lummi island wine tasting may 16-17 ’19
Friday Breads This Week
Flax seed currant Ciabatta – Made with a poolish that ferments some of the flour and
water overnight before being mixed with the final ingredients which includes a nice
mix of bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye flours, loaded with flax
seeds and dried currants for a delicious bread. A really flavorful artisan
loaf! – $5/piece
Black Pepper Walnut- made from a similar mix of flours, bread flour, fresh milled
whole wheat and rye. A fair amount of black pepper and toasted walnuts give this
bread great flavor with a peppery bite. Try with all sorts of meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
Chocolate Babka Rolls – A sweet pastry dough full of eggs, butter and sugar, rolled and spread with a chocolate filling, rolled up and cut into individual rolls that are placed in baking forms for baking and then brushed with sugar syrup after baking. I’ve heard some people say they hide these to keep them all to themselves. Be sure and get your order in early as quantities are limited – 2/$5
Hearing is Believing
As mentioned last week, after many years of Consternation at the difficulty of hearing each other in the wine shop when more than a dozen people are present, we finally installed some sound absorbing panels over the bar. We had no idea what, if anything, would happen. As it turned out, though we did not have big (and Loud) crowds last weekend, we had enough of a gathering on both Friday and Saturday to detect a Noticeable Improvement, and that it was Good…even though it was not what our experience had allowed us to imagine beforehand.
At some point on both Friday and Saturday, we noticed that 1) the space was Still Loud, but 2) even so, we could still engage in conversation with those next to us, while 3) also being able to hear and distinguish the voices of all the other people in the space. It wasn’t something we could have imagined beforehand, but we are pleased that it makes the noise much more Coherent and much less Dissonant. Metaphorically it is like finding the adjustment on your binoculars where Everything Comes into Clear Focus and you can see clearly enough to differentiate the different objects you are seeing without having to give any up.
The Preliminary Takeaway is a cautious Optimism. It seems that the panels are quite effective at reducing the Distortion of the reverberating sound, dampening the reflections and making it more Coherent and Understandable. It is not an outcome/experience we could have imagined; nevertheless it is a clear Improvement and a fascinating lesson into how we experience sound waves! Who Knew?
Ad Lucem
For those of you (98%…?) who never took Latin, the rough translation of “Ad Lucem” is “Toward the Light.” It is also one of several labels used by Oregon wine industry pioneer Jerry Owen of Lady Hill winery, who was a founding partner in the well-respected Owen Roe winery in 1999. Lady Hill Winery is across the road from Champoeg State Park in the northern Willamette Valley in Oregon, where his ancestors settled in 1850. We have made it something of a habit to visit the winery whenever we bivouac at this very pleasant State Park, and have found it a pleasant destination with memorable wines and enjoyable conversations with Jerry. He has offered to drive up some weekend and pour some of his wines for all of us, and we hope we can make that happen.
The original release of the Ad Lucem wines had a nicely designed cork label (we can show you!) that caught our attention, so when we saw this Ad Lucem label on a distributor list last week we immediately ordered the wine, and are tasting it for the first time as we write. It is not disappointing! Blends of Grenache, Syrah, and Mourvedre have been the centerpiece of Rhone Valley wine production for centuries, and this wine is another good example of why this is so.
Mar a Lago Update: Making Sure Climate Change Is a Debate Topic
Today we digress a bit from the Ongoing Frenzy of Lies and Counter-lies that has replaced dispassionate, political discussion in our Country to give Voice to the Most Vital Political Issue of our Lifetimes: How to Save Life on Earth from Extinction.
Since the first Earth Day in 1971, we Baby Boomers have watched the process of environmental degradation grow more and more out of control despite our best efforts. At every step progress on environmental preservation has been fought and resisted by those who profit by it and by denying its very existence.
In the summer of 1980, nearly forty years ago, I spent ten weeks at Battelle on a project exploring the likely economic costs of anthropogenic Climate Change. My assignment was to explore the impacts of climate change on world fisheries. The Takeaway here is that even forty years ago The Data told us we were in Big Trouble. The record since then shows a history of systematically ignoring, dismissing, dissembling, excusing, and denying these well-documented threats that has taken a Mind-Numbing Toll, to the point where our own species’ short-term perspective now threatens the future of All Life on Earth. Right now, Today, a Million species are poised for Extinction because of our actions; the Countless Micro-interdependencies among species that create soil, nourish plants, clean waterways, and Support Life are beginning to fail across our Planet.
And so to Our Point: the Presidential Debates are coming soon, and there are over 20 candidates. Only ONE of those candidates – our Washington State Governor, Jay Inslee, has staked out a platform on the Defining Issue of our Time –reducing human-caused Climate Change. Therefore it is vitally important that Inslee’s voice be part of the national debate. The requirement for admission to the debates is that the candidate raise a certain amount of money from at least 65,000 individual donors.
Therefore we encourage all of you to donate at least one dollar to Inslee’s campaign so we can keep Climate Change at the forefront of National Debate through the coming Presidential Campaign.
Washington Post Tweetster Lie Count to date: 10,000 as of 5/1/19
This week’s wine tasting
Big Salt Oregon $15
Shows grit and chalky saltiness, with floral, honeysuckle and tropical fruit notes and pebbly minerality. An aromatic but not sweet, supremely satisfying sipper; an excellent food wine.
La Croix Belle Caringole Rosé ’17 France $12
Syrah-Grenache blend; intense nose of rose petals and pear-drop candies; palate of alpine strawberries, raspberries, and cranberries, with a citrus accent on the crisp finish.
Domaine La Croix Belle Caringole Rouge ’17 France $12
Syrah, Carignan and Merlot blend from Languedoc’s Cotes de Thongue region; fresh and supple with flavors of cherry, and black olive, and herbs.
Maryhill Winemaker’s Red ’16 Washington $11
Fruit-forward and smooth with hints of cherry, blueberry and red fruit. Off-dry with fruity notes on the palate accented by cherry and vanilla. Food-friendly and perfect for everyday enjoyment.
Lady Hill Ad Lucem Elaina Red ’15 Washington $21
Grenache, syrah, mourvedre blend; aromas of toast, dark fruits and berries and grilled meat that expand into mouth-watering rich flavors and crisp acidity on the palate.
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