Welcome to binNotes | red thread™
Inspired stories about food, wine and travel.
by L.M. Archer, FWS | Bourgogne ML
Slouching Towards Lummi Island
Part 4 of 4: Finding
Your moment of Lummi Island zen.
Willows Inn on Lummi Island utilizes an outdoor grill to prepare fish, meats, and vegetables for use in their elaborate tasting menus.
" data-orig-size="500,500" title="WillowsInngrill" data-image-title="WillowsInngrill" data-orig-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinngrill.jpg" style="width: 293px; height: 293px;" height="293" width="293" data-medium-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinngrill.jpg?w=300" data-original-height="293" alt="Grilling dandelion roots for 'Stems' tasting menu. | Willows Inn on Lummi Island." data-original-width="293" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1462258618","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinngrill.jpg?w=500" /> Grilling dandelion roots for ‘Stems’ tasting menu. | Willows Inn on Lummi Island.Willows Inn on Lummi Island incorporates bio-dynamically farmed and foraged foods, as well sustainably harvested seafood.
" data-orig-size="500,447" title="WillowsInnTasting" data-image-title="WillowsInnTasting" data-orig-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinntasting.jpg" style="width: 293px; height: 262px;" height="262" width="293" data-medium-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinntasting.jpg?w=300" data-original-height="262" alt="Sample tasting menu from Willows Inn on Lummi Island." data-original-width="293" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1462259098","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinntasting.jpg?w=500" /> Sample tasting menu from Willows Inn on Lummi Island.The Willows Inn at Lummi Island incorporates foraged foods like these Angelica leaves, which are candied for dessert.
" data-orig-size="400,533" title="WillowsInnRoadForaging" data-image-title="WillowsInnRoadForaging" data-orig-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinnroadforaging.jpg" style="width: 419px; height: 559px;" height="559" width="419" data-medium-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinnroadforaging.jpg?w=225" data-original-height="559" alt="Another day at the office. | Roadside Forager - Willows Inn on Lummi Island." data-original-width="419" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1462258724","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/willowsinnroadforaging.jpg?w=400" /> Another day at the office. | Roadside Forager – Willows Inn on Lummi Island.Life on an island has its own rhythms. Rhythms tied to the tides, the seasons, the people.
People return to Willows Inn on Lummi Island like salmon return to a favored spawning ground – because it’s part of their DNA. Some families return annually, generation after generation, seeking this place to gather, to reflect, to renew.
Chef Blaine gets this. He gets the power of the past, the respect for the present, and the magic of recurring seasons.
His award-winning tasting menus reflect this.
Today’s concoctions include thumbnail sized native oysters from a local sustainable fishery glistening in a delicate juice of farm-fresh watercress, those grilled dandelion stems in shimmering carmelized squid, verdant, just-picked crispy mustard leaves and wild herbs, and some snappy savory shrimp toast, plus those foraged roadside Angelica fronds for dessert. Correct – carmelized Angelica, garnished with pumpkin seeds – for dessert.
So simple – in an evil genius sort of way. Clearly, the Willows Inn at Lummi Island tasting menus require time, attentiveness, and utter devotion to sustainability.
The reward?
A new way of trying things. Of seeing things. Of tasting things.
People arrive at Willows Inn on Lummi Island because they can. Some stay because they must. Most leave transformed, rough edges of ‘off-island’ life polished smooth, like a shore-worn pebble.
I know I did. Such is the quiet power of this place.
Another day foraging for local seafood, wild greens, and other edibles for use in the famed tasting menus at Willows Inn on Lummi Island.
" data-orig-size="500,500" title="Lummi Island View" data-image-title="Lummi Island View" data-orig-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/img_2604.jpg" style="width: 236px; height: 236px;" height="236" width="236" data-medium-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/img_2604.jpg?w=300" data-original-height="236" alt="Another day foraging at Willows Inn on Lummi Island in the Pacific NW." data-original-width="236" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1462263838","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/img_2604.jpg?w=500" /> Another day foraging at Willows Inn on Lummi Island in the Pacific NW.Willows Inn on Lummi Island features world-renown chef Blaine Wetzel, formerly of noma in Copenhagen.
" data-orig-size="500,500" title="lummiferryview" data-image-title="lummiferryview" data-orig-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/lummiferryview.jpg" style="width: 236px; height: 236px;" height="236" width="236" data-medium-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/lummiferryview.jpg?w=300" data-original-height="236" alt="On the road to Willows Inn on Lummi Island." data-original-width="236" data-image-meta="{"aperture":"0","credit":"","camera":"","caption":"","created_timestamp":"1462258970","copyright":"","focal_length":"0","iso":"0","shutter_speed":"0","title":"","orientation":"1"}" data-large-file="https://binnotes.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/lummiferryview.jpg?w=500" /> On the road to Willows Inn on Lummi Island.❦❦❦
Part 1: Leaving
Part 2: Arriving
Part 3: Foraging
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Thank you:
Reid Johnson, Chef Blaine Wetzel & Team – The Willows Inn on Lummi Island
Copyrighted 2016 by L.M. Archer | binNotes | red thread™. All Rights Reserved.