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06/18/2008: "Christina Orchid To Speak at Discovery Series"

Spring Street International School is bringing James Beard Award‐Winning Chef, entrepreneur and author Christina Orchid as the next speaker for the ”Spring Street Discovery Speaker Series”. The new, monthly Spring Street Discovery Speaker Series continues in Friday Harbor at Pelindaba Downtown – Thursday, June 19 at 7:00pm.

The Discovery Series asks the question “Remember when you were a high school student and you wondered how do you get from here to there, from studying in your home town, to a completely different life?”

The series will bring people who have achieved great things to speak with students who will have a chance to interview, question and talk with them about what they did, how they did it, and what they might do differently next time. Admission is free and all interested island students and adults are cordially invited!

CHRISTINA ORCHID
Author
Christina’s Cookbook: Recipes and Tales from a Northwest Island Kitchen

Christina Orchid gathered an appreciation of foods native to the Northwest, while spending childhood summers on her grandparents’ cattle ranch in eastern Washington and on the family farm on Orcas Island in the far northwest corner of Washington State. Although Orchid enjoyed an idyllic childhood, as a young girl she yearned for a life she created from the pages of The New York Times, The New Yorker and Eloise: to live in a penthouse in New York, dine at the Sherry Netherland, shop at Bendel’s and take taxis.

In time, Orchid ventured to San Francisco for art school and traveled throughout France, Italy, Russia and Turkey to be inspired by the stories of great chefs. While working at restaurants and unable to find an apprenticeship, Orchid collected hundreds of cookbooks to gain insight into the lives of great restaurateurs and chefs, all in anticipation of one day opening her own establishment.

When Orchid moved back to the small village of Eastsound on Orcas Island as a 33-year-old single mother and divorcee looking for a fresh start, a newspaper article encouraged her to assess her real talents before beginning a new venture. Orchid immediately identified two: she could cook and had good taste. So, she leased a three-bedroom apartment with the intention of turning it into a creperie cum coffeehouse.

Eventually, Orchid decided to prepare real food in order to show the world that the fare she grew up with in this remote part of America could be just as wonderful as that in any restaurant in France or New York. Her mission was clear: to find and prepare regional foods in simple and flavorful ways, allowing for the ingredients themselves to shine, in a dining room without pretense or snobbery, while providing service in a welcoming atmosphere conducive to relaxation and pleasure.

With this philosophy in mind, Orchid opened Christina’s in 1981 and, for the next 24 years, set new standards of culinary sophistication in the Pacific Northwest. The menu melds fresh, seasonal ingredients with an unfettered style and a distinctive ability to expose natural flavors. Her relationships with local farmers and fishermen are instrumental in creating an atmosphere that pays homage to the Pacific Northwest’s bounty. Food & Wine has called Christina’s “a beacon of gastronomy in the Northwest.”

Over the years, Orchid received countless requests for copies of her home-style recipes, all of which are dropped into an envelope tacked to a bulletin board in the kitchen. Eventually, the envelope grew into a box. Now, Orchid found the time and venue in which to answer them all with her new cookbook, Christina’s Cookbook: Recipes and Tales from a Northwest Island Kitchen (Sasquatch Books; October 7, 2004). In it, she passes on some of her most-loved recipes and others she hasn’t prepared in years, while reminiscing about her time on the island and adventures in cooking.

Christina’s was named Best Restaurant by Seattle Magazine and Top Ten in Washington State by Fodor’s. Orchid was named Best Chef by Pacific Northwest Magazine, has appeared as a guest chef at the James Beard House in New York and was featured in Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Gourmet, among others. Her recipes have also been included in several cookbooks featuring the best creations from Northwest chefs and restaurants.

Orchid counts among her many fans Harrison Ford and Al Gore, both of whom have flown in for the evening to dine at her restaurant. Richard Donner, producer of the blockbuster “Free Willy 2,” in which Orchid has a small part, is a friend, neighbor and frequent guest.

A member of Les Dames des Escoffier and the James Beard Foundation, Orchid donates her time to a host of culinary events and programs, including Share Our Strength coalition to fight hunger and FareStart, an organization that offers job training and placement in the food service industry.

Orchid resides in Eastsound, Washington on Orcas Island with her husband Bruce.