There is not much I love more than cooking, eating and camping and this experience kind of knocked it out of the park for me. I was fortunate enough to be invited to attend this wonderful event hosted by Larry  Butler and Carol Anne Sayle of  Boggy Creek Farm, presented by Outstanding In The Field and featuring René Ortiz the wonderfully inventive chef of La Condesa. The basic premise of OITF is ‘to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it.’ How great is that?! Everybody wins. Every single time.  A season with OITF is terrific job for someone just out of college.  About 10-12 gals travel  in the bus you see in the picture learning about and serving food and wine in different regions across the country.  The meals are served family style to your table of eight and in our case, each of us only knew one other person at our families’ table.  What a pleasant way to meet new people and while away an evening.

Aside from the delicious food and lovely new friends, the highlight of the evening for me was having the chance to witness the work going on behind the scenes. Like most folks I have spent some time working in restaurants and in fact, almost went to cooking school at the juncture when I finally decided to go into photography.  I still love to cook and I hold the ultimate respect for the hard work it takes to produce a meal such as this in this setting.   Chef Ortiz’s style epitomizes my favorite approach to cooking.  Whole foods cooked in a straight forward, inventive, unfussy (and in this case a slightly brutal but necessary) manner.  The pigs were brined for 3 days and then cooked over an open oak wood fire for seven hours and then were allowed to rest until ready to be prepared for serving.  The chicharrón was crispy and salty and divine.  Having witnessed the prep only made the meal more satisfying for me.  I so admire hard work and creativity and when that’s combined with feasting and a tasty glass of vino, there’s no place I’d rather be!