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June 16, 2008 / Monday
Dinner on a Farm
More precisely, an Outstanding in the Field dinner at McEvoy Ranch. There's more info about it on the website, but the idea behind it is this: A bunch of people get together to have dinner on a local farm. We get to see where our food comes from, meet the people who grow it, and share this experience with our fellow diners. Seating is at one very long outdoor table out in the field.
I'm not sure where I'm getting this number from, but I *think* there were 140 people at our dinner on Saturday. It was a very Prius-y crowd. We saw a couple Priuses on the road near the farm and joked that we could follow them to the dinner, then laughed when we realized they really were heading to the dinner. Once there, I headed to the main building, and while in line for the restroom I overheard a conversation between two people talking about the wonderfulness of their Priuses. Then, at the table, more Prius talk. What could I add to such a conversation? I own a car with a stinky exhaust leak (don't fret, I brought it to the shop this morning!) and an emissions canister neutered motorcycle. Perhaps I should have just started singing, "Bom-bom-bombombom-bom bom bom bom-bom..."
There were a few Hollywood cowboy types at the dinner too. You know, with the glam designer threads, giant sunglasses, pointy boots, and cowboy hats. Hrm, I wonder how a conversation between them and the Prius owners would go.
We got seated for dinner and were immediately surrounded by foodie talk. "Are you a foodie?" "I'm totally a foodie." Erm, people, we each paid $200 to come to this dinner. It should go without saying that we're all some sort of foodie. That said, it soon became obvious to me that I was not totally a foodie, as I don't dine at fine restaurants in the city every night. Yes, it's true, some nights I like to go home and cook myself an egg sandwich.
Okay, since I did choose this dinner because I wanted to experience a Vincent Nattress meal, here's the part where I write about the food. Sorry about omitting the wine; I don't drink. I will say, though, that the various sample sips I took from Aaron's glass didn't suck. :)
Pre-dinner: A really tasty olive onion bruschetta thing. In retrospect, I should have had more of them, because we waited around from 4-5, then had talks and a olive mill tour from 5-6. I was pretty hungry by the time we reached the table.
Appetizer: Oysters. No, wait, one oyster. It had little mini Chinese broccoli looking things on it. Those were good. The oyster was pretty good, too. More, please. Still hungry!
Salad: Some combination of greens with both sweet and hot radishes. I discovered that I can tolerate radishes if they're sliced paper thin. Or maybe I was just hungry. I had a particularly small helping of the salad because the guy at our table who started the round of serving accidentally took giant portions for him and his wife. I was pretty bummed about being hungry and saladless, but I think the guy felt even worse than I did. No biggie; I eventually got my hands on more bread. :)
Main course: Lamb sausage, braised (lamb?) leg, roasted (lamb?) saddle, and tasty yellow eye beans. I'm not a big fan of lamb, but I did enjoy the meats. Well, the sausage and braised leg, at least. I didn't end up with a slice of the roast. D'oh.
Cheese course: Cowgirl Creamery Red Hawk, tasty marinated apricots, greens, and flower petals. By this time I was slowing down, and Aaron got to help me finish my cheese. Just as well, he's a big Cowgirl Creamery fan. I did have a second serving of apricots, though. Did I mention they were tasty?
Dessert: Strawberry shortcake. Fresh and tasty also.
By the time we finished dessert it was after 9 PM, quite a bit later than we'd expected. It was COLD, and I'd been shivering since before the main course. (Thank you, neighbor, for snagging me a Mexican blanket when they came by with them.) No one lingered; we ate our food and retreated to the heated shelter of our cars.
Overall, the food was decent. It wasn't super gourmet; just good food from local sources within a 25 mile radius. We have a lot of flavors and variety available to us here. That's quite nice.
A few notes for those of you thinking about going to an OitF dinner in the future:
- The schedule may say 4 PM, but really you just mill around 'til 5 PM for all the stragglers to arrive.
- Dress for winter! It's cold out in the fields at night.
- Bring your own plate, and a story to go along with it.
- Play Punch Buggy Prius with your companion(s).
Oh, and McEvoy Ranch makes some tasty stuff. Check them out at the Ferry Building. :)
Comments
honestly, my most favorite viv blog. ever. nice job.
Posted by: Christy at June 16, 2008 07:30 PM
Yay, it's Christy!
Were you just relieved that I wasn't writing about hockey or bikes? 'Cause *I* sure was!
Posted by: Viv at June 16, 2008 07:46 PM
no way! really i liked it. i could picture the whole scene really well. like reading a well written book.
Posted by: christy at June 16, 2008 09:40 PM
Thanks. :) It took me a little while to figure out how to describe the different peoples...
Posted by: Viv at June 16, 2008 10:03 PM
Next time you find your self in a crowd of Prius owners just let them know that you recycle too - someone has to use up all those old dinosaur bones. ;)
Posted by: Snarfdog at June 17, 2008 01:01 AM
I love your rosy take on oil consumption. :)
Posted by: Viv at June 17, 2008 09:11 AM
wow, i don't even like oysters or radishes, and i don't think i'm crazy about lamb, but this sounds delicious! and a whole course for cheese!
Posted by: cheddah j at June 17, 2008 06:57 PM
Yup, 'cause cheese is cool!
Posted by: Viv at June 17, 2008 07:13 PM