I’ve been having a blast here lately! Really. Just so much fun. I hope you’re enjoying things as much as I am and I wanted to be sure send lots of love and thanks for coming here to visit me. I’m also quite an Instagrammer so if you’re looking for more pics of food, bubbly and the occasional shot of shoes and house stuff, find me there too @natirasu.
Kiss!
(Happy weekend to you and don’t forget about mom on Sunday.)
A decadent mid-week lunch & dessert & bubbly. You can see by my robot strength grip on the fork that I mean business with the Gateau Basque at Sitka & Spruce. (A huge and well-deserved congratulations is in order for Chef Matt Dillon and his new Best Chef Northwest James Beard award. There is no one in Seattle more deserving of this title.)
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A no-recipe spring potato salad. This was the highlight of my day off. Seriously, no recipe needed just boil 6 potatoes, toss in olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, scallion, spring onion, cornichons, capers, 2 boiled eggs, and 3 strips of bacon. (I think my guy also snuck some bacon fat into the olive oil, vinegar mixture. Do it!) My advice: don’t be shy with the olive oil and vinegar.
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A bit of bookshelf rearranging. Spring cleaning is underway but I always, somehow, get lost in my bookshelf. I could (and do) spend hours on it. (‘The Goodness of Garlic’ from Foodie Friend Brian, and my very favorite mug from @christinengo!)
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999Bottle
Cool! The 999Bottle is a reusable stainless steel water bottle with a dial that you click-ahead each time you refill and avoid a plastic bottle. Stylish, functional, and fun. It also comes with an iPhone app that let’s you know just how meaningful each tally is with smart bits of info like “You’ve saved 1,063 bottles! That’s equivalent to the height of the Eiffel Tower. Oui, oui!”
They’re looking for funds on Kickstarter, and are also a Seattle-based project, so if you’re as taken with this as I am and if you’d like to help support a local project head on over and check it out.
Spice kit essentials
Over the past few months I’ve become increasingly interested in learning how to work with spices in the kitchen. I’ve always been intimidated by their pep and intricacies, so it’s only recently that I’ve started to appreciate how much depth they can add to a dish. My fascination started after becoming a regular at Sitka & Spruce and only continued to gain momentum as my guy started experimenting with some of his own blends at home.
Far beyond the initial intimidation you can feel when working with spices are the endless health benefits. Spices like Turmeric paired with black pepper can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Paprika, an anti-inflammatory and antioxidant can lower the risk of cancer. Cinnamon used daily can help to lower blood pressure and overall cholesterol in people with type 2 diabetes.
With just those few spices promising (yes, promising) healing properties like that it’s no wonder eating a spice-y meal can leave me feeling energized and sometimes even tingly. Seriously! I noticed that quarterly detoxing over the past few years has helped me become more aware of the effects of food on my body. Call me crazy if you want, but it’s a wonderful thing to feel your body being nurtured as you eat.
In the coming weeks I’ll be sharing some of our favorite recipes so you can give it a go too, but in the meantime I wanted to show you my favorite place to stock up, and I’ll likely be referring back to it here and there. Check out World Spice Merchants.
World Spice Merchants is located just “below” the Pike Place Market on Western Ave.
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It’s a killer shop filled with the freshest teas, herbs, and spices from all ends of the earth. They’ve also got some great custom blends so be on the look-out for anything that sounds good to you.
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Walk in, browse, smell, ask questions. The spice guru’s are really helpful, and they know their stuff. Who knew there were so many different varieties of a single spice. I had no clue, but it was great to learn about the different types and flavor profiles of cinnamon the last time I was there.
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When you’re ready just grab a clipboard and start writing your order. Pass it along to a spice guru and they’ll start filling your order. It’s a sweet set up!
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I can’t wait to share our early favorites, and while I’m still in the novice stages I like the idea of sharing as I’m learning. In the meantime, check out World Spice, even if it’s just to poke around. It’s a great addition to a weekend out and about.
PS- I should also note that if you’re not Seattle-based you can always order online or call and have them help you place an order to be shipped anywhere.
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The setting. Willows Inn. Lummi Island.
We had the meal of a lifetime at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. One year earlier, venturing into Stumptown Coffee’s Seattle roastery, frazzled, trying to get coffee set for the restaurant that was days away from opening, I met the guy that would tell me about this hidden gem, and eventually, one year later take me away for the meal of a lifetime. So yeah, it was an anniversary of sorts…the restaurant had just turned 1, I had three days off, and it was the “the first day we met” kind of celebration.
Really it was completely serendipitous that Chef Blaine Wetzel would be awarded one of Food & Wine magazine’s best new chefs only days before. Although to be honest, to me this title can in no way encompass the forward thinking and talent that Chef Wetzel and his entire staff possess…especially when considering the other Seattle chef that was also honored. This restaurant and the team behind it are in a class alone.
So mushiness and a touch of cattiness aside, let’s look at some food porn!
First, here are a couple of quick notes that elevate this experience:
- Nearly every element that was on our plate was hunted, fished, foraged, or gathered from Lummi Island. Really something to be celebrated.
- As sad as it makes me to hold back, I’m only going to share the photos that photographed best. The meal was so beautiful that I just can’t bear to post the crummy photos I took after sunset. It just wouldn’t do justice to the team that worked so hard to create this meal for us. Trust me, it’s hard not to share but what I do have will still keep you satisfied, I’m sure of it.
- The first and final courses were each served by the chefs, including Chef Wetzel.
- My guy had the wine pairing and I had the juice pairing. More on that below.
The welcome. A tiny cedar box filled with moss, smoke, and smoked sunflower roots. A perfect way to set the tone for the rest of the meal. Inventive in it’s core ingredient but so basic in how it was prepared. So much meaning in this first course–history in a single bite.
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Mini crepes filled with herring roe, crema, and chives. It’s going to be hard to choose, but this was definitely one of my favorite bites: the wafer thin crisp of the crepe, the salty and slippery roe, the richness of the cream, and the punch of the most fragrant chives I’ve ever had.
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House potato chips and sauerkraut with smoked wild halibut. Doesn’t hurt that the halibut was caught that morning. Truly, an amazing bite. For the super finicky gastronomes out there, I’m sure you’ll be expecting one or two gripes, so if I MUST say anything I’d say the chip was a tad soggy. But really, as it was it, and if I had a hundred afterward, it really was splendid. The tartness of the kraut with the rich, smokiness from the halibut was truly dreamy.
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Shigoku oysters marinated in sauerkraut juice, tapioca pearls, sorrel. Heaven! Never would have guessed it, but the addition of the tapioca (underneath each oyster) was a brilliant touch. I had initially thought that they were the ones with the vinegar taste, serving as a mignonette of sorts, but it was actually the oyster that was marinated, lightly. A truly thoughtful and elegant dish. Also be sure to note the presentation: beach stones, iced. Muah!
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Charred kale, truffles, bread crumbs. Light with the crisply toasted kale leaf, but slightly decadent with addition of the truffled breadcrumbs. All I could think was: “If I had a tub full of this I’d pop it like popcorn.”
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Fresh scallop, milk, island arugula. This dish was DIVINE. Like the chives with the crepe, the arugula was more fragrant and peppery than any I’d ever had. This was a subtle dish for sure, but elegant in its simplicity. The milk was just beyond; a delicate touch that was just so sexy.
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Fried scallop roe. Alright, so we’ve had conflicting stories of which part of the scallop anatomy this actually is, but regardless it’s another one of my favorite courses. To be clear we did not ask the chef to clarify, but in recent weeks here in Seattle we’ve heard different stories from different restaurants. Male or female organs…no one knows right now (and a super quick google search revealed nothing of much help), but regardless, this was slippery and buttery. Taste and texture-wise, think uni or monkfish liver. I feel like this course might seem out of place or odd to some, but for me the importance lay in the fact that this amazing piece of sea life is most often thrown out. Decandent to the very end.
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Geoduck sashimi, organic grains, watercress. Geoduck has to be one of the most unpleasant things to look at, but it’s quintessentially Northwest and when it’s done right it’s amazing. I loved this dish. The briny and tender geoduck (not chewy at all) was the perfect accompaniment to the mix of grains and watercress juice.
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Venison heart tartare, house capers, island greens. I will never get enough tartare of any sort, but this was truly stellar. There wasn’t an iron-y heart taste here as I’d expected, but somehow I was able to taste the venison (Psychosomatic? Perhaps.) The homemade capers really stood out here also. Again, I could have popped these endlessly.
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Smoked salmon. This was the most intensely amazing bite of salmon I have ever had, and growing up with a hobby salmon fisherman, in Seattle, I’d like to think I know a thing or two about salmon. Here’s the scoop: Chef Wetzel sampled the locals take on smoked salmon. He took the best components of each and created this masterpiece.
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One other important piece to note here is the use of Reefnet fishing. Along the shoreline we noticed large platforms with four towers at each corner. These pontoons of sorts are rolled out to the bay where each tower has a fisherman with a corner of the net. They trap the salmon and pull uniformly to raise the catch. Can you imagine the muscle this takes?
Reefnet fishing is a historical method that allows for a more humane and sustainable way to catch the salmon, but it also allows the fisherman to select the best catches and set free those that don’t meet culinary standards with minimal shock. I firmly believe that similar to cattle, toxic shock has everything to do with how our food tastes.
For me the skill here goes beyond the smoking, but lies in where he knew how to let the fish be what it is.
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Local squid, kohlrabi, oyster emulsion. The charred bits of squid with the decadent pistachio-colored oyster emulsion was unbelievably good. The addition of the raw kohlrabi added a great bit of crunch and freshness. This was “the second” of the five listed courses.
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Stinging nettles, fresh cheese, young pine needles. For me this dish sums up the importance of eating local and seasonal. Nettles are incredibly healing but also a culinary delight. The young pine needles, so clean and only lightly fragrant. These are the things we’re meant to eat at this moment in spring. We both agreed that we felt very “connected” to the island, feeling clean and almost euphoric after this course. This was the first tasting I’ve had where I wasn’t gorged (yet sluggishly happy). Instead I felt nourished, gastronomically* inspired (and happily envigorated).
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The remaining courses (the unphotogenic):
- House bread and butter. The bread was very Tartine-esque, and the house churned butter was unbelievable.
- Smoked local shitake mushrooms (whole).
- Octopus
- Baked oyster, brown butter, tequila.
- Fried halibut skin with abalone.
- Chicken drippings as a dip to accompany the bread. SERIOUSLY. This actually happened.
- Halibut, bone sauce, house capers. This was the final savory course. The perfectly cooked halibut was incredibly juicy and toothsome. (Yup, toothsome.) The bone sauce, from what we could tell, was the result of extracting the fatty marrow from the halibut bones. It was incredibly flavorful and creamy, and when paired with the house capers again it was magical! Once again the best I’d had.
- Wild flowers, lemon verbena granita, cherry blossom ice cream, elderflower meringue. The single best dessert of my life. Cherry blossom ice cream? I mean, come on! It was gorgeous.
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The little touches that meant so much:
- The juice pairinings. GENIUS. The sommelier is in the process of relocating to Lummi Island, and while my guy thoroughly enjoyed his wine pairing we both agreed that my juice pairing was beyond brilliant. The selections are made and created by Chef Wetzel and to sum it all up, his decision to pair huckleberry juice with the last course of halibut and bone sauce was the pinnacle of the evening. There really are no words.
- Coffee & tea. With this course we got the most incredible mini chocolate, chocolate chip cookies.
- The first and final courses: With the chefs serving it created the most wonderful, relaxed atmosphere. They were genuinely interested in sharing their food and conversing with each table. A lovely and meaningful touch!
- The service team was unparalleled. Relaxed, genuinely happy, and in turn the dining room atmosphere was the same. Unlike other tastings this dining room was quietly abuzz. Not a touch of stuffiness anywhere (just a note this was aThursday night).
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In Conclusion
The meal for us was epic in its execution and in its message. Northwest cuisine finally has a place, a face, and a name. Until now, we’ve been lost: Seattle as a gastronomic* destination is lacking and with cities like San Francisco and Portland leagues ahead, I’m happy that Chef Wetzel is poised to help shape our culinary culture. I truly can’t wait to go again.
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*Soap Box Moment: I am purposefully avoiding the word “foodie” here. This is another post for another time; but for now, I feel like this experience cannot be summed up, in anyway by that term.
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Northwest getaway staples: Games, sunglasses, lipstick, Rescue Pastilles, rainboots, one nice dress, umbrella
I’m heading out the door, on the way to Lummi Island to watch movies, play games, walk on the beach, and oh yeah…visit one of Food and Wine’s newly-named Best New Chefs. Thank god we’d planned to go before the announcement; our reservations are safely secured. Can’t wait to share the fun (and dish on the dinner goods). See ya next week!
It just so happened that yesterday I had the chance to join a friend for a fundraiser to benefit the Pollinator Pathway at The Corson Building. Now when I say join-a-friend I mean we stopped in briefly before I had to head to work, so…we missed the auction, the music, the food, and the booze. (Sigh.) But still, I had a lovely time taking everything in, and my first visit to The Corson Building was wonderful! The grounds, the restored building, the amazing kitchen, and all of the original vintage touches just made me really happy. I promise, I really did try to take some pictures, but if you could only see the state of my phone you’d understand there really is no way I could take anything that resembles much of a photo. I don’t have any proof of the awesomeness that the picnic was, but nevertheless, the cause is one that I think about often.
Here’s a little note about the Pollinator Pathway:
Pollinating insects are in crisis, with populations plummeting across the U.S. The work that these tiny animals do to sustain plants and food crops– usually working out-of-sight and out-of-mind– is critical to not just their survival but our own.
The Pollinator Pathway is a plan to provide an urban model of support to the foundation of the food web. With a mile-long series of gardens in planting strips along Seattle’s Columbia Street, the project establishes a corridor between the two green spaces bookending the project-Seattle University’s campus at 12th, and Nora’s Woods at 29th.
Awesome, right! I really miss the time I would spend at the SF Food Bank, so lately I’ve been looking for the right volunteer opportunity. I was really excited to see this sweet little project yesterday, even if for just a short while. If you’re interested in donating your time or some funds click here for more info.
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Working. Eating. Working. And I love it.
Planning and starting a new business has been more work than I ever thought, but it has also been more rewarding and fulfilling than anything I’ve done before. It hasn’t been easy but I’m learning so much about the business (and myself). Let’s see…since I last left you anything of much substance I can summarize things pretty easily with this: I relocated to Seattle from San Francisco, found an apartment, started a restaurant with my dad, learned how to bar tend, and now work seven days a week. There’s tons more to share but I’ll be sprinkling in some stories here and there.
Check us out here if you’re curious.
(Glad to be back.)
