foreign and Domestic. Make no mistake, this is a True Crisis, and any reasonably Divided Government would Circle the Wagons and run these Clowns out of town in Tar and Feathers on a Rail. They still haven’t Gotten It that Jabba only wants them for the Fat they can Render…(take note, Mssrs Ryan and McConnell…(slurp!)
This week’s wine tasting
Cloudlift Chardonnay ’14 Washington $18
Delicate aromas of dusty strawberry and dried Rainier cherry. The structure brings crushed cherries and white strawberry flavors, leading to a finish of black currant.
Chateau Lancyre Rosé ’15 France $12
Brilliant pink. Nose of ripe red berries and tangerine; Fleshy, seamless and broad palate of plush raspberry and candied orange and a touch of bitter herbs.
La Mijane Arpege ’13 France $14
Oceanic influences create an alternation of warm sun and cool breezes, which develop complex, original and balanced wines.
Castillo la Mendoza Crianza ’13 Spain $13
Ruby red with nose of red ripe fruit and morello cherry with vanilla and coconut notes; warm and round, with fruity flavors with notes of figs, toast and licorice; very easy to drink.
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.
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
