We have an April alarm clock at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island. An apple tree sits right outside the kitchen window. Its blossoms blink open, and provide the wake-up call to the bright, bushy luster that leads us out of wintry darkness and into the lively greening of...

Sometimes you enjoy a tremendous meal and it goes down in your head and on your tastebuds as one of the most memorable experiences of your life. We had such an experience this weekend that was a little more special than just the food... more about that later... I...

Last fall Andrew was invited up to Lummi Island for a little getaway at The Willows Inn. I’ve written about my love affair with the island and the restaurant before, so I was desperate to find a way to cleverly blackmail work my way into the trip. The Fish, Forage,...

The smoke, the wild, the vegetable, the historical, and the aged – many themes championed here have finally reached a critical mass in 2012. Some are already official trends for 2013. It would be easy to dismiss them as simply stylish but a few chefs have been walking...

My favorite meal in 2012? Easy. Willows Inn at Lummi Island is a small inn on a small island in Washington, with a restaurant helmed by Chef Blaine Wetzel, a young native of the area who had worked at Noma (you know, the world's best restaurant). When they talk about...

To get away – seclusion, slow time, and the freedom to work. To explore the land and work within its bounty. To be inspired by the physical connection to food and walk amongst it – on the farm, into the green. Down to the beach: currants on the slant, stonecrop along...

What were you doing with your life at age 26?  We recently met one of the most impressive young chefs who has created the most incredible dining experience at a small inn on little known Lummi Island (it rhymes with yummy), WA.  Lummi (to see map click here) is a very...

Disneyland. Hawaii. The Olympics. The Grand Canyon. Salmon with Mustard Greens. I’m not sure when it happened, but slowly and surely my reasons to venture out of my comfy Seattle bubble started to need different qualifications. No longer was I only after sunny beaches...

Crabapples ranks high among the trickiest ingredients we’ve worked with. A species of the Malus family, crabapples are a close relative to the cultivated apples we see every day. Small, woody, and often terribly acidic, crabapples require a little finesse for...

There’s a hilly piece of heaven that sits among a chain of islands at the most northeasterly section of the San Juan archipelago, an unspoiled spot just a short ferry ride from the mainland and a brief distance’s drive from Bellingham, Washington. It’s the bucolic...

To get away – seclusion, slow time, and the freedom to explore. To live with the land, honor its history, and work within its bounty. To be inspired by the physical connection to food and walk amongst it – on the farm, into the brush. Down to the beach: berries on the...

Food memories are very important to me. I can remember great tasting dishes, where I was eating, who I was with, what I was celebrating. Yes, my culinary journey has been filled with many fabulous food memories & tastes. Recently I had the best meal of my life. It...

Ballet. Discipline. Harmony. Home. These were the words that kept popping into my head as I spent an evening in the presence of epicurean mastery at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island in the San Juan Islands. I wrote about the first part of our meal,the procession of...

After traveling by plane, car and ferry to get to the Willows Inn on Lummi Island, I was anxious to begin the meal I had been thinking about eating for four months (see the background post here).  I will be posting about my weekend on the island and my stay at the...

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...