lummi island wine tasting nov 2 ’18
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Bread Friday this week
Barley & Rye w/ Pumpkin Seeds- Made with a levain that is fermented overnight before the final dough is mixed with a nice mix of bread flour and fresh milled rye, barley and whole wheat flours. Some buttermilk makes for a tender crumb, honey for sweetness and toasted pumpkin seeds add to the flavor and texture. A really flavorful artisan loaf – $5/loaf
Kamut Levain – Kamut, also known as khorasan wheat, is an ancient grain that has more protein than conventional wheat. Some people who can’t tolerate wheat find kamut to be more digestible. The bread is made with a levain that is fermented overnight before being mixed with with bread flour and fresh milled whole kamut flour. It has a nutty, rich flavor and makes a golden color loaf. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Croissants! – Made with two preferments, a levain as well as prefermented “old dough” where a portion of the flour, water, salt and yeast is fermented overnight. The final dough is then made with more flour, butter, milk and sugar, laminated with more butter before being cut and shaped into traditional french croissants. – 2/$5
Rescued!
(click photos to enlarge)
The main purpose of our present trip was to attend a mini class reunion with some of my closest college mates. We had such a good time last year at our 50th back East that our friend Tim invited us all to his place on a mountain overlooking LA to watch Navy play Notre Dame (game in San Diego, we watching on TV), which as everyone knows, is the longest-running college football rivalry in the country, some 98 years this year.
To get to his house, one drives about 3 miles up a narrow, twisting one-lane road, often with a steep dropoff on one side, with a couple of seriously steep sections. We arrived on a very hot day, near 100°, and were making good progress until we got about halfway up a 17-degree slope, the steepest on the road, and the car just stopped…it did not have the power to get the trailer up that hill, and backing down was, um, Quite Unappealing.
What unfolded was a Welcome Rescue Operation in which Tim brought down his vintage six-wheel-drive Swiss Army Truck, and we hooked a chain from our towing ring (gotta love those Volvo engineers!) to the truck, and up we went! And though we worried the next couple of days about the trip down the hill, trailer and car brakes did their job and descent was tense but uneventful…all in all, a bit more Adventure than we had in mind, but as you can see the expansive view across LA and suburbs was well worth the effort!
Birthdays at Bodega Bay
We have mentioned a few times in recent years that a favorite camping spot with our trailer is a small RV park in Bodega Bay, California. The park itself, like many, is well-run and well-maintained, but comparatively speaking, offers no extraordinary amenities in the park itself. Its charm is that it borders on a California State Park and campground, often largely deserted in the off-season, offering few of the water and electric hookups that many of us are looking for these days.
We arrived here yesterday, and are parked next to Mike and Diane, close neighbors on the Island, and whom most of you know from the wine shop. Tomorrow we will leave here and caravan up US 1 toward home, arriving next week sometime.
Tonight we dined at a favorite restaurant nearby that we have mentioned before in this blog, a small and charming little place (Terrapin Creek) that happens to have a Michelin Star to its credit, definitely reflected in the quality of the food and service, but not particularly in the prices. (See previous posts here and here).
Once again we recommend it heartily if you are ever in the area…YUM!
Since our birthdays are about a week apart, (Pat’s a few days ago, mine a few days hence) this was a great opportunity for a celebration at a great little restaurant with dear friends from home!
Mar a Lago Update: Verifiable Voting
The long-awaited Midterm Election is just around the corner. Results will be in in less than a week. How much confidence to we have that the results will accurately reflect the Will of the People?
There are many reasons to be skeptical. Until the 2000 Florida debacle in which the Supreme Court selected the President on a legal technicality…a decision later proved contrary to the will of the people of Florida…most of us assumed that our election system was secure and reliable.
In 2004 Ohio was the New Florida, winning W another four years on questionable election results. Then of course we have the Debacle of 2016, with unprecedented spending by bazillionaire donors, social media infiltration and manipulation by Russian hackers, widespread disenfranchisement of left-leaning voters, and a nonstop slanderous media attack on Democratic Candidate Hillary Clinton. No one in their right mind believes even for one second that the Tweetster actually won that election.
So. Here we are on the eve of another National Election. By all accounts a large voter turnout is expected. How confident are we that the results of the election will accurately reflect the preferences of our diverse communities? The answer for most of us these days is “Not Very.”
Which is why, regardless of the outcomes of this particular election, which at present seem unlikely to bolster our confidence, it is in our collective long-term interest to: 1) support non-partisan efforts to make elections secure, accessible to all eligible voters, and verifiable, and 2) do away with partisan gerrymandering at every level of government and have voting districts designed by non-partisan organizations dedicated to fair redistricting.
A good way to support the first goal (verifiable voting) is through the Verified Voting Foundation, a non-governmental, nonpartisan organization founded in 2003 by David L. Dill, a computer scientist from Stanford University, whose objective is to preserve the democratic process by requiring that voting machines produce a tangible, verifiable paper receipt for each vote. Universal use of the verifiable paper ballot would have gone a long way toward preventing the loss in voter confidence after the 2000, 2004, and 2016 elections.
And the best way to support the second goal (ending gerrymandering) is to support the Campaign Legal Center, which works at all levels of government to support every citizen’s right to vote.
And of course…BE SURE TO VOTE!!!
This week’s wine tasting
Chat. Blizard Blanc d’Amour ’16 France $14
Grenache blanc, viognier, marsanne, rousanne; complex, fruity fragrances of grapefruit, white peach, lychee and acacia flower. Balanced, ample and suave, with a fresh finish.
Phantom Chardonnay ’17 California $17
Entices with rich layers of flavor. Green apple and pear transform into spicy notes of freshly baked apple pie, while barrel fermentation imparts a creamy, luscious mouthfeel.
Perazzeta Sara Rosso ’15 Italy $12
90% Sangiovese, 10% Ciliegiolo from the Tuscan south; bright and full-bodied with cherry, crisp acidity, and tantalizing earth tones make this pretty wine a winner with savory dishes.
l’Ecuyer de Couronneau Bordeaux Rouge ’15 France $16
Merlot-dominated it has been made with ‘easy-drinking’ very much in mind, offering a bit of New World ripeness; full bodied with good depth; palate of berries, red fruit, and hints of tobacco in a long finish.
Martoccia Poggio Apricale ’17 Italy $14
Sangiovese Grosso with a little Merlot and Cab Franc; Fruity and persistent nose of wild berries and spice. Soft and balanced with fine tannins this Sant’Antimo Rosso works well with any meal!
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2072 Granger Way