WRITTEN BY GREG ATKINSON

	COURTESY OF SALLY MCARTHUR
	With culinary passions planted in the small farms and artisanal products of the Loire and the Skagit valleys, Sally McArthur is offering classes she hopes will spread the love.

McArthur, who went to France to work with Michelin-starred chefs when she was in her 20s, has a unique perspective. After returning from France, she earned her stripes in the Seattle area as the executive chef for Anthony's Restaurants and helped the chain establish relationships with local growers, including berry growers in the Skagit Valley. A few years ago, she devoted herself to creating a base in France so she might share with American cooks the passion she feels for the place where her own culinary sensibilities were forged.
 

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This summer, McArthur is offering a series of cooking classes and culinary adventures in both the Skagit and the Loire. In June, she launched the program with two week-long sessions at the beautifully restored 15th-century Château du Rivau. She'll conduct three more sessions there later this year. In between, next month, she'll offer a series of two-day adventures in the Skagit Valley where students will tour farms, spend the night at the La Conner Country Inn, and prepare meals in the kitchen at La Conner Flats, a garden and reception center.

Both venues will highlight ingredients grown in their respective locales, but interestingly, many of the recipes will be the same. "It's because they share so many of the same crops," says McArthur, "wonderful varieties of potatoes, strawberries, raspberries and blackberries, cherries and plums."

The list goes on. "Both places grow artichokes, melons, lettuces of all varieties, cabbage, leeks and cauliflower. Both have lamb, beef and free-range chickens."

"Basically," says McArthur, "the soil is so rich in both valleys that almost anything can grow." But the similarities that excite McArthur the most are more subtle than the crops. "What thrills me," she says, "is the excitement and enthusiasm of the farmers and the culinary artisans. Many growers in both regions are committed to organic products, and I'm touched by the universal challenges of small farmers trying to hold their own against spreading development and industrialization."

There are differences, too, of course. "Fish are different in the Loire, but there is a big effort going on here to bring back the native-salmon population, and they are having some success. White asparagus, cultivated black truffles, saffron and walnuts are big here, and the Skagit doesn't do that yet."

There are also differences in the way the two programs are set up. Two-day sessions in the Skagit, including meals, classes, materials and overnight accommodations, cost $395. The six-day French experience costs $2,950. Both rates are based on double occupancy. More information on the classes can be found at www.frenchchefsally.com.

For participants, the classes offer a chance to experience firsthand the harvest, preparation and enjoyment of some of the best ingredients available to cooks anywhere in the world. For Sally McArthur, though, "The name of the game is to keep the small producers going, and that's what I hope to do."