Have you ever been to this Smithsonian? The picture shows the atrium of the American Art Museum (also the Portrait Gallery). On the left is a fascinating pool of water, yet you can step right on/in it and you’re just standing on more of the floor. Little tiny jets push water up and over 3 such pools in the atrium. I may have been more intrigued with that than I was with everything in the museum itself.

This museum happened to be across the street from the hotel where we stayed on our second part of our D.C. trip. We were there for 3 nights and 2 days. Sabrina had almost back-to-back interviews with people, so I found some things to do that didn’t tax my foot too much. After walking around in this museum from top to bottom (3 floors, I think it was) I just happened to spot the water out in the atrium, through a window and went to investigate. I sat out in this atrium for about an hour reading my Kindle, basking in the cool air and listening to the tiny trickle of water. Children could play in

the water, they could run up and down the pools, shoes on or off. Each pool of water had but about 1/4 inch of water in it. Interesting feat of engineering.

We weren’t able to get into the Willard Hotel on our 2nd trip to D.C. as there was a huge international conference in town, so we stayed a few blocks away at a Kimpton. I was unimpressed. It must have once been an office building (old) as the hallways were about 10-feet wide. And the bathrooms were  kind of add-ins to the rooms.

One of the days Sabrina asked if we could eat at a “Shake Shack.” I’d never heard of them. Although, as we walked by it the first day, there were probably 40 people in line outside the place. Really, I thought? The next day we were having a late lunch and the line was way down to do-able. I ordered a burger with bacon. Sabrina wanted to order a shake, and thought she had, but they gave her chocolate ice cream. She wasn’t about to wait in line again, so we shared that. The burger was good, I must admit. Exceptional? Well, I’m not a connoisseur, so I’m not sure. It was tasty, though.

Our last night we went to a fantastic restaurant – Zaytinya. It’s Greek, Turkish and Lebanese, and they serve everything tapas style. We went with Powell’s best friend Doug (the one who works for the Consumer Electronics Institute), his wife (the one who works for Homeland Security – I made sure to sit next to her so I could ask her lots of questions about her job – most of which she couldn’t answer), and their son. They frequent this restaurant, so we just let her order for all of us. It was amazing food. If I ever go back to D.C. this will be the first stop for dinner. It’s just a block from the museum above, which was across the street from our hotel, so it was really close and easy.

I can’t begin to tell you what we had – the only thing I really remember was a teeny, tiny little lamb-filled pasta – each little orb was about the size of a pencil eraser. Tender? Oh my yes. Full of flavor too. It’s not on the menu, but regulars know to ask. Everything we ate was terrific.

The next morning was our journey home: we got up at 4:15 am in order to leave the hotel at 4:45 to get to the Baltimore Airport in time for a 6:45 takeoff. We flew to San Francisco (remember, Powell upgraded all of us to first class, yippee!), then to Orange County. Arrived about 1pm west coast time. That evening we all went out to dinner with the extended family (Sabrina’s mom drove up to pick her up) and we talked and talked about the trip. It was great. All of it. Thanks to Powell who arranged it all. I was so glad to be home. My own bed felt wonderful. A few days after we got home I saw a podiatrist who gave me a shot of cortisone in my heel. It’s better. Not exactly fine – far from it – but at least I can go grocery shopping or take some similar kinds of walks each day and not end up in pain by afternoon. I’m taking Aleve every day and that helps too. My physical therapist tells me it could be as long as 10 months for it to heal. The dr. took x-rays and said it’s likely a torn plantar fascia or a very badly stretched one. No broken bones. I didn’t think so.

And since I haven’t talked about my grief process lately, I’ll just add that since I came home from this last trip, I’ve felt better. I’m more comfortable in my single-self. In my empty bed. In my quiet house. I don’t have to have music or the TV on anymore to feel okay. I’m still very, VERY busy, which is a good thing. The 5-month anniversary of Dave’s death was last week, and I just kept busy that day and tried not to think about it. I did talk to Dave’s ashes, in the box in the bedroom – I held the box and shed a few tears, but afterwards I was okay. I’m finally getting a better handle on all the records the attorney needs and am able to get them done (monthly) without too much difficulty now. Now that Quicken and I have come to an understanding.

My outdoor kitchen is still waiting for a couple of things to get finished, but it’s been too darned hot to entertain out there anyway. I am going to have a small get-together with a group of my girlfriends – most of them know one another. That’s in a couple of weeks. I’m going to make things that are already on my blog, but I’ll tell you about it when it happens. My sweet friend Nina, who has done my pedicures for years, is going to come and help me. She likes to cook and offered to come. That way I won’t over-tax my foot and she’ll do some serving and clean-up for me. I’ve never had anyone do that except at a couple of really important events years and years ago. Without Dave to help me do some of the set-up and dishes, cleaning the patio, setting tables, etc., entertaining a big group is overwhelming to me right now. So I’ll see how this works out!

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The view from our 30th floor room and aerie at the Intercontinental near Times Square. To have this clear view, this clear shot, all the way to the Hudson, well, wow is all I can say. One evening while Powell & Sabrina went out walking,  I turned off all the lights in the room and just sat and watched the activity. Couldn’t hear any of the street noise as the windows didn’t open, but I enjoyed just looking at that vista. (And I must admit that I shed a tear that my darling DH wasn’t there beside me.) Powell upgraded the room for us, which was very nice of him to do! I paid for Sabrina’s and my trip, food, hotels, etc., and her mom and dad chipped in some money as well.

Before I do anything else, I need to explain why we took this trip. It wasn’t just a tourist thing with my granddaughter. Powell, my son, Sabrina’s uncle, works in finance, mostly with bonds and audits, and he travels to NYC and DC for a week of meetings every couple of weeks. One family get-together a few months ago, Sabrina asked him “so, uncle, what IS it you do on these trips?” He explained in some detail and then said “want to go with me sometime?” She said YES and I piped up with “I’ll go along as chaperone.” A trip was born.

At first Powell thought he’d just have Sabrina shadow him as he did his work, where he went, sitting in on meetings here and there, but I think he realized that wasn’t going to work. She’d be bored to tears part of the time, and for many of his meetings it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to be there. So, Powell decided to set up short meetings with people he knows in all walks of business. The purpose was twofold: (1) just the process of an “interview” or a “meeting” would be good experience for Sabrina; and (2) she would be exposed to a lot of different professions out there in the big world of business. She says she wants to be a large animal veterinarian, but I think Powell hoped he’d sway her to consider some other professions. She met with two people who work in Powell’s office in New York, one a young woman doing an internship, I think. The other a counterpart of Powell’s. She met with one of Powell’s customers, a woman attorney who has a 12-year old daughter and was just tickled pink to spend half an hour with Powell’s niece, talking careers. One other person is a DC lobbyist (in the water conservation area), one works for a senator, another is a higher-up with the Consumer Electronics Institute; his wife works for Homeland Security (I wished I could have been a little gnat sitting on Sabrina’s shoulder when she had that short tour and meeting).

At each and every interview (Sabrina did 8 altogether) she had to do a little presentation. The homework, most of which she did at home before the trip, was to research each person, find out where they grew up, where they went to school, what their degree(s) were in, what kind of jobs they’ve held, then she had to come up with 3 questions (unique to all 8 people) about them. So, for instance (and I’m totally making up this one), she would ask “so you did your undergrad at Columbia and got a degree in Math, but then you did your MBA at Yale in Economics. How or why did you transition into politics after you graduated?” She impressed all of them with what she’d done (almost all the background info was online – I think Facebook had a major presence in her homework – but the questions were really interesting) and all of the people were happy to talk about themselves and their career paths. She had to wear appropriate business clothes, which was a challenge. She didn’t have a suit, but did wear a black blazer over her very cute business-like knit dresses she and her mom picked out.

So, on her 2nd day of interviews she met a woman at Dean & DeLuca, the food store and restaurant (bakery?) near Times Square. Her uncle gave her instructions – after your meeting with this person, order two of these doughnuts and take them back to the hotel and give one to Grandma. She did exactly that. The photo at left shows two of them stuck together. You might not think these are anything special. You’d be dead wrong. Below you can see the munched-on version: coconut cream filled double glazed raised doughnut. OMGosh. If you are ever in NYC and want a decadent treat, have one of these. I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. Now, I do like raised doughnuts over cake type, and I didn’t know that I liked coconut cream so much, but I DO! Whether these are available at all of their stores, I don’t know. This thing was incredible.

Sabrina had several things she really, really really wanted to do in NYC. First on the list was a stop at Tiffany’s. She’s not a jewelry person particularly, but she wanted to get something that said she’d “been there,” so on our last afternoon we took the subway (middle of the day, so she was willing to go!) and walked a few blocks of 5th Avenue. She bought a lovely necklace and ring by Paloma Picasso. She got advanced birthday and Christmas money gifts from several family members so she could do that, and Grandma chipped in just a little bit extra. And she wanted her picture taken in front of Tiffany’s. Ticked that one off the list. She also wanted to see Times Square at night (Powell ticked that one) and to walk in Central Park. Well, we had a difficult time with that one, although she and I walked on the outside of the park for a few blocks going to Tiffany’s. I told her she could go walk a bit in the park and I’d park myself on a bench, but she didn’t want to go alone, I guess, and my foot was giving me lots of difficulty that day. But her uncle did walk her a bit into the park one evening, as I mentioned, but only about 100 feet. She wanted some New York pizza, so on one of the days we stopped into a proto-typical NY pizzeria – you wound through a line to get to the 4-5 pizzas they had on offer and you ordered one or two slices. They had a few other Italian specialties (spaghetti and meatballs) but we just got pizza and a soft drink. It wasn’t spectacular, but at least she had some there and could tick that one off her list too. We ticked them all, thank goodness.

Our last night in NYC we went out to dinner. Powell had asked me many months ago if there was any special place I’ve really wanted to go. Immediately, I said Gramercy Tavern. The picture at left is the little foyer area. In years past I’d tried to make reservations there, to no avail. They’re always booked. The travel agency Powell uses was finally able to get us a table, and yes, it was a very special dinner. They only do prix fixe meals, ranging from the vegetarian options at $70+ pp to $109 for the full enchilada. We did the full enchilada. It was glorious. We had several different kinds of meat and lots of vegetables, sides, an amuse bouche as well, a palate cleanser, and then a table laden with desserts, most of which we couldn’t finish so took them back to the hotel. Sabrina and I munched on those for some of the next day. The dinner was Powell’s treat to us/me. Thank you, Powell!

There we are at the table. I think this was before we’d really hardly started eating dinner – we were about to dig into the amuse bouche, I believe. I lost track of all the courses we ate. I know we had lobster and duck as separate items. All of it was outstanding. Did I tell you that we had a celebrity sighting while we were there? My son recognized Tory Burch. I know her lines of clothing, handbags, etc. but I’d not have known her face at all. I never did ask Powell how he knew what she looked like. She was seated at a table about 10-12 feet away with a group of very well-dressed women. That was kind of fun!

This cute little thing was sitting on the podium at the front of the restaurant. It’s a little 6-pot “thing” that would hold little flowers in clay pots. In this case there were little glasses in each slot and they were filled with herbs and flowers. It was just so cute and fragrant!

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This may be one of the most well known parts of Julia’s kitchen – just part of the pegboards that Julia’s husband Paul made for her. Soon after moving into the house in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Paul put up the pegboard on a couple of blank walls so she could see and easily access all of her precious Dehillerin copper pots. Each pot had a circle drawn around (see left side, middle where there is a pot missing). Paul designed her Cambridge kitchen.

Julia donated her intact Cambridge kitchen to the Smithsonian when she moved to California. I can hardly picture Julia being without her copper pots, but I believe she moved into an assisted living house so most likely she didn’t cook anymore. What a treasure the Smithsonian now owns! The exhibit is in the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian, and it was one of the busiest exhibits I saw there.

Julia had family money, as I recall reading from one of her biographies. If you’d like to read my review of Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child, go to my blog post about it that I did in 2013.  So to have moved to Paris back in the 50s, to buy all those copper pots would have been a huge expense (and I mean HUGE). She didn’t buy them all at once, but over the years they lived there and only when she realized she actually needed that particular pot or pan. My recollection is that she used her family money to buy most of her copper pots.

Surely there are plenty of bloggers out there who have featured photos of Julia’s kitchen, but I found it so fun to look all around and wanted to share my take on it. Culinary history was made there. Some of her TV series (the later ones) were filmed there in her Cambridge kitchen. I wished I could have actually walked inside the kitchen – but you can view it from all 4 walls through windows. It tickled me to see the oilcloth tablecloth on the kitchen table. I couldn’t quite make out the brand of coffee pot – but it was an ordinary coffee pot. Of course, Julia didn’t live in Cambridge past the early 90’s, I think, so it would be a 80s style coffee pot. I loved the dish drainer. Hardly anyone uses those anymore. And notice the KitchenAid cobalt blue mixer.

And I thought the braided bread basket in the center of the table was so 80s. Any of you make one of those? I did – you made bread dough, (see photo at right from www.artisanbreadinfive.com)  – made braids or just strips, and wove them around an upside down ovenproof bowl. You let it rise, then you baked it – a long time – until it was very “set,” then you let it dry and sprayed it with acrylic spray and it became the bowl you served bread in, with a pretty cloth napkin in the middle of it. And you were very careful using it because it would break easily.

At left is Julia’s cookbook collection. I don’t know whether it contains all of her cookbooks she ever owned. I sort of doubt it. There were 2 Joy of Cooking books there. But also on the top shelf were most of Julia’s own published cookbooks. And then, the Cambridge phone book. And I think the bottom shelves were her boxes of her tv shows on tape or DVD.

Above also is the Legion of Honor medal Julia received in 2000. The placque said : “Julia Child was awarded the Legion d’honneur, France’s highest honor, for introducing Americans to French cuisine and cookery through her books and television shows.” It’s on loan to the Smithsonian from Julia’s family.

At the end of every program Julia filmed (I think) she said to the camera, “Bon Appetit,” with a bit of a French accent. That photo at right is SO Julia. She had such a joy of life.

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When my granddaughter Sabrina and I visited two of the Smithsonians, I didn’t take all that many photos (except in Julia Child’s kitchen, while I’ll post about next). There are several other photos I took, but they didn’t come out very well. I made the mistake of not taking along my battery charger for my good point-and-shoot camera. Of course, even though it said it was high on battery life, it really wasn’t, so nearly all the photos are from my cell phone. And although it takes great pictures, it’s easy to move your hands with such a small thing like a cell phone.

Anyway, the above were two interesting things in the Museum of American History (Smithsonian). The bottom photo is Abraham Lincoln’s mask. As I recall reading, this is not his death mask, but he actually allowed a sculptor to make a mask of his face with whatever kind of materials they used back in those days. Lincoln wasn’t very enamored with the feel of it or the constriction on his face, but he withstood it for whatever period of time it took.

The top photo you might never guess, and I thought it was so hysterical. Have you figured it out yet? Frisbees? No. White circles? Well, yes, but they’re not just decoration. They’re a display of all the different kind of beverage container lids, to-go types, available. And yes, this display was in the Smithsonian. I wonder what some of our descendants will think of that one a couple hundred years from now – they’ll think we were a bit crazy I think. Or that the folks at the Smithsonian were.

These were fun. They’re Judy Garland’s shoes she wore, the Ruby Slippers, from the Wizard of Oz. Filmed in 1938, it said. Actually the signage below doesn’t contain much other information except a bit of info about the movie itself.

And here on the right was a sign I found interesting. It says: “Changing Times, Changing First Ladies: Dolley Madison, Mary Lincoln, Edith Roosevelt, and Lady Bird Johnson are four of the first ladies who fashioned their own ways of handling the White House, families, parties and politics. Over different times and circumstances they crafted significant roles for themselves that they believed would allow them to best serve the president and the country.” I took some other pictures in the First Ladies exhibit, but all of them had glass reflections, or after looking at them I thought they weren’t really worthy of putting on the blog. I enjoyed looking at many of the china patterns designed and used by many of the first families. Most of them were relatively plain, but with ample gold decoration.

Stay tuned, as I said, in a couple of days I’ll write up Julia Child’s kitchen, also contained in the Museum of American History (Smithsonian). It’ll be mostly photos – I took a bunch.

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While I was on this recent trip, I did quite a bit of reading. Every night, trip or not, like clockwork, I read for 20-30 minutes before I fall asleep. And because I’m having a problem with my foot (did I say I have a stone bruise on my heel from wading in the river on the camping trip a few weeks ago?) I had to rest my poor heel sometimes in one museum or another. My Kindle went with me in my purse throughout the trip so I always could sit and read if I could find a place to sit. (I’m seeing my GP this week about my heel, though I’ve read there’s not a lot that can be done for stone bruises.)

I’ll be writing up several books in my left sidebar, as I always do, about my most recent good reads. There will be at least three, of which this is one. But I decided to do a post about it because it was just so interesting.

You knew, of course, that Louis Comfort Tiffany was the Tiffany glass and lamp man. Right? You knew that, of course you did!? Tiffany and Co., the jeweler that we all know, was his father’s, Charles Lewis Tiffany. You’ll learn everything you never thought you’d care to know about the making of stained glass windows and lamps if you read this book. But it’s not boring in the least.

Susan Vreeland, the author, has written several books, the most notable probably Girl in Hyacinth Blue. She also wrote Luncheon of the Boating Party. I think her newest book, this one, Clara and Mr. Tiffany: A Novel is her best one yet. Just an FYI: she has another book soon to be released called Lisette’s List: A Novel. The latter can be pre-ordered. I just did.

The setting of this Tiffany novel is the design studio and glass factory owned by Louis Comfort Tiffany. He’s middle-aged, married with daughters, wealthy (mostly from his parents) and he is somewhat of an art visionary. With little or no financial sense – he’d always had money and thought nothing of spending more, never giving a second thought to whether it would be there forever.

The heroine in the book is Clara Driscoll. She’s a no-nonsense kind of frugal woman with a big independent streak in her and a sad marital past who needs a job. She works for Tiffany, and over the course of many years, she begins to help with designs. Mr. Tiffany grants her some leniency with her ideas, and eventually she takes on the project of designing the first Tiffany lamp, with the very iconic upside-down tulip shape we all recognize. But transforming the idea on paper into a practical thing, a lamp, first a oil-burning one, later electric ones, was far from an easy task. That’s what you’ll learn in this book, about how leaded glass is made, and about the very unique ways in which glass makers can create shades, forms and textures. In that respect, I found the book especially fascinating.

The story along with it – Clara’s life – and her very slow escalation into a position of supervision within the design, window and lamp making department is also very interesting. When I began reading I assumed the book was based on complete fact. It’s not exactly. Vreeland took some liberties to make it a more interesting and riveting story. Tiffany, a kind of old-school stuffy man, made one particular strict policy in his company – he didn’t permit any married women. Period. Hard to believe, but that part’s true. Once you were discovered, you were out. Clara weaves her way in and out of a couple of relationships and a near second marriage, that makes for almost an air of mystery. It’s a charming story from beginning to end. Whether Clara Driscoll really did design the Tiffany lamp? Well, that’s up to speculation, although Vreeland read Driscoll’s letter collection in which she describes in detail how she did it, so probably it is true. And whether she actually led a mini-revolt within the company regarding the male-only glass making trade union (which tried to shut down the women-only lamp making department that was non-union), isn’t known either. She lived in a boarding house, which has its own sub-set of stories to go along with it, and also made for fun reading. All of it together makes for a good story.

So, when my granddaughter Sabrina and I were in New York last week, we went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’ve visited it many times in the past, but Sabrina had never been and she happily went off on her own. Once I’d seen the Impressionists again (I never tire of them) and a few other oils, I went downstairs to the café for a coffee and a place to sit and rest my aching heel. As I was walking down the stairs, lo and behold, there in front of me was a 3-piece panel of Tiffany glass. Flowers and greenery, as nearly all of them are. I walked right up to it and read the tiny little card of info. Clara Driscoll’s name was not associated with that one. In fact, I believe in the Afterword of the book, Vreeland says that none of the Tiffany glass designs (windows or lamps) were specifically credited to Clara, but Vreeland’s research indicated significant hints about her contribution to the lamp-making. Driscoll never did receive the recognition she craved. Elsewhere in the NYC area there are two more museums with oodles of Tiffany glass. I wished I’d had time to visit both of them. I’d never have thought of doing so had I not read this book. Next time.

If you like Vreeland’s style of writing (I certainly do) then this book will be good reading. I certainly thought it was. You’ll come away from it with a whole new appreciation for the intricacies of creating leaded glass in whatever form you see.

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We were in Kings Canyon National Park (south of Sequoia, in central California) on the west side of the Sierra Mountains, just east of Fresno. We were at a place called Cedar Grove, about 40 miles into the park, and at the end of a very long, winding road. Campground photos are down below.

One of the days we spent 3-4 hours here (above). The water was shallow, so the 2 young boys were relatively safe. The water was cold-cold. Temps that day were about 85. Most of the time I spent sitting in a chair, in the water right at the bottom of this photo in that shady area. Because the water is so very low (drought) the flat areas have eroded away and the picnic table, bottom right, was actually IN the water – somebody moved it there because there is no flat ground for the picnic table to be. People in our group sat there at the table, off and on, between fly fishing upstream and downstream, wading out to that big rock on the right edge. I read my book mostly.

There’s another view of a different part of the river near the campground. I never did find out whether the bark beetle has arrived in this area – they can devastate an entire forest, but I didn’t understand why there were so many dead pine trees as you can see above. Bark beetles are very diligent and relentless. They don’t, hardly ever, leave any trees untouched. So perhaps the few dead trees died of something else. The above is the Kings River.

Just another view of the river. I loved the shade. It was mighty hot in the sunshine.

This was the campsite. Breakfast had been served. My son Powell is on the right in the navy blue shirt. His wife Karen is in the chair on the left. Her sister and her husband are in front of her. In the foreground is my son’s mother-in-law and her hubby is in the white t-shirt. The other folks at the table were friends of Karen’s sister. I do believe they were all looking left because the firepit was over there, and the 2 boys (6 and 5) were forever wanting to be too close to the fire, throwing in twigs, dead leaves and anything they could possibly find within 50 yards to add to the fire. They couldn’t wait for the fire to be lit every day (early morning and evening). What IS it about boys and fire? Must go back to caveman days.

As for me, I was staying down the road at the lodge (that’s the glamping part). All of the folks above were tent camping with either air mattresses or cots. I used to do that when I was young, but not anymore. Besides, the lodge had A/C in the room. I spent a part of each day there, taking a nap or reading and so grateful for the cool air. It was in the 90s the last day I was there. Dreadful.

A little creek near the campground. In another few weeks it’ll be dry, I’m sure, as the drought has really affected the California mountains. Less snow than usual means less runoff.

I’m back home now – got home on Monday (I was gone for 5 days). One of my granddaughters (Taylor) arrived the same day I drove home. I paid for her to attend a 3-day seminar about how to write your college essays. She’ll be a senior this year and will be applying to nursing schools in the next couple of months. My friend Kathy’s daughter Meredith teaches this essay-writing class several times each summer. Taylor went home this morning. Taylor’s cousin Shalinn came down also, so they both attended this workshop and each wrote 3 essays over the course of the 3 days.

My outdoor kitchen and new patio furniture is nearly finished. The tables and 4 chairs to the bar-height table all went off to be newly powder coated, so won’t be able to eat outside for a long while (4 weeks, they said). The barbecue hasn’t been put back into the countertop yet and am waiting for that. Pictures eventually.

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Pictured at left is the menu from Poppy, the Seattle restaurant we visited. Read on for more about it.

Our last night of the trip, we opted to spend in Seattle. The plan was to enjoy walking around Pike Place Market some and to have a non-descript dinner somewhere nearby since we had enjoyed our sumptuous dinner at The Willows Inn on Lummi Island the night before. We thought we might never want to eat again after that meal, but actually we weren’t overly stuffed since all the courses were small and many of the offerings were called “snacks.”

Leaving Lummi Island, the last morning we took the passenger ferry back to the mainland after having had a delicious breakfast at the Beach Store Café (by the ferry dock) for the 2nd day in a row (there isn’t any other place to eat on the island except the Willows, and that’s dinner and by reservation). Our rental car was right where it should have been, and we tootled off in the direction of Seattle. We stayed at a very nice hotel close to the Pike Place Market, at The Inn at the Market.

Actually, I forgot to even mention that before we visited Lummi Island, we spent one night in North Van (short for Vancouver) at a lovely, LOVELY B&B that I’d highly recommend. ThistleDown House, on a pretty tree-lined street. We had a delicious dinner at a restaurant about 3/4 mile away in the small village of Edgemont, at Canyon, a newly designated Michelin 1-star restaurant. The restaurant doesn’t have a website (how can that be? but I couldn’t find one) so I’ve provided the link to Trip Advisor’s site for it. Food was good; service was slow, but I think it’s because the chef (old school kind of one, I believe) cooks to order. We were very pleased with our meal. Anyway, the next day we drove slightly east of Vancouver to cross the U.S. border at a less-busy location (called the Sumas crossing, near Abbotsford) and headed south to our 2-night stay at Lummi Island.

Now, let’s get back to the Seattle section again. We happened to end up there on a Saturday night. Had NO idea whatsoever what kind of zoo the Pike Place Market would be on a busy, sunny, Saturday afternoon. It was mayhem. We searched for one particular store (to buy their signature Cinnamon Orange Tea) and couldn’t get out of Pike Market fast enough. The guys were throwing fish at the landmark fish market there, as they do, and the crowds went wild.

Some ladies on Lummi Island had recommended we make a reservation for dinner at Poppy, a Seattle Capitol Hill restaurant, known because of the chef, Jerry Traunfeld. He made his name famous for the years he created the menus and food at The Herbfarm, a stunning place east of Seattle in Woodinville. That restaurant burned down a few years ago (and has since reopened). Meanwhile Jerry moved on, opening this restaurant with a very unusual menu and food style. They serve dinner on a round platter with lots of little plates on it. Here’s what their website says about it:

[The] inspiration comes from the “thali,” a platter served to each guest holding a variety of small dishes. Poppy’s menu borrows the idea of the thali to present Jerry’s own style of northwest cooking, highlighting seasonal ingredients, fresh herbs, and spices. it’s a modern northwest tasting menu served all at once.

A Thali (tal-ee) is a Hindi or Nepalese word. But the food at Poppy wasn’t all about that region – it was various cuisines. First, we ordered one of their signature appetizers – eggplant fries with sea salt and honey. OH my goodness was that ever fabulous.

When brought to our table, they were almost smoking hot. You can see a tiny bit of skin front-and-center on one of them (no big deal). The sea salt was clinging to the fries and the honey was very lightly drizzled. We let them sit for just a minute to cool down enough so we could pick them up.

This dish was an absolute revelation. If you go on the internet and search for “eggplant fries” you’ll find a few recipes for it – have no idea if any of them are the same as Poppy’s, but I’d sure like to know how to make them. They were THAT good!

I don’t know that I’ll ever really prepare them – I try not to cook anything fried like that, but oh, I might be tempted because these were so delicious. Soft inside and barely crispy on the outside. The salt was just the perfect amount and the very light drizzle of honey was so fun and it put these over the top in the flavor department.

Here are photos of the 2 thalis we ordered. I can’t even remember for sure what we both ordered (I had salmon, but that’s as much as I recall – I think it’s the one on the left). Naan bread is in the middle of both. There’s a pickle in one of the dishes, some veggies, a salad kind of thing and soup. We both loved our plates and the varied tastes each item provided. I’d definitely go there again if I lived in Seattle. The chef was there the night we dined – I asked the waitress to point him out to me. The very large kitchen was glassed in so you could see some of what was going on inside. Out behind the restaurant there is a very large herb garden (guests are invited to go visit if they want to – I did). I don’t recall that anything was labeled, but gosh, it was a riot of scents.

Our trip was really a good one – I am going to pat myself on the back that I planned a workable itinerary for us.  What I did differently this time was allow us to stay 2 nights most places. I’ve written up a synopsis itinerary below – it’s a pdf – of where we went, what we did and where we ate.

Pacific Northwest 11-14 day Itinerary CutePDF

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Only if you’re a foodie person would you likely make a trip to The Willows Inn for dinner. Some people who live in/around the Seattle area do – it’s a day trip, or rather an evening trip. The restaurant operates Wed-Sun nights, or off season from Thurs-Sun nights. We chose to stay on the island for 2 nights and had the feast one of the 2 nights.

If you go during most months of the year there is a car ferry, but as I explained in my post about Lummi Island a couple of days ago, we just happened to go there during the 3 weeks the car ferry was in dry dock for its annual maintenance. So we had to use the small passenger ferry that plies the half-mile distance between the mainland near Bellingham (about 15 miles west of the 5 fwy on the Lummi Nation Reservation) and the island itself. It was kind of special. Fun. Different. Certainly makes for good story telling, and my DH has been making the most of it (he’s good at that).

The meal is expensive. I mean ferociously expensive. $150 per person. We’d not usually pay that much for any dinner, but this was vacation, and it just got lumped into our trip expenses, I suppose. Dave and I talked about it before we went – were we willing to spend that much? We decided for an island destination, maybe it was, and hoped we’d be happy about it.

And, indeed, we were. It was a spectacular dinner (dining room is through the right hand side of the windows above – lobby was on the left side). Took 3+ hours with so many courses I could hardly keep track. I took photos of them all and you can see them below. The servers were kept hopping all night long, setting up for each course and then bringing some treasure that was lying on a rock, or hot rocks, or a plank, or rustic plates. Take a look at the photos, and then down below them I’ll tell you what my favorites were.

Most unusual: raw goat tartare (not my favorite, but I think it was just because it was raw – the meat came from goats on Lopez Island nearby); the baked kale chip with black truffle and buttered rye bread crumbs; the halibut skin – crispy and good – stuffed with some halibut mousse, I think; and definitely the woodruff ice cream. I wasn’t even sure what woodruff was – if you look closely at the plate bottom left you can barely see some greenery – that’s woodruff. It’s a low growing ground cover in that neck of the woods. The ice cream had a very refreshing flavor to it, and I was kind of enchanted with the malted barley crumbles alongside. Certainly never had those before! Probably the plum skins (which had some plum flesh on them) were delicious, but very  unusual! They’re at right on the bottom. I tried to get that photo to rotate, but every time I did the one on the left turned sideways. Gave up. Oh, and then the hearth bread was so good, but what made it unusual was the little bowl of hot chicken drippings. We were to butter our bread, then dip a bit of it into the drippings. Who would ever have thought we’d be eating chicken drippings.

Most tasty: the raw albacore tuna was sensational. It was scraped with a scallop shell into large, but thin pieces, then sitting in a delicious vinaigrette of some kind. The seaweeds were really wonderful – I think my favorite of the evening. Underneath the seaweed were chunks of the local and ever-so tasty Dungeness crab with a brown butter drizzled over it. Wow is about all I can say. And the charred Romano beans. Oh my. I could have eaten a plate full of them. They’d been cooked (steamed?) then grilled outdoors wrapped up in little bundles over oregano stems, then it was served with an oregano vinaigrette drizzled on top. It was fantastic.

My least favorites: the goat, as I mentioned, but most people just loved it – it actually didn’t have much flavor. I also didn’t like the smoked sockeye salmon. Normally I love smoked salmon, but for me it was too smoky. My DH ate his and 99% of mine. The duck was good, but not exceptional. I tried everything – even the goat, and the salmon and I ate all of the duck.

My DH ordered the wine pairing (an additional $70 per person). They were all Washington wines, from various places. Five wines were poured: 2012 Ross Andrew Meadow Rose (Walla Walla); 2012 Long Shadows Poet’s Leap Riesling (Columbia Valley); 2009 a Maurice Chardonnay (Walla Walla); 2011 Waitsburg Cellars Three Merlot, Malbec, Mouvedre (Columbia Valley); and 2012 Brian Carter Cellars Opulento Dessert Wine (Yakima Valley). They offered (for a fee, I’m sure) a juice pairing with the dinner too which included a sparkling blueberry, a cucumber, tomato, sorrel and elderflower. At the beginning of the meal they served to everyone as part of the dinner, a glass of hard cider (also Washington origin) which was delicious. I nursed that glass through several of the courses and had sparkling water as well.

The next morning we went to the actual Inn (where we’d been to the dinner the night before) and checked out. We had some fresh coffee and a fabulous pound cake they had beside the coffee carafes – I had to try it. Oh my, it was SO good. I want that recipe! I snapped a photo of the kitchen – they were already working and it was just about 9:00 AM.

I found the article which got me intrigued about this hotel and restaurant. It was in April’s Bon Appetit, and it was titled the Best Food Lover’s Hotels in America. I think Sooke Harbour House was one of the nominees, but not one of the top 10.

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After leaving the west coast of Vancouver Island, we crossed on the ferry from Nanaimo to Vancouver, spent the night, then drove south across the border and wended our way to a ferry dock north of Bellingham . . .

Some months back I’d read an article about a bunch of top food destinations in the U.S. (of course, I can’t now find the article) and amongst the top contenders was The Willows Inn, on Lummi Island, Washington. Having never even heard of Lummi before (pronounced lumm-ee), I investigated online. Lummi is named for the Native American Indian Nation – most of them live on the mainland side, I believe. Reservations were made and the trip plans fell into place. Lummi is a small island, only accessible by ferry, and 3 weeks a year they haul out the car ferry for annual dry dock maintenance and during that time everyone who lives or visits Lummi must commute via a small passenger ferry. Only after I made the reservations did I find out that I chose a time during that 3-week period. Oh well.

If you go online to read about The Willows Inn, you’ll find that the Inn itself is quite small, with just a few rooms. But the resort (well, can one even call it a resort . . . not sure about that as it’s very small) has made its name because of their Executive Chef, 27-year old Blaine Wetzel. He’s an up and coming chef – no, I take that back, he’s arrived, since he was honored this year as a James Beard Foundation rising star nominee.

In a couple of days I’ll give you a write-up about the dinner we had there. For today, though, I’ll tell you about the Island.

It’s just 8 miles long, and maybe 1 to 1 1/2 miles wide, with relatively few roads. If you have a car, you’ll be able to tootle around the island on your own, exploring every nook and cranny. For us, though, since the car had to be left on the mainland at the ferry dock, we relied on the staff at the Inn to take us one place or another. The Inn rents houses in various places on the island (because there are way more people wanting to visit and have dinner there, than they have rooms) and we stayed in one of those. Pictures below. Other than the Inn itself, there IS no town. There’s a ferry dock and a tiny little café about 200 yards up the road from the ferry. And there’s the Inn. That’s it. We had dinner at the café the first night, and at the Inn the 2nd night. Both mornings breakfast was provided at the café by the ferry dock also. The Island is fairly remote, quiet for sure, beautiful, but there isn’t a whole lot to do there. If I’d understood all of that we might have stayed just one night. But we stayed two, and that was fine. The in between day we took walks, watched the mist and fog, watched the reefnetters hauling in salmon right outside the front window of the house we stayed in, and read books on our Kindles. Here’s a collage of photos:

Clockwise from top left: a fishing hut right on the beach in front of where we stayed, in Legoe Bay; the Bay bathed in morning fog; the individual room where we stayed; some shells other guests had collected; a late afternoon view from the Inn; a lovely chrysanthemum arrangement on the dining room table at the house where we stayed; and a view from the rear deck overlooking the man-made pond.

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We visited The Wickininnish Inn (most folks just call it The Wick Inn) because two different friends of ours recommended it. It’s a long drive to get there, and there isn’t a whole lot of activities to keep you occupied unless you do active water sports or extensive hiking. But oh, is it ever beautiful in that part of the world.

Most people wouldn’t take the time to go further upland from Victoria, except maybe to the ferry at Nanaimo, or to visit Butchart Gardens. But because friends had recommended it, we fit it into our trip plans. From Sooke Harbour, it took us about 3 1/2 hours to drive (back toward Victoria, north to Nanaimo, then west for a long way, clear to the western coast of Vancouver Island). It’s a beautiful drive, although I’ll call it fatiguing because it’s on mostly 2-lane curvy roads nearly the entire distance. There are a few passing lanes (to get past all those campers and trucks) and a couple of places where the road is straight enough to pass, but otherwise, it’s a slow slog. Beautiful, though.

And then you’re there. The Wickaninnish Inn. It’s noted for its cuisine (Dave enjoyed it more than I did – the food combinations just didn’t appeal to me for whatever reason). We stayed in a building just to the left of the one in the photo at top. We had a spectacular view out over the ocean, facing west. The Wick is a posh place to stay, and definitely the priciest of our trip, but we enjoyed every single moment of our view and the nice amenities.

We had a delicious clam chowder at a funky outdoor dive down the road one of the days (people in that neck of the woods like to add other vegetables to their chowder, like corn, carrots and peas). We had a fabulous hamburger at a town 15 miles or so away. That was in Ucluelet (that’s pronounced you-clue-let), although the locals call the town Ukee for short. Anyway, we had a great lunch at The Blue Room Bistro. Nothing fancy for decor (trust me on that) but the food was really worth stopping for. The other day we were there we popped down the road just a bit from our hotel and had lunch at the Wildside Grill. When you’re in this part of the world, know that restaurants feature fish, fish and more fish. And it’s good, for certain. After days of fish, though, we wanted a change and ordered clam chowder there also, and we shared a barbecued chicken sandwich. Both were delicious.

Our second evening, after dinner, we took a walk on the beach in front of the hotel, and other than being happy the sand was a hard, compacted type which made for easy walking, we were astounded to find several groups of starfish clinging to the rocks. The tide was out. Here is a collage of pictures from The Wick.

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