“Blame it on my experiencing destinations that people don't ordinarily go to. Chunkanut up to my love of fresh local foods including those that are Mt. Baker-ed. My cat Salmon I are both interested in seafood, but I told her that she would not be able to go. She hopes I have a whale-watcher of a time. I am a true chocoholic and nothing is better than dipping it in raspberries. May the Peace Arch be with you”.
The above is what I wrote in order to indulge in a culinary press trip to the Bellingham/Mt. Baker area of Washington state aka Whatcom County, located between Seattle and Vancouver. Let’s begin with Day 1 of the FAM tour…Forever A Meal.
Landing at the
Bellingham airport (which would have been a two-hour drive from
Seattle), I am transported to historic (sometimes hysteric)
Fairhaven, a suburb of Bellingham, and checking into the
Fairhaven Village Inn. I view the Wednesday Farmer’s Market
directly across the street as well as the surrounding Boulevard
Park and boardwalk.
There is no time to rest in one of the 22-room quaint inn although do notice the amenities and check out the comfortableness of the bed. I am off to a lobby room to meet my fellow writers as well as the mucky mucks of tourism. Itinerary in hand, name badge on my shirt, we are moved to the terrace for a wine tasting and cheese plate.
Ken Peck, owner and
winemaker of Dakota Creek in Blaine, shares a red and white wine
as we meet Connie Shannon, the owner of Fairhaven Village Inn
who gives us a brief history of the inn along with some tales of
Fairhaven. There is much discussion about the use of local
foods that we will be pigging out on and will meet with Dirty
Dan later.
Now, that we’ve noshed, it is time for dinner at Fino Wine Bar. The restaurant is located at the Chrysalis Inn on Tenth Street and overlooking the waterfront. I view the hundreds of wine corks and think about Andra Douglas’ parrot, Dina...her favorite toy.
Dirty Dan Harris and his sidekick come by to tell us all about the history of his discovery. We forgo dessert as we are bound for a “Dessert Crawl”, where we will hit five different restaurants to indulge in the sweets. Chef Craig McDonald is thanked.
We walked off about a
calorie or two as Dirty shares some great stories of Fairhaven’s
port and who he is. He continues to accompany us as we stop at
the Farmer’s Market area (which also shows outdoor movies on the
wall) and meet Dirty’s bronze replica. I youtube him as we are
off to the first restaurant, Flat’s Tapas Bar at 1307 11th
St., followed by Big Fat Fish Company at 1304 12th
St, Dirty Dan Harris Steakhouse at 1211 11th
St., Colophon Cafe at 1208 11th St. and finally,
Skylark's Hidden Cafe at 1308-B 11th St. that took us
by surprise with their Bread pudding with whisky sauce,
Macademia Mousse, and Espresso Cheesecake.
Day 2, was all about Yummy Lummi. Whatcom County had hosted an adventure FAM. I think that they might have mixed it up on this culinary tour as we walked what felt like a mile to our next stop. Or were they dangling food in front of us in order to get us to move? We walked along the serene waterfront boardwalk, encountered some seaweed people, kids climbing rocks and stopped at a coffee house. I guess it took at least 15 minutes because a nosh was offered with our coffee and we were feeling a little weak.
A quick tour of
downtown Bellingham (by van) before sailing off to the most
northeastern island of the San Juan Islands. Food became an
adventure for me boarding the 50-foot Happy Talk yacht destined
for Lummi Island with a population of about 800. Captain Charlie
DeWeese, of Sail Away Charters, informed us that his crab pots
had captured our lunch. Bound by my life jacket I schmoozed with
my group and partook in the crab salad with a poppy seed
dressing, fresh rolls with rosemary and sea salt (I suppose
Rosemary wasn’t too happy about that) followed by a tasting of
fruit tarts.
I did my utmost not to panic when we were informed of the transfer to a rowboat in order to get to shore. “The next step is about 10 inches down”, I would hear. Now youtubing my getting on and off the boats would have been amusing.
We are now checking into the Willows Inn, run by husband and wife Riley Starks and Judy Olsen. Riley informs us that we will be doubling up on rooms. Something about a last minute decision on a wedding party. I was given my own room due to another error…Riley was first informed that there would be a male writer on the trip. He didn’t show but assumed that the name “Merle” was male. The room was quite nice but lacked air conditioning in this hot weather. No phone or television.
Riley introduced us to
a tank of spotted prawns, indigenous to the area. We said,
“hello” as our lips smacked knowing that they would eventually
make their way to our stomachs that evening. Nettles Farm is
their source of food with organic vegetables, fruit, eggs,
chickens and even a few pigs (who we were beginning to
resemble). Owning the farm makes it even easier.
We’re feeling a little weak, so it’s on to Willows Inn’s Taproot Pub for dinner, which was prepared by Chef Vincent. Sitting on porch allowed for a great view of the sunset. I forgot to mention that wine was being paired with all of our food. I skipped most of it due to that fact that I get drunk on Scotch tape. The menu here is always a five-course fare and changes each day.
Day 3. My bags are packed as I depart my sauna-style room at the Willow’s Inn on Lummi Island. Needless to say we had a tasty breakfast before our long 10-minute journey on the Whatcom Chief Ferry. It looked as if someone missed the boat as we arrived at Gooseberry Point in Bellingham.
On board Bellair Charters Shonie Schlotzhauer shared information about a 48-page brochure that she had written called, “Sustainable Connections Whatcom Food & Farm Finder” that allows consumers to easily find 132 farms, markets, restaurants, and caterers that are dedicated to food locally produced in Whatcom County. The adventurous itinerary that followed certainly allowed for experiencing this phenomenon.
It was far past the 15-minutes of traveling and feeling a little weak our first stop was to Everybody’s Store in the town of Van Zandt, located in the foothills of Mt. Baker. Jeff Margolis, who originated from Brooklyn, gave us a tour of this exotic grocery, noted for its specialty cheeses, custom made sausages and selections of international ingredients. The surprise was finding true bialys, something that tends to be a New York known “bread”.
After some cheese tasting we were taken to the back for a tour of the garden of fruits, vegetables and herbs. This was followed by further noshes of the garden’s berries and a few other tidbits to sustain us until our next venue, Cloud Mountain Farm in the town of Everson.
What began as an apple
orchard has turned into a 20-acre farm with a multitude of
fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. I slowly hiked up the
mountain to check out the hothouses of tomatoes and peppers.
Most of the tomatoes are “heirloom” with a variety of sizes and
colors, all of which sported a different flavor. More of a
sampling would be done during dinner as Josh, the Executive Chef
of Nimbus, laced his bill of fare around this and a few other
local farms. The wine grape vines were for show at this point as
the growth had not blossomed as yet. However, our next stop was
to the Samson Estate Winery.
Located in the Nooksack River Valley, less than 15 minutes (thank goodness) from Cloud Mountain Farm, it is a small family-owned operation noted for the raspberry and blackberry wines produced by their winemaker Rob Dhaliwal. We were led to the raspberry field and let go to pick and sample. You’d think that I was deprived of food on the entire trip the way I just couldn’t stop eating these absolutely most delicious and largest raspberries I’ve ever indulged in.
Not only were they sweet but also lacked those tiny little seeds that get stuck between your teeth. Having been joined by representatives of the Washington Red Raspberry Commission, we got the low down that 65% of all US raspberries are grown in Whatcom County. The fresh ones that you tend to buy from Driscoll may be fresh but not picked when they are fully ripened. Thus those annoying seeds are embedded. The raspberries from Washington are either sent to companies to “juice” or frozen. It means that you have to read the package to be sure that it did come from Washington. I’m still hunting for them. In the meantime, as August is the season for raspberries on the East Coast, particularly Long Island and New Jersey, I will compare them.
As far as the wine tasting, we were provided with lunch (I know that your laughing) to pair with their various wines including one regular raspberry and sweeter dessert version.
It’s off to Lynden for the Raspberry Festival. I love this town, Washington’s largest Dutch settlement with 30% of its residents still embracing their Dutch ancestry. I know that we’re there specifically for the festival, but I just needed to sample some of the Dutch fare, specifically the sweets. It was at least 15 minutes and they were making something called “Poffertjes” (little pillows)…then there was the Dutch bakery and Dutch chocolate shop. Oh yeah, the raspberries. We had a freshly made vanilla ice cream with a chunky raspberry sauce.
The Dutch chocolate
shop didn’t compare to our next stop, Chocolate Necessities,
back in Bellingham (Hey…more than a 15-minute ride). Kevin Buck
uses the finest grade of Callebaut Chocolates for most of his
creations. Aside from tasting the various cocoa percentages of
both dark and milk chocolate, we went to the kitchen where he
was preparing chocolates with fruit. We just had to sample
those. This was the first chocolate store where I was able to
taste Amarena cherries dipped in chocolate.
It wasn’t long before dinnertime at Nimbus Restaurant, located on the 14th floor of Bellingham Tower, the tallest building in Bellingham. Great views! What did Josh prepare for us? Marbled King Salmon Tartar – cherry tomato, California olive oil jam and powder. Braised Lamb Shank – grape leaf, golden raisin, pine nut “risotto”, Meyer lemon puree. “Chili Relleno” – Buffalo mozzarella, heirloom tomato, Guajillo relish, basil. Crispy Pork Belly – tart cherry mustard, thyme spaetzle. Sous Vide Washington Halibut – summer onions, house cured pancetta, baby turnip confit, fava bean puree, sunflower sprouts (and, of course, more wines).
We had to pass on dessert as this final day’s venue was taking place at Silver Reef Hotel, Casino, Spa, located in Ferndale, where we were also bedding for the night. Amongst the dessert offers were: chocolate rockettes, a pastry topped with chocolate feet; a peanut butter cookie creation (created by pastry chef Audrey Hursh); and both a flaming bananas foster and cherries jubilee prepared tableside. Sparkling gets created using powdered cinnamon.
The Lummi Nation is responsible for the acreage used for this resort and operates the casino. I didn’t partake in the casino due to the smoking, nor the spa due to my time constraint as I was hosting my radio show there. I did get a great night’s sleep in a most comfortable king bed, that had a chocolate on the pillow. Oy! www.silverreefcasino.com
Although I didn’t get to visit some of the other culinary delights participating I would like to thank Holmquist Hazelnut Orchards, Red Barn Lavender, BelleWood Acres, The C Shop and Glacial Lake Missoula Wine Company. Needless to say much thanks is given to the staff of Whatcom County tourism for assisting in my amusement and humor.
About The Author
Join Merle Exit, comedienne, journalist and radio personality, on her "journey of destinations" on www.merleswhirls.com Click on the links to her blog site and radio show.
You can listen to two shows about Bellingham on Whirl With Merle on www.blogtalkradio.com
To learn more about Washington getaway options, view festival and events schedules, as well as local attractions and sites to explore visit http://www.experiencewashington.com.