Holy stink Batman

Be very glad you were not the person sitting next to me on the plane today. I stayed in San Francisco last night because I had a 6 am (ick) flight this morning. So, I took the opportunity to cross another thing off my Northern California to do list- The Stinking Rose. The Stinking Rose is a restaurant in North Beach famous for the massive quantities of garlic in all their food. I was meeting 3 of the other consultants from work. Vanessa and I were starving, and the other 2 were running late, so we sat down to have an appetizer while we waited. We got a panzanella type salad, heavy on the garlic, which we had with rolls and garlic pesto. When Jose and Diana arrived, we moved on to the signature appetizer, the bagna caulda. Basically whole garlic gloves slow roasted in olive oil. For our meal, we shared a massive platter of shrimp and crab with 3 different types of garlic dipping sauce. I was a greasy, happy, full mess by the end of the meal. I brushed my teeth about 4 times last night, and twice this morning, but I still taste garlic. As if I wasn’t stinky enough, I realized after I hit up the elliptical at the hotel gym at 4 am (again ick), that I left my deodorant in Santa Rosa.

The ceiling in the room where we sat was covered in wine bottles and the longest garlic string in the world.

To keep this from ending on that gross note, I’m also posting some pictures from the Luther Burbank garden, where I walk during my lunch in Santa Rosa. I finally remembered to bring my camera and take pictures yesterday.