I've spent over 20 years working in the restaurant industry and for me, the kitchen is an undeniable lure. Thomas Keller, executive chef of culinary bastions including The French Laundry, Bouchon, Per Se, and Ad Hoc, calls professional cooking a "dance." To me, it's a physical and creative battle that when done well, is more like poetry in action. Whether I'm working or not, when I get the chance, the kitchen is the pace I want to be.
While you may not live in Washington...or in the U.S. for that matter, I hope you'll cull universal elements from this photo essay.
November 13 -14th, 60 Washington state and 20 Napa Valley wineries will be featured at the Taste of Tulalip. It's a jam-packed 2 day event and in addition to the wines, Tulalip's award-winning chefs will be strutting their stuff. (See menus below.)
While you may not live in Washington...or in the U.S. for that matter, I hope you'll cull universal elements from this photo essay.
November 13 -14th, 60 Washington state and 20 Napa Valley wineries will be featured at the Taste of Tulalip. It's a jam-packed 2 day event and in addition to the wines, Tulalip's award-winning chefs will be strutting their stuff. (See menus below.)
Earlier this month, a group of writers and food bloggers were invited to preview the menus.
Yes, that's right.
Menus.
We were served two tasting menus--plus wine flights--back-to-back. (You're feeling sorry for me, right?) The food was incredible, but even better? They gave me kitchen access. So instead of tweeting most of the night (it was a Tweet-up, after all), I was hanging out with the staff.
Wanna peek in the kitchen? Come along with me....
Yes, that's right.
Menus.
We were served two tasting menus--plus wine flights--back-to-back. (You're feeling sorry for me, right?) The food was incredible, but even better? They gave me kitchen access. So instead of tweeting most of the night (it was a Tweet-up, after all), I was hanging out with the staff.
Wanna peek in the kitchen? Come along with me....
This looks promising, doesn't? Surprise! More wines to follow with the second tasting menu. Good thing I stayed over night!
Commemorative plate preview.
While the other guests were engrossed with electronic devices, I took a peek in the kitchen.
While the other guests were engrossed with electronic devices, I took a peek in the kitchen. 
Meet Raja. If you think of the kitchen as theater, this guy is the director. He heads off any potential problems and paced our multi-course dinner. A big, heartfult thank you to Raja, who gave me carte blanche kitchen access.
With a name like that, he was destined to rule, eh?
Raja = East Indian prince or monarch. Julius = Roman ruler.
Raja = East Indian prince or monarch. Julius = Roman ruler.
Tulalip Resort has five restaurants and for our meal, the chefs alternated courses. Here's the Excecutive crew.
Salad prep, with a chive garnish
Here's the chef in charge of our 1st course.
1st course, waiting in the wings--an expansive hallway between the kitchen and the ballroom.
Dungeness & Alaskan Crab 'Sushi' with wild rice, sesame lavash and avocado wasabi foam (Notice the layers? King crab, wild rice, and dungeness. I wasn't a fan of the wild rice component. The firm rice + crab = odd mouth feel. I kept thinking I was stumbling on crab bones and the rice did little to show off the crab. Otherwise, stunning presentation.)
To the dining room...
Between courses.
Plated and and headed to the holding station.
Server down time, taking in the kitchen action.
Server down time, taking in the kitchen action.
"Here, have a taste!" This salmon eventually made it's way onto the white & red Miso salmon with Miso rice, lemon butter tamari mushroom medley and inari-nori slaw course.
Plating the apple lacquered Pacific halibut over savory fennel-butternut squash bread pudding
Hotel kitchens are huge! Here's a look inside the walk in.
Skull Syrah from the Charles Smith vineyard
Chef Dean Shinagawa redies a plate for presentation.
His course...my favorite of the night: Wagyu beef short ribs and certified Angus beef tenderloin with blue cheese, potato, shiitake, sun dried cherries and cabernet demi-glace, topped with those crispy fried onions.
Voila!
Exquisite butter-poached scallops.
Overhead look at the assembly line.
A final drizzle of butter topped these succulent butter poached sea scallops, garnished with crushed toasted pine nuts.
Behold, dessert for 50. Each plate had multiple components, yet much of the work was done in advance. Last minute finishing touches included garnishes for the baby fondant cake (on the left) and the milk chocolate cremosa (2nd from the left).
Work in progress....
“A study in chocolate” with white chocolate cream, milk chocolate cremosa, 55% chocolate ganache filled raspberries and 72% dark chocolate baby fondant cake.
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Long before dawn, I boarded a bus full of bakers and settled in for the 4 hour trek to Eastern Washington.
On the ride over, Shepherd's Grain co-founder Fred Fleming gave us the lay of the land. As the miles stretched on, the type of crop shifted from irrigation-dependent crops like corn and potatoes to dry land crops, including wheat, barley, mustard, and canola. A stunning piece of environmental trivia: in the valley, every 10 miles, annual rainfall increases by 1".
While Seattle is famous for rain (155 days a year), east of the Cascade Mountains, you'll find a high desert. Rainfall is scant and crops near the mountain range rely on irrigation. (Arms of the irrigation apparatus stretch across the entire frame of this photo.)
Hay harvest, drying in the sun.
This hay has already been baled. Note: The hay must be absolutely dry. In a rush to store the hay? Bad idea. Not only is spontaneous combustion is a very real risk, rising heat levels cause a significant loss of protein. How does hay spontaneously combust? Chemical reactions and microbial growth in hay occur because of the change in availability of moisture, oxygen, and pressure to create heat to the point of ignition and fire. (Read more about that 
Winter wheat, already in the ground. Tiny shoots surface before the first snow fall. An unusually cold summer meant an overlap between harvest and planting. Farmers on the western side of the Columbia River had their crop in the ground, while on the eastern side, farmers were still bringing in the harvest.
Crossing the Columbia River. Multiple dams on this river provide cheap hydro-electric power to Washington state residents and irrigation to surrounding farmland. The dams are also responsible for the significant loss of salmon, which historically, migrated up the Columbia River to spawn. Migration routes are now blocked by dams and poorly designed fish ladders, driving many salmon runs to extinction.
Of all the factors involved in farming, one element I never considered was wind. With few trees to shield the momentum, fierce winds whip across the dry plains. Annual fires spread rapidly under these conditions and during the wrong time of the year, a hard rain and violent winds can wash priceless topsoil into the Columbia River. (It's dredged frequently for this very reason.)
Wheat is harvested 8 inches from the ground, leaving fields of "stubble." Between harvest and the next planting season, "stubble" keeps the topsoil intact.
The distant mountains beckon in shades of purple. In this area "wind" is a four-letter curse word and now I know why. Wind drowned out any reasonable attempt at conversation and erratic gusts whipped my skirt to the point of indecency.
Shielded by a knoll, I took advantage of a welcome respite and succumbed to the hypnotic tango between wind and wheat. Immersed in a rhythmic ocean of grain swaying in the wind, I paused just to listen.
Bit of trivia: As humans shifted from a hunter-gatherer society, wheat provided an important and stable food supply. By 4,000 BC, wheat farming had spread to Asia, Europe, and North Africa.
Innovation is at the heart of 
Once the wheat is harvested, it's stored in these silos until it's sold and shipped to a mill. The wheat can be stored for up to a year. At this point, it's important to monitor moisture content to prevent mold and other issues.
Learning about different grains: hard wheat, winter wheat, spring wheat, etc.
