lummi island wine tasting march 2 ’18
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
Bread this week
Multi Grain – The pre-ferment is mixed with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye, and a nice mix of flax, sunflower and sesame seeds as well as rolled oats are added for a nice bit of crunch and some extra flavor. A great all around bread – $5/loaf
Rosemary Olive Oil – The pre-ferment is mixed with bread flour and a bit of freshly milled white whole wheat for a little more flavor and texture. Fresh rosemary from the garden and olive oil to make for a nice tender crumb and a nice crisp crust. A great all around bread – $5/loaf
and for pastry this week…
Palmiers aka Elephant Ears – Puff pastry that is rolled out, spread with sugar, folded over and sliced. Makes a delightful, crisp, crunchy, buttery, sugary pastry. – 4/$5
Meiomi
We got caught a little short for our tasting this week. First, we have been away a lot and inventory is Way Down. Second, there was a Snafu with this week’s wine order from one of our reps, and it wasn’t going to make it here in time. So, third, while in town today for a dentist appointment, I picked up some wine at the local Gigantic Distributor Wholesale Store, where I picked up several wines that have been popular with Our Faithful in recent years.
Included among them is a California pinor noir that I remember fondly from 2013: Meiomi. Since we last tasted it, the winery has been bought by a Gigantic Wine Conglomerate, Constellation Brands. This transition is discussed in some detail by wine critic Matt Kramer. The fact is that I have not tasted this wine for several years, when yes, I thought (as Matt Kramer suggests) that it was very tasty for the price. It had nice fruit and in the Large was a pretty good Poster Wine for California Pinot Noir.
We offer this current release without benefit of having tasted it. It might be great; it might be disappointing. Either way, it offers a Lesson. If the Old World Way is to present wines that represent the Annually Changing Faces of particular vineyards, the New World Way is to mix, match, and manage fruit from many vineyards in any given vintage to produce wines this year that taste as much like last year as possible. That’s SOP for Giant Conglomerates, and it has its merits, in contrast to the the Artisan vintner/winemaker— “Here’s what the vintage brought this year…let’s see what it has to say …!”
Just Get Used To Shi*#ng Your Pants
Something like Ten Years ago we went to a Talk on Climate Change by Canadian Environmental Journalist David Suzuki (The Nature of Things) at our local Old-Time Theater. As you might expect, he received a Warm Welcome and gave an Engaging Presentation, followed by Q & A. At some point someone asked, “Should we be Worried about Global Warming? After a very brief pause, he said, with Great Emphasis, “You Should Be Shi*#ng Your Pants!”
And here we are in 2018, and another Ten Years have been wasted in a School Yard Argument about a) whether Climate Change is Real, and b) if so, has it been Caused by Humans. Fast forward to today, where the latest news is that the Poles (* the Ends of the Earth, not, you know, my Grandparents), predicted by Scientists to display Symptoms of Global Warming twice as fast as mid-latitudes, are in fact warming Even Faster than Predicted. Right now, for example, the temperature at the North Pole is already above Freezing, even though the Sun has not risen above the horizon for six months, and the Specter of an Ice-Free Summer Arctic is no longer Theoretical.
This might be a good time to Light a Match to All the Spurious Arguments about whether Global Warming is Anthropomorphic or part of some Long Cycle we don’t Understand, because they are, as Perry Mason so often Objected: “Irrelevant, Incompetent, and Immaterial!” The Meaning of an ice-free Arctic extends far beyond the Arctic, with implications for the Jet Stream (which affects weather Worldwide), the Gulf Stream (which keeps Europe Habitable), and for Arctic Species like Polar Bears, Whales, and Seals, and the human cultures that live in symbiosis with them. It’s a Rapa Nui Moment, folks; do we want to use our last resources to Make Meaningless Symbols, or as Seed Stock for the Future?
Mar a Lago Update: Keeping the Lid on the Con Locker
Every midshipman’s room had Con Lockers built into the big metal desks that dominated each room. The Con Locker was essentially a Safe for storing Classified Information, and part of our training was being Accountable for Classified Materials in our Possession. The Takeaway here is that most people don’t ever have to worry about this kind of Security, so accountability for it takes some Getting Used To.
So we can imagine it is a Great Challenge for the Tweetster and Family to Drop In from Mar a Lago or The Tower to go Slumming at the White House and play Royal Family with all their Friends, like Dormouse, Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat, and the rest, only to be Constantly Annoyed by All these Serious People and their Stupid Rules. Like Hel-lo, What is Their Problem???!
So far Everything this F-Scottian gang of Uber-Entitled has done has been Yet Another Chapter of the Emperor’s New Clothes. The Question on the Floor today is whether they have any notion of their own Personal Accountability for Anything. If your Everyday Working Life is continually finding a new Peter to pay the latest Paul, then the very Concept of Personal Accountability can become a Vague Abstraction. Like the Twilight Zone, this is a place where the Ordinary Rules Do Not Apply, and it can be a Big Stretch to have to Grok that the Many Potential Financial Advantages of Power are both Unethical and Illegal. Or, you know, care.
This week’s wine tasting
Maryhill Winemaker’s White ’14 Washington $12
Flavorful blend of pinot gris, chardonnay, semillon and sauvignon blanc; opens with clean, bright aromas of pear and apple with touches of tangerine, butter and lemon oil.
Meiomi Pinot Noir ’16 California $21
Opens with aromas of bright strawberry and jammy fruit, mocha, and vanilla, leading to expressive boysenberry, blackberry, dark cherry, juicy strawberry, and toasty mocha flavors that lend complexity and depth on the palate with good structure and depth.
Septima Malbec ’16 Argentina $11
Aromas of plums and figs, with an overlay of vanilla oak enhancement. On the palate, forward fruit (
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.
Esplugen Priorat ’14 Spain $17
Garnacha, carinena, cab sauv; Priorat’s famous slate soil and arid climate give this wine great intensity and structure, with deep and complex aromas of rich ripe fruit, toast, and a long pleasing finish .
lummi island wine tasting feb 23 ’18
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Bread this week
Whole Wheat Levain – after building up the sourdough starter over severals days a levain is made the night before final mixing of the dough. This allows the fermentation process to start and the gluten to start developing. This particular dough is made with levain and bread flour and about 25% fresh milled whole wheat. I like to say it has a ‘toothy’ crumb, it has great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. A nice artisan loaf that is a great all around bread – $5/loaf
Pear Buckwheat – the preferment in this bread is a poolish, made with bread flour, water and a bit of yeast and fermented overnight. Mixed the next day with bread flour and fresh milled buckwheat. Since buckwheat has no gluten using the preferment allows the dough to begin to develop before the final mix. The addition of toasted walnuts and dried pears soaked in white wine makes for a really flavorful bread – $5/loaf
For pastry this week…
Tartine Bakery style Morning Buns – My version of San Francisco Tartine Bakerys’ morning bun pastry. Laminated croissant dough is rolled out and spread with a butter and brown sugar filling before being rolled up and sliced and baked in muffin tins. Absolutely fabulous!! – 2/$5
Back to Regular Hours!
We are back from our trailer travels a bit earlier than expected. We did find somewhat warmer weather in southern Oregon, which was entirely pleasant, but a number of complicating factors brought us home early. Just in time, as it turns out for this week-long February nor’easter we have been experiencing this week, temperatures below freezing at night and not much above during the day. And now some snow forecast over the next few days.
The good news for Our Faithful is that we will be open for regular hours this weekend. Bread Friday will happen as usual from 4 to 6-ish on Friday, and open Saturday afternoon from 3-6. Y’all come by now, and let’s catch up!
Hearts and Minds
Mass shootings now happen many times a week across our country. Most of them are ignored by the Press. But when it’s a School Shooting, the Media descend on the grieving community, interview local officials and survivors, report the Body Count, profile the killer…the same stories over and over, and Nothing Changes.
This time it feels Different. These bright, motivated, energized, outraged, courageous, and dedicated high school students from Parkland, Florida are speaking out Loudly and Effectively and Demanding Action against Gun Violence. We listen to their Reason and their Passion and are Inspired to cheer them on and find ways to support them. Maybe This Time, informed by the Truth of their Experience, and Shamed by the collective Impotence of a bought-and-paid-for-by-the-NRA Congress, Sanity can gain some traction and the “Well-Regulated” part of the so-called Consitutionally Guaranteed Right to Bear Arms can start applying Necessary and Reasonable Rules for gun ownership, use, and responsibility. Any rational person can now see clearly that those rules should be increasingly restrictive for increasingly lethal weapons, however defined. The more lethal the weapon, the more certain Society must be about the character of the owner. Every teenaged Bozo does NOT have a God-given right to an AR-15 and high-capacity magazines.
These high school students are Setting an Example for our entire Nation. Our hats are off to them for calling BS and calling out Legislators at every level to take a stand for the same reasonable and rational rules for gun ownership as are found in most civilized countries. If we all join our voices with theirs, we can help them to Make a Difference.
Mar a Lago Update: The Good, the Bad, and the Worst
He likes to think of himself in Superlatives, part of the Ongoing Ritual of Patting himself on the Back. Every Tweetstorm seems to have at its root an intention to push someone Out of the Spotlight to claim it for himself. So it may be of some peculiar Comfort to him to be compared to all the previous Presidents and to see where he might fit in the Hierarchy.
These musings were posted in the New York Times this past weekend. Various observers over the decades have taken it upon themselves to rate and rank Presidents. At the top of most lists are Washington, Lincoln, and FDR. At the bottom are Andrew Johnson, James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, George W. Bush, and …wait for it…the Tweetster!
As President Washington observed, “the President cannot in any way ‘demean himself in his public character’ and must act ‘in such a manner as to maintain the dignity of office.’ Many bottom-of-the-list Presidents had relatively successful first years, after which a combination of circumstances and character flaws delegated them to Failed status. Curiously, only two of the “failures”– Andrew Johnson and James Buchanan– had Bad First Years. Buchanan’s role in lobbying for the Dred Scott Decision in the Supreme Court is widely viewed as a major cause of the Civil War. And Johnson’s racist views led him to veto Civil Rights for newly-freed slaves, leading to his impeachment in 1868.
In comparison, the Tweetster’s first year as Fake President has been an unrelenting parade of Disgraces, Embarrassments, Inconsistencies, Personal Hubris, Financial Conflicts of Interest, Crude Vulgarities, and a Nation-Crippling Degree of Narcissistic Self-Absorption. Add McConnell and Ryan to that equation, and you have the Perfect Cast for The Three Stooges Go To Washington, Season 2. Next tweet might go,“Like, I am So Good at Being Worst, I am Like the Best at Being Worst, like No One is Better at Being Worst! Am I right? Am I right? Of course I’m right!”
This week’s wine tasting
Leese-Fitch Chardonnay ’16 California $11
Opens with pleasant aromas of apple, citrus and tangerine. Smooth and tasty in the mouth, with rich notes of apple, pear, tangerine, lemon, lime and tropical fruit and a touch of honeyed sweetness.
Anciano 5-Yr Tempranillo Riserva ’10 Spain $11
Aromas of damp earth, mocha, tobacco, and black cherry. On the palate it is sweetly fruited, easy-going, and nicely balanced leading to a seamless, fruity finish.
Tenuta Rubino Oltreme Susamaniello ’14 Italy $14
Fresh, fragrant notes of cherries, pomegranate, raspberries and hints of ripe plum; fruity, minerally, and round on the palate with soft, pleasant tannins, a versatile and seductive pairing with richer dishes.
Cougar Crest Dedication 12 ’16 Washington $13
Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. Velvety and round, with gently pulsing flavors of currant and plum, hinting at clove, pepper and roasted meat notes as the finish lingers enticingly.
Maryhill Reserve Grenache ’14 Washington $23
Blueberry, bing cherry and caramel delight the nose while a medium-body, velvety tannins and notes of cedar and cherry accent the palate.
lummi island wine tasting feb 16 ’18
Bread this week
Levain w/ Dried Cherries and Pecans – The final dough is made with the levain, bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and then loaded up with dried cherries and toasted pecans. A nice rustic loaf that goes well with meats and cheese – $5/loaf
Poolish Ale – the preferment here is a poolish, made with bread flour, a bit of yeast and a nice ale beer for the liquid and fermented overnight. Mixed the next day with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. This makes a great all around bread with a nice crisp crust – $5/loaf
A new pastry this week, sometimes that may lead to issues in the final product. There are often challenges when doing something new so I need to have a pretty strict limit on the amount I can make so I need to limit to 2 pastries/1 order per order:
Chocolate Panettone – Panettone is a smallish Italian brioche-like sweet bread, with lots of sugar, butter, eggs and honey, 3 different types of chocolate, and cocoa nib praline/chocolate glaze on top. No candied orange or raisins. Great as a pastry, sliced for toast or french toast, or for bread pudding – 2/$5
February Wine Shop Schedule
The Wine Shop will be open for Bread Fridays and Wine Tasting through February. Janice will open the shop this Friday for thbread delivery and wine tasting as usual (thought the tasting menu is still a Mystery!) The loss of a Very Dear Friend is prompting us to return home sooner than planned, so we expect to be open for regular hours Friday and Saturday beginning Feb 23-24.
Mar a Lago Update: A Brief Digression on Psychopathy, pt 2
Last week we expounded on some of the characteristics of the Psychopathic personality strategy. In summary, the Psychopath is someone who has determined that Hiding Hurt behind Smug Superiority, Rewarding Loyalty with Generosity, and Punishing Disloyalty with Vengeance allows him to maintain the Illusion that he is Loved and Appreciated.
So that’s one dimension. A more intriguing dimension of this personality organization is about the Transactional Relativity of Truth.
Broadly speaking, most of us believe at some Unconscious level that there is some Abiding Truth to “Reality.” But for the Psychopath, Truth is completely Relative to the Moment: who we are talking with and what do they want to hear right now?
There is both an Art and a Compulsion about this. On the one hand, the Psychopath has an Intuitive Insight into what people Want to Hear at any moment, and is able to Tune into it and Promise it to them in a Convincing Way. On the other hand, there is an internal Contradiction bound for Failure because he tells everyone a Different Story on the same “Facts.”
The Really Fascinating aspect of all of this is that on the one hand Everybody Knows that he is Lying, while on the Other Everybody Hears What they Want to Hear.
Which brings us to a Disturbing Revelation: the persuasive power of the Psychopath is in convincing people that he Hears them and will Serve Them, in a way they Actually Believe. The Incomprehensible Dimension of all of this is that although Everybody Knows that His Truths are Lies, we as a Society seem to be Unwilling or Unable to Confront Him. Our Bad, n’est-ce pas?
Wine Tasting this week
We are still away; Janice will be pouring the weekly wine tasting and delivering the week’s bread orders on Friday from 4-6 pm. The wine tasting menu is a little vague at the moment. All you need to know is that there Will Be a Wine Tasting, and it will be (as usual) Great!
lummi island wine tasting feb 9 ’18
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Bread this week
Pain Meunier – aka “miller’s bread;” Made with pre-feremnted dough it contains all portions of the wheat berry: flour, fresh milled whole wheat cracked wheat and wheat germ. Always a favorite and a great all around bread. It makes the best toast! – $5/loaf
Fig Anise – One of our most popular breads. Made with a sponge that is fermented overnight, then the final dough is mixed with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. Honey, dried figs and anise bring in all the flavors of the mediterranean. A great flavorful bread – $5/loaf
For pastry this week:
Chocolate Babka Rolls – A sweet pastry dough full of eggs, butter and sugar, rolled and spread with a chocolate filling, and cut into individual rolls brushed with sugar syrup after baking. – 2/$5
February Wine Shop Schedule
The Wine Shop will be open for Bread Fridays and Wine Tasting on the remaining Fridays in February: Feb 9, 16, and 23, form 4-6. So keep ordering bread, stay around for Friday wine tasting, and celebrate our collective good fortune to live on this beautiful Island. And of course, stay tuned for updates!
Ciliegiolo
Ciliegiolo is a red grape variety of central and northwestern Italy, something of an obscurity in past decades but now undergoing a renaissance in Tuscany and Umbria. It’s dominant flavor is cherry, from which it derives its name due to both its flavor and color which have provided the appeal to fuel its renaissance.
Ciliegiolo brings a certain freshness and lively character to otherwise heavy wines. In a world that increasingly demands early-drinking wines, but which are nonetheless full of character, Ciliegiolo grapes provides an interesting and enjoyable option.
Mar a Lago Update: A Brief Digression on Psychopathy
We are used to hearing the label “psychopath” misused as a synonym for something like “Insane Murderer.” But in most schools of psychotherapy, clusters of behavioral traits are commonly grouped together in consistent patterns that quite faithfully represent the clusters of beliefs and behaviors that describe most ordinary people. Our responses to everyday events as adults depend to a very large degree on decisions we made before the age of six about the nature of the World and Our Places in it. “Psychopath” is just one of these; it is neither good nor bad. Like all personality strategies, it has its strengths and weaknesses.
Between birth and the age of six or seven, we all develop our own relationships with the World, constantly moving toward Rewards and away from Pain. Our own Circumstances and Experiences continually shape a Deep Belief Structure about the World and Our Place in it; these Core Beliefs have long been Unconscious to us, and can, as Jung put it, seem to appear in our lives as Fate, as though our Choices had nothing to do with our Circumstances.
The Psychopathic Strategy tends to form in a male child who so often does not get the sense of safety, affection, attention and approval he needs that he begins to believe, “No One Really Cares About Me.” Lots of children have this experience, but organize around it differently. The Psychopath is someone who has determined that Hiding Hurt behind Smug Superiority, Rewarding Loyalty with Generosity, and Punishing Disloyalty with Vengeance allows him to maintain the Illusion that he is Loved and Appreciated. But the Reality is that no amount of obeisance and adulation can relieve the underlying sense of Inadequacy.
This underlying Ego Structure is common among men who have been Driven to seek Power, Fame, Wealth, and Adulation: Politicians, Generals, CEO’s, Dictators, TV Evangelists, Ponzi Schemers, Snake Oil Salesmen, and all manner of Garden Variety Gang Leaders and Bullies. These are the famous Dominant Males that have Started Every War, Enslaved Entire Populations, created God and Religion in their Own Images, Polluted the World in the name of Profit…in short, visited Untold Destruction and Misery upon Society and Our Planet since at least the beginning of so-called Civilization, all in the Service of Satisfying their Hungry Ghost Egos.
Our Epic Tales of Heroism and Gallantry inevitably focus on the Contest between the Psychopaths of the Moment, while the thousands or even millions of ordinary people that did or could Die in the name of one or the other are turned Namelessly into Bloody Soil. (sigh). But, hey, we Digress: all of this is just to ask: Is the Tweetster any More or Less Dangerous than the rest of the the Psychopaths that have risen to Power over the Millenia??? …to be continued
This week’s wine tasting
Folie a Deux Chardonnay ’15 California $16
Good example of Russian River appellation style; bright acidity and seductive notes of pear, apple, pineapple, apricot, nutmeg and vanilla—all framed by a richly textured palate.
Vina Equia Rioja ’14 Spain $10
Vivid cherry red color with hints of vanilla, coconut, and licorice; it is well-balanced with mature red fruit flavors on the palate and full-bodied with an elegant finish.
Morellino di Scansano Maremma Toscana Capoccia ’15 Italy $11
Bright and clean with a dark color, soft cherry fruit and structure, but nice weight and a juicy finish. Fruit forward without being sweet or alcoholic. Great value.
Goose Ridge g3 Red ‘`14 Washington $14
Syrah-cab-merlot blend; supple ripe plum and blackberry notes with hints of spice, vanilla, black currant and Bing cherry. Nicely balanced with a lush, round mouth and a long, lingering finish.
Gilbert Cellars Left Bank Red ’14 Washington $18
(Cab, Merlot, Carmenere, Cab Franc and Petit Verdot) Meaty, with notes of tobacco, earth, charcoal and dark fruits, medium+ body, with a firm, structured feel on the palate. 19 months in 80% French and 20% American oak.
2072 Granger Way