lummi island wine tasting May 6 ’22
May Schedule
We will be CLOSED for wine tasting and sales until Friday, May 26, when we will be hosting a meet and greet (and wine tasting!) from 5-6 with legislative candidates Sharon Shewmake and Alicia Rule.
HOWEVER, weekly bread pickup from Island Bakery will continue under the awning in front of the wine shop each Friday through the month from 4-5:30 pm.
Bread Pickup This Week
Levain w/ Dried Cherries and Pecans – a levain is made the night before final mixing of the dough using a sourdough starter. This allows the fermentation process to start and the gluten to start developing. 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
Pan de Cioccolate – A delicious chocolate artisan bread that isn’t an enriched sweet pastry dough with lots of eggs, butter and sugar. Rather this bread is a rich chocolate bread made with a levain, bread flour and fresh milled rye flour, honey for sweetness, vanilla and plenty of dark chocolate. Makes fabulous toast, even better french toast – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Pain aux Raisin Made with the same laminated dough as croissants. The dough is rolled out, spread with pastry cream and sprinkled with a mix of golden raisins and dried cranberries that have been soaked in sugar syrup. Rolled up and sliced before baking. These are my favorites! As always, quantities are limited, be sure to get your order in early – 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. The 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.
Sorry…Closed for Tasting till May 27 😕
The Economics of the Heart: Hubris and Oral High Ground
The Big News of the moment is the leak from the Supreme Court that a decision may have already been made to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 50 yr-old Court decision that assured every woman’s right to decide for herself whether to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term.
The nonstop news and resultant punditry has been filling the airwaves since yesterday (5/4) and speculation abounds about the implications. So far we find ourselves resonating strongly with the perspective offered yesterday by WaPo opinion writer Jennifer Rubin, and highly recommend it:
Let’s throw out the term ‘Culture Wars.’ This is Religious Tyranny.
Rubin reminds us that to have any credibility, any “Originalist” interpretation of the Constitution must be faithful to the Founder’s clearly stated intention that government be free from the dogma of any and all religious superstitions.
We are also persuaded by Vice President Harris’ presentation to Emily’s List 30th anniversary:
“Anyone in our country may face a future where the government can interfere with their personal decisions…Not just women…Anyone…If the Court overturns Roe v. Wade it will be a direct assault on the fundamental right of self-determination to which all Americans are entitled…anyone in our country might face a future where the government can interfere with their personal decisions.”
There are a couple of powerful takeaways from these emerging perspectives.
First is the head-scratching Hubris of the so-called “Originalist” interpretation of the Constitution, by which a tiny clique of carefully screened Catholic Justices assert Divine Insight into the Founders’ real intentions, i.e., a nation enslaved to the whims of one particular subgroup of religious zealots. Sure, what could possibly go wrong with that?
Second…and more important…for 50 years Roe has been the law of the land that individuals, communities, businesses, and governments at all levels have reasonably accepted as settled law. As we can see, most of the Red States have draconian punishments that will spring into place within days if Roe is overturned. Many individual lives will be thrown into chaos as the most basic assumptions about our freedoms are suddenly challenged, and the kind of country we thought we were living in is Crushed like an Egg by totalitarians with neither humility nor honor.
lummi island wine tasting april 29 ’22
May Schedule
We will be OPEN for wine tasting and sales this Friday and Saturday from 4-6 pm. Anyone with boosted vaccine status is welcome!
NOTE: We will be CLOSED during Ferry drydock, reopening May 27-28 for Memorial Day weekend. We regret any inconvenience.
Bread Pickup This Week
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
Fig Anise – One of the more popular breads in the rotation. 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. – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
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 wasn’t enough, topped with a black sesame streusel 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
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. The 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 $5 Tasting
Sea Sun Chardonnay ’20 California $19
Bright nose of mango, butterscotch, apple, and pineapple; round and creamy texture, with notes of lemon curd and a spicy, toasty quality, with hints of cinnamon and lemon curd.
Maryhill Winemaker’s Red ’19 Washington $13
Ripe black fruit notes and a hint of fresh flowers are well backed by leather and cedar wood. Maple bar and black fruit of currant and blackberry appear on entry, with a mid-palate of rich tannins and a smooth finish.
Marchetti Villa Bonomi Conero Riserva ’17 Italy $27
100% Sangiovese from Montepulciano, aged 16 mos. in barriques and 12 mos. in bottle; shows intense floral bouquet, intense, nuanced flavors; ripe, pleasing tannins, and satisfying finish.
The Economics of the Heart: Economics and Engineering
Back a few careers ago I would occasionally be in a conversation with a student about choosing a major. Traditionally such a conversation invariably got tied to “What kind of work do you want to do?” But my feeling was always more like, “What kind of people do you admire and want to be like?” Go hang out with some biologists, or engineers, or artists, or whatever. What do they talk about? What do they care about? What do they value? What do you value?
Every discipline has its own world view, highlighting and exploring certain kinds of relationships among things and people, ignoring or discounting others. If we could crawl inside someone else’s head, as in the strange film “Being John Malkovich, we would experience a completely different world, with its own language, vocabulary, points of view, procedures, rules, and nuances.
By training I learned to think like an engineer and like an economist. And at the moment, as a new member of LIFAC (Lummi Island Ferry Advisory Committee), I am seeing some tension between these two ways of thinking in our ferry design and acquisition process. Engineers think about things like materials, energy requirements, redundancy, reliability, maintenance, power, longevity, efficiency. Economists think about things like value, satisfaction, costs, benefits, scale, tradeoffs, and yes, efficiency.
So efficiency is a common thread. In engineering it is getting the most work from a BTU of energy. In economics it is getting the greatest net benefit from each unit of a resource. At present we are at about Year 4 in planning for a replacement ferry for our 60 yr-old Whatcom Chief. The engineers have from the beginning steered us toward a 34-car vessel to replace our old 16-car vessel that regularly crams on up to 20 cars. This is how engineers think: “two backups for every alternate system.” There is some merit to that approach.
On one of the many “other hands,” we now live in a completely different world than humans have ever experienced. Because of climate change, all we know about the future is that it has no precedent in our history; it will NOT be like the past; and our prospects for even basic survival will keep getting worse faster and faster every day until we get our collective energy use back to pre-industrial levels.
My inner engineer and inner economist have been conferring about this for a few years now. At present the data are saying there are a lot of economic arguments for why a smaller vessel (22-26 cars) would yield the greatest net benefits.
You can read one of them here.
lummi island wine tasting april 22 ’22
May Schedule
We plan to be OPEN for wine tasting and sales Friday and Saturday from 4-6 pm through April. Anyone with boosted vaccine status is welcome!
NOTE: We will be closed the first three weekends of May during ferry Drydock, and reopen May 27-28 for Memorial Day weekend.
Bread Pickup This Week
Buckwheat Walnut & Honey – A flavorful artisan bread made with a poolish preferment, fresh milled buckwheat, and bread flour. Though buckwheat is actually a seed and contains no gluten, it 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 and toasted walnut; goes well with meats and cheeses – $5/loaf
Poolish Ale – the preferment here is also 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
and pastry this week…
Chocolate Croissants – A traditional laminated french pastry made with a bit of sourdough flavor and another pre-ferment to help 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. The 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 $5 Tasting
Cantino del Morellino Cala Civetta Vermentino ’20 Italy $12Sustainably farmed without pesticides or irrigation and manually harvested from Tuscan vineyards for a richer texture and cleaner palate than the more familiar (and also delicious!) Sardinian vermentinos. Aromas and flavors of lemon, melon, and orange finish with a bright, balanced acidity.
Argento Malbec ’20 Argentina $12
From organically grown grapes; deep purple hue; inviting aromas of red berries and flowers, and flavors of plum and sweet blackberry; finishes with ripe, balanced tannins– way over-delivers for its modest price.
Pomum Red ’16 Washington $18
Carefully made and easy-drinking red blend of mostly cab and cab franc along with malbec, petite verdot, and merlot; aromas of red fruit leather and exotic spices; flavors of black cherry, cranberry, and garrigue, with fine elegant tannins and a pleasing finish.
The Economics of the Heart: Humanism and Democracy
In just the last few days, the maelstrom of bad news buffeting us cleared long enough to let in a couple of welcome rays of sunshine. These came in the form of two carefully crafted speeches, with a common theme, in two state legislatures, by two intelligent, coherent members, calling out their Republican colleagues for the self-righteous hypocrisy of their ongoing assault on our National and State Constitutions.
Both speeches have gone viral, so it is likely you have seen/heard both. That’s okay, they’re well worth hearing again. They are the metaphoric equivalent of a broadcast announcement on the Titanic that We Are Heading Full Speed Into An Iceberg! Or, if you prefer a different metaphor, as Sinclair Lewis predicted, Fascism now has a solid beachhead in America; it is definitely carrying a Cross, and it is working very, very hard to drape itself with our Flag.
This nation was not founded on religious principles. It was founded on humanistic principles. The Founders were adamant that all religions would be allowed, would be optional, and would be private. Laws were to be based on every individual’s freedom to choose one’s own philosophy unbound by the beliefs of others. Any form of national religion would open the door for authoritarian tyranny.
- Ian Mackey is a Representative in the Missouri House. His recent speech in that body was highlighted recently by Lawrence O’Donnell. Watch
- Mallory McMorrow is a Senator in the Michigan State Legislature. This is a speech she delivered two days ago that has gone viral and you have probably already watched it at least once. Watch
lummi island wine tasting april 15 ’22
Covid Rules
We are again OPEN for wine tasting and sales both Friday and Saturday from 4-6 pm. Anyone with boosted vaccine status is welcome!
Bread Pickup This Week
Colomba di Pasqua or “Easter Dove”: A traditional Italian Easter cake made with a slievito madre, a sourdough levain fed every 4 hours at a warm temperature to make it more sweet than sour. This cake-like bread also contains flour, eggs, sugar and butter, candied orange peel topped with a crunchy almond and hazelnut glaze and pearl sugar before baking. The dough is baked in a dove shaped baking form as a symbol of the Easter dove. $5/loaf
Italian Breakfast Bread – A delicious lightly sweet bread great any time of day. Made with bread flour eggs, yogurt, a little sugar and vanilla as well as dried cranberries, golden raisins, and fresh and candied lemon peel. Perfect for breakfast toast or maybe for Easter morning French Toast! – $5/loaf
and pastry this week…
Hot Cross Buns – An enriched dough (butter, sugar, eggs and just a hint of whole wheat). full of spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger as well as currants and candied lemon and orange peel. Topped with a flavorful paste and glazed these are a delicious traditional treat to celebrate spring. – 2/$5
To get on the bread order list, click on the “Contact Us” link above and fill out the form. The 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.
Mailing List Issues: The Saga Continues!
This week’s post will be emailed “by hand” again, as app glitch remains a mystery.
This Week’s $5 Tasting
Ryan Patrick Rock Island Chardonnay ’18 Washington $15
Golden straw color; aromas and flavors of wildflowers, crisp apples, honey, and freshly baked cinnamon roll with a round, crisp, medium body and a graceful finish of sumac-spiced croutons; an appetizing, full-bodied Chardonnay.
Terra d’Oro Zinfandel ’17 California $15
Aromas and flavors of dried cherries, cured beef and a whiff of dried herbs create good complexity and solid structure with good acidity and firm tannins that pair well with rich dishes.
Toso Reserve Malbec ’17 Argentina $21
Elegant and balanced with food concentration and ripeness; focused, clean notes of blackberry, plum, and ripe, dark cherries; a plush, elegant mouthfeel, easy tannins, and lingering notes of leather and Spring soil.
The Economics of the Heart: Ego and Stewardship
There are a lot of people who don’t believe that the global climate is changing. They are not persuaded by the steady rise in global temperatures, or the increasing frequency and magnitude of weather-related destruction of our surprisingly fragile infrastructure. The tacit assumption has always been that yes, forest fires and floods and droughts and hurricanes happen and take their toll–definite setbacks– but we will always be able to pick up and start over. Now we begin to realize that for us humans, climate change will make areas economically uninhabitable long before they are physically uninhabitable.
Some people are confident that their religion guarantees them Dominion over the Earth and “every living thing,” a sort of Divine Gift of Entitlement unencumbered by responsibility, compassion, love, stewardship, or humility– more of a Property Right. Every resource is there to be exploited for convenience, entertainment, or profit. As Al Gore put it, climate change is an “Inconvenient truth” that many would prefer to ignore.
Even those of us who feel, um, “stewardly” toward our precious planet make our little compromises with energy use. Leaders of Nations around the world have met regularly for many years to agree that “Yes, we Must and Will tackle this coming Problem!” But political and corporate bureaucracies have kept progress well below what everyone knows is necessary to build a sustainable infrastructure in time to save the countless species whose customary ecological niches are already disappearing. A niche is a Rare and Precious thing, and every living thing must have one or make one to survive, including us.
In our own ways we all look for ways to lower our carbon footprints enough to make a difference– to slow, stop, and dial back the concentration of CO2 in our atmosphere to 1950 or so, when there were five billion fewer of us. It’s a tall order.
Right here on our little island, we might all work together toward the goal of making our particular place Energy Independent and carbon-neutral. We have wind, sun, tides, and currents to work with, and a lot of bright people who share the same goal.
A starting goal might be to make our next ferry carbon-neutral with energy generated right here. Possible?
2072 Granger Way