Great Garlicky Goodness
After living in the Bay Area for over six years, I finally went to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. It would have been much more convenient to go when I used to live in San Jose (as opposed to being way up in SF now), but I could never find another garlic-loving soul to join me. =( Anyway, on the last day of this year’s festival, I got to go see what all the fuss was about.
The good news is that there is a lot of really delicious food to be enjoyed, most of it reeking of tasty garlic. We had some beer battered garlic fries (SO yummy), garlic butter corn on the cob, garlic sausage, and garlic steak tacos (which could have been much better without all the watery beans). Some of my friends were way more adventurous and tried the infamous garlic ice-cream (I had been warned by many people to not even touch that food item) while I observed. They finished their cones, but let’s just say that there was a lot of grimacing and comments of “good thing this was free”.
The bad news is that it’s not your cheapest festival. I’ve been to free food and wine fairs before, but this had a $12 per person cover charge to just walk around. And I don’t remember the prices for everything, but I know the garlic sausage (which was basically a big hot dog) cost a whopping $7. So I had a fun day strolling around in the sun (which was fortunately not too hot considering how far south we were) with good company and tasty food, but I think this is one of those experiences that are fun to go to only once in a great while, much like any other tourist trap–I mean, attraction.
We also did a decent amount of shopping at Gilroy’s Premium Outlets, which is the other thing that the city is famous for. Dinh was super nice and drove all the way out from Los Banos to hang out with us for a bit…we have got to relocate that guy! I bought a few things but my most noteworthy acquisition was finally getting a visor after many years of searching for just the right one. I also think I am slowly converting over from being an I-only-wear-Nike athlete to joining the Adidas camp because their womens clothing actually fits me. And if you know me at all, you know how amazing that fact is (stupid short genes)!
As for the rest of the weekend, I played in the annual AACO Sports Day for Charity volleyball tourney on Saturday with Greg, Jenn L., and Kissel at the Take No Prisoners level. We didn’t place first, but we did take the consolation match and win some CDs. It was a really gorgeous and sunny day, with a nice breeze that kept us cool, but the winds really kicked up in the afternoon, which made playing ball rather difficult. Oh well…at least I got to work on my tan! The nice thing about this tournament is that in addition to all participants getting fed and going home with t-shirts, the proceeds are donated to charity. =)
