Spring forth

the bottle: 509 2006 Syrah
the movie: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring, 2003
the meal: Char-grilled boneless leg of lamb, crispy potato-leek rösti with Greek yogurt, chopped fennel and olive salad, milk chocolate hazelnut panna cotta
We wrest the early pear blossoms from their cold pencil thin bark in an emerald city’s gleeful spring showing…and sniff the cold sweet droplets as if to inhale sugar from the turf.

To begin, there was a shower of iridescent yellow forsythia lighting up stony damp skies. Then, the hopeful crocuses and midget daffodils. Spidery bare limbs releasing slivery green emissions, and buds the size of bumble bees squeeze out of barken pinholes, presenting bone-white treasures. Off to the side, there, hedges of syrupy Japonica sweeten the pot, and the fruit trees start to dance; first the Asian pear, and then a ceiling of apple and cherry as if to sandwich one’s conscience in color and strip the brazen grays from their seeded perch.

Spring has arrived here in Seattle. It started in February but now there is no excusing it. There are just too many floral fireworks and pungent waft-bys. I always get carried away in spring, hence the verse-influenced intro. Spring warrants new thinking with possibility and hope. It ushers in new beginnings and frees our bodies from their mummified paralysis. One of the first things we do is step out into the brighter, sweeter evening air…and grill.

What could be a better start to the season than to take a boned and rubbed leg of lamb and char it out back over the liberated open flame? A rite of spring, lamb is a natural to open the grilling season (followed by asparagus and ramps, eagerly anticipated) and we relish the first tastes of the charred but tender soft, grassy flavor, spiked with a bit of Spanish paprika, sea salt, rosemary and olive oil. To accompany the thinly sliced pink and black slivers, I like this crispy potato-leek rösti, dabbed with Greek yogurt, and for some angular contrast, a shaved fennel and olive salad that stands up to carry the lamb forth. The rösti is a savory, crispy concoction with a gooey, earthy core that provides contrast in it own right, both texturally and flavorfully.
For a light but decadent closer, this milk chocolate hazelnut panna cotta is incredible. It is solid yet light and bridges the seasons well.
This meal is a fantastic grouping of spring flavors with balance and structure that present beautifully as the perfect mid March transitional meal.

As the spring’s first blossoms begin to peek out of their new buds and the green shoots reappear out of the dark earth, I am reminded of the eternal circle of life. And this is the theme of the movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter…and Spring. As I try to succinctly capture the film’s power and emotional strength, I think this viewer’s words say it as well as I could.

"This film left me speechless, and I still have a hard time putting how I feel about this movie into words. After seeing it the first time in the theater, my friend and I couldn't bring ourselves to say a word to each other...not even in the car on the ride back. The second time I saw it, after purchasing it, another friend and I walked around the campus for half an hour in silence. The third time, a friend and I sat in silence in her room for an hour after the movie was over. This film is that profound, touching, and moving. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...Spring is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. Visually it is fantastic. The film manages to speak directly to the soul (or...failing to believe in the soul...something deep inside anyone watching it), and this is where it's beauty lies. Parts are so affecting that a painful nostalgia for a place you never knew overwhelms you.

She is right.


For the bottle, we went with a friend’s ripe juicy syrah to complement the grilled lamb. Five Zero Nine is a small Washington specialty winery making really nice wines from Walla Walla and the Columbia Valley. They do a really nice Viognier as well as Syrah, and Kevin Conroy tells me they will soon be releasing a pink Syrah, so get ready for the summer quaff.

Our glass of 2006 Syrah is strong and a good match with the lamb. Not overpowering but pretty dense, this wine has some nice black fruits and nut mid tones, with some chocolate and black pepper. It is a really delicious wine and might be hard to find outside of the Pacific Northwest. In its stead, any big-hearted Syrah or Pinot will do, but make sure it’s not too thin or the Spanish paprika will win the night.

And a soft billowy night it is as a 60-degree trade wind effect glides through West Seattle, ripening a hopeful winter gaze and softening our scorn. Replaced with mouthfuls of manna, warmth of skin, and visions of grassy barefoot walks.

Recipes available here:

Grilled leg of lamb: http://bit.ly/9vcd5Q

Crispy potato-leek rösti: http://bit.ly/bCcg6O

Chopped fennel and olive salad: http://bit.ly/aRQrlH

Milk chocolate hazelnut panna cotta: http://nyti.ms/aVQm5G