Outstanding in the Field On the Road

Outstanding on the Road has moved!

2010-04-18T10:13:00.000-07:00

Our blog is now integrated into our new website! Please update your bookmarks and read about our latest adventures here.

Scouting and Eating around Portland

2010-02-27T20:40:00.000-08:00

Since we got off of tour, Jeremy and Elaine have chosen to temporarily settle in Portland, Oregon for the off-season. They've been throwing around the idea of transplanting themselves there from Chicago for some time now and took the off-season as an opportunity to immerse themselves in the city. They've still been working with Outstanding in the Field, remotely from their apartment a.k.a the "Design Cave". Their off-season projects have included a new website and researching new database and ticketing systems. Watch for the new website launch in the coming weeks!

Our crew works pretty well despite being spread around the country: there are daily emails, phone calls, instant messages, texts and video chats. However we still can't deny the value in working good, old fashioned, side-by-side. Leah decided to take some time at the beginning of February to head up to Portland and work with Jeremy and Elaine. It turned out there was plenty of work to be done and good times to be had and a 5 day trip eventually became a 2 week stay. Leah was fortunate to have a room at Adam's house- one of our past tour participants that we picked up on tour in the Midwest in 2008.

Jeremy and Elaine have settled nicely into Portland and have gotten to know the Portland food scene better than ever. The guys from Ned Ludd sure are happy to have them around. Troy MacLarty, a Portland chef of the Chez Panisse family, was guest chef in one of our Portland dinners last year and is also now working at Ned Ludd. They're a good crew to know and in the two weeks Leah was in Portland they visited many restaurants: from Le Pigeon, Park Kitchen and Autentica to Pok Pok, Bamboo Sushi, Clyde Common and The Screen Door.

In talking about a 2010 dinner with Ned Ludd, the idea of the having the event at Cameron Winery came up. Jeremy & Elaine are already familiar and big fans of Cameron Winery. One of the special parts of having a dinner there is that the winery is closed to the public 364 days a year. Troy is a good friend of John Paul, the Cameron winemaker, and arranged for us to have a scouting visit out to the winery. As John Paul was on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Europe, Scott showed us around the grounds and in the cave. Cameron Winery is a special place with a good philosophy and a great sense of humor. We hope it works out and we can have our guests join us for a table set at the winery!

The Basque Country of Northern Spain

2010-01-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

Most culinary travelers when asked about favorite regions to explore seem to have Basque Spain at or near the top of their list. We arrive in Spain intent on finding what all the fuss is about.

Our guide is Sancho Rodriquez, editor of a Spanish surfing magazine and director of the "Surfilm Festibal". We met our friend Sancho through photographer and film maker Patrick Trefz who has documented Jim's artwork over the past several years. Sancho's father Jaime Rodriguez Salis and brother Telmo Rodriguez are renowned Spanish winemakers. With connections like this we are on our way.

Our base is the beautiful coastal town of San Sebastian

After all the constant travel Dave decided to take it easy and hang in San Sebastian as Jim and Katy made plans to meet up with Sancho and his girlfriend in La Rioja for an overnight visit to the Remelluri estate. Sancho's father Jaime Rodriguez Solis founded the winery in 1968 reviving a disused property that had seen wine production over several centuries. The site is located on the remains of a tenth century town and archeological digs have shown artifacts dating from Roman times through the Bronze age. We gathered that evening with several of Sancho's relatives and shared a home cooked meal prepared on the Remelluri hearth ,enjoying several outstanding family wines.

Sancho Rodriguez takes us on a tour of the family estate

Sancho as a boy, on a tractor during grape harvest

Stopping for a sip from the vineyard well

The Remelluri Estate Vineyard

Our next stop was a visit to Telmo Rodriguez winery located several miles down the road. Wine maker Telmo has been called the rockstar of Spanish wine. His unusual program includes a far flung 30 different wines made in 10 distinct regions of Spain. On a windy, chilly afternoon we pulled up for a tour of the winery. Telmo's winery, ultra modern but understated in design contrasted sharply with the history infused Remulluri estate. Sancho gave us a tour of the property greeting the busy staff with warm hellos.

Sancho explains wine production

inside the barrel room

On our way back to San Sebastian we stopped here for freshly baked bread

Returning to the coast it was time for some sightseeing before a night visiting several notable pintxos restaurants in San Sebastian.

Jim Denevan at the Eduardo Chillida sculpture garden

The next day we met Sancho and Luis Chillida for a private tour of the Chillida-Leku museum located just outside San Sebastian. The museum features the work of Luis' late father internationally renowned Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida.

The farmhouse gallery

Ancient farmhouse beams

Luis Chillida and Jim Denevan

After touring the impressive monumental works and garden we said our goodbye's and headed off for a lunch visit to Asador Extabarri where chef Victor Arguinzoniz cooks almost everything over specially constructed charcoal grills. Located high in the mountains in the beautiful town of Axte (very difficult to find) Asador Extabarri recieves a steady flow of international culinary pilgrims. We ordered from the tasting menu experienced a meal that was among the best of our trip. After savoring the experience we visited the kitchen; chef Victor and his sous chef generously gave us a thorough tour of the kitchen.

Asador Extabarri

The next day Sancho took time for a detailed exploration, showing some of his favorite sites including several scenic Basque farms located around the town of Irun on the Spain France border, followed by lunch at a traditional Batzoki (political clubhouse).

Several locations were deemed good table sites and we took notes regarding our anticipated return in September.

On our last full day on our scouting trip was capped with a visit to Mugaritz Restaurant located a short distance outside San Sebastian. Mugaritz has a reputation as one of the best restaurants in the world and we concur with that assessment. Our meal began with a visit to the kitchen where we received a full description of sourcing, technique and goals of the restaurant. Chef owner Andoni Luis Aduriz had the night off because of the imminent arrival of a new child so his able chef de cuisine directed our experience. The warmth of staff and passion and attention to the art of cooking at Mugaritz are truly remarkable. It was pretty amazing to dine at the best of the best with our partner in culinary exploration Sancho, a good friend of the restaurant and also a friend it seemed with just about everyone we came upon. All of us left with a feeling of having experienced something profound and unforgettable. It was the perfect ending to a very successful Outstanding in the Field scouting tour.

Scouting: Umbria

2010-01-20T08:58:00.000-08:00

Our Umbrian hosts Federico Bibi and Jennifer McIlvane had a delicious and adventurous itinerary planned for us. Any thoughts of slowing down and staying in one place were put to rest as we immediatly headed out to visit several significant cultural sites. Federico for many years represented internationally the culinary heritage of Umbria. Jennifer, Federico's wife, is a chef and expat from Philadelphia. Together you could not ask for more in the way of thoughtful and knowledgeable guides and Umbria was ours.

Federico showed us around the Terre Margaratelli vineyard and winery where we sampled Federico's latest experiments. Federico is marketing director for the Terre Margaratelli winery.

We visited Fattoria Luchetti where we took a look at the enormous chianina beef and picked up some fresh items for a dinner party at the villa later that evening.

Chianina cow

Jennifer and Federico at Fattoria Luchetti

Back at the Trampetti Villa Dave turned some steaks cooking on the open hearth at a dinner party that included Federico, Jennifer and Italian friends

The next day it was time for more adventures. First up was a look around the olive trees at the Trampetti estate.

In the orchard

Federico checks out olives destined for Trampetti extra virgin olive oil. Trampetti is one of the best olive oil producers in Italy

Dave enjoys the view from the villa

Jennifer, Federico and Jim

Next stop was Porcetta di Costano known as the best porcetta truck in town where we ordered the specialty and drove up the hill to enjoy the view from the beautiful hill town of Collepino.

Dave savors an impossibly good porcetta sandwich

We climbed Mount Subasio high above the nearby town of Assisi. In the cloud tops we could see nothing and slowly descended the mountain where we visited a peaceful, contemplative monastery founded by St Francis of Assisi.

Poggio Etrusco, Near Montepulciano

2010-01-17T20:53:00.000-08:00

On the way to Umbria we visited with Outstanding in the Field friend Pamela Sheldon Johns. Cookbook author Pamela operates Poggio Etrusco a small farm where she produces olive oil and leads food and wine workshops. Pamela participated as a guest food artisan at our legendary 2008 Art Dinner event in Florence.

Pamela welcomed us into the main house with freshly baked olive cake and tea. Mmmm. We settled in to the comfortable accommodations taking the opportunity to catch up on correspondence, do laundry and plan the coming days adventures.

Pamela and Dave

From Field to Table: Chianti Classico and La Petraia

2010-01-16T11:21:00.000-08:00

Heading south in in our avuncular Fiat Punto we are in search of La Petraia. Set among the mists in the Chianti Mountains the luxury agriturismo La Petraia is both spectacularly beautiful and just a little hard to find. After ups and downs and twists and turns in and through towering clouds we finally arrived at the property. Our previous destination Panzano in Chianti is a more down to earth area dotted with small towns and agriculture. At La Petraia we feel far away and much more elevated. Occasional estates, vineyards and forest are now the dominant surroundings. La Petraia is owned by Susan McKenna Grant and Michael Grant who purchased the property in the fall of 2000. The site had been abandoned as a working farm 50 years earlier. Susan and Michael brought it back to productivity with plantings of grapes,olives, vegetables and raising of heritage animals; all quality ingredients for Susan's work in the kitchen. Susan, a successful software entrepreneur turned accomplished chef is author of the award winning cookbook ''Piano Piano Pieno: Authentic Food from a Tuscan Farm''. As part of La Petraia's agriturismo programs Susan offers several culinary experiences. The 2009 program included a visit by noted author Michael Pollan as part of the ''La Petraia Sessions''.

After being greeted by Susan and Michael we were shown our rooms and took a few minutes to rest before a tour of the property. It was quickly apparent that at La Petraia the level of attention and quality regarding the guest experience is of the very highest level. Sometimes when traveling you come upon a place that is so special and unique you can imagine scuttling the rest of your tour and staying put. La Petraia is that kind of place. The accommodations, setting and experience are truly phenomenal, especially for a couple but since none of us had significant others along we could only think another day, another time, another visit.

A tour of the site revealed several rare heritage Cinta Senese pigs rooting in the duff, happily snorting and sniffing. As it turned out one of the pigs was experiencing it's last moments as our visit coincided with the scheduled slaughtering of a pig. The gathered farm professionals soon dispatched our pig with a well placed rifle shot and the transformation from field to table had begun.

We then scaled the tallest hill on the property to walk among the ruins of an ancient Etruscan town. With an amazing 360 degree view from our high perch, one direction revealed a sliver of the farm's vineyards and beyond, over several sets of hills the majestic tower in Siena. In the other direction the Arno River valley was seen surrounded by snow covered mountains.

Jim considered the possibilities of a late summer meal on a Tuscan mountain top.

La Petraia

Susan McKenna Grant and Michael Grant of La Petraia are from Canada

and notice Jim is wearing a t-shirt from UBC farm in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. UBC farm is the site of several Outstanding in the Field dinners.

Near the Etruscan ruins

Attractive fowl

Susan and Dave witness the slaughtering of a Cinta Senese pig

The Most Famous Butcher in the World

2010-01-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Our Euro scout continued onward to the warmer climes of Tuscany and the town of Panzano in Chiati where we met up with Dario Cecchini and his wife Kim at Antica Macelleria Cecchini. Dario's work was chronicled in Bill Buford's excellent book ''Heat'', and a memorable episode of Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations. After a tour and a chat with Dario's wife Kim, who is originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Dario appeared, greeting us with warmth, enthusiasm and a larger than larger than life charisma. We heard a detailed off the cuff diatribe on all that was wrong in the world of food as he busily chopped, wrapped, mixed and sliced, skills that evinced all in food and restaurants that is true and right. Right in his world and soon in ours as it was time for lunch. Dario operates three restaurants very close to his butcher shop: Solo Ciccia, MacDario and Officina Del Bistecca. MacDario (described here) is the lunch spot, a Tuscan riff on McDonalds and fast food. We sat down for a delicious not so typical burger washed down with a ''military'' Grappa, not bad. Young culinary interns Chris and Nicholas, hailing from Canada and France, came out of the kitchen joining us for lunch and soon we were animatedly comparing notes on culinary travels. After our afternoon lunch Kim sent us off to the nearby vineyard and winery of Fontodi where Silvano showed us around. Acclaimed Fontodi is a certified organic operation located in the ''Conca Di'Oro'' a natural amphitheater descending from just below Panzano in Chianti. Besides the vineyard and winery operation we also visited a part of the property where Fontodi raises a small herd of the famed and very large Chianina beef. After our eventful day we ascended to the town of Lamole and Casa al Prato a Tuscan mountainside hideaway owned by Dario's sister Marina Cecchini. Besides Marina's beautiful accommodations she also operates a small gift shop called bonheur located a few doors down from Mario's shop.

Antica Macelleria Cecchini

Kim and Dave at the butcher shop Antica Macelleria Cecchini

Exploring

Dario expostulates while offering porcetta samples

Lunch Time at Mac Dario

Mac Dario burger with Pinzimonio on the side

Chianina at Fontodi Vineyard

the road to Lamole

Jim and Dario

Denmark

2010-01-10T19:09:00.000-08:00

Despite the extreme cold, an outstanding visit to Copenhagen and the Denmark countryside was one of our most anticipated destinations. Copenhagen is bike city and after seeing grandmothers biking around in the late night in bitter cold snowy conditions we really couldn't complain about the weather. We had an appointment in a few days to meet with Rene Redzepi and Peter Kreiner of renowned Noma Restaurant but first it was time for dinner at Kodbyens Fiskebar in Copenhagen. Owned by Anders Selmer, former wine director at Noma, Fiskebar is a beautiful restaurant located in a redone classic old meat market. Delicious and unfamiliar Nordic seafood (to us) are featured. Anders enthusiasm for Denmark products soon led to a long list of potential farms and seacoast sites to visit.

Noma

Copenhagen's Noma restaurant is part of the New Nordic Cuisine Movement. The Nordic Cuisine Manifesto can be seen here. Noma's culinary philosophy fits right in with the ideals and goals of Outstanding in the field. Chef Rene Redzepi and Noma believes nordic restaurants should have the signature of place. Jim, Katy and Dave had a warm and enthusiastic meeting with Chef Rene Redzepi and Director Peter Kriener of Noma. A collaboration for late August was agreed upon and several possible sites were mentioned. Peter generously made a few phone calls setting us up with farm visits for the next day. The farmers and foragers central role in our summer event in Denmark was agreed to be the most important aspect of a collaboration. With the meeting out of the way we went for a walk in anticipation of dinner.

We arrived at Noma later in the evening to experience the tasting menu. What an amazing and delicious dining experience! Katy and Jim both thought it was the best meal they had ever had. The menu was composed solely of mid winter Nordic ingredients-quite a feat. For service knowledgeable and warm members of the kitchen staff brought out and described each dish. Sated, we headed out into the Copenhagen night thinking of Denmark farms and the potential dining sites we would visit the next day. Check here for an excellent description of the Noma experience.

First stop was the biodynamic dairy farm of Niels Stokholm and his herd of 60 red Danish cow. We were welcomed into the farmhouse by Niels and enjoyed hot tea Danish breads, farm butter, preserves and fresh cheeses. We heard Niels' story of his work as a bridge engineer traveling the world until one day he decided he really wanted to be a farmer, found some land and made a life of it. He gave us a detailed explanation of his farming practices and then it was time to take a look around. First stop was the cow barn where Niels convinced Katy to ride the bull. As Niels explained, modern farming practices ignore the welfare of the individual animal giving them the ‘cold shoulder’and just like any relationship with that kind of treatment things tend to not go well in the long run. And as Katy learned, bulls treated well are gentle enough to ride!

After our walk around the farm Niels said he had something special to show us. We drove a few miles down the road to see an amazing ancient Druid earthwork believed to be constructed around 3000 BC. Niels and Jim sang together in harmony which when resonating correctly caused the an eerie humming noise that shook the ground, something many other visitors surely practiced in the same space thousands of years ago.

Our next visit was Camilla Plum's fuglebjerggaard farm. Camilla greeted us in the kitchen and quickly offered us some delicious danish black bread. Besides baking bread, herding cows, raising fruits and vegetables organically and growing plants for seeds and growing and milling their own wheat that they grow on the farm and having there own farm market... they grow hops for their own beer!! Camilla has several cookbooks in print many of which were on display in the small market. We walked around the farm that evening in bitter cold. Probably much more comfortable when we return in the late summer.

After leaving the farm we decided to go visit the nearby Louisiana Art Museum so Jim could meet with a curator. Among other things we spied this group of thin Giocomettis.

The Sportsman

2010-01-07T21:01:00.000-08:00

It was a short train ride to snowy Whitstable, England and then a short cab ride to nearby Seasalter for a visit with chef Stephen Harris of The Sportsman restaurant. Steven has received international accolades for his cuisine which is quite an accomplishment for a chef that started his career rather late at 36 years old. Steven makes his own salt and makes his own butter and both were the best Jim and Dave have ever tasted. Monkshill Farm is the source of sheep and pigs for the restaurant and is close by. The sea, the source of Stephen's house made salt, is a short walk in the other direction. We hoped to take a look at the farm but with the days being so short at this time of year it was not possible. After several delicious courses brought out by Stephen's lovely girlfriend Emma we thanked our hosts and agreed it would be great to try and meet up in the spring when Stephen and Emma will be visiting California.

After another night in London we were on our way to Trealy Farm in Wales. Snow was forecast and there was concern that the roads might be icy and dangerous. A few scenic detours and near mishaps later we arrived at the farm. We met James, Ruth and Graham and enjoyed some tea in the farmhouse before a full tour of the site. Numerous sheep dotted the property set on a sunny hillside with a great view of the surroundings. We heard the tale of the hill behind the farm being the site of an important battle, the last victory of the Welsh over the English. Thankfully the two parties get along for the most part now. Ruth brought us up the hillside to view the animals and James gave us a look at the charcuterie operation.

James and Ruth of Trealy Farm with Dave

London Time

2010-01-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

With our appointment to visit Trealy Farm a few days away we set off to the opposite coast of England and a quick visit to the Sportsman Restaurant and chef Stephen Harris.

London being on the way we stopped for a visit. Jim visited the Tate Modern Museum on the banks of the Thames to check out the huge gallery space, hoping to fit something of his art work there someday. While touring the museum Jim received a message from the chief adjudicator of the Guinness Book of World Records stating that Jim had been confirmed as holding the world record for the "largest artwork in history".

We dined at St. John Restaurant near the Smithfield Market, a London classic that should not be missed.

Jim at St John

Another kind relative of Dave's, Dora's sister Lucy, put us up for the night at her place in the Bethnel Green area of East London.

Weather conditions were icy cold so Jim made a quick ice drawing.

Across the Pond

2010-01-05T08:56:00.000-08:00

Our first destination after a smooth flight to London was Dave's cousin Dora Marlow and her husband Robin at their house in Bristol, England. We were greeted warmly into the Marlow home and served tea and traditional English fruitcake that Robin had prepared. The large city of Bristol is very close to the border of Wales. Wales is the place where things are really happening in the U.K. food world and the site of two major food festivals, Abergavenny and Ludlow. Chefs, farmers and artisan producers in the area enjoy access to a large population of interested and hungry fans of their work.

On the walk to Dora's house Jim spied a healthy fox running between cottages, seems many Bristol residents raise chickens and quite a few of those chickens are taken off by local foxes. These two chickens, located in the backyard of our hosts Dora and Robin, are safe for now.

Bristol is famous as the place where legendary graffiti artist/vandal Banksy got his start. Soon enough there it was, a Banksy original, high on a wall. A nice work had in turn been vandalized with paint bombs from another 'artist'.

Considering Banksy's frequent night time graffiti forays and his many years of successfully eluding capture and identification by police it comes to mind that the stealth of Bristol's foxes may have been an artists inspiration.

Near Abergavenny, Wales

Wales countryside

We rented a car (careful which side you are driving on Dave) and as we entered Wales the rural countryside became more and more green. Sheep multiplied and our appetites grew as we pulled up for lunch at the Hardwick and our first chef visit! Stephen Terry was recommended to us by our potential dinner site, nearby Trealy Farm. Hugh Fernley- Whittingstall has described Trealy Farm as the best charcuterie maker in the UK. Soon we were comfortably seated and sharing several tasty Trealy Farm favorites. The handsome restaurant is in the style of a traditional English pub with an atmosphere that retains the casual pub style but is elevated in food quality with excellent ingredients and creative technique. As we traveled and learned more about the UK food scene we saw this theme repeated at many places we visited; very good food served in a more easy going setting. Stephen is a noted champion of local Wales sourced ingredients in an area that already has become the epicenter of the UK's growing interest in local food. Stephen expressed great enthusiasm for the Outstanding mission and plans were made for a late summer collaboration at Trealy Farm.

Sheep!

BBC Radio classical station - perfect for a drive in the Wales countryside...

Trealy farm charcuterie served at the Hardwick in Wales

Chef Stephen Terry of the Hardwick

Get to Know

2009-12-28T19:25:00.000-08:00

As 2010 season planning begins and we look back on our guests experiences over the years we are pleased to notice that more and more folks consider traveling to visit our farm table a great opportunity to get to know and understand a place they are unfamiliar with. Typically wherever we set the table, 25 to 40 percent of those attending are from outside the area, arriving from other states, provinces and countries. At an Outstanding in the Field event, diners are sure to mingle with both guests coming from a distance and local people who are steeped in the identity of a particular place; guests from nearby, farmers, winemakers, fishermen and cheese makers. It is great to see that the experience of a farm dinner results in a rapid familiarity and connection for travelers.

Planning for 2010: North America and a Euro Tour

After a holiday rest the Outstanding in the Field team are deeply involved in planning for the new season. This year we head out on our seventh terrestrial voyage across North America with tables, chairs and a trunk full of mismatched plates in tow, visiting both new and familiar friends. With our Farm dinner mission continuing to thrive we've decided to go even further afield. An Outstanding team of scouts, Jim Denevan, Katy Oursler and Dave Sanford are now preparing to leave for Europe with a full schedule of farm visits and chef meetings!

Jim Denevan

Katy Oursler

Dave Sanford

Seasons End

2009-12-13T19:01:00.000-08:00

We finished the 2009 farm dinner season with our traditional foraging feast in the warm barn at Pie Ranch in San Mateo County, California. Forager Freddy led us on a long forest hike, regaling the guests with tales of the woods and working up everyone's appetite. The Dec 6th event included many Outstanding guests that had attended events earlier in the season. It was great to catch up and reminisce about previous dinners. We've barely caught our breath after 58 dinner events across North America, as we begin exciting plans for 2010.

Here are some pictures from events of the latter part of the season.

Hickory Nut Gap Farm, Fairview, NC

Wattles Farm, Los Angeles, CA

Arugula's Star Farm, Columbia, TN

Ayrshire Farm, Upperville, VA

Love is Love Farm, Douglasville, GA

Aquidneck Farm, Portsmouth, RI

Animal Farm, Cat Spring, TX

EECO Farm, East Hampton, NY

Jolie Vue Farm, Brenham, TX

Dingo Farms, Bradford, Ontario, Canada

Cherry Grove Farm, Lawrenceville, NJ

Eckerton Hill Farm, Kutztown, PA

Talus Wind Ranch, Galisteo, NM

Good to go

2009-09-25T23:33:00.000-07:00

We've been cruising along on the new old bus, a 1963 GMC. Only 1 minor breakdown this season. Everyone is amazed and happy to cross the country without having to worry about breakdowns. We can even dart across slow moving streams.

Arugula's Star Farm, Columbia, TN

The 2009 OITF Crew

2009-09-24T09:24:00.000-07:00

Pictured below are the folks that signed on for the whole tour. They're the ones that make it happen. Besides the full-timers, two other great contributors this season were Outstanding tour veterans Katy Oursler and Aubrey Schatz, who joined us for "half tours". Also thanks to Florike Martens, our European intern, and teen interns Brighton Denevan and Joya Cazel who were there right when we needed them.

Jeremy Fenske and Elaine Skinner

Together since forever, sometimes called Jerlaine or Eleremy

J & E hail from food crazy Chi Town

Midwest work ethic keeps the rest of us movin'

Sally Summerson

Cute as her name, southern belle from Georgia
With culinary bona fides

Journalist, milk drinker

Leah Scafe

Tour mother and tall Canadian, fairest of the fair
Keeps it all together with common sense and
Profound organization skills
Looked up to by entire staff

Even Jim who is 6'4''

Jon Thurman

110% all the time
He'll do what it takes to get 'er done
Worked at Stone Barns Center for Food & Agriculture in NY
Both on farm and in kitchen

Jim Denevan

OITF founder and figurehead

Chef gone wild

Alternately stern & over-concerned
Or distracted & barely communicating
Filled with wonder of life's wonders

Eden Reilly

Reggae enthusiast
With killer wine knowledge
Stands out in the field

Caleb Coe

Bus driver, bus driver, bus driver (that is a lot of driving)

With a full load of culinary adventurers
Safely moving from place to place

Also chef, waiter and bon vivant as needed

A Taste of the Season

2009-08-23T06:55:00.000-07:00

Outstanding in the Field has been very busy with events taking place across the country. Here's a peek of some of the pictures we've gathered from this year's events. It's been a very exciting successful season.

West Star Farm, Madison, WI

Powell Gardens, Kingsville, MO

Riverbend Farm, Delano, MN

Square Peg Farm, Forest Grove, OR

North Arm Farm, Pemberton, BC, Canada

Four Season Farm, Harborside, ME

Blue Willow Farm, Stevensville, MT

Full Circle Farm, Carnation, WA

Half Pint Farm, Burlington, VT

Kinnikinnick Farm, Caledonia, IL

Seattle Youth Garden Works, Seattle, WA

Munson Farms, Boulder, CO

Us and everything else

2009-07-07T19:24:00.000-07:00

Leaving town bus-less, with all of our belongings thrown into the back of the big white Dodge, we head North to the greener fields of Oregon and our first event destination: Square Peg Farm, just outside Portland. After a good night's sleep at a rustic campground outside Ashland, OR the first group conflict arises as members of our culinary adventure troupe have differences on what exactly is 'breakfast'. Jim and Eden say it's coffee and a danish, Sally wants a full American breakfast. John says ''I will eat or drink anything''. Leah needs a tea and prefers her hot cereal. Jeremy and Elaine just want to get going, apparently having no need for morning calories.

All these people traveling together in tight quarters and camping as we wait patiently for our new rolling home.

An idea that was a long time coming

2009-07-06T18:39:00.000-07:00

A new bus!!!
Or rather a new old bus. After searching far and wide, we found
one! But of course we need some time to mourn the retirement of the
old bus (some of us at least). This will be a new era in Outstanding
in the Field history -- likely to be a better era considering the old 1953
Flexible only made it across the country 3 and 1/2 times out of our
last 5 cross-country tours. Here is a short clip of the old old bus on
it's last farm visit -- an all staff, no clutch start.

Outstanding goodbye California party/yard dinner

2009-07-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

The Outstanding team gathered in the front yard of Outstanding in the Field founder Jim Denevan on July 4th for a ''we are outta here'' celebration. Outstanding staff past and present enjoyed a local foods feast: Fog Line Farm chicken and veggies, H & H Fresh Fish sardines and white sea bass, sheep's cheese from Rebecca King at the Westside Santa Cruz farmers market, some left over wines from previous events (Stag's Leap, Cline Cellars, Bonny Doon Vineyard) and a few herbs from Jim's yard. A great send-off party!

Chicken plucking with Mali and Elaine

Farmer John Thurmond with his freshly harvested chicken

Setting off fireworks

Yard Dinner

A Tour of California

2009-07-03T19:43:00.000-07:00

Every season we hit the ground running (with tables and chairs) and 2009 is no exception. We have now completed our first 11 dinners!! Riding on a rare lucky streak our generally unreliable 1953 bus Outstanding has made it to 11 out of the first 12 sites! We've seen hot days, cold days and everything in between (no rain though...). Orchard dinners, ranch dinners, vineyard dinners, hill top dinners, valley bottom dinners, cliff top dinners dinners close to the freeway dinners in the middle of nowhere, even dinners where diners were hit by waves...we've seen a lot.

Here are some photo highlights of a memorable early season:

May 23 & 24 - Devil's Gulch Ranch, Nicasio, CA

Devils Gulch Ranch Bus Parking

Outstanding in the Field dinner host Katy Oursler

bundles up for a chilly day with warm mittens

Guest Chef Steffan Terje of Perbacco restaurant, San Francisco, California
a warm and wonderful personality on a chilly day

Our long table in farmer Mark Pasternak's Marin County Pinot Noir vineyard

June 6 - McEvoy Ranch, Petlauma, CA

One of our longest tables ever - McEvoy Ranch

Nion McEvoy starts off the farm tour

McEvoy Vista

June 13, 14 - Secret Sea Cove Dinner, California Coast

The legendary Sea Cove Dinner site

The table is ready for guests

Here comes the surf...

Fisherman Hans Haveman pitches in to protect the table from rising surf

Guest Chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza Restaurant in San Francisco, California

Dinner is served

Chef Stuart Brioza enjoying the perfect weather, pitches in in the kitchen.

Stuart had cheffed a bracingly chilly Outstanding in the Field vineyard dinner

at Devils Gulch Ranch a few weeks previous

Another beautiful day at the beach. Our second Sea Cove dinner.
Chef Jamie Lauren and pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez
along with Jered Lawson from Pie Ranch tour the table
with Outstanding founder Jim Denevan

June 17 - The Abalone Farm, Cayucos, CA

Brad Buckley of The Abalone Farm shows off the product at the cliff side table site

Very fresh abalone

Cliff edge parking for table and bus

Chef Deborah Scarborough's grilled squash blossom pizza

July 18 - Windrose Farm, Paso Robles, CA

Windrose Farm setting

Chef Chris Kobayashi of Artisan Restaurant, Paso Robles

In the cool shade of a towering oak tree

Halter Ranch - established 1880

Mmmm!

June 20 - McGrath Family Farm, Camarillo, CA

Ventura County table

View from the bus

Among the gladiolas

Ready for guests

Farm tour!

Chef Tim Kilcoyne of The Side Car Restaurant, Ventura, CA

Ribollita of McGrath beans, beet greens and carrot top pesto

Dining in the field

June 21 - Coleman Farm, Carptineria, CA

At the Coleman's

Chef Jim with Chef Rich

Uni shooters to start

A kitchen with a view

roast pork with Coleman Farm's greens

From the table

June 27 - Clark Summit Farm, Tomales, CA

Outstanding,
in the Field

Moo

Ready for the tour

After 11 successful dinner journeys the bus finally breaks down
right where the table is supposed to go

Katy keeps good cheer

Chef Melissa Perello carving the Clark Summit beef

Hilltop table

Stretching out into the sky

Outstanding crew sits down for family meal after the event ends

June 28 - Star Route Farm, Bolinas, CA

Warren Weber's coastal farm

Little Miss Sunshine redux

California weather

Cindy of the OITF staff

July 2 - Green String Farm, Petaluma, CA

Beautiful Sonoma County

Chef Christopher Lee brought his artisan made prosciutto slicer

OITF Bread by baker Mike Zakowski

Chef Christopher Lee in the field

Sonoma View

Passed hors d'oeuvres at the entrance to the barn

On site baking

Our first dinner!

2009-05-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

Farmer Greg Rawlings of Blue Moon Organic Farm was overjoyed to host an Outstanding in the Field dinner in his fields. He told us it was something he'd been thinking about for years. Chef Jim Denevan, founder of Outstanding in the Field, arriving fresh from a successful art-making expedition in Northern Nevada, gathered the Spring goodies at Blue Moon and once again composed a spontaneous menu of the moment. The forecast called for a very hot day cooling in the early evening. Preparations were made with extra tenting and umbrellas as ingredients were harvested fresh from the field. Jim had help in the kitchen with Outstanding bus driver and chef Caleb Coe and chef Anthony Kresge, a long-time fellow surfer from Jim's favorite break Pleasure Point. The three cohorts cooked up a creative collaboration. The dinner guests arrived and quickly made their move to the cool shade tent adjacent to the greenhouse. Chris Banthien arrived to contribute her Aptos-grown olive oil to the first course. After a heat-shortened farm tour guests comfortably settled in beneath cool white umbrellas. Jean and Jerry Thomas of nearby Thomas Farm joined us at the table contributing their meyer lemons, garlic and fresh herbs. Rebecca Thistlethwaite from TLC Ranch shared the story and photos of her pigs from nearby Aromas. Pamela and Steve Storrs of Storrs Winery attended and poured wines, including their Christie Vineyard Chardonnay made with grapes grown just across the way. A memorable day and evening at Blue Moon Organics in Aptos, California.

Smiling service staff, happy to be back in the field

John Thurmond grilling Blue Moon Organics veggies

TLC Ranch Porchetta with roasted Blue Moon Organics veggies

Dinner Scouting

2009-04-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

Outstanding in the Field preseason planning involves plenty of farm and restaurant visits. Last weekend we headed South in perfect spring weather to Southern California to check 2009 and 2010 dinner sites, meet chefs and get some needed time outside of the office. First stop on our road trip: a visit to Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen in Santa Monica to sample seasonal dishes from our Wattles Farm dinner guest chef Evan Funke. Chef Evan greeted us and soon several courses were served. Spring in Southern California does bring a lot of fresh produce to the table. Owner Josh Loeb has put together an encyclopedic wine list with almost everything you would ever want. We sipped a Red Car Wine syrah and loved every dish. Red Car will be pouring their wine at our sold out October 10 dinner at Wattles Farm in Hollywood.

The next day we boarded a ferry to Catalina Island. An Outstanding friend Hollace Rice alerted us to the possibility of a Catalina dinner. We weren't able to put it all together for 2009 as island dinners requires a bit more time and a lot more planning. A tour of the island and meeting the islanders would give us what we need for a well-planned 2010 event. When we arrived we met Gregg and girlfriend Sana who would be our guides to the island. Gregg owns the Hotel Metropole which became our home base for the next few days. Gregg and Sana are excited to bring Outstanding in the Field to the island and make room for Outstanding guests at the hotel. What amazing guides they were! We saw ALL of the island: beautiful coves, ranches, vineyards, buffalo, fishing piers, foxes, mountain top vistas- even an unexpected vintage Flxible tour bus! We had enough experiences to fill a book, but here are some pictures to give you an idea. We hope to see you on the island next year.

A Flxible- on Catalina Island!

Guess we won't have to bring our own bus

One of the many beautiful coves around Catalina Island

Leah sporting her new Catalina gear

Where the buffalo roam...

Jim at the Rusack Ranch

Vineyard at the Rusack Ranch

Paso Robles Wine Country

After our busy but relaxing weekend on Catalina we grabbed the late ferry to Long Beach and started the drive to Paso Robles. The next day we made our way to Windrose to see our farmer friends Bill and Barbara Spencer and meet up with guest chef Chris Kobayashi of Artisan Restaurant. Chef Chris was honored this year with a James Beard Award Nomination for Best Chef: Pacific Region. We're very excited to have Chris at the Outstanding table. Chris arrived with his wife Shandi and their boy Cooper and soon we were tromping around the field with Bill Spencer. Farmer Bill showed us his dozens of apple varieties, the young potato plants, cover crops and myriad other farm curiosities. Bill provided us with a really cool map of where all of the goodies would be growing at the time of the dinner. Chef Chris, map in hand, went about thoughtfully planning the menu. Jim spied our table site; an ancient sheltering oak with enough shade to cool all the diners. We are looking forward to an amazing feast!

Out in the field with Chef Chris Kobayashi and Farmer Bill Spencer

Our proposed table site- in the shade of the old oak tree

A Different Kind of Farm

What a location! Our long table will be perched on a cliff overlooking crashing waves and endless vistas. When we arrived we soaked in the views and poked around looking for our host. We soon found Bradley Buckley of The Abalone Farm and enjoyed a thorough tour of the grounds, learning everything about abalone - very fascinating! Bradley is the perfect tour guide: knowledgable, interested and charming. Our enthusiastic guest chef and Outstanding event veteran Deborah Scarborough of Black Cat Bistro is so excited she's already written most of the menu which of course revolves around our key ingredient: abalone.

Ocean view at The Abalone Farm

Leah and Brad working out some details

Brad showing the young abalone

Back to the Farm

2009-04-17T00:06:00.000-07:00

We just caught our breath. It has been quite a busy time with a tsunami of reservation requests since our schedule release on the first day of Spring. More events than ever and more people eager to have a seat at the table. This year we thought we'd make more room at the table by adding one-third more events. Everything has worked out well.

After all of that hard work in the office we've been looking forward to getting back out into the field. Last week we payed a visit to Blue Moon Organics in Aptos. Blue Moon Organics is the site of our first dinner on May 16th and OITF founder Jim Denevan will be preparing the feast. Farmer Greg Rawlings was out on his tractor plowing the field. Greg hopped off his tractor and took us on a walking tour of the property. We sauntered over to the greenhouse which has a lovely grassy area for our initial greeting of guests. Jim spied a nice table site near the blackberries. We went over and took a good look and Jim got very excited thinking about where things would go.

Tomorrow we head off to Catalina Island to scout out a dinner site for 2010. We're getting a tour of the wild side of the island. Looks like an Adventure Dinner! On the trip back up to Santa Cruz we will be stopping in to visit our friends Bill and Barbara Spencer at Windrose Farm in Paso Robles. Chef Chris Kobayashi from nearby Artisan Restaurant will be meeting us for a walk around the farm where we will discuss our June 18th dinner.

One more thing:
Outstanding in the Field is now on Facebook and Twitter- check it out!

Eco-Farm National Farming Conference

2009-01-28T20:12:00.000-08:00

OITF founder Jim Denevan loves cooking for farmers. Jim has cooked lunch for the Eco-Farm farm bus tour for 17 years in a row! Eco-Farm is a long running winter sustainable farming conference in coastal California. Farmers come from around the country to take a break from farming, socialize and learn more from their peers. This year Eco-Farm asked Jim to speak at one of the conference seminars. Jim shared the stage with chef Annie Somerville of Greens restaurant and chef Jesse Cool of Flea Street Cafe. The subject of the seminar was "Food as Art." Jim had quite a bit to say and plenty of pictures.

Off Season - Art Season

2009-01-13T13:10:00.000-08:00

The depths of winter is a slow time for Outstanding in the Field but a busy time when it comes to OITF founder Jim Denevan's art work. On several days of each month Jim heads up to a favorite secret beach north of Santa Cruz, CA to draw in sand. The trail to the beach is washed out so Jim has to wade down the center of a small stream to reach the sand. All this difficulty means few footprints and few visitors: a beautiful peaceful place to draw. The tide must be very low, only ten or more days per month have the preferred conditions. When conditions are right Jim spends hours on the sand, composing huge freehand temporary drawings that wash away with the tide.

Here are some photographs from the past month:

A New Year...

2008-12-29T10:56:00.000-08:00

With a new year comes new ideas... One of those ideas is having more Outstanding in the Field private events. Florence was fun. New York City was good. And here in California in late December 'just up the road' is great. Yesterday, north of Santa Cruz, Pie Ranch barn was dressed up for an occasion. It was a signature Outstanding event with menu ingredients gathered from such past OITF participants as Hans from H & H Fresh Fish, Jeff Larkey of Route One Farm and Jerry Thomas from Thomas Farm.

Katy Oursler, farm tour veteran of four cross country trips and now OITF private events director orchestrated the elegant/earthy festivities which included an all galoshes tour of the farm. For those of you considering a special occasion visit our private events page.

Thank You

After a busy season and before seeds are planted the next one is a good time to rest and take stock. Into the new year as the days lengthen with promise of a new year we want to take an opportunity to thank everyone that made 2008 such a success. Our upcoming newsletter recognizes Outstanding staff that played a big part in our biggest year yet. We would also like to warmly thank all our dinner guests. Our guests support is what makes it possible to bring everyone to the table. Finally and most importantly we want to thank all our farmers, producers and artisans who joined us at the table. Your stories are what makes the food taste good. In the coming year we hope all of you will seek out and support the farmer and producer participants from past dinners. We have an updated event map and participants page to help with that effort.

Foraging Feast

2008-12-12T10:43:00.000-08:00

After several weeks hiatus, the OITF crew reconvened at Pie Ranch in San Mateo County California for our 5th annual foraging feast. Besides having a lovely forest setting for our forage explorations Pie Ranch is a very cool operation that works to bring inner city youth out of the city and on to the farm. Jered Lawson, Nancy Vail and Karen Heisler of Pie Ranch partner with San Francisco high schools to get kids out to the field to "get their hands dirty". The farm's urban connection is Mission Pie, a sweet little cafe and bakery in San Francisco's Mission district. Mission Pie's menu features ingredients from local farms... including Pie Ranch. We are excited to support such a project, but also love Pie Ranch as it has the perfect nice cozy barn to host a late season event.

Though it was nearly December we were blessed with a beautiful and warm late fall afternoon. As guests arrived a cool fog gave way to bright sun while further up the hill guests gathered for the reception. Long time OITF supporter Randall Grahm of Bonny Doon Vineyard poured his Vin Gris de Cigare. A crisp glass of pink wine was welcome reward after the short hike through towering eucalyptus trees from the parking area below. Guests toured the farm sipping wine, nibbling salt cod crostini, picking strawberries, visiting the chickens and enjoying the sunny rays. Forager David Chambers tempted everyone with the aroma of sauteed porcinis, a special treat for after the foraging hike. Guests gathered, introductions were made and David tromped off with all in tow. With a glorious view of forest and ocean from high on the nearby hill all stood rapt soaking in the foragers lore. With a final 'Let's Eat!!' everyone began the long trek back to the barn to feast.

Guest chef Morgan Mueller and his spirited crew from Bacar were prepared for arriving guests with four delicious courses. The idea behind the foraging dinner is to use local Santa Cruz Mountains ingredients, highlighting foraged items such as seafood (mussels, abalone, fish), wild nettles, miner's lettuce and of course wild mushrooms like chanterelles, porcinis and boletes. A couple of times the menu has even featured wild boar!

A glass of Vin de Cigare Blanc and a steaming bowl of spicy, hearty soup welcomed our forest hikers in the corn- and gourd-decorated barn. The soup, composed of fresh fresh mussels (just harvested the day before by Andre LaFleur and David Chambers), potatoes, proscuitto and jalapenos warmed and satisfied our well-walked guests. Heaters warmed the guests as strangers became friends over good food and wine. Pictured below is both the soup and then a delicious platter of wild nettles (from literally right outside the barn), mixed wild mushrooms and black cod. See the full menu for the evening here.

Jered shared a beautiful little documentary (barn multimedia, something we usually don't have out in the field) about Pie Ranch, starring several Bay Area high school students visiting the ranch. By the time the pies were cut for dessert (pumpkin, squash, apple and elderberry & madrone berry pies, oh my!) it felt like one big family in the barn, celebrating Thanksgiving: local food, great farmers and foragers, winemakers and chefs. A wonderful finale to 2008.

Thank you to "Culinary Fool" Brenda Pederson for lending use of her beautiful photos from this event for this post. Earlier this season, Brenda started a Flickr pool for Outstanding in the Field photos. You can contribute to and/or enjoy it here.

Where do we put this thing?

Something we don't think too much about when we are on the road... we just park our bus anywhere we happen to be... since we are always moving we are unlikely to overstay our welcome. With very little space in front of Jim's small house in Santa Cruz (you can't see the house if the bus is parked in front) we needed a storage solution. Fortunately our new friend Stanley, a foraging dinner guest (Thanks Stanley!!) offered his Santa Cruz mountain redwood glade for winter storage. Another big adventure for driver Caleb as it is not so easy to take a big bus up up up into the mountains... not to mention get it off road and deep into the woods. Quite a spot to leave the old girl.

Cities Farm

2008-11-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

Recently Absolut Vodka asked Jim to come up with a visionary idea for their 'In an Absolut World' campaign. Jim's idea: "In An Absolut World Cities Farm" resulted in an exciting gala fete on a Manhattan rooftop above Rockefeller Plaza honoring New York City's farmers and gardeners. A celebration of urban agriculture, our dinner ingredients were gathered from each of the five boroughs. Several weeks earlier Jim had designed a menu based on ingredients he found visiting farms and gardens in the five boroughs: Queens Farm, Taqwa Community Farm in the Bronx, East New York Farms in Brooklyn, Gericke Farm in Staten Island and Central Park in Manhattan. (see previous post)

The Absolut campaign includes other 'visionaries' such as Eddie Izzard, Kanye West, Perez Hilton and Improv Everywhere.

Leah and Jim arrived in Manhattan a few days prior to the event on Halloween night, promptly donning freaky scary Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein get ups to hit the town. Jim had received an invitation from the Accompanied Literary Society to an exclusive reading of a lost manuscript of Edgar Allen Poe read by actor Josh Lucas (dressed as glam rocker). Frank and Bride of Frank are always a good costume choices for the tall and lanky.

Next day tasks included foraging for berries in Central Park. Foraging day was also New York Marathon day, so getting past the bounding hoards and into Central Park was not so easy. The whole time en route Jim was thinking "Did the birds get those berries?" and "Maybe we should have picked them a few weeks ago and put them in the freezer." After some worrying and a long hike the bounty was rediscovered and they proceeded to pick.

In the week before the event, Santa Cruz local Johnny Wilson, who had relocated to NY for the summer to work at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture traveled the five boroughs and gathered all the ingredients. He delivered the goodies to our chef friend Alejandro Alcocer at Brown Cafe in the Lower East Side. Alejandro and crew would be preparing the food for the dinner.

Monday, November 3rd was the big day. A combined effort of Outstanding in the Field, Great Works and Shiraz Events, the dinner turned out wonderfully. Guests included many of New York's Green initiators, including representatives from Treehugger.com, Edible Manhattan, Just Food, Friends of the Highline and some of the cities eco-committees as well as TV celebrities/restauranteurs Tom Colicchio and Mario Batali. Also attending were some notable fans of Jim's art: David Ross the former Whitney Museum director and Neville Wakefield guest curator at PS1 and MOMA. Many of the guests had special interests in urban food and agriculture including rooftop gardening. We're sure there was plenty of interesting dinner conversation!

Prior to gathering at the table, dinner guests enjoyed the open rooftop with spectacular views. Our two featured cocktails of the evening: the Central Park (featuring wild viburnum berries picked near 79th and 5th) Bloody Marys (the tomato juice made with love at Queens Farm - 4 different versions with heirloom tomatoes: Green Zebras, Cherokee Purples, Brandywines and then a lovely mix of them all). Filmmakers from Absolut had followed Jim while he visited gardeners and farmers from the 5 boroughs. A short documentary about the gathering of ingredients and OITF was shown during the reception. You can see it here.

The menu for this delicious dinner is shared here.

Of course the wonderful farmers and gardeners who contributed to the meal were also present and essentially stole the show when they were given the opportunity to stand up and tell their story. Bobby and Abu Talib of Taqwa shared inspiring and heartfelt stories of planting their garden in the Bronx that transformed a crime ridden trash heap into a fertile city oasis. Michael Grady Robertson of Queens Farm shared his story with clear enthusiasm: that of Apollonia the pig. All gathered heard a lot about Appolonia's daily life on the farm. Michael said that one of the main reasons he sold Apollonia to us for our dinner (Queens farm only has 4 pigs...) was that the diners could also hear the pig's life story, something that would not have been possible if she had been sold to a restaurant or at the Green Market. Deborah at East New York Farms celebrated the growing success and interest in East New York Farms and their sidewalk-side farmstand. Jen Griffith of Just Food tied it up nicely by telling people about using Just Food as a resource to help access NYC urban gardeners/farmers and promote sustainable food systems in the big city.

This was documented by award winning filmmaker Victor Quinaz and the final product can now be seen here. Check out this Absolut's "In an Absolut World" Campaign site for more photos and info.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to this event!

Ubuntu Adventure

2008-10-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

After a short rest in Santa Cruz we began preparations for next dinner the following Saturday: a vegetarian feast set in the Napa mountainside farm/garden that supplies Ubuntu Restaurant. Ubuntu owner Sandy Lawrence's garden is tended by legendary master gardener/farmer Jeff Dawson (pictured below).

On Friday, Leah and Jim drove up to Napa early to visit both the gardens and the restaurant. In the garden we met up with Ubuntu chef Jeremy Fox who showed us around pointing out a variety of unusual crops... ingredients for what is probably the best vegetarian restaurant in the U.S.A.

A Tough Kid/A Worried Parent

While dining that evening at Ubuntu, Jim took a call every parent dreads. Jim's sister Tish was trying to track Jim down (his cell was off ) Jim's 16 year old son Brighton had a very bad skateboard accident with no helmet. He hit some construction debris at high speed while returning home from his food/farming internship at 'Food What!?' up at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Brighton's fall resulted in a traumatic head injury with fractured skull. Witnesses found him in the street unconscious and in convulsions called 911, paramedics arrived in minutes and he was quickly en route from Santa Cruz on a Life Flight helicopter to Palo Alto and Stanford's Lucille Packard Children's Hospital. Hearing the news Jim and Leah rushed to the hospital and arrived as Brighton was in mid-surgery. The scene was grim, all close to Brighton were in shock and hoping for the best. Neurosurgery on two hematomas successfully addressed the problem of life threatening swelling. Brighton was soon moved to the Intensive Care Unit. He remained unconscious for several days. Friends and family gathered in support from Santa Cruz and beyond and visited him at his bedside and watched and waited. After four days Brighton began to awake. His parents, friends and family were ecstatic. Soon, though covered with tubes, neck brace, respirator and IV he was moving around, talking, though still very confused and wrestling with Dad, trying to get out of bed, wanting to be outside and 'get to my garden'.

Full recovery was rapid from that point: Brighton was cleared to soon go home and even given a date to return to school. A return to school with a huge scar across the top of his head. Something to show all the curious kids contemplating a life of danger- without a helmet.

A huge thank you to police, paramedics, helicopter pilot, nurses, doctors and all and everyone who helped Brighton!!

Back to Ubuntu

Thankfully, tour veteran and now Outstanding in the Field private events manager Katy Oursler ably hosted the Ubuntu Gardens dinner. After a long season of events, the OITF crew was more than capable to put together the dinner without Leah and Jim there. (A very proud feeling for Leah- who has worked so hard this season to keep everything running smoothly). Sandy Lawrence and Chef Jeremy were unsure what to expect, although Leah kept reassuring them that everything would run smoothly. And it most definitely did. Katy was a wonderful host and all of the other elements came together seamlessly: an interesting tour of the gardens, a delicious menu and wonderful biodynamic Napa wine.

It was a gorgeous setting: the table fit perfectly at the top of the garden, overlooking the greens, tomatoes, New Zealand spinach and French ice plants. There was a collection of old and new OITF-goers and some veterans said it was one of the nicest events ever, with some of the most delicious food. As has been acknowledged multiple times, Ubuntu is definitely doing something right!

Jim and Leah are looking forward to returning to Napa sometime soon to enjoy the rest of their meal at Ubuntu and hopefully to work with Chef Jeremy Fox and Sandy Lawrence again.

Thank you to our guest Dave Scholl, who sent this photos after the event to share since Jim and Leah weren't there.

Home Territory

2008-10-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

L.A. story

After all the wide open spaces we experienced major culture shock rolling into LA and Hollywood for our next dinner. Caleb man-handled the bus on a thrilling ride from the sparse high desert- careening into L.A. and major traffic. Whew!! We situated ourselves in Hollywood and returned to nearby Wattles Farm for our second Outstanding visit. In glorious California weather guest chef Neal Fraser of Grace Restaurant happily roasted two whole Red Wattle heirloom pigs in caja chinas. Head gardener Toby Leaman spirited guests off for tours of the property as we squeezed another enormous Outstanding crowd into this expansive and fertile community garden. It's always a pleasure, and we will be back.

Home Stretch....

On our way to Ojai we stopped in Ventura to put our toes in the chilly Pacific Ocean. Three and a half months ago we left sight of the Pacific and now 35 Outstanding in the Field events later we were just too tired to get very excited about seeing it again. We slowly climbed back on the bus and made our way to Ojai and scenic Earthtrine Farm. BD Dautch of Earthtrine is one of our favorite farmers and he certainly has one of the prettiest farms we have seen. Guests sipped Michael Meagher's Vino V wine near the orange grove and soon all toured the property. The guests made a bit of a rush on the table during the tour as they sometimes do... and soon everyone was happily dining on local specialties created by guest chef Josh Brown of Bouchon Santa Barbara and Seagrass Restaurant. It was definitely nice to see some familiar faces: Farmer BD, some of our loyal California service staff, even our Paso Robles dinner chef, Deborah Scarborough of Black Cat Bistro, made a surprise appearance at the table. We're definitely almost there.

After dinner everyone was a little ragged and frazzled and our staff after party was more than a little deranged -but no matter- soon we would have time to rest.

Home (?) to Santa Cruz

We did it!! We survived! We succeeded. And we still had the bus - though it did miss 8 or 9 dinners...

The planning, the work, the challenges, all the new friends, spreading the word about farm dinners, and now we're back home in Santa Cruz. The ironic thing about this though (Leah made the observation as we were driving north from Ojai) is that none of us, other than Jim, really had homes, let alone homes in Santa Cruz. The bus had become our home, as we had left so many months ago. Sure enough, everyone spent the night at Jim's house and some of us even slept on the bus in the driveway.

Is it time to think about next year? Who is on the bus? Where will we go?

Maybe we'll think about that a little later.

East to West and Back Again

2008-10-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

NYC Scout/Absolut-ly

Jim and Leah flew off to New York for several days to scout for a November 3rd, 2008 special event sponsored by Absolut Vodka. Jim was asked to participate as an Absolut ''Visionary'' and come up with some super cool idea to go with the "In an Absolut World" campaign. A couple of the ideas that unfortunately didn't make the cut were a table crossing the USA/Mexico border and a table set on an iceberg in Greenland. A giant dry lake drawing was also in contention. Absolut supplied Jim with some scout money last June which resulted in interesting times in Vegas, the Grand Canyon, dry lake exploration in Nevada and an amazing trip to Greenland with Outstanding bus driver Ben.

Finally, Jim's NYC five borough dinner idea was approved. ''In An Absolut World Cities Farm'' A five borough dinner on a New York rooftop. So Leah and Jim were off to NYC to visit the five boroughs and meet gardeners/farmers while having the whole process documented.

A final version of the film will be released soon on the Absolut website.

Phoenix and Crooked Sky Farm

Meanwhile, the culinary caravan made its way through Texas and New Mexico and onward to Arizona and the next dinner. Jim and Caleb decided to do the cheffing in Phoenix. Jim does a few dinners every year and was excited to grab a knife and get back in the kitchen (Jim was chef for all dinners during the first three years of OITF). Caleb arrived several days ahead and set about sourcing local ingredients. He also sourced a local kitchen: Tapino Kitchen & Wine Bar and chef James Porter in nearby Scottsdale who joined us for what became a group effort. Chef James and Tapino are pioneers in the Phoenix area in the use of local product. Besides sourcing a myriad of local goodies we attacked a cactus for nopales right in front of the restaurant. As you can see, Adam got right in there picking and foraging and was a great help in the kitchen too. We also visited the Superstition Dairy which had a few animals on display left over from the previous day's dairy open house which included a petting zoo.

Our Crooked Sky Farms dinner went off without a hitch though the site that was a bit on the industrial/rustic side. Farmer Frank gave a heartfelt description of what it was like to realize his lifelong dream of becoming a farmer. He also described his hugely successful CSA. Tucson CSA chicken farmer Philipe, an immigrant from France, walked the table with Jim describing the french heirloom chickens he raises. (Thanks Mali and Aubrey for making the long drive to pick up the chickens). Rancher Paul from Double Check brought his young daughter around the table and shared the the story of his grass fed beef operation.

The next day we said goodbye to our new friends and slowly made our way across the desert. Thanks again to Wendy and James for helping us out with this event.

Ancient marks

Our journey included a side trip to see several ancient desert drawings located along the Colorado river. Markings preserved for hundreds of years by the dry desert environment and discovered decades ago by a pilot in a passing plane.

What is it like to travel by bus across North America living in a very small space with six people...?

We get that question a lot: "What's it like living on the bus?" On our way to the next dinner Jim remembered there was a town in California called 'Desert Hot Springs' located several hours ahead- this seemed a good enough reason to get off the bus and book some rooms at a spa called The Spring.

THE KEY TO SUCCESSFULLY TRAVELING ON A BUS is to make sure GET OFF the bus as necessary.

The ladies loooved the spa and basked in luxury... the guys were quickly bored with 'treatments' and soon made plans to take off into the desert. Jim, Caleb and Adam took the bus on a Man Adventure leaving all the ladies lounging at the spa. Neiman Marcus/Armani asked Jim to make some temporary drawings on a dry lake for a fashion shoot so... another scout. Other nearby dry lakes were also checked out, including the Lucerne Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert. A strange adventure in a very odd environment.

Another Marathon...

2008-10-07T13:59:00.000-07:00

Hog Heaven

After a flight from Miami reunited with bus and crew we all made our way to Bourbon Street in New Orleans for a bit of drinking.

Caleb and Mali stayed out a little too late while the rest of us packed it in early getting plenty of rest for the next day's event....

After a long drive we arrived at our dinner site La Provence Restaurant. La Provence has a small farm out back with very large pigs, chickens, raised vegetable beds. "Locally grown" as in everything is a stone's throw away from the kitchen. We set out our table and a few stray chickens jumped on to check it out. As we set the table Caleb took a bit of time to spiff up the bus. Arriving guests mingled and met our forager and beekeeper and then heard the story of the farm.

La Provence's new Executive chef Randy Lewis executed a beautiful meal. He and his wife KK are old friends of John Besh's (owner of La Provence) and they had recently relocated from California to take over the restaurant as chef and manager and are doing a wonderful job at it. One of the farmers almost stole the show though: Adrian Juttner of Algiers Honey, who has a hive right there in La Provence's backyard. Adrian eventually brought to our attention that it was in fact his birthday and he was due home for some celebration, but once we got him touring down the table chatting to the guests, there was almost no pulling him away! The guests are always so interested in hearing about bees and Adrian had plenty to share.

Unfortunately, John Besh had an emergency at one of his other restaurants and wasn't able to join us for the evening, as originally planned. It turned out to be one of our better Outstanding in the Field dinners, possibly because a real restaurant kitchen is a very short distance away. Cleanup was quick because we had a very long drive to the next site: 7 hours! The longest distance between sites and the shortest amount of time to do it.

A long way to the top

After an all nighter with the bus and with truck and trailer we arrived in the mid morning at Jolie Vue Farm in Brenham, TX, about an hour outside Houston. Aubrey had rejoined the tour in Houston providing some much needed driving relief. It was a dazzling day with perfect weather and a stunning hilltop site. After opening introductions with the Boudreaux family (and a wonderfully welcoming crew they were!) we all set out for the long trek to the hill top dinner site. What a view!

Guest chef Monica Pope of T'afia and her crew worked very hard to create a fantastic meal for a LOT of people at a very remote site. A great Texan meal with Jolie Vue corndogs, steamed pork buns, "trotters & gear", smoked sausage and an amazing swiss chard and goat cheese gratin, just to name a few. There's no way that anyone left that meal not feeling entirely satisfied.

Read a review by Allison Cook and see pictures of the dinner in this Houston Chronicle article.

Austin Back Yard

Farmer Brenton Johnson's Backyard Garden sure is big! Big enough for one of our longer tables and then some. With the table set in the shade of big green pecan trees our dinner guests were treated to a stellar meal from Austin Chef Jesse Griffiths. Jesse recently started his own series of farm dinners in Austin called Dai Due Supper Club. Seems Outstanding in the Field is no longer a voice in the wilderness... Despite our table being considerably longer than what Jesse was used to, he and his skillful crew did a wonderful job. Following a beautiful curried squash soup, a menu favorite was the whole grilled Vermilion snapper. Up until a few days before the dinner, Jesse wasn't sure what sort of fish he was going to be able to get in enough quantity as many of the coastal fishers were still recovering from the recent hurricane. But Jesse knows all about planning menus based on what's available right then and he handled it without a problem.

Special guests Larry and Carol Anne from Boggy Creek Farm also joined us at the table. Beautiful Boggy Creek Farm was the site of our Austin dinners in 2005 and 2006. It was wonderful that most of the interns of Johnson's Backyard Garden were also able to join us at the table and appreciate their hard work, shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the dinner guests.

The South

2008-10-02T19:20:00.000-07:00

Good sports

We arrived in Athens in the early evening to find vast numbers of football fans (250,000 was one estimate) swarming the streets. Alabama vs Georgia is pretty important around here and EVERYBODY was out. Somehow Caleb found a good parking spot for the bus and we were off to explore. We stopped by our favorite Athens restaurant Farm 255 and chatted with Olivia Sargeant who participated in the Athens Outstanding dinner a few years ago at Full Moon Farms.

Next day: Game Day!! Jim found some black and red Georgia hats and t-shirts and we soon joined the black and red throngs in bar hopping. Between hops we stopped into Farm 255 for dinner. Farm 255 has a charming chalkboard posted on the wall that lists all the local sources of ingredients. Dinner was super good and the restaurant was nice and quiet as all were elsewhere watching the game. Georgia was soundly trounced by 'Bama and we soon joined the masses in post game revelry, finally stumbling to our 'home' on the bus late in the night.

We groggily awoke the next day much much too early and slowly made our way to Atlanta and the next dinner.

A History Theme

At the Atlanta History Center we set our long table on historic Tullie Smith Farm. Our site, located in the Buckhead neighborhood of Atlanta, was a mix of big city and historic farm. Guest chef Chef Scott Peacock of Watershed Restaurant is well known for his active interest in food history and Southern cooking. Scott even went so far as to get permission to cook with historic cast iron cooking pots. Scott is a charmer and our guests loved the farm, the incredible food and the atmosphere, but they especially loved Scott.

Our new friend Niki, the private events manager from Watershed, took us in that night and Adam and Caleb stayed up late with her playing the old classic video game Shark! Shark! The rest of us experienced a detailed recounting of the activities the next day as we enjoyed lunch at Watershed. Thanks Niki!

With lots of laughs Jim and Leah quickly finished lunch and rushed to make a flight to Miami and the next dinner. The plan was that Caleb and Adam would drive the bus and truck and trailer on to New Orleans because Miami was just too far a drive for the rolling culinary circus. Leah and Jim would then be joined by Jim's art assistant Mali Mrozinski and the three of them would put on the Miami event.

Miami Vice

The three of us found a nice hotel on the beach (much cheaper in the off season) and set out to take in the sights and sounds of Miami. Miami is typically hot and humid in late September. It also rains a lot. We were advised against putting on a farm dinner event in South Florida during this time of year. Fortunately the weather gods were with us once again and the very rainy hot days on arrival gave way to a short window of clear and less hot weather.

Gabriele Marewski of Paradise Farms had contacted us four years ago asking if we might add Miami and South Florida to our tour. Miami seemed a little too far to go so we never quite got it together. Meanwhile Gabriele has started her own successful farm dinner series ''Dinners in Paradise'' which is now going into it's second season. With Gabriele's experience and the great on site equipment and set up we were able to put on a Florida event with less traveling staff than usual. Gabriele's partner at the farm, Christopher Siragusa, was an amazing help, along with the rest of the Paradise Farms crew. With our visit to Florida it was interesting to see a dinner series inspired by our example and how they might differ in approach. Michael Schwartz of Michael's Genuine Food and Drink was our guest chef.

Among the many wonders of the evening were the variety of exotic tropical fruits incorporated into the dinner. A memorable course was the homemade organic ricotta with the farm's honeycomb, toasted hazelnuts and walnut raisin crisps, paired with the local Schnebly Mango Wine. The Schneblys are doing some interesting and tasty wines with local Florida fruits, right around the corner from Paradise Farms. Executive pastry chef Hedy Goldsmith put together a killer collection of desserts featuring delicious bittersweet chocolate cookies, jellies and Paradise Farms jackfruit- a spectacle in itself!

The next day we enjoyed a lunch visit to Michael's very cool restaurant in the Miami design district before jetting off to New Orleans.

Lowcountry Hospitality

2008-09-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

George Washington’s Birthplace

Yes there is a farm at George's old place, a small one, mostly herbs, but more importantly this was to be our first dinner with an aqua farmer as host. Set high above Pope Creek and the Potomac River on the George Washington Birthplace Monument, aqua farmer Bruce Woods generously shared his story as guests viewed shellfish grounds in the distance. Our aqua farmer sported an aqua colored shirt, which made him easy to spot for curious guests asking lots of questions. Jim curved the table in a big S in a sheltered grove of trees. Jim's good friend Marah Stets, co writer of Outstanding in the field: A Farm to Table Cookbook, dined with a writer from U.S.A. Today. (See the resulting article on Farm to Table dining here). Chef Tony Chittum of Vermilion Restaurant in Alexandria, VA rustled up a variety of local fare and guests feasted into the night among brightly illuminated pines. As the night ended we experienced a bit of fall chill. It was time move south to warmer places.

Smooth sailing?

Spirits were so high. After so much time away, the bus was finally back!! We were euphoric. We were in bliss. Speeding along a smooth endless highway making our way south to South Carolina and Pawleys Island. Until the clutch broke. In the middle of the highway. Stopped dead, blocking traffic for miles. Lots of being yelled at. Very unpleasant. While waiting impatiently for a tow truck that was stuck in the traffic jam that we made Jim had a VERY LONG chat with a friendly state trooper. Unnerved by our latest breakdown we left the bus in a mechanics yard and limped on to Pawleys Island with the truck and trailer.

Guest chef Louis Osteen was unable to attend our dinner because of an unexpected emergency. Louis' talented Exec Chef Michael Keough generously jumped in. Michael did his best with the last minute changes. Maybe not all or even most of his ingredients were from Carolina farmers and producers but he did dish out delicious low country favorites. We set our long curving white table in the bright green creek side setting. Docks stretched far out to the Waccamaw shore and guests were able to venture way out, lean over the dock and maybe imagine/see an alligator or two swirling in the choppy waters.

John Henry

The Outstanding crew really fell for generous and gracious Pawleys Island dinner host John Henry Whitmire. John is neither farmer nor fisherman (though he did work as a shrimper years ago), but he definitely is a real southern gentleman: warm and knowledgeable with a boatload of stories. Whenever we all went to town EVERYONE had a genuine hello for John Henry. Over the next several days John Henry took us in, took good care of us for our much needed break from the road. It was great to have a reliable place to rest our heads and use the kitchen for longer than a couple of days. Jim, Caleb and Adam especially enjoyed fishing & eeling off of John Henry's long dock. Who knew that eel could taste that good?

Thank you for your hospitality John Henry!

Carolina mechanics get a crack

After our tow to a nearby truck service yard a Carolina mechanic team quickly diagnosed the ailing clutch and located hard to find parts in Ohio. While the parts were on the way Caleb and Jim took the opportunity to brush up on their mini golf skills (Jim won a close battle). With the bus fixed we were on the road again with five hours drive to Athens, Georgia, on the way to Atlanta, our next dinner site.

Another Bus Reunion

2008-09-17T21:00:00.000-07:00

It was time to get outta town. Next up was our upstate dinner at Greig farm. We found our scenic farm and climbed a tall hill to meet affable Norman Greig. The weather always determines where the table might go. With a forecast of windy conditions Norman advised against a hilltop table and we went for a more protected site. We chose to place our table spanning a wooden bridge on a beautiful small stream. On a windless day the stream site would be swarming with mosquitos but with the steady breeze mosquitos were not a problem. Everyone was excited about doing a dinner over a bridge, a first for OITF.

Chef Melissa Kelly brought out a student kitchen crew from the nearby Culinary Institute of America. Chef/Instructor Anita Eisenhauer was a big help in putting it all together. Anita worked with students, producers and Chef Melissa Kelly, an alumnus of The CIA who made the trip from Portland, MN. A valuable experience for budding chefs. Farm to Table dining is getting more and more play around the country, including America’s premier culinary school. The next day at The C.I.A. Jim and Melissa gave a talk and a Q&A to gathered students.

Words and nourishment

When we arrived at Eckerton Hill Farm in Pennsylvania we were still without bus. A clutch job on the bus turned complicated when our Jersey mechanics put in the new clutch but couldn’t figure out how to get it to work. With yet another bus disappointment, Jim morbidly joked about driving the old gal out into a field and shooting her. We made our way out to farm with pick up truck and trailer - and camping equipment.

Eckerton Hill Farm is the home of farmer/writer and our friend Tim Stark. Tim's new book Heirloom: Notes of an Accidental Tomato Farmer just came out and guests were treated to a reading. The chosen passage was about a favorite cantankerous tractor and was performed on that favorite tractor. Tim brought along his chef friend Bill Telepan from NYC to put together a meal. Our guests in the country feasted on Bill's tasty Eastern PA menu. Jim visited the table with Dorian from Briarwood Croft who contributed her feta cheese and Herman from Danenhauer Apiaries whose honey was gathered from bees a short 75 yards from the table. Chef Bill Telepan is soooo cool and fun and brought along a great bottle of tequila for after dinner. Jeremy, Elaine, Annette, Jim, Adam, Leah, Tim Stark and Bill and his crew chuckled and sipped tequila late into the night.

Bus?

We received word that the bus was ready. Stalwart driver Ben had left the tour for some well deserved R & R and Ben's good friend Caleb Coe was there to take his place at the wheel, returning for his fourth whack at the tour. Only problem was the bus was not yet approved for travel.

Our Jersey boys awaited an out of town specialist to crack the bus clutch mystery. Caleb holed up for a few days at the Best Western awaiting traveling orders.

Finally the bus was "fixed" and Caleb embarked from Jersey as the rest of us left Eckerton Hill Farm, hoping to meet up later that day.

Missing Persons/Road Weary

Late that night after meeting up with the bus outside Baltimore, MD our Swiss intern Annette gathered up her things and slipped away in the night without a word. She had had enough of these crazy Americans (and one Canadian) and their stupid (charming) bus. Maybe we will see her down the road… Annette where are you? With Annette gone missing, Ben taking a break and Aubrey away for a few weeks for her sister's wedding we were temporarily reduced to Adam, Jim, Leah and Caleb. At least we had the bus.

New York, New York…

2008-09-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

With our bus/home still stuck in the shop in New Jersey we relied on Craigslist to find a temporary and cheap (for NYC) two bedroom Greenwich Village apartment that sleeps six. Nice, but sooo… small we could barely squeeze in. Probably less than the square footage of the bus and much like the bus in that there not enough ceiling space for Jim to stand up straight. From our NYC base we ventured out to some fine local eateries such as Blue Hill, Russ and Daughters and of course enjoyed a wide variety of street food.

Next up: Ultra Local at Queens Farm

Getting from Manhattan to Queens with our big trailer was pretty dicey. We all were a bit frayed when we showed up at Queens farm. Energetic farmer Michael Grady Robertson soon greeted us shambling and galomping around the farm pointing out all the ''really cool stuff''. This farm proved to be a favorite for both Outstanding staff and guests. All kinds of farm goodies to see and the city RIGHT THERE.

Pretty much ALL the ingredients came from the farm - including the pig. No need for other producers at the table - there really weren't any other producers to include. The super well put together publication "Diner Journal" was shown around as everyone soaked up the waning light of late summer. We settled in at the table as Chef Caroline Fidanza wowed the crowd with her fresh and tasty menu.

Water...

We need it for the plants to grow. Best that it rains on days that we do not have a dinner planned.

Our La Plaza Community Garden dinner adventure quickly went from interesting to much too exciting. Jim has faith in the weather workers at the National Weather Service and this time his faith went unrewarded. Early in the day a 20% chance of showers gave us the confidence to go ahead with an outdoor dinner with no shelter. By noon we were looking at a forty percent chance of rain. By 2pm it was raining steadily. Outstanding emergency shelter crew then sprung into action. Ben hatched a plan, including foraging for shelter materials around Manhattan hardware shops. With no time to spare Ben scaled high into the park tree canopy and with tarps and cables, the gap between two tall trees was spanned.

As all dined beneath our sheltering canopy Jen Small of Flying Pigs Farm regaled guests with stories of pigs and lipstick. Baker Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery explained the mysterious no knead method. "Ice cream boy" Ben from Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream strolled the table. Guest Chef Alejandro of Brown Cafe smiled all the while and put out the BEST food.

This guest wonderfully captured the atmosphere of the evening with her photographs.

Storm Watch

2008-09-09T16:33:00.000-07:00

Storm warning on the East Coast

As we all arrive back on the East Coast tropical storms were moving across the Atlantic toward North America. Where will they make land fall? On our table? Nervously we moved toward our next dinner appointment, Allandale Farm in Boston, MA. Leah arrived from Canada, Jim and Annette from California, Ben and Aubrey from New York City and Adam Horbinski our new Wisconsin road recruit arrived from Madison. All eyes on the weather and... Soon the crowded Atlantic was churning wtih four tropical storms. One of these storms "Hanna" decides to make a move toward the Northeast. Our two upcoming dinner events right in the path! Plan B -Tenting, barns… Greenhouses would need to be checked out just in case. Just as alternate plans were investigated it becomes clear that the storm would hit with full force on Saturday, sparing our Friday Boston dinner and our Sunday Hamptons dinner. Oustanding luck once again.

Allandale Farm, Boston, MA

Thick clouds gather as we arrived at Boston’s last farm within the city limits. Farmer John Lee graciously shows us around the sprawling grounds as we debate table sites. Warm winds are blowing as we set the table on a nice green patch. Chef Mary Dumont of Harvest soon shows up with kitchen crew in tow. Jim and Mary go way back. Ten years ago Mary worked as a waitress at Gabriella Café in Santa Cruz, CA. Chef Jim and waitress Mary - who new Mary would soon quit the front of the house forever and go on to become one of America's most honored chefs. The storm held off as guests toured the varied crops.

Farmer Jim, in dress shirt and tie, showed off his farmer chops to guests and also sported an awesome tattoo of a beet root on his forearm. Mary prepared some of her favorite dishes which included a second course salad titled "Jim's Salad": A favorite Mary remembered from her days at Gabriella Cafe.

A Stormy Crossing

Next day: Storm Day. We drive south to New London, CT to catch the late afternoon ferry to the North Fork of Long Island. After an "All Aboard!" we climb the deck to watch the storm. "Exciting!" says Jim.

Across the North Fork as wind and rain pushed truck and trailer, rolling slowly along under flash flood and tropical storm warning.

In the evening we arrive at Almoncello restaurant in East Hampton to enjoy a great dinner and meet our guest chef Jason. The storm raged on as occasional power outages caused restaurant guests to ooo and ahhh… We skip the late night karaoke, deciding to rest up for our big Hamptons dinner.

A clear day

Many guests had emailed us in the previous days wondering if our Long Island farm dinner would be a washout. With so many tropical storms crossing the Atlantic "The Media" was pushing the panic button. Jim the weather nut reassured everyone that there was no need for alarm… Sure enough Sunday dawned clear and beautiful as we made our way to EECO Farm in East Hampton.

Sand and Museum

After our successful Hamptons dinner we made plans for arrival in New York City late in the day. Before leaving Long Island we made a visit to the Parrish Art Museum to see Jim's art on display. The crew checked out all the sand themed work: Jasper Johns, Jackson Pollock, Pablo Picasso, Ana Mendieta.... Jim Denevan and others.

Chicago to Slow Food Nation

2008-09-04T20:42:00.000-07:00

Chicago Time

After our successful City Farm dinner a more lengthy break between events gave the crew time to take in the big city sights and visit some of our new Chicago friends. The bus was parked and we happily moved into temporary luxury digs in a downtown Chicago highrise (which included a rooftop hot tub) very generously donated by new friends Jeremy and Elaine. We met Jeremy and Elaine at the Nichols Farm dinner. They are big fans of the Hot Chocolate crew and came by to help us out with serving and clean up.

The next day we set out to experience the city. Jim and Ben visited the Museum of Contemporary Art to check out the Jeff Koons exhibit. The exhibit was organized by Francisco Bonami, a curator for our curving Florence Art Table of last January. Music and beer fan Leah checked out a local heavy metal show with new friend chef Mark of Hot Chocolate. Sports fan Aubrey went off on her own to check out a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. She enjoyed some game time and made some new drunken sports fan friends.

All of this was mixed with Chicago area culinary studies/visits and extensive bar hopping.

A highlight of our windy city food and wine spree was lunch at Mindy Segal's Hot Chocolate. Chef Mindy blew us away with course after course of the most creative and delicious dishes imaginable. Oh my god!! Most of us needed to take a long nap after such an unforgettable meal.

Turnpike Travel

Illinois, Indiana and then Indiana became Ohio; a looong drive to Pennsylvania....

Ohio rest stop sleep accommodations were memorable and awful. A bus full of boisterous Alabama Crimson Tide football players decided to run a practice scrimmage on our rest stop parking lot till 5 in the morning. Some of us slept right through it, the rest of us were not nearly so lucky.

Our oh so luxe Chicago life seemed very very far behind.

Pennsylvania Farm Country

Our next home away from home Harvest Valley Farms of Valencia, PA. Pulling up Jim remarked "it really looks like Pennsylvania’’ an obvious comment for sure. Jim wouldn’t want a Pennsylvania site to be confused with say our Arizona dinner. Our moveable feast always needs an iconic location.

Farmer Art King greeted us and we had our usual site search. A flat area along a riparian corridor won out. Our guest chef for the Pittsburgh area dinner would be Justin Severino. Justin is a veteran of a total of 5 Outstanding in the Field dinners which makes him our Top Guest Chef. Justin returned to live and work in Penn in the past several months after what had been a several year stint in California. Santa Cruz deeply felt loss became Pittsburgh's gain. Before our dinner event we explored Pittsburghs ‘strip’ including the famous "Primanti Bros" sandwich house. This heaping portion of local culture resulting in a good bit of indigestion.

Good weather followed us once again as we set out our Pennsylvania table. Our informative farm tours were wildly different as the three Kings (brothers Larry and Art and Art's son David) led individual tours that had a markedly different personality and emphasis.

Justin once again proved himself to be the master of meat with a menu that featured pig served "all ways" -or if not all ways, probably most ways. There were vegetables too of course: almost every veggie on Justin's creative menu came from the fields of our host farm. Jim visited the table with the folks of Heritage Farm and Scott of the East End Brewing Company who showed all at the table a sample of fresh local hops that he brought which each guest could twist and drop into the beer-for an extra hoppy extra fresh tasting beer.

Once again our cranky old bus had to be nursed along. We barely made it to the farm and didn’t know when we might be able to leave –there was no juice going to the battery and with that the big beast seemed to be slowly dieing. Ben once again went under the bus to try and figure it out. After much investigation and a few wrong turns Ben emerged grease stained and triumphant. A burnt out wire was not allowing much power to reach the battery. Ben removed and replaced the offending wire and soon we were moving again.

Aubrey took the pit pit stop as an opportunity to shop for gifts for all the staff: a unicorn figurine for Ben, weather underwear for Jim, martini underwear for Leah and other goodies.

A few days after our event we visited Justin's employment, Eleven restaurant in Pittsburgh, to celebrate with french bubbles and multi course dinner a new art commission that Jim had just learned of. Later Justin took the crew to cool Pittsburgh hotspots like The Sharp Edge, where the crew learned of all things Pittsburgh.

As our Western Pennsylvania visit came to a close we made plans to go separate ways till our Sept 5th Boston dinner.

Jim and Annette flew to the West Coast where Jim would design a special curving table for 250 people as part of a collaboration between Outstanding in the Field and Slow Food Nation taking place on Labor Day in Dolores Park in S.F. (see more on this below)

Leah decided to rent a car and drive to Montreal, returning to her homeland, Canada, for a needed break from the ‘mericans.

Ben and Aubrey marshaled on with the bus finally reaching all the way to the Eastern shore of North America where unwanted adventure would await them as they attempted to make the crossing into Manhattan and New York City on the George Washington bridge…

Bridge Work

With the clutch balking badly on the bridge approach, Ben, looking out over a sea of stop and stop Manhattan traffic decided to abandon any plan to cross the span. He spied a tiny strip of road away from the stream of traffic right on the bridge approach and parked the bus.

An old 1953 bus at a dead stop on one the worlds busiest bridges… the resulting traffic would not endear us to populations of New York and New Jersey. Ben wisely brought the beast to the side and discussed strategy with Aubrey as Leah got swept away in traffic with the truck and trailer.

Rush hour at a dead stop having few options Ben’s idea was to wait till the early morning and quieter bridge traffic to make a move using the ailing clutch to get somewhere close with a mechanic.

It seemed Aubrey and Ben's only option was an evening and night on a disabled bus at the foot of the George Washington bridge.

Rescue...

A good plan but fortunately a New Jersey road angel soon emerged from the endless stream of traffic. Old busses sure have their fans and the right one came along. Andy from the oversize vehicle escort service had showed up early for a temporary bridge closure. A closure that happens only once every two weeks or so. Andy spied the old bus stopped and came over to admire and inquire.

After the usual pleasantries during which our bus lover distractedly stared at his object of desire …a new plan was hatched. Since Andy was early for work and the bridge closure to normal traffic was soon to begin begun- his idea was: Just as the Manhattan bound side of the bridge was closed to all traffic the bus would slip in would be escorted across the span... alone. With the plan made, Ben roared off with Andy in the lead. A U-turn was executed on the Manhattan side and bus and passengers returned to Jersey, safely stopping at the very first bus service opportunity.

With the bus safely parked Ben and Aubrey were off to Manhattan to enjoy big city life...

A Table in the Park

Jim and Annette meanwhile flew off to work with Slow Food Nation in San Francisco. Slow Food USA had asked Outstanding in The Field if there was a possibility for a collaboration. Seeing a gap in the tour Jim made a quick decision and soon plans were made. Jim designed another table: set in a gentle curve of hillside in Dolores park, with a commanding view of the S.F. skyline. The event was billed as the Slow Food Nation/Outstanding in the Field Eat-In, A Celebration of the Youth of Slow Food Nation. Two hundred and fifty young food activists, aged 16 to 34, came from around the country. Veteran/young Outstanding chef Nate Appleman of A16 restaurant generously volunteered, roasting a whole pig right there in the park. The big pig was donated by Mark Pasternak of Devils Gulch Ranch. The rest of the meal was provided by several youth teams working with experienced chefs. Jim's 16 year old son Brighton Denevan helped make the yummy tomato soup (containing tomatoes from Brighton’s own home garden). Brighton’s team was led by chef Caroline Wallace of Down to Earth Food. All attending were rapt by rousing speeches made by the inspired young food activists. Alice Waters of Edible Schoolyard and Chez Panisse fame joined us at the table as she received a constant stream of motivated young people eager to exchange ideas.

Here is a link to an article by Eddie C, who attended the event for a blog about the local foods movement La Vida Locavore.

What farm dinner was that?

2008-08-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

With bus and crew reunited in Cheyenne, WY we set out across the High Plains, bound for Minnesota and Cedar Summit Farm. Passing through central Iowa we experienced our first midwest severe thunderstorm. “Severe thunderstorm” meant constant lightning, strong winds, heavy rain and pulling over the bus because of zero visibility. A lot of excitement! We observed swirling low clouds and later learned of funnel clouds seen in the area. Good thing our Friday farm dinner is in the next state to the North, where fair weather is forecast.

We rolled into Minneapolis for a late dinner with our guest chef Scott Pampuch of Corner Table. Scott showed us around the restaurant and gave us the last minute menu changes.

Friday dawned with a deep blue sky as we made our way to Cedar Summit. Cedar Summit is Jim’s dream come true for a dinner site: a big green grassy field. We’ve seen every kind of site over the past nine years, but never a field of green grass. Truly we would be “Out Standing in the Field”. The field had been unoccupied by the Cedar Summit dairy herd for several weeks and therefore had a tall, lush carpet for our long table.

Co-guest chef Lenny Russo arrived as we arranged our table in the field. Lenny last prepared an Outstanding in the Field dinner in 2005, the year that Jim and the bus both didn’t show up because of a breakdown in the Yukon of Canada. In 2005 remaining Outstanding staff was flown ahead to put on the meal. This time both Jim and the bus showed up.

Brian Ellison of Death’s Door Spirits mixed fresh cocktails as guests arrived: delicious! Brian was in for the entire farm dinner marthon weekend and would be a part of all three events from Minnesota to Illinois. His is based out of Washington Island, WI and locally sources all ingredients for his spirits as well as the cocktail mixes. On the bar list that night were the Vodka Cobbler with fresh berries and Maple Whiskey Punch with fresh cream from Cedar Summit.

As the dinner progressed, Dave Minar released his just-milked dairy cows into the pasture surrounding the table. Cowbells rang out as the nearly full moon rose on a warm upper midwest evening.

Fountain Prairie, Madison, WI

After packing up the dinner we managed to get a few hours in on the road and landed at a rest stop in Wisconsin. After a few winks Leah cracked the whip with an early wake up of 7 am. We all argued about reasons to sleep in, but Leah would have none of it. A few hours later we pulled into Fountain Prairie Farm. Fountain Prairie has “hairy cows”, more officially known as Scottish Highland Cattle, a breed that is well suited to the cold winters of Wisconsin. John and Dorothy Priske greeted us as soon as we pulled up. They were anxious to show us a potential dinner site on a hillside looking over their reclaimed prairie lands. Another amazing site!

John and Dorothy have a bed and breakfast on their ranch and soon after the dinner sold out, they had a notice posted on their website that the bed and breakfast was also booked for the evening.

After greeting the guests under a tall tree next to the farmhouse the group took a tour of the ranch and set out for a trek to the hillside dinner site. The table was set within the tall grass prairie, gently following a curve of the clearing.

Chef Tory Miller of L’Etoile in Madison prepared a delicious meal including a “surprise course”: Fountain Prairie ribeye grilled over the coals with fresh herbs. Jim walked around the table with Rink DaVee (Shooting Star Farm), Willi Lehner (Bleu Mont Dairy) and George Kohn (West Star Farms) as farmers shared stories with guests.

A spectacular sunset blazed as the full moon rose to light the evening. Sated guests rode back to the farmhouse on bleachers pulled by tractors- a novel ending to a farm dinner.

Two down, two to go.

The crew is tired but still very excited about the rest of the weekend. The bus is running well but Ben’s developed a serious limp from muscling the bus down the highway. Now that the bus is with us, Aubrey is reunited with her ‘Bedazzler’ and Jim has benefited with personalized boxer shorts with a flashy “J”. Serious and hardworking culinary interns Anna Lena and Annette are still trooping along and putting up with our shenanigans.

On Saturday we found our way to Nichols Farm and Orchard in Marengo, IL.

Our late morning arrival saw farmer Lloyd Nichols with his engine revved, ready to tow us around the farm to find the best site. What an exciting ride! The verdict was the table would be in the orchard, aligned with the a view of the highest mountains in Illinois (at 800 feet, not so high).

Nichols Farm guest chef Mindy Segal of Hot Chocolate Restaurant in Chicago wins the prize this season for most enthusiastic chef. She literally squealed with delight on the phone when Leah called to ask if she would join us on the farm. Ever since then, she’s been excitedly planning a signature OITF event: food, farmers, wine, beer, music- all of the ingredients for a memorable dinner. She even went so far as to close the restaurant that Sunday evening and have almost her entire staff there in the orchard.

Thanks to Mindy and her savories chef Mark, we were blessed with perhaps the largest number of farmers and producers that have shared the table this season. This was reflected in the menu: beer from Three Floyds Brewing Co.; pork and duck from Gunthorp Farm; grits from Plapp Farm; raspberries from Sow Little Farm; musk melon from Seedling Farm; tomatoes, beans and apples from Nichols Farm; wine from Black Star Farm; and spirits from Death’s Door.

Mindy climbed an orchard ladder as the dinner came to a close, thanking her crew and Outstanding for the opportunity to make dinner on the farm.

After cleanup and staff meal, knowing we had a day of rest before the Chicago, Leah decided “a night out” on the farm would be fun and stayed up late happily celebrating with the remaining kitchen and service staff, even bringing a few of them on board the bus very very late that night when they didn’t have any other place to stay.

A Day Off!

After laundry, final clean up and a relaxed two hour drive we arrived in Chicago. First stop: Hot Doug’s, which Anna Lena, our German intern, was very eager to visit. She kept telling Jim in her strong German accent that she really wanted to go to “Hot Ducks”. After much confusion, Jim figured out she was actually saying Hot Doug’s: a famed ‘encased meats’ joint.

What a place! A line out the door and down the street for Chicago’s finest. Pretty good stuff. Ben was probably the most adventurous in his choice of “dog”: pheasant bacon sausage with foie gras and whole grain mustard. A once in a lifetime opportunity for a Californian.

Also a fine final American dining experience for Anna Lena Banzhof, as she was soon whisked off to the airport to return to university culinary studies in Italy.

Just in case Hot Doug’s didn’t satisfy our Chicago cravings, that night we decided to visit Gino’s East for deep dish Chicago style pizza. Though Gino’s was “interesting”, it didn’t quite reach the culinary heights of Hot Doug’s. Probably no more Chicago deep dish pizza for us.

City Farm and Chef Paul Virant

Last August Paul Virant joined us for a memorable dinner event at Kinnikinnick Farm. This season, Paul was excited about setting the OITF table with one of his very local suppliers. City Farm is a tremendous effort by farmer Tim Wilson to reclaim and rehabilitate abandoned spaces in the city of Chicago. Productive green fields of vegetables are surrounded on all sides by the bustle of the city. We pulled up to City Farm with plenty of time to decide where the table should go, but we didn’t need much time as there was only one place it could possibly fit! Seventeen 8 foot tables soon became a curving single table.

Paul and crew greeted good friends and city farmers Tim and Aaron and got down to work. We couldn’t hide the table as we usually do, so guests immediately placed their plate down at the table as they arrived. A beautiful sight.

The group of guests was shown a tour of the farm which we thought would be somewhat short since the farm is literally the length of our long table. However, the City Farmers proved us wrong with much to share about their land and story.

For dinner it was Paul’s suckling pig that stole the show, though every course was delicious with City Farm ingredients included throughout: turnips, greens, tomatoes, beans, herbs and other goodies.

With the darkness of the night came the glow of city lights. The noise of the traffic subsided as the dinner conversation grew animated and filled our little farm.

We found the Bus!

2008-08-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

... and it's looking better than ever.

In the next two days we drove more than 25 hours arriving at Paonia, CO in the late evening. This is our 3rd visit to Zephyros Farm and Garden so we know our way around. Jim's friends Rebecca and Rob Miller welcomed us with beer, cherry tomatoes.... and laundry facilities! The next day we enjoyed the charms of small town Paonia, as we planned the big event. Rob and Rebecca also had a big event that night; they were organizing a free concert in the park. The talk was all about the forecast for possible rain in the afternoon and evening. Farmers Don and Daphne of Zephyros Farm & Garden, assured us that the farm was in a “dry spot” which tends to miss any passing thunderstorm. We arranged for a “Plan B” in case of rain, scouting the farm for a suitable greenhouse shelter in case of rain.. The space we found sort of looked like a restaurant with open windows in the front. We followed plan A and the table was set outdoors as we hoped to escape the forecast “chance” of thunderstorms.

Our beautiful table along a small lake with the Rocky Mountains in the background.

Shortly before guests arrived, Jim checked the Doppler radar, which showed a super cell to the southwest heading towards our location at 10 miles an hour. The weather service just then issued a severe thunderstorm warning for our area. As we had about 40 minutes until the thunderstorm arrived and our event started in about 20 minutes, Jim had the idea that the guests could see the table outdoors before we whisked it away into the greenhouse. Much excitement and chaos ensued as the dark thunderstorm slowly approached with black clouds and increasing wind. Just as many guests arrived and were able to see the table, we made the decision to head indoors! After a mad scramble of fifteen minutes or so, the table was safely set in the cozy greenhouse. Chefs and kitchen staff relocated to a nearby utility packing shed to complete their preparations. Safe in our plastic house, we listened as the rain pelted down and the wind howled outside.

Don and Daphne attempted separate farm tours, where they led guests off during breaks in the rain, which were quickly abandoned by most guests as the rain and winds increased mid-tour. A few hearty souls completed these overly exciting farm tours.

With guests safely ensconced indoors, our dinner began and Don and Daphne were able to describe the farm to the entire group. Chef Mark Fischer with his Restaurant six89 and the Little Nell at Aspen crew were good sports in dealing with the clement weather and produced an amazing, delicious dinner. Colorado farmers and producers shared with guests local stories as Outstanding staff enjoyed serving guests away from wind and rain. We said goodbye to our friends in Paonia knowing we'd probably be back, hopefully with less exciting weather next time.

Early the next morning we left for Boulder, enjoying the drive through the Rockies. We thought about Ben and our bus and how it was probably a good thing that he was taking the flatter Northern route to cross the Rockies. We arrived at Munson Farms to meet the much anticipated Bob Munson, who lived up to all of our expectations. Within minutes of being on the farm, Bob leapt into the corn rows to pick some ears, giving each one of us a fresh cob of “Colorado’s sweetest corn”. Mmm. What could be a more beautiful spot for our table than right in those rows?

That night we visited The Kitchen for dinner and chatted with Chef Hugo Matheson about the Boulder scene. The Kitchen has a chalkboard showing all of the local producers for the night’s meal: a wonderful way to let people know where their food comes from. Later, Jim, Anna Lena and Annette danced in the streets of Boulder to the raucous sounds of the local street musicians. We also managed to find a new favorite brewery: the Mountain Sun on Pearl Street. Aubrey and Leah almost convinced one of the cute boy service staff to come on the bus, but he wasn’t quite ready to make that commitment.

The next day, dinner preparations began as thunderstorms built up over the nearby Rockies. We were excited to finally meet the Frasca Food and Wine crew after so much time planning and extended phone conversations between Leah and Frasca event manager Cristin Napier. Chef Lachlan Patterson and his crew arrive and admire our table set in the corn field.

Jim kicked off the farm tour with a mention of farm, family and history. Bob and Mike Munson took over, telling their story and leading two big groups for a tour of squash and corn fields. The threatening thunderstorms of midday fizzled, leading to a beautiful and dry late afternoon.
Once the guests finally arrived to the table (Bob was considering taking everyone on another loop of the field) they were very hesitant to sit down and just stood at the end of the row, admiring the long table set in the corn field.

The food was served and wine began to flow. Sommelier/owner Bobby Stuckey charmed guests, spreading his enthusiasm and warmth as field ambassador of Frasca Food and Wine. Chef Lachlan and his sous Travis were in perfect character for a farm dinner, with straw hats and Frasca Food and Wine t-shirts.

The table hummed with appreciation for the delicious foods of Lachlan and crew. Anne Cure of Cure Organic Farm and Wyatt Barnes and Amy Tisdale from Red Wagon Organic Farm walked along the table regaling guests with tales of farming tomatoes and zucchini and their appreciation for the chefs who create such amazing food from their ingredients. As the sun set, Bob Munson and family rose from the table, offering many guests fresh ears, gathered at arms length from the table.

At the end of the night, Lachlan climbed the farm ladder in the dark to look over the candlelit table and thank his staff and attending farmers. A beautiful night in Boulder.

Where's that Bus?

2008-08-12T16:53:00.000-07:00

Washington, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming? When will we see our bus?
Maintenance is difficult when your bus was built in 1953. “We’ll fix that right away” turns into “Where the heck will we find these parts?” and to “We’ll have to build those parts and you may not see your bus for a week or two”. Well, waiting has turned into more waiting, which has finally become “Here comes the bus!”

We are now in Boulder, Colorado heading for Cheyenne, Wyoming in our pick up and trailer to meet Ben, pulling in from Hwy 80. Before Ben shows up, we’ve rented some cowboy accommodations with horses to ride and all of the cowboy amenities. Anna Lena bought some new boots, so she’s ready to “yee-haw!”

Our next dinner is at Cedar Summit Farm, outside the Twin Cities, on Friday. The weather forecast looks favorable, a nice change from looking at the sky in fear in Paonia, CO. But before we move on to places further afield, we’d like to share with you some of our recent adventures.

Crossing the border was an adventure, especially with Jim being in Baja, Mexico on a quick father-son surf trip adventure and leaving it to two Americans and a Canadian in a pick up truck and trailer full of chairs, books, a grill, dishwashing supplies and propane (among other things). “What are you doing?” “Who hired you?” “What do you have in that trailer?” “Where’s your boss?” Questions became more questions, became visits to the import brokers and phone calls to our bookkeepers. At one point we were asked to pay 5% tax on the entire contents of the trailer (including Jim’s cookbooks) and Ben and Aubrey both needed $150 work permits to enter the country. What a hassle. After much discussion and confusion (struggling through a “recently updated” DOS program for processing the cookbook importing), lucky as we are, we walked away with a $29.27 charge for the duty on importing the cookbooks after. Yay Canada!

Preparations for our Vancouver table included evacuating the entire contents of the UBC Farm greenhouse which is used for their Farm Wonders day camp. With the creation of our greenhouse restaurant, the children’s day camp garden was the only stretch of greenhouse not covered by tables. The percentage chance of rain was not particularly high, but Outstanding in the Field always needs to be ready, “just in case”. Our tour started off with a few sprinkles, which was the only rain we experienced that evening, but the atmosphere of the greenhouse was warm and cozy on a chilly night. Our hosts Gavin, Amy and Mark settled into the table with Outstanding guests joining us from Alberta, Ontario, Washington, California and Texas.

Chef Andrea Carlson of Bishop's had an impressive line up of farmers join us at the table, probably the most entertaining group of farmers and producers we’ve ever had. The comedic chicken farmer (Karl Hann of Astra Organics) outdid them all with a hilarious description of the joys/tears of farm life. Click here for a detailed look at the event from our friend The Culinary Fool.

In the days between Vancouver and Kelowna events, we visited Leah’s family homestead in Salmon Arm, BC. Barb and Gord were excited to see their long lost daughter and finally meet the Americans that kidnapped her a couple of years back. We enjoyed dinners on the deck and Gord’s homemade fruit wines. Annette and Anna Lena went for a scenic hike up the nearby mountain while neighbour Art told us of having just sighted a black bear near the same trail. Yikes! We enjoyed a nice swim in the Shuswap Lake before continuing down to the Okanagan Valley for our dinner at Little Creek Gardens.

We drove the long, winding road down along the shore of the west side of the Okanagan Lake to Dale and Donna’s farm. The views were spectacular on the 135 km (84 mile) long lake. Dale Ziech farms the lakefront property, growing lettuces, carrots, tomatoes and herbs. Dale’s wife Donna Denison produces her famous Little Creek Garden salad dressings right on the farm. Guest chefs Dana Ewart and Cameron Smith have come to the Okanagan from eastern Canada, where they worked with some of Canada’s most honored chefs. They have created Joy Road Catering: setting long tables in local vineyards and now… farms.

Our winemaker from Cedar Creek Estate Winery, Tom Di Bello, arrived from down the lake by boat to pour his wines. Guests gathered in the garden before our farm tour, led by Farmer Dale Ziech. Our tour led down the steep hillside, carpeted with “salad”.

We arrived at the table set on a promenent rise with a lovely view of the lake. This was the smallest dinner of the season, with 60 guests. A stroll in the park for our staff and a nice break from our usual long long tables. All enjoyed a delicious five course dinner as the sun slowly set.

After clean up, staff meal and a refreshing dip in the lake with the kitchen staff, we retreated to our accommodations for the evening. Donna had set up beds for each of us on her huge deck, complete with sheets hanging over the rail to block out the morning sunrise.

The next day we began an epic journey, our greatest distance between dinners. A LOT of driving. We entered the United States at a barely-used border check point in the forest of Eastern Washington and the border guard was for some reason much less confused than those at Peace Arch border crossing in Vancouver. Back in America!

More blogging tomorrow morning from our cowboy cabin.

Dinners dinners dinners

2008-07-23T15:14:00.000-07:00

We are now 10 dinners in. Season 2008 is on the road. We have welcomed more than 1000 guests to the farm table from Carpinteria, CA to Seattle, WA. Our bus "Outstanding" has been both reliable and cozy. Uphill has been a little slow, but downhill and the flats are great. Ben's clutch leg has had a real workout. In field, farm, bus, coffeeshop... and brewery, Leah completes any and all organizational tasks. European interns Anna Lena and Annette keep things clean and organized and even make lunch. Aubrey is working on her documentation skills, including her latest flip video which depicts a typical day in the life [see below]. Jim, as usual, is overly delicate, but occasionally lifts chairs, tables and giant chests full of plates.

We’ve hit the ground running the last couple of months and have not had enough time to refresh our blog, however look for more detailed descriptions and photos of the upcoming dinners. For the time being, here are some of the highlights (and challenges) of our first 10 dinners:

constructing a moat to protect the kitchen from high tide at the Secret Sea Cove dinner

Chef Traci Des Jardin’s summer berry tart
our 3 day dinner marathon: Northern, Central and Southern California back to back to back
moving from a Saturday uber-posh mountain top venue of Domaine Serene Winery in Oregon to a Sunday earthy Local Roots Farm dinner site in Washington; amazing creative dinners no matter the site
our all day drive from California with a nice break to dip in a slow moving Oregon river
Chef Nate Appleman’s spicy jarred pickles
Devil’s Gulch- our most difficult dinner ever as 50% of our staff call in sick at the last minute, our jeep keys are lost and wine-happy customers consume record amounts of Pinot Noir (we ran out)
Aubrey and Leah checking the “dinner” site at Shark’s Tooth Cove with farmer Billy Rodoni
Petrene Moreland of Sweet Briar Farms' passionate pig talk in an Oregon Vineyard
Chef Richard Mead’s melon ceviche shooter
Ben's amazing bus driving skills on difficult farm terrain
lamb twelve ways between Vincent Nattress and Traci Des Jardins on our McEvoy Ranch and Devil's Gulch Ranch weekend

OITF in the press; look for new articles in Delicious Magazine Australia and Sunset Magazine in the coming months
Ben regales guests of bus adventure/misadventures at Pasolivo Ranch
hiding the giant manure pile at Coleman Farm with our big bus
Romeo Coleman's son's charming contribution to the farm dinner welcome talk
harvesting rainbow chard during the dinner from Jeff Larkey's Route 1 fields for the chard-wrapped sardines
Seattle rest day and a late lunch with Matt Dillon, Wiley Bush and Dave Sanford at The Corson Building

our first minor bus breakdown/delay of the season and Ben's timely appearance, just in time for dessert, at Local Roots Farm
book signings on the bus- lots of fun!
Chef Deborah Scarborough’s unstoppable enthusiasm and down to the wire menu changes
a Hwy 1 forest fire slowing guest’s arrival to the Everett Family Farm dinner in Soquel, CA and 105 degree weather - at 6 pm
sunset over shopping carts in the Fred Meyer parking lot in Seattle