You can tell where we went based on that title. It was time for the annual pilgrimage to the Pocono Garlic Festival!
The plan for Labor Day weekend was supposed to be a nice BBQ to wrap up the summer. Plans changed when no one was going to be able to make it. This left me wondering what we could do around here. I had thought about the garlic fest, but it was small and expensive last year. So when I saw a chance to win free tickets, I hopped on it. That was Monday. Thursday I got a call saying I had won. For all I know I was the only person that entered to win them, but who cares.
This year the festival was bigger. There was a lot more food and a lot more vendors. I, of course, hit up the Dippin' Lady and the Strawberry Guys. Oh yeah, there was a petting zoo too, but Joe wouldn't let me in that alone. I can't figure out why. Anyway, back to the basics of the festival, this year the ticket prices also dropped by $5, which was a nice thing to see and I think it had an impact because there were a lot more people around this year.
We ate the normal garlic infused foods, such as garlic knots. However, I wasn't as open to trying some of the more bizarre garlic inspired foods, but Joe was. So here's his report on some his favorites...
After browsing for a short while, I started my experimentation with the foods at the festival. I started out with something non-garlic: a beef brisket sandwich with spicy BBQ sauce. One of the best sandwiches I have ever had! The meat was nice and juicy, and the sauce had just the right kick to it. Moving on, I kept it simple with garlic flavored shaved ice. It actually wasn't bad, until it started melting and all you basically had was a water-down garlic sauce.
Then I followed that up with what I would consider the stupidest thing I've ever eaten. I happened upon a stand that had various hot sauces. Last year I had tried what was called Armageddon sauce, and that burned pretty good. At this stand I saw a sauce called Zombie Apocalypse. It was the hottest sauce they had. Obviously with Casey's encouragement, I had no problem putting probably 5 drops of it on a nacho. I payed for it. My tongue was on fire, I had sweat on my nose within seconds, and I started sucking down what was left of my shaved ice to try and stop it. Wow.........and even stupider was I considered actually buying a bottle of it.
After recovering, I tried what was probably the weirdest garlic-flavored food there: chocolate chip cookies. It wasn't bad, but then again I was so infused with garlic that I might not have noticed the garlic beyond the flavor of the cookie. So we waited for my palette to clear before moving on. So I tried what I thought would be the best choice for a meal there. One restaurant had a stand where they served the following dish: a vegetable chili burrito with a "vampire slayer" sour cream sauce. I'll tell you what, that was pretty damn good. And very filling, as I finally hit my wall, and could go no further. Which was OK since there wasn't much else I was interested in trying (the garlic-flavored crab cakes were too expensive, and they had a stand with just different flavored pickles that I was interested in), but there's always next year to give it another go. I'll definitely be revisiting that beef brisket sandwich, and who knows what else I'll find.
Also of note was a stand that sold jewelry made of two different things: fossils and old coins. The dealer was a miner and excavator who found most of what he was selling. What interested me were the carcheradon megaladon shark teeth, and the old Roman coin charms. Would've been cool to have either, so there's a good suggestion for a gift for myself down the road.........hint, hint.
The plan for Labor Day weekend was supposed to be a nice BBQ to wrap up the summer. Plans changed when no one was going to be able to make it. This left me wondering what we could do around here. I had thought about the garlic fest, but it was small and expensive last year. So when I saw a chance to win free tickets, I hopped on it. That was Monday. Thursday I got a call saying I had won. For all I know I was the only person that entered to win them, but who cares.
This year the festival was bigger. There was a lot more food and a lot more vendors. I, of course, hit up the Dippin' Lady and the Strawberry Guys. Oh yeah, there was a petting zoo too, but Joe wouldn't let me in that alone. I can't figure out why. Anyway, back to the basics of the festival, this year the ticket prices also dropped by $5, which was a nice thing to see and I think it had an impact because there were a lot more people around this year.
We ate the normal garlic infused foods, such as garlic knots. However, I wasn't as open to trying some of the more bizarre garlic inspired foods, but Joe was. So here's his report on some his favorites...
After browsing for a short while, I started my experimentation with the foods at the festival. I started out with something non-garlic: a beef brisket sandwich with spicy BBQ sauce. One of the best sandwiches I have ever had! The meat was nice and juicy, and the sauce had just the right kick to it. Moving on, I kept it simple with garlic flavored shaved ice. It actually wasn't bad, until it started melting and all you basically had was a water-down garlic sauce.
Then I followed that up with what I would consider the stupidest thing I've ever eaten. I happened upon a stand that had various hot sauces. Last year I had tried what was called Armageddon sauce, and that burned pretty good. At this stand I saw a sauce called Zombie Apocalypse. It was the hottest sauce they had. Obviously with Casey's encouragement, I had no problem putting probably 5 drops of it on a nacho. I payed for it. My tongue was on fire, I had sweat on my nose within seconds, and I started sucking down what was left of my shaved ice to try and stop it. Wow.........and even stupider was I considered actually buying a bottle of it.
After recovering, I tried what was probably the weirdest garlic-flavored food there: chocolate chip cookies. It wasn't bad, but then again I was so infused with garlic that I might not have noticed the garlic beyond the flavor of the cookie. So we waited for my palette to clear before moving on. So I tried what I thought would be the best choice for a meal there. One restaurant had a stand where they served the following dish: a vegetable chili burrito with a "vampire slayer" sour cream sauce. I'll tell you what, that was pretty damn good. And very filling, as I finally hit my wall, and could go no further. Which was OK since there wasn't much else I was interested in trying (the garlic-flavored crab cakes were too expensive, and they had a stand with just different flavored pickles that I was interested in), but there's always next year to give it another go. I'll definitely be revisiting that beef brisket sandwich, and who knows what else I'll find.
Also of note was a stand that sold jewelry made of two different things: fossils and old coins. The dealer was a miner and excavator who found most of what he was selling. What interested me were the carcheradon megaladon shark teeth, and the old Roman coin charms. Would've been cool to have either, so there's a good suggestion for a gift for myself down the road.........hint, hint.
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