More Eating & Stinking

You guessed it, we went to another garlic festival! This particular one is the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival. That's the festival that my parents have been making a yearly pilgrimage to, but this was our first taste. For a complete review of tastes, check out the end of this post for a list of Joe's culinary delights that day. All I will say is, chocolate covered garlic cloves....

....made everyone gag but me. Casey didn't seem to have a taste for garlic and chocolate, but there was plenty more to eat there. When first arriving, you're pretty much bombarded with stands that offer samples for whatever garlic-flavored food their selling and much more. Cheese, spreads, chocolate, sauces......most anything you can think of. Some standouts from these samples included some flavored honey and jam (not just garlic flavored either), a garlic-and-herb cheese spread that we purchased, and best of all a spicy sauce called "Bushwhackers" that was amazing to eat on the nachos they paired. It reminded me of the special sauce I used to get at the Texas Lunch in Port Jervis, NY........but so much better.

I will make special note of the dreaded "hot sauce" I tried there. Strangely named "Buried Alive" (guess there's a connection between the weird name and how hot the sauce is), I tried some on a nacho at the suggestion of my sister-in-law. And it damn near killed me! Honestly, as much as I burned my mouth and need an Italian ice to cool it off, the sauce was really good!

As for actual food to serve as my meal, I had a few different things. Casey and I had started with her standard garlic knots. Compared to the ones we had at the last Garlic Fest we went to, these were delicious. Perfectly cooked, right amount of spices and garlic, and nice and warm. I then had a garlic cheeseburger, and had the expectation that the meat would have garlic pieces cooked into it for the flavor. I was disappointed to find all it was was burger patties coated with garlic powder. I could've done that at home!

The star of the actual food I had was the garlic-flavored clams. Your standard steamed clams, but soaked in a garlic and herb sauce. Fantastic! I had several people who saw me eating them ask where to get them. Definitely the hit of the fest!