lummi island wine tasting may 26 ’23
Hours this weekend:
robin fledgling’s first landing
We’re back!
The wine shop will be open for sales and tastings: Friday, May 26, from 4-6pm.
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Black Pepper Walnut- Made with a nice mix of bread flour, fresh milled whole wheat and rye. A fair amount of black pepper and toasted walnuts give this bread great flavor with a distinct peppery bite. Excellent paired with all sorts of meats and cheese…and wine, of course! – $5/loaf
Four Seed Buttermilk – This bread includes all the elements of whole wheat, but does so separately by adding cracked wheat and bran in to the bread flour instead of milling whole wheat berries. It also has buttermilk and oil which will make for a tender bread as well as adding a little tang. Finally it is finished with with a bit of honey and sunflower pumpkin and sesame seeds and some toasted millet – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Kyoto Black Sesame & Candied Lemon Brioche — A delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Filled with fresh lemon zest and candied lemon and as if that weren’t enough, topped with a black sesame streusel before baking. Ooh la la, what’s not to like?! –2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
This week’s wine tasting
Maryhill Winemaker’s White ’19 Washington $14
Sauv blanc, viognier, semillon, albarino, pinot gris; careful early morning harvest, slow press cycle, limited oak, and blended to keep each varietal’s profile in both aromas and flavors– a complex, versatile, and tasty white blend!
La Quercia Montepulciano d’Abruzzo Riserva ’17 Italy $19
From 50-yr-old vines; rich, full-bodied and rustic in expression, with rich notes of cocoa, rhubarb, blackberry, and herbs; long, lingering finish of juicy black cherry, with a silky/velvety mouthfeel.
Eola Hills Barrel Select Reserve Pinot Noir ’19 Oregon $27
From best barrels from the 2019 harvest; classic, Burgundian-style pinot, with nose of fresh raspberries, earth, wet autumn leaves, and a silky palate of cherry and strawberry with a lingering cranberry tartness on the finish.
Economics of the Heart: Rules and Values
courtesy www.npr.org
Civilization is a complex business that depends on some combination of broad consensus about the rules, who makes them, and a will to follow them. All manner of organizational structures have come and gone in human history. Our hunch for a long time has been that the default form of human economic organization is to revert to some form of feudalism when resources become scarce, or power and wealth get concentrated into too few hands, and the masses are relegated to perpetual serfdom, scratching the earth like chickens for meager nourishment, and even the Overseers are still slaves.
We have long thought of the Reagan 80’s as The Decade of the Bottom Line, when Republicans finally got to declare open war on the New Deal, made lots of people think Government was the real Bad Guy, and preached the mantra that making the rich even richer was the tide that would raise all ships. Under the auspices of unleashing the goodies in the Big Pinata of free market competition to the masses, taxes (you know, how the public sector must pay for everything) were slashed on the wealthy and corporations while spending was cut on the poor, the hungry, the sick, the insane, and the helpless. By the end of the decade the FCC had declared Open Season for “alternative facts” and the airways filled with 24/7 liberal- bashing on radio and TV.
The 90’s (the Decade of Vapid Pragmatism) opened the floodgates of Rush Limbaugh’s ‘always angry all the time’ talk radio and countless imitators all trying to out-outrage each other. That constant barrage of hyperbolic lies became Fox News, Newt Gingrich, and 24/7 rural AM radio. The mentality was perfectly illustrated when one local Whatcom County State legislator declared on the State House floor that there should be no Spanish-speaking classes in Washington schools, because (I am not making this up): “if English was good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for me!”
The 00’s (the aughts…?) ushered in more tax cuts for the wealthy in both 2001 and 2005 (“It’s Our Due,” as VP Darth Cheney put it), concentrating wealth into even fewer hands while invading two countries and starting wars that lasted for the next twenty years and caused the 2008 recession. It is hard to know whether the Ambient Hypocrisy in our society and the News we see, hear, and read are the causes or the symptoms (or both) of the debilitating polarization we see all around us– or whether these are all effects of deliberate information manipulation by unknown players in an escalating global Cyber War.
Either way, somehow we have to find our way back to a set of common values and goals even while deliberate forces do their best to sabotage them for their own reasons. Scary stuff.
lummi island wine tasting may 19, ’23
PLEASE NOTE: The wine shop will be closed during ferry drydock. We will again be open for wine tasting next Friday, May 26.
However… Friday bread pickup will continue from 4-5:30 pm, and “emergency” wine purchases can be arranged with Janice at those times. We regret any inconvenience and look forward to seeing you after drydock!
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
Whole Wheat Levain – Made with a sourdough starter that is built up over several days before a levain is made and fermented overnight in the refrigerator. This long slow process allows the fermentation process to start and the gluten to start developing; it has a ‘toothy’ crumb, great texture and flavor and a nice crisp crust. – $5/loaf
Semolina w/ Fennel & Raisins – A levain bread made with bread flour, semolina and some fresh milled whole wheat. A little butter for a tender crumb and fennel seeds and golden raisins round out the flavors that go really well with meats and cheese – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Brioche Suisse- A rich brioche dough made with plenty of butter, eggs and sugar, rolled out and spread with pastry cream before sprinkling with dark chocolate. The dough is folded over all that delicious filling and cut into individual pieces. –2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Bandon House Sparrow
There are a handful of Oregon and Washington State Parks that we particularly enjoy and revisit often. One of them is Bullard’s Beach just north of Bandon, Oregon. It occupies a “sweet spot” on the Oregon Coast where the weather starts feeling a bit more like California– a little warmer, a little softer, a little more sunshine.
Like Sequim on Washington’s Strait of Juan de Fuca, it seems to occupy a pleasant little climate bubble of sunny warmth. It also has some marine fishing, and possibly the best fish tacos on the planet at the Bandon Fish Market right on the waterfront: no frills, just delicious, fresh, simple fish n chips, fish tacos, and chowdah (as we call it it Maine).
On this visit we sat outside in the sun with a cool breeze, and this little bird flew in and sat next to us for a while. It turns out to be a house sparrow, more common in Europe and Britain than America, but common in populated areas everywhere, though I don’ recall having noticed this color pattern before. This particular bird didn’t seem in a hurry to go anywhere, and seemed to be on its own, good company while we enjoyed these “fish tacos,” more like tortilla-wrapped fish burritos!
Homeward Bound
At the moment we are settled in at Bayview State Park, within sight of Lummi Island. (it’s the little mountain to the left of Ulee’s leash). As usual, this is being written Thursday evening; tomorrow we move to another site about 20′ away for Friday night, and were planning to return to Lummi Island on Saturday when the ferry was expected to return from annual drydock maintenance.
We learned earlier today that that won’t happen until Sunday morning, so we are casting about for Saturday night here or somewhere else nearby. This is a bit of a squeeze, because one of the social psychological outcomes from three years of Covid was a massive increase in the popularity of RV’ing, with the result that between April and October every State, local, and county park that offers camping has been booked solid for months, and there are far more people looking for parking and hookups each night than there are spaces available. And Saturdays are the worst!
So we have our feelers out for a Saturday night spot, and are looking forward to getting home on Sunday!
lummi island wine tasting may 12 ’23
PLEASE NOTE: The wine shop will be closed during ferry drydock. We will again be open for wine tasting on Friday, May 26.
However… Friday bread pickup will continue from 4-5:30 pm, and “emergency” wine purchases can be arranged with Janice at those times. We regret any inconvenience and look forward to seeing you after drydock!
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
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
Sonnenblumenbrot – Aka Sunflower Seed Bread, made with a pre-ferment that takes a portion of the flour, water, salt and yeast that ferments overnight before mixing the final dough with bread flour and freshly milled rye, then loaded up with toasted sunflower seeds and some barley malt syrup for sweetness. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Chocolate Croissants – a\A traditional laminated french pastry made with a bit of sourdough flavor and another pre-ferment to help strengthen the dough to create the traditional honeycomb interior. Rolled out and shaped with delicious dark chocolate in the center. – 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Champoeg State Park
morning fog out the back window at Champoeg State Park in Oregon wine country
Local Turkey Shows Off at Bullard’s Beach
Just arrived at Bullard’s Beach State Park just north of Bandon. OR, one of our favorite State Parks. As with nearly all WA and OR state parks, it is very well maintained, quiet*, and soothing.
Shortly after arrival, this Turkey started strutting around our site, occasionally gobbling for the nearby female, and at some point moved to dance his Display for his darling. And us.
Gonna have to do some research on how exactly these creatures have managed to survive in the Wild. After all, every day is Thanksgiving for wolves, coyotes, and other turkey fans. Maybe there is a special Turkey martial art…?
Economics of the Heart: Ferry Fare Update
Well…it’s been a very challenging several months. It began back in November by simply asking some ordinary questions about rationales, procedures, objectives, and goals about ferry accounting, and then waking up in a world where nothing I was hearing made any sense. And that, as the lead actress in an old BBC series used to say about nearly everything, “is my one Weakness…!”
First were the contradictions of an incoherent rationale for a substantial and immediate ferry fare increase that was suddenly necessary to avoid imminent fiscal disaster. When fairly mundane inspection revealed that the rationale was faulty, it would be replaced by another, which would also be found to be false, and on and on through several iterations, each with an ever-increasing sense of Urgency about the Disastrous Financial Crisis that would occur if the fare increase were not passed immediately, and a corresponding incompatibility with known facts.
Public Works was anxious to pass the increase, which made the County Council anxious to pass the increase, which made the County Executive anxious about all the anxiety, which made PW more anxious, etc etc., etc. And None of them was particularly picky about separating actual facts from convenient fiction. It’s been a LONG few months.
A month ago, after getting zero traction through normal channels, we went public with some of these concerns. That seems to have engaged community conversation and inquiry, and that led to the independent formation of an ad hoc group that took up the cause and which has managed to get enough traction to open up a public conversation about these issues. Members of this “working group” will be working with the Ferry Advisory Committee (LIFAC) (of which I am a member non grata) to sort out a proposed piece of County legislation that will lay the ground rules for ferry financing over the next bunch of years, including the anticipated transition to the new Giant Vessel around 2026.
“A Circle is Perfect— but the World is not Round…”
lummi island wine tasting may 5 ’23
PLEASE NOTE: The wine shop will be closed during ferry drydock. We will again be open for wine tasting on Friday, May 26.
However… Friday bread pickup will continue from 4-5:30 pm, and “emergency” wine purchases can be arranged with Janice at those times. We regret any inconvenience and look forward to seeing you after drydock!
Friday Bread Pickup This Week
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
Buckwheat Walnut & Honey – a flavorful artisan bread also made with a poolish, fresh milled buckwheat and bread flour. Buckwheat is not a grain it is actually a seed and closer in the plant family to rhubarb and sorrel than to wheat and contains no gluten. Though this bread is not gluten free as it is also includes bread flour made from wheat. Buckwheat has an earthy flavor that in this bread is balanced with a little honey. Some toasted walnuts add a nice crunch. This bread goes well with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Brioche Almond Buns – Made with a delicious brioche dough full of eggs, butter and sugar. Rolled out and spread with an almond cream filling. The almond cream is not made from pre-made almond paste, but rather is a delicious creamy filling made with lots more butter, sugar and eggs as well as almond flour. Yum, yum 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. Each week’s bread menu is sent to the list each Sunday, for ordering by Tuesday, for pickup on Friday. Simple, right..? If you will be visiting the island and would like to order bread for your visit, at least a week’s notice is recommended for pickup the following Friday.
Grayland Beach State Park
It wasn’t as easy as you might think to teach Ulee how to paw his name into the sand. Then again, there is a LOT of sand out here, about a half mile from the edge of the dunes to the water, and he loves to dig in it.
It’s really quiet out here, with the constant and soothing background of the surf in the distance, no traffic…you know, another favorite Washington State Park.
It can get wet and gloomy out here, but this visit has delivered pretty good weather, more sun than usual and only a few sprinkles. Not to mention the best and freshest fish and chips on the planet a few miles north at Merino’s, right across the street from the pier in Westport.
Tokeland Hotel
Well over 100 years old, this old building in Tokeland, WA drips with charm from a long bygone era, and has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1978.
For some years now it has been owned and operated by Heather Earnhardt, well known around Seattle for her tiny, magical café, The Wandering Goose, where her captivating infusion of Southern ingredients into her recipes built a large and loyal clientele. That same style has now resided in the remote reaches of Tokeland for many years, and its remoteness correlates perfectly with its anachronistic flair, unique style, and over the top Southern flavors.
In short: the food is amazing, the atmosphere chaotically comfortable, the portions (be warned!) are Huge, and even the water is delicious! And yes, it is also a real old-time hotel.
OOPS!
Sorry for the late post! Lost our internet connection for a day or two out here on the NW coast.
2072 Granger Way