lummi island wine tasting january 8 ’21
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Bread is Back!
Multi Grain- Uses a preferment where a portion of the flour, water, salt & yeast is mixed and fermented overnight before mixing the final dough to begin the enzymatic activity and gluten development overnight in a cool environment. The next day it is mixed with bread flour and fresh milled whole wheat and rye, then flax, sunflower and sesame seeds are added for a nice bit of crunch and some extra flavor. – $5/loaf
Rosemary Olive Oil – also made with prefermented dough like the multi grain and then 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 pastry this week…
Fruit & Spice Rolls – A nice change of pace after all those holiday sweets. About half whole wheat but still have plenty of butter, sugar and egg for flavor and a tender crumb. Dried cranberries, golden raisins, and fresh oranges, and an interesting mix of anise, cinnamon, mace and cardamom are topped with demerara sugar before baking for that extra bit of sweetness and crunch. – 2/$5
Wine Emergencies…Who Ya Gonna Call?
While Covid continues to limit our movements and associations, we will continue to help you keep your wine shelves topped up. We know how it is…one minute the wine shelves are reassuringly stocked, and the very next day you reach for something and OMD, where did it all go?? It happens to all of us during these undifferentiated days and weeks of semi-quarantine.
But fear not, mis amigos! When a wine emergency strikes YOUR wine pantry, just click on the Order Wine link in the header above to browse our list of currently available wines with tasting notes and prices. When you have made your selections you can phone us with your order or email us using the Contact Us link above. We will confirm your order and make arrangements for pickup/delivery at your convenience. EZ-PZ!
Mar a Lago Update: Long National Nightmare Almost Over
Four years ago, in late February of 2017, just a month after the “Biggest Inauguration Ever,” and the contemporaneous worldwide Women’s March, many of us were still in Denial that this disaster from Galactic Left Field had somehow actually really happened. Below are excerpts of a letter I sent to Senator John McCain at that time. Though time has confirmed our reason to be concerned, no one except perhaps Michael Cohen could possibly have imagined how bad it might really get.
Dear Senator McCain,
Thank you for your excellent speech at the recent Munich Security Conference. As a fellow graduate of the Naval Academy (’67), I share your deep concerns about the rise of Authoritarianism both in Europe and here in the United States, and was reassured by your strong position on preserving our common values.
Your comments also suggest that you are as disturbed as many fellow Americans that a man as singularly unqualified as Donald Trump should have somehow become President of our country. He consistently demonstrates a severe narcissistic personality disorder, the emotional maturity of a spoiled child, and the critical thinking ability of Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter.
Perhaps no quality of leadership is more important or less appreciated than maintaining a steady and reassuring hand on the tiller. Yet each day Mr. Trump remains in office adds more chaos and confusion, upsets long-established expectations at home and abroad, and undermines our ability to achieve and maintain our strategic and economic interests around the world.
Beyond the issue of his ability to meet the demands of the office, serious questions have also arisen about Mr. Trump’s financial ties to Russia and other foreign governments, with frightening implications for our nation’s security. Therefore Congress must insist that he release his tax returns, divulge in detail all financial relationships, and divest from all that present even the merest hint of conflict of interest. These security concerns must transcend party politics, and you are in a unique position to be a unifying force on this important issue.
Fast forward to today, four years later, and events of the last 24 hours have recalled to us Gerald Ford’s remarks as he was sworn in as President on August 9, 1974, just minutes after the official resignation of Richard Nixon: “My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over.” And in a way it was, through the Ford and the Carter 70’s, when ordinary people did pretty well. But since Reagan took over in 1981, real (adjusted for inflation) wages have remained essentially constant while all the gains from increasing worker productivity have ballooned the pockets if the 1%.
Yesterday’s occupation of the Capitol by Fox-fed, brain-dead, Trump-led zombies and a growing authoritarian Republicanism is a wake-up call we ignore at our peril. Every Congressional Republican who supports the Big Lies of “Voting Irregularities” and “Rigged Elections” is now exposed as a fascist-racist Authoritarian. Their sense of Entitlement to Power. Their Disdain for critical thinking. Their disgust with Diversity. Their inability to speak without yelling. Fear-biters. For at least the next ten years we turn our backs on them at our peril.
lummi island wine tasting new year’s day 2021
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A Toast to the Good Old Days
Let’s face it, 2020 has been emotionally and economically challenging, an endurance test for most of the planet. Humankind enters 2021 with hope for a better world that brings the pandemic, climate change, inequality, and social division into peaceful integration– all very big challenges as long as environmental destruction remains profitable to the unscrupulous.
So, as we turn the calendar to the New Year of 2021, we can find some encouragement by looking back to a few reminders of the good times, good friends, and good cheer we have enjoyed in in our little wine shop over the years…in the collective hope that we may begin enjoying them again soon in 2021!
After all, we are social animals, and we need each other. We need food, clothing, and shelter to get by, and conversation, humor, closeness, and hugs to thrive.
Aye, let’s all raise our glasses to that!
Best wishes to all for the Best Year Ever in 2021!!
Standing By For Wine Emergencies
While Covid continues we will continue to be here for your wine needs. When a wine emergency strikes YOUR wine pantry, just click on the Order Wine link in the header above to browse our list of currently available wines with tasting notes and prices. When you have made your selections you can phone us with your order or email us using the Contact Us link above. We will confirm your order and make arrangements for pickup/delivery at your convenience.
Mar a Lago Update: Duck Season Ending Soon
please stand by…
lummi island wine tasting dec 25 ’20
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Bread Countdown
The whole year has been strange and stressful. Now here we are at Christmas Eve, just home from a “drop by” outdoor gathering on Mike and Diane’s back deck down the street. Lots of munchies, a bit of wine, beautiful view…and…brrrr…cold!
Pat made some simple and delicious piroshkis (left) that were hot when we left home with them, but the heat didn’t last long. Still, they were very satisfying with a little soy sauce and mulled wine! Diane made lots of lots of delicious goodies, and several other neighbors dropped by. Social distancing protocols were followed and it was reminiscent of pre-Covid days…except of course that we were Outside and it was Cold (temp in mid-thirties). It will be lovely when we can be social animals again.
Bread will return in two weeks, on Friday, February 8. Look for your pre-order email on Jan 3. In the meantime, we will continue to accept wine orders as requested.
Annual New Year’s Party canceled
This will be the first New Year’s Eve since 2005 that we will not be holding our annual New Year’s Eve celebration. Since this blog didn’t start until 2009, the first blog entry about the party was the Fifth Episode of our Annual “East Coast New Year’s Eve” celebrations. Losing a tradition brings a little sadness, so to help us all through it we will post a few photos of past parties over the next few weeks.
2009
2015
Standing By For Wine Emergencies
We will be staying close to home through the holidays. So please be assured that we will continue to be here for your wine needs. As you all know this may be the Only kind of Emergency that CANNOT be resolved with duct tape! So if a wine emergency should strike YOUR wine pantry, just click on the Order Wine link in the header above to browse our list of currently available wines with tasting notes and prices. When you have made your selections you can phone us with your order or email us using the Contact Us link above. We will confirm your order and make arrangements for pickup/delivery at your convenience.
Mar a Lago Update: Running on Empty
As we approach the end of 2020 and the end of the Tweetster regime, it is a good time to reflect, metaphorically at least, on the many obvious overlaps between the Tweetster and, of course…Chicken Little. After all, let’s admit it, over the past five years we have all been thinking about it but too shy to talk about it. Am I right? You know I’m right. So let’s just bring it out into the open while (giggle) there’s still time.
The story of Chicken Little, in various forms (my childhood reader named her Henny Penny), dates back some 2500 years. In the earliest version, a hare is hit on the head by a falling fruit, and rouses other animals into a panic. A lion, seeing the turmoil, investigates the cause of the panic and restores calm, teaching the importance of calm deductive reasoning.
Though there are countless variations on the theme of the fable, they really boil down to two. They both begin with a less than brilliant chicken who experiences a blow on the head by something falling, probably from a tree, like an acorn, but for whatever reason, decides that “the Sky is falling!” and rushes about trying to warn people of the coming catastrophe.
It appears that for some many centuries, most of the variants of the story one way or another led the predator Foxy Loxy to deceive Chicken Little and his panicky followers, leading them to his den where they are all killed and eaten by “Foxy and Friends.” The moral of this version is “Don’t believe everything you hear.” It was used in Nazi propaganda to help stop rumors.
In the other major variant, Chicken Little earns the respect of the Emperor with her concerns and saves the day, with the moral “have courage and stick to your convictions.”
And here we are today, with pretty much everyone actually believing the sky IS falling, and convinced The Other Guys are making it happen. Meanwhile, Foxy Loxy and Friends are very busy convincing both sides they are right…while also keeping them afraid they are wrong. It is a cynical but very effective strategy.
lummi island wine tasting dec 18 ’20
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Holiday Bread Crumbs
As all of you on the Friday Bread List already know, because Christmas and New Year’s both occur on Fridays this year, this weekend will be the last Friday bread delivery until January 8. No need for panic, however — even though we will be closed we will continue to accept wine orders by phone/email through the holidays for pickup by arrangement.
Just click on the Order Wine link in the header above to browse a list of currently available wines with tasting notes and prices. When you have made your selections you can phone us with your order or email us using the Contact Us link above. We will confirm your order and make arrangements for pickup/delivery at your convenience.
Wine of the Week: Gamache Boulder Red 2016 Washington Columbia Valley $20
Malbec 42%, Syrah 23%, Merlot 23%, Cabernet Franc 8%, Cabernet Sauvignon 4%. “Smooth and luscious with heady aromas of dark fruit, loamy earth, vanilla and cedar, and compelling flavors of black cherry, plum and dark berries mingled with graham, vanilla and spice. Refined tannins add depth to the full-bodied finish.”
In 1982 Roger and Bob Gamache brought a family farming heritage to Washington and planted the Gamache vineyard near the White Bluffs in Columbia Valley under the guidance of Washington wine pioneer Walter Clore. Twenty years later they began making wine under their own label. From their years as vintners they had established symbiotic working relationships with other top vintners in the area that gave them access to the highly sought-after fruit from the iconic Ciel du Cheval vineyard on Red Mountain and Champoux vineyard in Horse Heaven Hills.
All vineyards are not created equal, and great fruit is the necessary ingredient for great wine. Therefore it is not surprising that Gamache wines are highly regarded, including our “wine of the week” Boulder Red.
Mar a Lago Update: The Art of Exhalation
This particular editorial spot in the wine blog actually began on our nation’s last “Inauguration Day” in 2017. Spurred on by the Women’s March, it evolved into a commitment to maintain a sort of Vigil, a weekly reflection of sorts, on the inevitable unfolding Disaster of Trumpism. But it wasn’t until our April 28. 2017 post that we first began the “Mar a Lago Update” name that we have maintained ever since, on the order of some two hundred posts. It’s been something of a Solitary Solidarity thing. Like how crying releases toxins.
The toy duck photo had been taken some years earlier at the little park near the ferry landing in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. The image captures perfectly (for us, anyway) the grotesque whimsy of a narcissistic psychopath bumbling into becoming the World’s Most Powerful person. Or, to paraphrase Bob Dylan, “it just does not Equaaate…blame it on a simple Twist of Fate.”
It’s been a Long Slog and we are all Exhausted. Spent. Just beginning to dare to Hope. It’s a fragile place. Trauma is like that. When nourishment is consistently pulled out of reach for no apparent reason but entertainment, and the beatings continue randomly, it is reasonable to feel hopeless and powerless.
That said, this week is the first time in four years that there might be an actual glimmer of Light at the end of what has been a very Long and very Dark Tunnel. It’s hard to let that nourishing feeling in, because it might be yanked away at the last minute. But it will bring a long-longed-for nourishment to have a Good Joe in the White House And we now know that IS going to happen!
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