lummi island wine tasting feb 26 ’16
(note: some photos will enlarge when clicked)
We’re Back!
Hopefully just in time for Spring…already a few daffodils blooming out front, the occasional frog chirp (some call it a “peep”), a bit of forsythia, and green tendrils on the Indian plums. Still looking for more tree blossoms and lots more sunshine, but hey…at midday the warmth is glorious!
We had a nice time away in our little trailer, very enjoyable despite lots of El Nino-driven rain in Oregon and California. It’s good to be home, and looking forward to seeing all of you soon!
This Week’s Breads
We understand Bread Fridays have continued in our absence, and look forward to bringing wine back to the tradition this week.
Pain au Levain – Sourdough starter with fresh milled whole wheat and rye flours. Wheat germ is added as well for more flavor and a little malt powder for sweetness to balance the whole grains. A great all around bread – $5/loaf.
Semolina w/ Fennel Seed & Golden Raisins – Half bread flour and half semolina flour. A little butter softens the crumb and fennel seed and golden raisins punch up the flavor. – $5/loaf.
And, on the sweet side:
Pan di Cioccolate – A delightful chocolate bread. Made with levain (sourdough), honey, vanilla, espresso and chunks of chocolate make this a tasty treat. This is not a small, soft breakfast roll, rather it is a regular sized loaf with a crisp crust that is great for breakfast with coffee or afternoon tea – $5/loaf.
Wine Club Reminder!
All wine club memberships are now per calendar year. Subcriptions since September 1, 2015 will continue through 2016, but many of you will have to renew to continue enjoying our Fabulous membership benefits, like $5 tastings and no-sales-tax purchases!
This week’s wine tasting
Krauthaker pinot grigio ’14 Croatia $15
Vibrant and harmonious, with well pronounced fruitiness and freshness; straw-yellow colour, crystal clarity; Nose hinting at apples, pears, peaches, kiwi, lemon peel and hay. Salty on the palate, with refreshing acidity.
Dupeuble Beaujolais ’13 France $14
High-pitched boysenberry and floral scents, with hints of white pepper and pungent herbs. Tangy and precise, with good lift to its bitter cherry and blue fruit flavors and silky, slow-building tannins.
Domaine La Croix Belle Caringole ’12 France $10
Syrah, Carignan and Merlot blend from Languedoc’s Cotes de Thongue region; fresh and supple with flavours of cherry, and black olive, and herbs.
Robert Ramsay Mason’s Red ’13 Washington $16
Easy-drinking cinsault-dominant Rhone blend; subtle nose of black cherry paste with a hint of cinnamon spice that expands on the palate to a soft anise finish.
Micheletti Bolgheri Rosso ’14 Italy $18
Blend of cab and merlot, showing aromas of dark cherry, dusty plum, and cinnamon…a great value!
lummi island bread friday january 15 ’16
January-February Hours
Reminder: the wine shop is officially closed till March 3. We will NOT be open on any Saturday until March 5!
However, Bread Fridays will continue from 4-6 pm through February 5! And although there will no wine tastings during this period, you will be relieved and pleased to know that you will be able to purchase wine when you stop by for bread pickup. After all, it is Winter, and we all Devoutly Eschew the grim specter of a Winter Wine Emergency! And who knows?..Maybe some Kind Person will buy a bottle and share it with you over the latest bread samples! Even better, maybe YOU will be that kind person!
This Week’s Breads
Barley Rye with Pumpkin Seeds – a mix of fresh milled whole wheat rye and barley flours. It also includes some buttermilk to soften the texture of the crumb and some honey to balance the whole grains and finally it is loaded with toasted pumpkin seeds for a little crunch and texture. A great artisan bread, perfect with meats or cheese – $5/loaf.
Kamut Levain – One third fresh milled kamut berries. Kamut is an ancient grain from the middle east, also known as khorasan wheat. It is higher in protein and many minerals than modern wheat. It is always organically grown and non-GMO. It has a beautiful golden color and great flavor. Makes great toast! – $5/loaf.
And then, for a wee bit of sweetness:
Chocolate Croissants – Levain and a pre-fermented dough. Laminated with european butter before rolling out and loading up with chocolate! Ooh la la, some like better than any to be found in Paris. Delicious! – 2/$5.
Making Change
In some ways it was inevitable. In some ways it could never happen, but here it is: the People are suddenly refusing to drink the Partisan Kool-Aid. What IS Bizarre is that the two Rebels who are rising to the surface of the same Muck are polar opposites. So from some very broad viewpoint lots of people are Rebelling against the no-longer-bearable Status Quo.
Having been on the Far Left of the Far Left for a very long time, I can totally understand where the Bernie fans are coming from. When he speaks, I feel great internal congruity: yes, yes, yes, yes, this is what I have been thinking for as long as I can remember. The underlying model is respect for complex interdependent systems on which all Life depends. With humility, intelligence, and careful management, we and our living world can thrive.
The Disenfranchised of the Far Right are harder to figure. But looking at their Poster Boy, my take is they are Angry, Afraid, and Frustrated, and their most basic impulse is to find Someone to Blame and an Authority Figure to Punish them. The underlying view is Linear and Childlike, and therefore deeply vulnerable to the Demagogue who best convinces them that there is a Simple Answer to their Complex Questions.
Either way, the Good News is that we are Witness to a more Primal Exploration of these gut-level polarities this year than for a long time. It’s Quite a Show!
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lummi island wine tasting january 8 ’16
Off-season Bread Friday!
Multi-Grain – Basic bread flour with 25% fresh milled whole wheat and 10 % fresh milled rye flours, loaded with flax, sunflower, and sesame seeds – $5/loaf.
Janice’s Whole Wheat – Half and half bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat. A little honey is added to balance the whole grains and make for a flavorful loaf. Really delicious- $5/loaf.
Bear Claws – A lovely, rich Danish dough, full of eggs, butter and sugar. Dough is rolled, spread with almond filling and shaped into the traditional Bear Claw form, baked, glazed, and sprinkled with sliced almond. – 2/$5
January-February Schedule
The first thing you need to know is that though we (Pat and Rich) are officially On Vacation from the wine shop till March, Janice plans to continue Bread Fridays at the wine shop from 4-6 pm through February 5.
The second thing you need to know is that we (Pat, Rich, and Janice) will be here this Friday to offer you our usual wine tasting from 4-6 while you pick up your Bread. However, note that we will NOT be open on any Saturday until March 5!
The third thing you need to know is that we do not have a Clue as to whether other Fridays will involve wine tastings of any sort or not. At present it looks as though Janice will be in the shop from 4pm-6pm on January 8, 15, 22, and 29, plus February 5 for Bread Pickup. Although we will not be available to pour tastings, we are still exploring ways to continue that service on these Fridays without our having to be there. So far we have not developed an appealing structure to make that happen, so please Stay Tuned!
New Year’s Notes
This year we offered prizes for the best-tasting dish and also for the best-looking dish. We appointed a Judge (who must remain Anonymous, of course— though I can say the person’s initials are “MM.” Which, if you think about it, are just about the Perfect initials for a Food Judge, n’est-ce pas?
The Best-Tasting dish was Peter’s old family Mexican dish with layers of meat, veggies, cilantro, and wonderful chiles…folks, you all need to invite him to your next Potluck, that’s all I’m saying! Complex, flavorful, and fresh. YUM!
The Best-Looking dish was one of two great plates brought in by Mary Jane, and yes, they were both Delicious! The winner, shown at left on its Festive Red Holiday Platter with a disarming row of little green Hearts, was a pastry filled with many of the same rich and spicy flavors as the other winner.
We would like to thank all of you who came by for making this one of the warmest (and best-fed) of our Eleven repetitions of our East Coast New Year’s Eve Party. Thank you all, and wishing us all Good Fortune in the coming Year of the Fire Monkey.
2016: Year of the Monkey
According to the Astrology Club , The Monkey is an inventive and independent problem solver who symbolises irrepressible curiosity and creative energy. Intelligent, hyperactive, and sociopathic, the Monkey is free from inhibitions and guilt, not hesitating to test his theories on an unwitting audience. His innate problem-solving tendencies can turn the Monkey into a tricky, opportunistic, and deceptive tactician, whose unscrupulous and adolescent fantasies can both entertain and lead to Disaster.
Hmm…I’m getting a bad feeling about this…!
This week’s tasting
La Quercia Falanghina ’13 Italy $18
100% Trebbiano from hillside clay soil; a lovely, straw-yellow wine, with rich notes of white flowers, sea salt, and pear.
Estezargues Cuvee des Galets ’14 France $10
Grenache, Syrah and Carignan from organic and biodynamic vines, fermented with natural yeast, and bottled without filtration. Explodes with plump juicy berry fruit, liquorice and spice, showing appealing character and freshness.
Domaine La Croix Belle Caringole ’12 France $10
Syrah, Carignan and Merlot blend from Languedoc’s Cotes de Thongue region; fresh and supple with flavours of cherry, and black olive, and herbs.
Lost River Western Red ’12 Washington $17
Lovely blend of Merlot and Cabernet Franc; dark fruits on the nose, smooth and rich in the mouth, enjoy with rich sauces or all by itself.
lummi island wine tasting new year’s eve aught-fifteen
Eleventh Annual “East Coast New Year’s Eve” Extravaganza
As the Fortunate Few well know, our annual “East Coast New Year’s Eve Party” has become an Established Tradition. From 7-9pm on New Year’s Eve we provide the wine, you bring something delicious to share, and when the ball drops in Times Square three hours away, we all hoist our glasses and toast the New Year! The Young at Heart move on to the next party, and we old timers can get to bed at a decent hour! We welcome this annual opportunity to thank all of you for your support this past year, and to toast ahead to even more fun in aught-sixteen. Arrrr, lads and lassies, ye best mark yer calendars now ‘n’ start planning yer finger food!
Important Note! Speaking of Finger Food, we will again this year have a Secret Operative sampling the dishes and Assigning Points! Yummiest Dish wins a $25 credit, and Yummiest-Looking Dish wins a $15-dollar credit! Let’s see if Competition really does improve Quality!
Early 2016 Schedule
High-level negotiations are continuing about maintaining Bread Fridays and accompanying Friday wine tastings from 4-6pm Fridays from January 8 through February 5. As of press time today we are confirming Bread Fridays and accompanying wine tastings on January 8 and 15, 2016…! At present a few details remain to be worked out about . Also note that the wine shop will NOT be open on Saturdays in January or February. Stay tuned!
Wine Club Reminder!
In 2015 we changed wine club subscriptions to Calendar Annual. That is, all memberships started between January 1 and August 31, 2015 expire on December 31, 2015, while subcriptions after September 1 will continue through 2016. So be sure to re-up next time you’re in the shop to continue enjoying our fantastic membership benefits, like $5 weekly tastings and no-sales-tax purchases!
At left, sunset just ten days from Winter Solstice, already noticeably further north…kind of comforting, huh…?
2072 Granger Way