Wining and Dining

At 1:00 pm, a stretch Hummer limousine drove up to the Birchfield Manor and 7 couples piled in, including Rich and I. I can count on one hand the number of times I have been in a limousine and in a Hummer. The door is in the back end and we either had to bend way over or crawl on your hands and knees (most of us were doing this at the end of the trip) to get to the seats in the front. The interior was generously appointed with places for wine bottles (cases went in the very back), plus a supply of wine glasses. We weren't driving so we could sample in between sampling.

If you have an iPhone or Android, you can use your QR reader and scan a code from the "Yakima Valley Grown to Greatness" guide to the valley wineries. You can read more about these wineries at www.yakima.mobilewinetour.com.

Todd, our chauffeur for the afternoon, took us to five wineries.

Our first stop was Masset Winery "located amongst beautiful orchards in the Rattlesnake Hills". Tastings are housed in an historic 1905 French inspired farmstead and by appointment only. Indeed we passed many pear and cherry trees on our way. We tasted a mixture of white and red wines. My preference is for white and I enjoyed the un-oaked Chardonnay and the Le Petit Blanc with a taste of green apple. Yummy. There was also a small calico cat that has the run of the tasting room and received many pets from Nancy and myself.

The next stop was Cultura Winery. This was voted the best by our group. Many purchases were made of various red wines. We bought 2 bottles of Merlot. The couple who own and run the winery were very friendly and engaging. If you like horseback riding, you can stay at a BB&B, bed, breakfast and barn, and visit different wineries on horseback including a lunch and tasting stop at Cultura.

The third winery was Silver Lake, more of a large production winery as opposed to the first two which were small boutique style. The person pouring was a little out of sorts and not very friendly as the 14 of us stepped in for tastings. The Girly Girl Chardonnay was okay but nothing to write home about other than the name.

Two Mountain Winery made up for the previous stop. We purchased another Merlot and some dark chocolate, an excellent combination which we all drank and nibbled on in the limo as we rode to our last stop. The two mountains the winery is named for are Mt Adams and Mt Rainier which you can see in the distance from just outside the tasting room.

Our final stop before returning to the Manor, was Hyatt Winery. We purchased a bottle for Riesling and some delicious Bing cherries. I was more excited about the cherries than the wine but the white is a decent table wine.

We returned to the Manor and relaxed before dinner. All 16 of us, some friends of Doug and Nancy's who live in the valley joined us for dinner, sat by the pool and relaxed before dinner. Doug showed us slight of hand trick with two corks that some of us tried to master but unsuccessfully.

Dinner was excellent. We enjoyed fresh baked bread, either cheddar cheese bread or caraway seed baguette, beef and mushroom soup followed by a choice of entrées. The entree choices were salmon in puffed pastry, filet mignon (my choice), rack of lamb (Rich's choice), steak Diane, or prawn and shrimp cakes. Dessert choices were brownie with a small creme brûlée or a cream Josephine with a raspberry coulis. Rich had the later and I chose the former and we shared. Both were great. To top off the evening was a sample of handmade Belgian chocolate, made on the premises.

Monday was definitely a gastronomic delight. Tuesday we drove home in the rain. The crawl space of the guest house we are staying at is being resealed. They started working on Monday and were still busy when we returned. So Rich and I opted to go see a movie and avoid the mess.

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A trip to Yakima

Yesterday, morning we caught the 10:25 am ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle and then on to Interstate 90 for a drive over to Yakima in eastern Washington. The weather was 'clearing', a weaselly expression meaning it was still cloudy and overcast but that the sun was starting to peak through in places. After we crossed Snoqualmie Pass, the sun was shining and you could see blue skies between the puffy white clouds. We met Doug and Nancy at the Yakima airport. They had flown in from Euphrata, where they had been judging an aerobatic competition. We drove to the Birchfield Manor where we are staying as we join 6 other couples to do some wine tasting on Monday before heading back to Seattle on Tuesday.

Rich and I realized it has been a long time since we were in eastern Washington. The last time may have been in 2003. I guess when you live on a boat, you don't go inland as much.

The Birchfield Manor includes a restored old home and a cottage house with nice accommodations including restored antiques. Our rooms has a large window seat and a private bath with a shower. It is named the Victoria. Other rooms with such names as Jenny, Anne, Elizabeth and Allison, vary in the size and amenities. 

Last night several of us had a hankering for pie so we drove to the nearest Shari's restaurant for some cherry pie. Very delicious.

This morning we enjoyed breakfast in the large dining room. We have some time to relax, read and enjoy a little sun before the limousine pick us up this afternoon and takes us to several wineries to do some tasting. In the evening we will have dinner back at the manor.

Perhaps we will have a few bottles to add to our wine cellar in the bilge.

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Life on land

We are settling in to our life on the land and off of the boat. It has been a bit of an adjustment. We are lucky that the place we are staying has a view of the water and we can see the ferry go by as well as some of downtown Seattle, the cruise ships, container ships and of course sailboats. I miss the rocking of the boat, some of the warmer weather and sunshine (I don’t miss the really hot stuff or humidity), the anchorages, changing scenery, different cultures and some of our ‘stuff’. If you are a George Carlin fan you can appreciate if I say we now have stuff in two countries. I do have to admit it is easy to adjust to a private bathroom with a free shower, a free laundry that is a few steps away, an upright refrigerator and a dishwasher plus being close to grocery stores that have everything you can imagine without having to search multiple places or wish that you had stocked up on it before leaving the United States.

Rich and I joined a fitness center so we can get back in shape. We are trying to go almost every other day. My muscles were a bit sore at first but I am hoping there is some muscle memory left as we get back into our routines. I plan to get back into yoga but I will have to buy a new yoga mat as I left mine on the boat and did not have enough room in our duffel bags to bring it as they were stuff full with all the other stuff I thought I would need while off the boat.

Rich has seen some of his doctors including a cardiologist recommended by his vascular surgeon as well as our friends Doug and Nancy. Rich’s previous cardiologist retired some years ago to go cruising. Go figure. We were able to establish a good rapport with this new doctor and feel comfortable working with him. He went through Rich’s medical history and the documentation we had from his incidents in Portland, May 2011, and now Mexico, April 2012. We are developing a plan and the prognosis looks good.

In the meantime we are doing chores like claiming unclaimed accounts of my parents, working with the insurance company to get reimbursed for Rich’s stay in the hospital in Mexico as well as the fun part, reconnecting with friends.

We had dinner with Dan, Madeline, Megan and Lauren Sego. As you may recall Dan joined us on the Baja Ha-Ha late last year. We stopped by our old dock at Shilshole Bay Marina and visited with Michael Pack of Caelistis. He and his family recently moved from Seattle to San Diego and he was preparing to sail his boat down the coast to it's new berth at Harbor Island in San Diego bay. We wished him fairwinds and following seas for his run down the coast. Our friends, Wendy and Garth of SV Vellala, recently bought a house with a large workshop here on Bainbridge Island where they will live while Garth builds his dream sailboat. Paul and Suzette of SV Altair sailed from Shilshole Bay Marina over to Port Blakely here on the island on Friday after work. Saturday morning we picked them up and drove into Winslow for the day including a visit to the Farmer’s Market, checking out the waterfront walk and a stop at Doc’s for some liquid libation and a snack. That evening we rode with Doug and Nancy up to Port Townsend for dinner with 3 other couples at Doc’s new location at Port Hudson. It was a great evening, good food, good company. We remember sailing to Port Hudson on our previous sailboat, Fairwind, with the kids and stat, Fairwind, with the kids and staying at the marina. The building, where the restaurant is now, once housed the bathrooms and showers.

We look forward to seeing more friends (just give us a call) and family during our stay on land.

Signing off from Bainbridge Island

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"

On Saturday, June 2, we helped Doug and Nancy pick up their oyster seedlings to put out on their beach. There is a program on Bainbridge Island that will sell you oyster seedlings and all of the equipment necessary so you can 'grow' them on your beach. The Puget Sound Restoration Fund is a non-profit organization helping to restore the eco-system of Puget Sound. One of their programs is to restore the nitrogen balance in the Sound by having people raise oysters on their beach. So since Doug likes oysters, and this is a good cause, he decided to become a shellfish gardener.

Along with 500 little oyster seedlings, we picked up two mesh bags with wire ties to contain the seedlings while they grow and discourage starfish and other predators, plus two rebar stakes and some line to stake down the mesh bags.

On Sunday we set about planting the oysters. With 250 seedlings per bag, we used wire ties to seal the bags and prevent starfish from getting inside. Two stakes are stuck into the sand and the rope is tied from one stake to the other. We then wire tied one end of the bag to the rope so that the bags would lie flat.

The oysters are ready

Now you do this and ....

Doug choose to plant Pacific oysters which will take about a year before they are large enough to eat. In the meantime he will watch them grow and flip over the bag once a month, per the instructions.

You may recognize the title of this post. It is from the poem, "The Walrus and the Carpenter" from Lewis Carroll's book, "Through the Looking Glass".