Wine Dinner at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island

Last Thursday night, Leslie and I made the 30 minute drive to the small ferry going to Lummi Island. The 10 minute sailing time across to the island is an odd voyage. Such a short time to cross and yet by the time the ferry docks on the island we always feel we have sailed away to a distant destination. The little Whatcom Chief only holds about 20 vehicles, much smaller than the larger state ferries that move hundreds of passengers between the San Juan Islands. In a way its diminutive size adds to the adventurousness of the crossing.

Once across our car all but knows the way to our favorite getaway. It also holds sentimental memories for us as it is the place where our daughter Kate and her husband Nick became engaged. A right turn off the ferry dock and a winding two lane road through the Lummi countryside leads to The Willows Inn. Proprietors Riley and Judy are always glad to see you and walking in through the front door the first place I always head is to one of the two leather couches facing one another. I have my comfy spot next to the picture window looking out onto the Straits of Georgia. A vast expanse of water with occasional glimpses of whales, tugs towing barges and sailboats in full sail heading to who knows where.

On this particular trip to The Willows we had made a reservation for one of their famous Wine Dinners which feature well-known northwest chefs and wine makers who are brought together to prepare fantastic gastronomic events for small groups of people lucky enough to get a place at the table.

On this night we were treated to the culinary skills of John Sundstrom of the well known restaurant, Lark in Seattle. Paired with each course were the wines of Brick House out of the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Doug Tennel and his wife are the owners and they brought several wonderful wines for the evening.

The appetizers were served on the sunny deck which stretches across the front of the Inn. Glasses of chilled Zardetto Prosecco were served along with the appetizers:

• whole roasted spot prawns with sorrel, lemon and butter
• warm mangalitsa lardo crostini with rosemary
• burrata crostini with mint, fava beans and olive oil

The spot prawns are caught by Riley right off the Inn. He brought the evening's catch up onto the deck and showed everyone the fresh, bright red prawns snapping and jumping in the bowl on their way to the kitchen. A few minutes later we were all tearing the heads off and pulling the tails off to get at the sweet salty meat.

The Mangalitsa is a type of pig Riley raises there on the Willow's farm. This pig had only recently been dispatched for this special evening's meal. The lardo is the fat back from the mangilitsa and it melted in your mouth. This critter would appear on the menu twice more before the night was over.

We were summoned into the main dining room at about 7 where Riley introduced our chef who explained each course and to Doug Tennel who also described his wines.

The first course was a chilled Lummi Island wild Sockeye Salmon with spicy watercress puree, wasabi tobiko and miner's lettuce. The presentation was beautiful with the sauces swirled and swipped across the plate as if by an artist's brush and then, almost as if an after-thought, a dainty stem with tiny flowers placed perfectly among the sauces and salmon. Along with it was served a 2007 Gamay Noir au Jus Blanc. Perfect!

Course 2 was an Italian Wedding Soup with chicken, Mangalitsa sausage, nettles and egg. Here again the Mangalitsa pig had been used. Riley decided to create a sausage with it. Not sure how to go about it he called his friend Greg Higgins, owner of the fabulous Portland, Oregon restaurant of the same name. Greg walked him through the process and the outcome was fabulous. The soup was subtly rich without being overpowering. The paired wine was a 2007 Chardonnay which satisfyingly matched the flavors of the soup.

The main was a reappearance of the Mangalitsa pig. This time the loin was prepared and sliced into medallions, placed over crispy red potatoes and asparagus with a lemon, parsley, garlic sauce. While the loin was delicious, melting in your mouth, the potatoes were the surprise hit. Everyone wondered how Chef Sundstrom had prepared them. When he next appeared the mystery was solved. He had parboiled the small red potatoes, allowed them to cool, then smooshed them with the heal of his hand so that the skins broke open slightly. He next coated them in olive oil and sprinkled them with black truffle salt before roasting them until the outsides were crisp. Wow! This course also brought with it my favorite wine of the evening--a 2007 "Les Dijonnais" Pinot Noir. I was waiting for this wine as I love Pinots. This one one didn't disappoint. My only regret was that I couldn't finish it and accept the offer for more. I was the designated driver.

Finally, our dessert made its appearance. A white chocolate pot de creme with rhubarb preserve and almond croquant. Delicate and delicious it melted in your mouth. The 2007 blackberry port made a superb accompaniment to this perfect end to the evening.

Chef John Sundstrom's food does not have the hit-you-over-the-head flavors of the Tom Douglas school my wife loves so much. His food is far more subtle. It relies on its freshness, purity and simple beauty to convey its message. And it conveys it well. I found myself repeatedly placing the fork or spoon in my mouth, closing my eyes and slowly removing the conveyance. Eyes still closed, I allowed the food to simply melt, sending the flavor signals here and there across my tongue. There was no reason to hurry. I couldn't hurry. I wanted this to last forever.

We were paired with two other couples as our table mates and couldn't have asked for four nicer folks to share the evening. One couple, young, celebrated their 5th anniversary. The other couple were actually acquaintances of Leslie's from the University. Sadly, the room began to slowly empty and we waited, still conversing with our new friends, until it was time for us to reluctantly make the drive back to the ferry and to our busy lives across the water.

We will be back Willows Inn. Thank you for a wonderful evening.

Mortgage Burning Dinner

After paying off our home mortgage, the result of 30 years of monthly payments. What better way to celebrate this event than with a dinner with friends. When planning our menu our thoughts returned to last New Year's Eve's dinner with family and friends in Wales. Son-in-law Nick and I prepared a wonderful Shepherd's Pie. So we decided to replicate it for our Mortgage Burning Party.


Here is the recipe:


2 pounds of ground lamb
1 medium onion--chopped
3 carrots--chopped into pieces the size of the onions
1/2 cup frozen peas
olive oil
3 cloves of garlic--minced
1 cup of red wine
3/4 cup of Daddies Sauce*
5 pounds of potatoes
1 stick butter
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Saute the lamb in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until browned. Remove from heat, drain and put browned lamb into 9" X 13" casserole.

Saute onions, garlic and carrots in 3 tablespoons of olive oil until tender. Place mixture into casserole with lamb. Pour wine into saute pan and reduce while picking up bits of left behind lamb and veggie mix.

Pour wine off into the casserole. Let cool for a while. Add frozen peas and Daddies Sauce and mix all ingredients together. Set aside until potatoes are ready. May be covered and cooled overnight.

Peel potatoes and cut into small chunks. Fill a large pot with water, add potatoes and bring to boil. Boil until potatoes are tender. Drain potatoes and replace into pot. Using hand mixer whip potatoes adding butter in chunks and parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Using a spatula fold mashed potatoes over lamb mixture and spread evenly over the top.

Sprinkle parika over the potato layer. Place in preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 45 minutes. Raise heat to broil and place pie under broiler until the potatoes begin to brown. Remove from oven and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Serves 8-10.

*Daddies Sauce is an English product and may be difficult to find in America. The flavor of Daddies Sauce is a combination of BBQ sauce and A-1 Steak Sauce.

***************************

Grand Opening!

Monday, April 13, 2009, the guest and master bathrooms in our home were finished today. Our carpenter/plumber/electrician, design stylist Dave Ivie completed his work and bid us another fond farewell at the end of the day.

We wish to thank Dave Ivie from the bottom of our hearts for all his careful hard work. For the times when he questioned our judgement and turned out to be right and for all the little touches he added that we never thought of that made the project come together so beautifully. We can't begin to thank you enough. You are and will always be a special part of our family.

To recap, we have painted both rooms, replaced the linoleum, toilets, sinks, counter tops, faucets, shower and bath hardware, showerheads, shower curtain rods, towel bars, tp dispensers, outlet and switch plates, drawer pulls and the fans and recaulked everything.

The only thing remaining from the old bathrooms are the tub and shower enclosures.

I am so excited about how things look I thought I'd take you on a virtual tour using my FlipVideo camera. So let's cut the ribbon and take a tour of the new facilities!

One Step Closer

Well, today Dave nearly got the guest bathroom finished. That is until a snafu popped up and then another and another. Here is the most recent photo of the project. By the end of the day we did have the knobs on the cabinet, the hand towel rack and TP dispenser installed and, drum roll please. . .ta-da!!!! Running water in the sink.

So what were the issues. Oddly they all centered around the sink and its faucet. The space between the sink and backsplash is really tight. We didn't know how tight until Dave tried to install the faucet.

Problem 1: That thingy that always sticks up behind the faucet that you pull up and down in order to stop up the sink? Well, the granite guy forgot to drill a hole for that thingy. He only drilled the holes for the hot and cold pipes. Arrrgh! Not to worry, he admitted his mistake and will be by to fix it.

Problem 2: There wasn't enough room to secure the faucet to the countertop from the underside using the standard parts. Arrrgh! So the parts had to be modified and even then carefully threaded on in the tight space available.

Problem 3: The hot/cold handles are square in design at their base, a nod to the arts and crafts/bungalow architectural style we love so much. The problem is the space issue again. This time the square corner of the faucets just barely hit the backsplash everytime the faucet is turned on. Arrrrgh! The solution? This time it may be a bit more difficult to solve. We could:

• Cut the 2 cm thick backsplash lengthwise making it somewhat less than 2 cm thick at the cost of about $200.


• We could give up and switch the faucet out for one with rounded handles. Problem here is that all the other accents, towel racks, TP dispenser, etc. are all matching that way.


• We could machine the spot where the faucet hits the backsplash leaving a small concave spot in the backsplash just large enough to allow for the handles to clear.
  

At this point we are going for the 3rd option. We thought the spot was so insignificant that with a high-speed carving tool we could create a small concave groove just deep and wide enough to allow for clearance and no one would ever be the wiser. Tomorrow we try it. Cross your fingers.

Spring Break in Britain

Leslie just returned from her Spring Break trip to visit the kids over in Britain. She was anxious to pay another visit to Bristol and spend some quality time with Nick and Kate. She also managed to visit with Nick's folks, Ray and Liz and they took a swing down into Cornwall where they visited with Ray's brother and sister-in-law and with Nick's Grandma Abbott (the other lives in Enfield near Ray and Liz).

Leslie visted the village of Cheddar in Somerset, did some cheese shopping, visited a local cave and spent some time in London shopping with Kate. They visited Harrod's and walked about London passed the Globe Theatre, over the Millenium Bridge and paid a visit to the Tate Gallery of Contemporary Art. They attended Evensong in St. Paul's.

Here a few photos of the trip. More to come.

Nick made what I understand was a fabulous Toad in the Hole, a classic English dish made of sausages and what we Americans might consider pancake batter. I am waiting anxiously to have Nick replicate this fabulous looking meal here in Bellingham. . .if I can find sausage anywhere as good as can be found in Bristol.

Kate walks arm and arm down a Bristol street with a likeness of movie actor Cary Grant who was a Bristol native.

Leslie happened to be in Britain on Mothering Day, the British equivalent to our Mother's Day. Here are the flowers she received from Nick and Kate.

Kate and dad-in-law Ray mugging for the camera.

A photo looking across the Mellinium Bridge towards St. Paul's.

Kate and Nick nearing the top of their climb in the moors in Cornwall. What a great looking couple!

Leslie and Kate reach the peak of their climb in Cornwall on a rare beautiful (sunny) day.

Its Been A While!

I haven't written a new blog entry for some time. Sorry about that. It has been a wild couple of months with a lot of other items on the agenda pushing my blogging duties to a distant back burner.

I have managed to take a few photos due to my new backpack which allows me to keep my camera with me at all times. The photo on the left was taken off the back deck of our home. We have had more snow this year. Mostly it stays a short while and then melts off. Over the years I have taken several snowy photos from this exact same position, but this scene was too good to pass up. More photos as I go along here.

Meanwhile, the work on remodeling our top floor bathrooms continues. It is nearly at a halt right now while the fabricators cut the granite countertops for the two bathrooms. Meanwhile, both rooms have working showers and toilets, new linoleum and paint. Once the countertops are installed, hopefully this week, the sinks can be plumbed and the faucets connected. After that it is mostly detail work and hanging art. In hind sight these projects were terrible ideas to take on during the school year. The good news is that they are almost done and will be ready for summer company. I'll take finished photos when the job is done and display them on a future blog.

Here are the other recent photos. The one on the right and the left were taken at Hillcrest Park in Mount Vernon, Washington.

This one was shot on a school playground also in Mount Vernon. It is the simple geometric figure of a bicycle rack with its shadow at an interesting angle.

Bathroom Remodel Update

The remodel is now underway full blast with our man Dave on the job everyday now and making real progress in a short time.

In just the past three days he has the new Marmoleum down, the new cabinet in place and the new toilet is attached to the floor. Tomorrow the water will be connected and it will be a fully functioning toilet. The fancy new toilet seat doesn't have to be lowered in place. Just get it started and it slowly lowers itself. Whoa!

The cabinet is a beautiful pecan colored hardwood. The doors and drawer fronts will go on next week. The granite countertops will be measured so the undermount sink will work and our Craftsman style faucets of brushed nickel will match the new retrofitted accents in the shower and tub.

It won't be long and we'll be hanging the art and opening for business. One of the new art pieces can just barely be seen in the photo above on the right. More about it in future blogs.

Notice the wall color. A bit bold but as this room come together it is really growing on us. The color comes from the palette of colors used in Frank Lloyd Wright's (our architectural hero) Falling Waters home. So we are thrilled to have discovered the paint company that sells it.