danapop

I’ve wanted to interview Jim Denevan, the creative genius behind Outstanding in the Field for ages now. His culinary troupe goes beyond just farm to table by literally bringing the table to the farm. With food events criss-crossing America, stops in Europe slated for 2011, and tickets selling out in hours, this is one dining experience that’s a must when in a town near you.

I’m thrilled to finally be able to post my interview with Jim, in which we chat about charming venues, adventurous eaters, and geographical salts.

dp (danapop) I’m fascinated by the Outstanding in the Field concept, what made you initially come up with it?

oitf (outstanding in the field) I worked at a conventional, popular, interesting restaurant in Santa Cruz and we’d go to the farmers market twice a week and meet the farmers there and also my brother is a farmer, so I was very familiar with farms and farming.

We started farmer dinners at the restaurant and the whole menu was organized around one particular farm with the farmer getting to talk about their work. The dinners were really interesting and people wanted to hear what the farmer had to say.

That was an eye-opener, and that was in the late ‘90s. Then in the summer of ‘99 we took the dinner to a farm. It was very exciting, it went very well, but it became less of a struggle as people became more interested in learning about a farm and having a meal on a farm. Basically in the last 3 years I’ve seen that culturally people throughout the country were ready for this experience.

dp What do you think Outstanding in the Field brings to the culinary and dining scene?

oitf I think it’s fun and it’s also stimulating from a culinary perspective. It would be outstanding as in the best we could find throughout the country. We work with some of the better chefs. It mixes up people’s expectations and I think the concept of a conventional restaurant was a little tired. The whole idea of supperclubs and underground restaurants are examples of doing something out of the ordinary and unusual. People want to be a little more adventurous, really.

dp Do you think farm to table is an overused phrase? A trend?

oinf The farm to table is a little buzzy and mushy, where it used to be a little clearer. Now, you can really use that word to describe anything.

You can’t get anymore direct, or literal and real than taking a table right into the farm. That’s the new phrase, table to farm (laughing).

dp How do you select and scout locations for a tour stop? How do you come up with the menu?

oitf First the location has to be charming and beautiful. Really it comes down to the farmer and their story and cultivation of land for food.

There’s orchards, dairy operations, the sea cove ones. Whatever we find along the way we try to include. There are always more people at the table than just the fisherman or the farmer, there’s the winemaker or local cheese maker, beekeepers.

We brought in guest chefs about 5 years ago. I do the first event of the year every year in California and then the theme from that is to bring in another local chef when we travel across the country. Which is interesting in terms of ingredients and venues.

dp You kind of touched on it a bit, but beyond the remoteness, who comes up with the overall look of an event?

oitf I’m the concept guy. The table shouldn’t be seen when the guests arrive. It should be behind a row of trees. It should be in this spectacular site. I get pretty darn obsessive about that. I really like to have it in the most pleasant place it can be on the farm.

dp I know you live in Santa Cruz as a base, what does California (and its state of mind) bring to your life and business?

oitf People are definitely marching to their own drummer at times. I think here they embrace instead of question things. Across the country there’s more farm to table than in the Bay area. I think people are pretty excited throughout the country, I don’t see it as an east coast west coast thing at this point. Things are changing.

dp I hear (and have also seen) that you are quite the artist. How do you balance Outstanding in the Field with your art?

oitf My season for doing art is about November through the middle of March, through the winter. Outstanding in the Field takes places from the first day in May until late October, so it fits in perfectly really.

dp What gadget, spice, product, or technique is getting you excited these days?

oitf As elemental as it is and somewhat boring, I really like salt. I think it’s kind of a fun like wine from a certain place and such. It’s a fun geographic specific thing.

As for a gadget, a chef thinks about the knives first.

We know what this road looks like, you see. In 2004, we walked it. I was a month shy of my one-year wedding anniversary when I was back in Kansas for my ten-year high school reunion. My mom had a mass on her neck. Just in the vicinity of her collarbone.

She actually discovered it while we were on talking on the phone one night a few weeks prior. Those days, I used to get off work late since my show was on the air from 10-11 p.m., and my routine was to call her after my show. She’d generally already be in bed, and was lying with the phone nestled in the crook of her neck. It was then that she felt something.

And now, she felt it again–this time in her armpit.

Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. That’s what she was diagnosed with as all of us kids and spouses sat in the room at KU medical center listening to mom’s oncologist tell us the stage (three), the prognosis (treatable, but could come back), and the treatment (chemo with one medicine, and a clinical trial) six years ago.

We’ve walked this road.

But, it’s back, as we all knew it would be, as Non-Hodgkin’s is a reoccurring cancer in most cases. This time, it’s stage two, but much more aggressive in its growth. As is her treatment plan (chemo with a five medicine cocktail and a much longer duration). Right now, we’re all sort of plowing through our schedules and getting reacquainted with words like scans, white-blood count, port, chemotherapy, treatment, mass, lymph nodes, insurance, and appetite.

My mom is incredibly strong. She got through this once, and we’re all hopeful and encouraged that she’ll do it again. But just because you’ve already walked it, ran it, crawled it, long-jumped it, it certainly doesn’t make it less scary of a path to walk.

Growing up in a military household, I can’t say I’ve ever had to the motivation to attend a boot camp fitness class. But last summer one of my writing clients was all gung-ho about doing them and asked me to join her long before the sun was up and newspapers delivered. Strangely enough (pretty sure wine was involved), I agreed. Of course I overslept badly and got in a explosive screaming match with my GPS who was giving me poor directions in his British accent to it’s-anyone’s-guess-where-the-eff-I-am-park a good twenty miles from my house.

I knew I was in the right spot when I pulled up to a lot packed with people decked out in running clothes and clearly pumped to be there. I managed to double-park as the crowd waited on me and my unbrushed teeth and raccoon makeup from the night before to join them. They may’ve even clapped in that, “so glad you could join us” way, which is what I also like to call “the sarcastic clap.”

In the end, the workout proved to be really hard, but really fun. Two days later when I was itching from the fertilizer rash I had from all the rolling around in the grass for sit-ups and squat thrusts, I was second-guessing my initial excitement about the camp.

Fast-forward a year to when I’m burned out big time on my usual workouts–yoga, Pilates, and running. I’ve peaked. Beyond a plateau, my body just stayed the same and I was plain bored. And don’t even get me going on lack of motivation when my husband was laid off and both of us were working freelance; let’s just say there was lots o’ sleeping in at my house and not enough working out.

I needed something to boost my workout enthusiasm and kick me back into shape. So, for four weeks I decided to do a boot camp series. That’s twenty classes, five days a week for four weeks. Plus, nutritional support. I decided to go in with an open mind; forget about the actual military father, and my usual course of action when someone is screaming in my face of either hitting the road or completely shutting down. None of the above happened. No one yelled, no one cried, no one stormed off in a huff.

First day–I felt really strong after finding out I can actually run a 7-minute mile. First week as a whole, wow it’s hard to wake up at 6 a.m., and damn, I’m out of shape. It reminds me a lot of high school with all the squats and lunges I did during cheerleading practice. I wish for my senior year cheerleading butt. Also I’m feeling really embarrassed about what I’m writing down in my food journal. I mean, I had to put a scotch lunch on there loaded with calamari, spinach dip, fried green tomatoes, and oh right, five different kinds of scotch at one in the afternoon. Just a normal day at the office folks, nothing to see here.

Week two—More than once I thought I would either A) pass out or B) throw up (neither happened) during a workout. This was the week I also realized I eat like pure garbage with all these media events and such and started being really hard on myself and my Oprah arms, marshmallow tummy, and cottage cheese legs (mmm marshmallows). The other girls in my class looked like L.A. Laker girls and did two-a-day workouts with boot camp just being one workout a day for them. Also slightly annoyed with my husband for buying a berry crumble from Trader Joe’s for a photo shoot, which we both devoured in about two sittings. Ridic. We may or may not have wrestled for the last piece.

Week three—I overslept (Monday Monday, can’t trust that day) and was sort of mad at myself all day. I missed the group’s camaraderie and encouragement about helping whip each other back into shape. By Friday of this week, one campmate’s calorie watch said she’d burned 630 calories in 60 minutes … I can’t even burn that running for an hour–talk about good incentive. This week I also got used to having bone bruises on my knees and palms of my hands from all the pushups and mountain climbers. This was also the first week I truly started to feel like I was getting in shape and my body was getting toned. Lastly, I learned that throwing a medicine ball against the wall of a racquetball court is incredibly liberating.

Week four—I’m starting to feel really strong. Running in place with high knees … no problem. Frog jumps … I’m a pro. No seriously, people in the class started commenting on how amazing my frog jumps were; don’t be jealous. After talking with some of the other boot campers, it seems that most people invest in at least two months because just towards the end of the first month is when you’re really starting to notice change. I would agree. Overall, it was a fantastic workout change of pace, both fun and challenging. I’m thinking of signing up for one more month, but my schedule is beginning to get a little spotty with some upcoming travel, which, you’ll read all about next week…

I’m a firm believer in investing in the summer staple of a good pair of sunglasses, or as stylist Rachel Zoe likes to call them, sunnies.

Everyone needs at least one go-to pair. I have two. My Spys are sporty and do the job of not adding to the onset of crows-feet, while my Ray Ban aviators are used more for style than substance. Beyond those pairs, I’m certainly not the person qualified to let you in on shade styling secrets and what the trends are for this summer.

But, Chris Anderson, a.k.a. my accessories guru, can. Now, here’s the thing with a blog that is one of its greatest perks. You meet people and feel like you know them without ever having hugged or giggled in real life–just across FB status updates, twitter handles, and blog comments, that’s all.

Well, Chris is a former co-worker of my twin sister and just happens to be the most stylish person either of us know (albeit he and I have never met). The two of them were meeting up in San Diego (obviously to stay out until all hours of the night at clubs playing Lady Gaga) and so they went along the boardwalk to work on this dos and don’ts tutorial on the art of picking the best summer accessory around. Chris’ brother Matt also lent a hand in this piece, my favorite is his don’t picture.

Also–be sure to check out Chris’s fabulous work on his blog chrisryanart.tumlr.com.