lummi island wine tasting oct 9-10 ’26
This weekend open Friday & Saturday 4-6 pm
This sunset is from 6 months ago and just like the one a few days ago…
and so the world turns..!
Friday Bread Pickup is Back!
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 up with flax seeds and dried currants for a delicious bread. This bread is mixed with a lot of water that makes for a very slack dough so it can’t be weighed out and shaped like other bread, it is just cut into pieces. A really flavorful artisan loaf – $5/piece
Black Pepper Walnut- made with a nice 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 just a bit of peppery bite to it. Would go well with all sorts of meats and cheese – $5/loaf
and pastry this week...
Rum Raisin Brioche: A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with golden raisins and chunks of almond paste and as if that wasn’t enough, topped with a chocolate glaze before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like. I can only make a limited number so be sure to get your order in early…! – 2/$5
This week’s wine tasting
Cloudlift Lucy Rosé of Cab Franc ’23 Washington $19
Pale salmon in color, with aromas of fresh nectarine, citrus peel and strawberry; palate is dry, bright, and focused, with lively, mouthwatering citrus and minerality that extend the finish.
Ciffre St. Chinian ’20 France $20
60% grenache, 40% syrah; aromas and flavors of plum, cherry, raspberry jam and cassis coat the palate with hints of clove and cinnamon that add intensity and length.
Tre Donne Langhe Nebbiolo ’18 Italy
Dark mauve in color ; nose of red berries, tobacco, and chocolate opens to a balanced palate marked by soft, structured tannins that pair well with well-seasoned dishes, tasty sauces, and roasted or grilled meats.
Economics of the Heart: The New Ugly American
gee…Putin looks a LOT like Stephen Miller! Coincidence…?
It is difficult to find adequate metaphors for the rapid fall of the United States leadership role in international affairs and respect since the Tweetster came on the political scene ten years ago, after Barack Obama’s second term. You will recall that in 2008 Obama took office from the exiting Dubya just as the excesses of his administration was crashing our national economy into a major recession; Dubya’s invasion and occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan had become a disaster that would last for twenty years and seems to have forever changed the uneasy balance of Eurasian international politics and political economy.
Indeed, without those unbelievably short-sighted interventions, based far more on the prospect of making $billions for a handful of American corporations than the socioeconomic development and stability of the region, the nations of the Middle East remain in multi-dimensional conflict with each other and even rule their citizens harshly, particularly women, with rigid rules and punishments including beheading for those that break them.
In a certain sense, this is familiar territory for American so-called “diplomacy.” In particular, our nation’s various forays in Southeast Asia from the late fifties until the fall of South Vietnam to the North were managed in a particularly counterproductive way that was exposed through fiction in The Ugly American, a novel by retired Navy Captain William Lederer, (a fellow USNA grad but 31 yrs earlier) who wrote many books and film scripts over his 95 years.
That book was to specifically written to call attention to a common failure of US occupations of the era to work closely enough with the controlling regime of a country that valuable opportunities to help people thrive using local customs and social structures were missed entirely. Lederer’s strong feelings from his own experiences taught him that much of US occupation ignores ordinary people and their needs and merely adds wealth to local leaders who already control it.
Lederer’s insights provide a useful perspective on our nation’s present challenges in the light of the idiocy and cruelty of its current government. Everybody knows this government is using every ounce of its political power to build the personal wealth of the Trump family by looting hundreds of $billions from our national treasury, the states, the people, and federal workers. At the same time they seem to derive substantial sadistic satisfaction from breaking up immigrant families and imprisoning them under unacceptably cruel and inhumane conditions.
The Tweetster has also have found it entertaining over the past year to attack small boats in open waters with heavy military munitions, murdering hundreds of unknown individuals and claiming they are “drug smugglers,” without ever intercepting/ inspecting/ verifying their claims with actual inspections. These are all correctly called “murders,” and are illegal under international law. Also, probably as a tip of the hat to his buddy Vlad, he invaded a sovereign country (Venezuela), deposed its elected leader, and claimed ownership of its fossil fuel reserves.
That brings us to the ongoing debacle of the ongoing bombings of Iran, the stalemates in the Strait of Hormuz, and subsequent interruption of the international oil trade. All of this idiocy is destroying our nation’s status in the world; killing, wounding, and demoralizing our military, impoverishing our own people, substantially depleting our weapons reserves and national security, alienating us from our traditional allies, and substantially weakening our military response options until stockpiles can be rebuilt.
It all adds up to a Gigantic Indictment of everything the so-called Republican party seems to stand for these days. Who the hell benefits from this nonsense except our international foes?
This coming election is forcing every one of us to examine our present circumstances, come together as Americans, and eliminate the tyrannical forces amassed against our 250 yr old Constitutional government. Every day more people turn against the lying, the greed, the cruelty, and the ongoing self-aggrandizement of an insane, cruel old man who may never have had a kind idea in his entire miserable life.
The emerging truth is that after these past two years, Americans are DONE with this man’s broad ignorance, bottomless Ego, and endless Cruelty. Every day more and more people are looking around as if seeing the decline in our domestic and international situation for the first time, gathering in the streets, and reclaiming our Constitutional democracy “with freedom and justice for all.”
At this moment a gigantic-enough Blue tide is turning our very tired– and very tiring– Maga coup into a state by state reassessment of our collective and individual goals, values, and commitments. Time for a New Deal.
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2072 Granger Way