I saw him last at a black-te event in New York, waring a sleepy-eyed grin, flushed cheeks and a skinny blonde's lanky arms dangled around his neck like one of those old-timey mink stoles made from whole pelts.

But this cool, gray morning in Canby, Bobby Flay is on a farm, waring jeans and looking every bit the working stiff.

It's about 8 a.m., and the New york chef and his crew just descended on Hoffman's Dairy Garden to film a segment for "FoodNation," one of FLay's weekly Food Network programs (the other is "Hot off the Grill").

Today's subject is charles Maes of the nearby Banby Asparagus Farm. A scrappy mexican-American entrepreneur, Maes has become an expert at fixing his favorite vegetables in new and unusual ways--deep-fried asparagus, asparagus mole and asparagus tamales, which he peddles at Portland-area farmers markets.

Southwestern fare is the specialty at Flay's New york restaurants, Mesa Grill and Bolo. The crew has decided to move the set, a massive table covered with colorful props and cooking equipment, to get the precise background they want.

All around us, chickens cluck and cows moo, while Julie Hoffman, who's loaned her family's farm for this shoot, offers up steaming coffee and Marionberry tarts on a long wooden porch off to the side.

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