For years, Damien and I have talked about going to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. We both love garlic and take for granted that the garlic capital of the world is just 25 minutes away! Well, this year my plan was to surprise him and take him down south for some fun! Because the festival is well publicized here- I knew that I had to be kinda sneaky and limit Damien's chances of seeing that the festival was coming! I knew if he saw it advertised- he would ask me if I wanted to go and I wanted to surprise him! I tried to pull out certain sections from the newspaper and even hush the kids (who knew about the surprise), but low and behold- he found out. Apparently I took the right sections of the paper out but I failed to see the little icon on the top of the front page that let him know the festival was this weekend.
Now that the cat was out of the bag, we all loaded up in the car and headed to the festival still not knowing what to expect! It was much farther off the freeway than we had first thought. Once we arrived we couldn't believe what a seamless production it was! So many volunteers, so many different parking areas, and a much bigger venue that I had first imagined. We first stopped by one of the food alleys because Michael
needed some calamari. It is so strange. I sometimes can't get Michael to eat a piece of chicken- but he has never refused calamari his whole life! See, he really is Italian! Next we went and tried some garlic ice cream. I was a bit hesitant. It was almost like eating a Bernie Botts jelly bean. You know . . . the jelly beans that are flavored grass, dirt, booger, earthworm, vomit, earwax, etc. When you eat these jelly beans, even if you have never tasted earthworm, you will taste earthworm! When I first licked the garlic ice cream cone, the garlic taste was a bit overwhelming and I felt like I was eating scampi or something. Then in a few seconds the garlic taste dissipated and it tasted creamy like ice cream. I managed to take about three licks and then tossed it. Damien did the same but the kids ate the whole cone!! Who was I to judge? I actually got a big kick out of it! Knock yourselves out!
They had some really awesome attractions there for the kids. There were the traditional carnival rides and games but then there were some more creative activities for the kids. One of them was a Home Depot tent. The kids each got their own apron with their name on it and then got to pick a project to make. You could make a number of different things. Each of the kids got to pick a kit and then got to hammer nails into the pre-drilled holes of the wood. They could glue and nail their projects together and they loved it! Michael made a flower planter, Claire made a wooden boat, and Matthew planted a little flower. And the best part of the Home Depot tent- it was all free! How awesome is that! It gave them a chance to do 'big kid' stuff and they loved every minute of it! The most difficult part of the day was dealing with the scorching heat. We finished the very sweaty day off by treating ourselves to fruit smoothies (no garlic in these) and then had some awesome garlic bread, shrimp scampi, garlic stir fry, and many other garlicky treats! We were really happy we went and can finally check it off our things to do in the future. And don't worry- I am not going to go searching the Food Network about how to make garlic ice cream. Take my word for it, it tastes just like you would imagine it would . . . disgusting!
For years, Damien and I have talked about going to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. We both love garlic and take for granted that the garlic capital of the world is just 25 minutes away! Well, this year my plan was to surprise him and take him down south for some fun! Because the festival is well publicized here- I knew that I had to be kinda sneaky and limit Damien's chances of seeing that the festival was coming! I knew if he saw it advertised- he would ask me if I wanted to go and I wanted to surprise him! I tried to pull out certain sections from the newspaper and even hush the kids (who knew about the surprise), but low and behold- he found out. Apparently I took the right sections of the paper out but I failed to see the little icon on the top of the front page that let him know the festival was this weekend. 
Now that the cat was out of the bag, we all loaded up in the car and headed to the festival still not knowing what to expect! It was much farther off the freeway than we had first thought. Once we arrived we couldn't believe what a seamless production it was! So many volunteers, so many different parking areas, and a much bigger venue that I had first imagined. We first stopped by one of the food alleys because Michael needed some calamari. It is so strange. I sometimes can't get Michael to eat a piece of chicken- but he has never refused calamari his whole life! See, he really is Italian! Next we went and tried some garlic ice cream. I was a bit hesitant. It was almost like eating a Bernie Botts jelly bean. You know . . . the jelly beans that are flavored grass, dirt, booger, earthworm, vomit, earwax, etc. When you eat these jelly beans, even if you have never tasted earthworm, you will taste earthworm! When I first licked the garlic ice cream cone, the garlic taste was a bit overwhelming and I felt like I was eating scampi or something. Then in a few seconds the garlic taste dissipated and it tasted creamy like ice cream. I managed to take about three licks and then tossed it. Damien did the same but the kids ate the whole cone!! Who was I to judge? I actually got a big kick out of it! Knock yourselves out!
They had some really awesome attractions there for the kids. There were the traditional carnival rides and games but then there were some more creative activities for the kids. One of them was a Home Depot tent. The kids each got their own apron with their name on it and then got to pick a project to make. You could make a number of different things. Each of the kids got to pick a kit and then got to hammer nails into the pre-drilled holes of the wood. They could glue and nail their projects together and they loved it! Michael made a flower planter, Claire made a wooden boat, and Matthew planted a little flower. And the best part of the Home Depot tent- it was all free! How awesome is that! It gave them a chance to do 'big kid' stuff and they loved every minute of it! The most difficult part of the day was dealing with the scorching heat. We finished the very sweaty day off by treating ourselves to fruit smoothies (no garlic in these) and then had some awesome garlic bread, shrimp scampi, garlic stir fry, and many other garlicky treats! We were really happy we went and can finally check it off our things to do in the future. And don't worry- I am not going to go searching the Food Network about how to make garlic ice cream. Take my word for it, it tastes just like you would imagine it would . . . disgusting!
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