 During
the past few years, Martin Tozer, of Ellensburg, Washington, has
developed a loyal following of local readers who look forward
to each installment of his column, The Vine Journey, which
appears in The Ellensburg Daily Record.
Marty brings a fresh perspective to the sometimes stuffy field
of wine criticism. His columns titled, The Vine Journey,
help make what can be the very confusing, intimidating world of
wines, accessible to those who might never have considered a “vine
journey” of their own. Fruit From Washington is privileged
to bring you a selection of his writings on wine, wineries, food
and much more. Click for Martin
Tozer's The Vine Journey.
The Vine Journey
By Martin Tozer
Food & Wine (for December 12th, 2001) -
One of the most common questions that I get from readers and
wine buyers is, “what wine should I have with a particular
food?” The first, and easiest, answer is, “any wine
you regularly enjoy.” That answer works well when you
are dealing with a person that actually does have a favorite
wine. The assumption is that through some sort of personal
journey they have clearly identified what they like and why.
In this case the wine is a known quantity to them and therefore
is easy to match its taste with the taste of the foods they
are going to prepare. (Click
for more) (pdf version - you will need Adobe Acrobat
Reader) |
 The
month of March, which brought us record late snowfalls, avalanches
and a pass closure that trapped east-siders on the west side of
Washington State and west-siders on the east side for a matter
of days, went out like the proverbial lamb. Easter
Sunday dawned clear and unbelievably warm, in cooperation with
those who planned their first picnic brunch of the year. Members
of the Fairchild and Eberhart clans gathered at Urban and Kim's
big, white farmhouse for a fabulous spread and the annual entertainment
of the traditional Easter egg hunt by all those small ones. We
also inaugurated their brand new redwood picnic table! Thank you,
Urban and Kim, for being such wonderful, welcoming hosts!
 Fruit
From Washington received the Best New Exhibitor award at the Yakima
Home Show and takes home a commemorative plaque thanks to the
efforts of Ross, Stephanie, and Steph's cousin, Patty, who did
all of the work preparing the exhibits, setting up the display
and holding forth during the long days of the Home Show's run
at the Yakima Sundome, March 21-24.
 The
outdoor furniture items they had on display included redwood and
cedar deck and patio furniture which we show in the Fruit
From Washington catalog as well as many other specialty pieces!
|
Up
on the Blackboard
Special Days in April
April
Fools Day
Monday,
April 1, 2002
A crazy day beloved by practical jokers and fools alike!
Scottish
Tartan Day
Saturday,
April 6, 2002
Scots whae hae! Celebrate the Scottish influence. This one's
for you, Bruce Wilson Manclark and you as well, Rob Roy!
Tax
Day
Monday,
April 15, 2002
You have until midnight, Monday, April 15 to get your taxes
mailed!
Earth
Day
Monday,
April 22, 2002
Celebrate Earth Day and its oxygen, nitrogen rich atmosphere,
liquid water oceans, continental land masses, and permanent
ice caps at each pole.
Secretaries'
Day
Wednesday,
April 24, 2002
It's not too late, call 1-877-AT-FRUIT and order a gift
of apples or pears for your secretary today, remember, fruit
is easier to eat than flowers!
National
Arbor Day
Friday,
April 26, 2002
Celebrate Arbor Day! From the tiny acorn a mighty oak will
grow. Plant a tree, or better yet, join the National Arbor
Day Foundation and plant ten!
|
Hay
Buyers Wanted—Select Kittitas County Timothy and Orchard
Grass Horse Hay For Sale! Delivery
available within Kittitas County, Washington (see
details)
 SOLD
- Forest
Tract of Mountain View Property
For Sale by Owner within Liberty Mountain Recreational
Area — Private Property, Former Kittitas County Homestead,
Surrounded by Wenatchee National Forest Land with Liberty
Mountain Ownership Association Protections.
| Webmasters
-
We hope you'll consider linking to our site. Choose
from our link
graphics or text
or create a text link to a FruitFromWashington.com page
that's pertinent to your site. |
|
 The
April Subscription Variety is a 20-count gift box of Red
d'Anjou pears.
The Red
d'Anjou appeared as a mutation of a branch of a Beurré
d'Anjou pear tree during the mid-1950's. It has found a following
in the marketplace because of its lovely crimson hue, good
keeping quality, and versatility as both an eating and cooking
pear. (See our pear
use chart for more details).
A
Coronation Benediction
"Bless, oh Lord,
the courage of this Prince
and prosper the works
in his hands and
may his land be
filled with apples."
- Ancient Saxon Blessing
Find
more in the Fruit From Washington collection of prayers and
blessings
A
whirlwind of spring cleaning swept through the Eberhart household
in the wake of Barbie's arrival for a week long visit from
Alaska. Her flurry of scrubbing, sorting, organizing,
and tossing out can only have been caused by some sort of
crazy spring fever. No one was spared. She assured Urban and
Regan that those love letters written during their junior
high days and stashed upstairs at Mom and Dad's for ages would
go straight into the burn pile!
When
asked for her recommendations on how to make those spring
cleaning tasks a little easier, Barbie replied, "Hire
somebody to do it for you!" Seriously,
she noted that, "my basic philosophy on cleaning is there's
too much to do all at once, so I only do a little at a time."
Barbie did
pass on a few helpful hints.
For
instance, an easy way to wash kitchen windows is to steam
up the kitchen by boiling a big pot of potatoes or other vegetables
on a cold night. This creates a lot of steam. Wait until the
windows are coated with moisture, then simply wipe them down.
Those
of you on conditioned city water don't have to worry about
mineral build-up in your bathroom and kitchen sinks. However,
if you are on a well that provides heavily mineralized water,
another one of Barbie's cleaning hints will come in handy.
She recommends white distilled vinegar to clean off those
hard mineral deposits. Soaking first with vinegar makes the
scrubbing easier. "I'm into delegating," Barbie
says, "when there's too much work to be done I even delegate
to the vinegar!"
Here
are three quick kitchen help ideas in which the secret ingredient
is an apple. Adding
an apple to a bag of potatoes helps prevent the spuds from
sprouting so quickly.
If you
buy a bag of brown sugar and you don't go through it very
fast, it may turn into a hard old lump. Placing an apple in
with the brown sugar keeps the sugar soft, moist and usable.
Lastly, core, peel and grate a half of an apple into any cake
batter. This will improve the cake's flavor (even chocolate)
and make it marvelously moist! (Click
for more household helps).
April
Featured Recipe
Danish Apple Pudding
Adapted from “A World of Good Eating:
A Collection of Old and New Recipes from Many Lands” (Phillips
Publishers, Inc., 1951)
1 package Zweiback
1 heaping Tablespoon butter
1/2 c. sugar
8 medium large apples (we recommend Jonagolds)
1/2 pint whipping cream
1/2 c. fruit syrup (your choice of flavor)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out a package
of Zweiback. Mix the butter and sugar with the crumb mixture.
Place a layer of crumb mixture in a greased loaf pan, then add
a layer of sliced apples. Repeat alternating layers of crumb
mixture and apples to fill the pan. End with layer of crumbs.
Dot the top with butter and pour fruit syrup over all. Bake
for one hour. Serve with whipped cream.
For more fruit recipes (using
Fruit From Washington apples and pears) see the FruitFromWashington
Recipes index page!
|
