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Wine is like art. Only a fraction of us have received the formal education to make us true experts, but at the end of the day most of us know what we like and what we dont. Thankfully for the kosher-keeping set, the world of kosher wine is expanding far beyond Manischewitz jam-themed flavors. For years weve watched the Columbia Valley grow in prominence in the wine world, and our day has finally come: We now have a kosher wine we can call our own. The new Pacifica line from Royal Wine Corporation, the parent company of Baron Herzog, is comprised of two wines, one from Washingtons Columbia Valley and the other from Oregons Willamette Valley. The creators of this new line are the same gentlemen behind New Zealands Goose Bay wines. Last Saturday night I was among the 90 or so lucky individuals who had the distinction of being the first ever to taste these wines at a five-course pairing launch event to benefit Torah Day School.
Baron Herzog Pinot Grigio (California $12.99) Served with sea bass on a bed of fennel fumet with ovendried Roma tomatoes While Im not a big white wine fan, the white wine I do like is very dry (preferably very brut and sparkling). I found this new variety to have a flat, semi-astringent taste, almost like an oxidized Riesling. My grandmother would love this wine. It is said that when it comes to Pinot Gris/Grigio, Alsace is the place, and this Californian proves the adage to be true. The Pinot Grigio was served with a seared sea bass that fell into the I cant believe this is parve! category due to its rich butteryness. The fish, while delicious in its own right, X Page 3
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Ann being responsible for color and name creation on many of their beers as well. Charles and Rose Ann are also credited with helping to start and build the Chateau St. Michelle brand, now one of the largest and most prominent wineries in the United States. When they started Bon Vin back in 1969 (which has since been sold), it was the first company to represent the boutique wines of America. Now that term is used regularly, but the Finkels are responsible for being among the first to market these unique and obscure high-end wines nationally. Some of the first wineries represented by Bon Vin were St. Michelle winery, as well as Sutter Home, Dry Creek, and Fetzer before any were the household names they are now. Having that experience with wine, we decided to pursue beer, said Charles. So they started Merchant du Vin. We had a lot of fun importing beer with Merchant du Vin; we were innovative as we were the first to do such a thing. During that time, we established a lot of nice relationships that we maintain to this day. X Page 8
We have a lot of bright ideas for the Festival of Lights. From seasonal baked goods and delicious dinners to Stopskys gift cards and gift baskets, share holiday nachas (joy) with friends and family. We also have a wide array of catering options at www.stopskysdelicatessen.com/catering. And were open on Christmas Eve and Day why should the Chinese restaurants have all the fun?
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I n t r o d u c i n g
PacificA
Evan's Collection
The first dedicated Kosher winery in the Pacific Northwest
Explore the Pacific Northwest
Featuring independent, family-owned European and French wines since 1978. We travel to France yearly and import direct from France.
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By emily k. alhadeff Whats a Jew, a lonely Jew, to do on Christmas? ill give you a hint: it mostly involves Chinese food. and other Jews. This year is one of those lucky ones where Hanukkah and Christmas overlap (on a weekend no less!), so depending on your loyalties you can either ignore the whole Santa affair or combine them into one big fire hazard of a party. To ease the holiday angst, weve compiled a list of events, volunteer opportunities and a few good movies to carry you through this very Judeo-Christian weekend. fRiDay, DeCeMBeR 23 6 p.m. Community Hanukkah Shabbat Dinner @ eastside Torah Center
Eastside Chabad is hosting a family-friendly Hanukkah dinner. Reserve your spot with your payment ($25/adult; $20/children) at chabadbellevue.org. At Eastside Torah Center, 1837 156th Ave. NE #303, Bellevue. dinner. Raskin will share her knowledge of this Jewish American culinary tradition, which also happened to be the subject of her graduate thesis. This event is currently full, but RSVP online at www.jconnectseattle.org to get on the wait list.
Find more events you actually want to go to, weekly columns by local writers, our blog, reviews, and more. Join the party at www.jew-ish.com, on Facebook at /jewishdotcom and on Twitter @jewishdotcom.
VolunTeeR oPPoRTuniTy
Most of the country might be taking the day off, but needy people still need to eat.
MoVieS
Youre in an oil-induced food coma, and your kids are high on sugared donuts. Movie time! Here are some picks for Saturday night and Sunday.
five candles:
The Artist (PG-13) A silent film about the end of a silent film stars career due to the advent of talking pictures. (At the Harvard Exit only) The Descendants (R) Starring George Clooney and directed by Alexander Payne, its supposed to be excellent but it might leave a mark.
four candles:
The Adventures of Tintin (PG) Spielbergs take on the classic comic, Tintin embarks on a treasure-hunting adventure. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (R) Based on the bestselling novel, but no substitute for it. War Horse (PG-13) Spielbergs other film out this winter, set in World War I Europe, about how a horse can change a life. Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (PG-13) We have a feeling its not impossible, but it should be suspenseful. A Dangerous Method (R) The story of Carl Jungs illicit relationship with Russian Jewess Sabina Spielrein, with appearances by Sigmund Freud. This is probably the best antidote to all the Christmas cheer. (At the Egyptian only) Shame (NC-17) How youll likely feel when you leave the theater.
Happy Hanukkah
from all the artists and designers at SPUN Sustainable Collective
IF Bought a Zoo (PG) A stale tale THIS DEADLINE, lessons ASSUME THERE ARE NO We WE DO NOT HEAR FROM YOU BYof love, loss, and WE WILL but based on a true story. Youll CORRECTIONS AND YOUR ADVERTISEMENT WILL RUN AS SCHEDULED. Thank you. leave feeling good, and thats always nice. Alvin and the Chipmunks 3D (PG) As if 2D wasnt enough. Bring your earplugs. FOR DEPARTMENT USE ONLY Young Adult (R) Young Adult seems about as pointless as, well, young adults sometimes are. APPROVED fiction writer, married man, small town, fluffy lap dog. Keywords: divorce,by
Three candles:
Open Savor the citys Christmas exotic Day most Eve & dining experience! & New Years Day
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join us for
open december 24
www.neighborhoodgrills.com
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killing animals
Few things bond a group faster than ritually slaughtering and preparing turkeys
By Tzippy Wiens
Dont worry; youll feel less bad after you eat them, the young farmer assures us as we take it all in. Ten turkeys are hanging off of three coat racks, each suspended by two large fish hooks, their naked bodies covered in salt, some with their feet still on, some flanked by their livers and hearts, covered in salt and draining onto hot pink plastic table cloths, the kind one would see underneath an assortment of cupcakes and Jell-O shots at a bachelorette party. Someone next to me says it looks like an art installation. I cant imagine possibly eating my turkey; Im sure its delicious after all, it is the kosher foodie holy trinity: Kosher, organic and local. But Ive spent the last four hours with this turkey. I helped bring her to the shochet, held her feet when she was shechted, held her again while her body convulsed and her heart stopped beating, plucked her feathers, cut off her toes, made three incisions in the neck, incisions on each ankle, and two incisions on the pads of each foot to help the blood drain, and held it again as someone heartier than I decapitated it and removed most of its organs. I scraped out everything I could from the cavity and the submerged it in water for 30 minutes before pulling the turkey out and gently coating every surface with a thick layer of salt. As I go to take a closer look at my dripping turkey a car pulls up. Some of our comrades had formed a scavenging party or its modern day equivalent, a Starbucks run and they have returned victorious, holding the cardboard trays of steaming beverages high in the air. Those of us who stayed behind rush to greet them. Warm drinks are a thing to celebrate when you have not felt your toes in three hours. I take one sip of my green tea before realizing an hour has passed and it is time to cut my turkey down from the coat rack. The two of us are almost ready to go home. The day began at 11:15 that morning when two farmers, two rabbis, and 11 Jconnecters met at a small farm in Carnation, Washington to learn about shechita, Jewish ritual slaughter, and how a live turkey becomes a kosher-for-Thanksgiving turkey. This hands-on learning event, which was years in the making, was organized by Jconnect director Josh Furman. The group consisted of vegetarians, omnivores, strict kashrut observers, not-at-all kashrut observers, and people in between. Despite these differences I received the same response when I asked why each had come: They do not want to feel disconnected from their food, and they want to learn more about shechita and kashrut.
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Guiding us through this complex process were two shochetim: Rabbi Simon Benzaquen of Seattles Sephardic Bikur Holim Congregation, and Rabbi Avi Rosenfeld, a recent graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School. A teal pick-up truck pulled up with the 10 chosen turkeys, the last of the farms birds, in back. The five-month-old female turkeys rested comfortably in a bed of hay as both rabbis gave a brief lecture on the slaughtering process and outlined the steps. Rabbi Rosenfeld, assisted by a Jconnecter, held the first turkey before Rabbi Benzaquen, with his unblemished knife poised over the birds throat, uttered the blessing for shechita. Quiet amens responded and eyes averted as Rabbi Benzaquen made the cut. The assisting Jconnector swiftly put the bird head-down into an inverted traffic cone inside a plastic garbage bin. This part of the process was the most difficult for me: As my bird thrashed and convulsed, I reminded myself it was brain-dead and its nervous system was simply shutting down. The heartbeat I felt was merely an electromechanical disassociation. Bodies are complex machines that do not simply shut off with the flip of a switch. After the 10 birds were slaughtered, we ritually covered the blood from the garbage bin with earth and recited a blessing. Rabbi Rosenfeld patiently guided each of us through the long processes of plucking, cleaning, soaking and salting the birds. The farms other residents, free-range chickens, wandered around us either unaware or unfazed by what we were up to. As I submerge my salty bird in water three times to remove the salt, I take in the day. Ten turkeys that had enjoyed a good yet brief life were slaughtered in a way that pleases both God and animal welfare expert Dr. Temple Grandin. Not only did these birds die for food, but their quills were saved to be used to write ketubot and mezuzot, and they provided a Jewish educational experience that I found to be unparalleled. When I left the house that morning I was nervous I wasnt sure I could take part in this exercise, and I still cant believe that I did. I was the kid who was permanently excused from dissecting animals in school after two consecutive vomiting/fainting episodes. For the record, I only gagged once and it was a false alarm: It turns out the complex aroma one smells while dissecting an animal is the same smell one experiences when taking out a turkeys organs from its chest cavity sans formaldehyde. I am also a former vegetarian and a current fair-weather omnivore. Im sure it helped to be surrounded by a group of people that may have also been feeling the same apprehensions as me. But I think the real reason I powered through was because I was doing something that was connecting me to the food I love, and more important, the religion I love. Judaism is experienced not only in emunah (faith) but by observing mitzvotcommandmentsand this Sunday in Carnation I answered amen to two new blessings. I not only learned how one does the mitzvah of shechita, but I experienced firsthand how the mitzvah of shechita, when it is done as we did it with compassion and respect for an animals life is the foundation of our modern values, not something that needs to be reconciled with them. At the end of the day, I place my turkey in a plastic bag, and together we head home.
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W Pike Place brewery Page 2
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They realized that if they could help build brands for breweries in England, Germany, Belgium and other countries, why not do it here? said Charles. We built a little brewery down on Western Avenue where Market Cellars Winery is located in Pike Place now, which was called Pike Place Brewery at the time and got a lot of great publicity, locally and nationally. Modeled after the styles that Charles and Rose Ann enjoyed themselves, Pike Brewing became known not only for brewing quality, traditional styles of European beers, but it is also credited with being one of the first breweries in the county to produce an India Pale Ale (IPA), which has won numerous prestigious awards at beer competitions. Pike was also one of the first to replicate the Belgian classics, such as their Belgian Trippel (Pike Monks Uncle) and their Wit beer (Pike Dry Wit). At the time, said Rose Ann, we thought a little tiny brewery with a little tiny copper brew kettle was just perfect. Then we realized, very shortly after opening, that we needed a larger facility. They moved locations in 1996, and in 1997 one of their suppliers offered to buy the company. With four businesses to juggle the brewery, Merchant du Vin, a restaurant and a home-
brew supply store they decided to sell. We had what we like to call our nice little eight-year sabbatical, she said. In 2006, though, they were ready to come out of their semi-retirement. We got a call from the Samuel Smith brewery basically inviting us with an offer to market their beer in Asia. When we got to Samuel Smith, the subject of marketing in Asia didnt actually come up, but what did happen was we came home with a brewery with an opportunity to buy back Pike, which was a love of ours and a dream come true, said Rose Ann. Until we walked in, she continued. It was tired, and what we know as the museum in the brewery had become a smoking lounge (sort of a dive-bar), and just not a place where we wanted to hang out. And now weve changed that culture completely. Now Im happy to say we have a really strong local base and have a lot of fun. Charles and Rose Ann dont consider themselves practicing Jews necessarily, but they practice a great deal of philanthropy within the Jewish community, supporting and giving to the Jewish Federation and Jewish Family Service. They are active in the Seattle Jewish Film Festival every year. Charles likes to joke that as a Jewish beer merchant he tells people, Im one of the few people youll meet that represented a Catholic monastery that brews beer.
Rose Ann added, What goes around comes around! They brew the beer, but its a Jewish guy that markets it! laughed Charles. Other national Jewish brewery owners and brewers include Ken Grossman, owner of Sierra Nevada, Jeremy Cowan, owner of Shmaltz Brewing, and Adam Sprints, founder of Hair of the Dog. But Rose Ann and Charles are, both from the marketing and ownership
side of the brewing business, at the top of the list of prominent pioneers in craft brewing. on December 31, Pike Brewing is hosting old Bawdy new year, a pre-release party for their 2011 old Bawdy Barley Wine. enjoy a prix fixe menu and live music. Doors open until 1 a.m.
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