Baby...You Stink!

I couldn't decide whether the Stinking Rose, a garlic restaurant, is a romantic or an unromantic place for a date.
The motto of the restaurant 'we season our garlic with food!' tells you how garlicky the food is.

I don't particularly enjoy eating garlics. 

Garlic spread and finely chopped garlic are fine.

But a whole clove or raw garlic? No thanks.

Having dinner in a restaurant where every dish uses plenty of garlic? Not something I'd normally do.

But since I'm a tourist, why not?

We ordered their signature Bagna Calda, which is garlic cloves oven-roasted in extra virgin olive oil and butter with a hint of anchovy, served in an iron skillet, for spreading on focaccia bread.
To make it simple, it is a small pan of garlic in olive oil.
Surprisingly, the garlic cloves in the bagna calda are sweet.

Bagna Calda

For entree, we ordered 40 cloves garlic chicken. Yes, you heard me  read it right!
The chicken was marinated and cooked with 40 cloves of garlic. Served with mashed potatoes with garlic olive oil.
Though it is strong in flavor, the dish doesn't taste garlicky at all. Very tasty dish.

40 Cloves Garlic Chicken. And yes, those are garlic cloves on the right.

Our another dish was a pasta: clams with fresh black linguine in garlic parsley shallot sauce.
Again, it is not garlicky. Somehow light actually. Very tasty also.

Clams with fresh black linguine

It was a great meal with tasty,heavenly food, but the next day is hellish.
I think the Stinking Rose is a wonderful place to test how much your boyfriend or girlfriend loves you.
Go there for a date, see if he/she still kisses you the next morning.
It is pretty impressive if anyone could bear with that stinky breathe.
I don't have to describe to you how gross the stinky breathe is after a garlicky meal.
Certainly one of the most appalling and anti-social things.

Well, I have discovered another very appalling thing about having garlic: the breathe is not the only thing that becomes stinky.
Don't share a bathroom with a person who ate plenty of garlic. (makes me wanna vomit just typing this)
Everything smell much worse.
I swear to you it is worse than kissing the person!

So, did he and I kiss this morning?

Well, I didn't eat any raw or half-cooked garlic.
Well-cooked garlic is way less stinky than raw ones.
I smell/taste fine, pretty much like how I usually smell/taste.
But my boyfriend enjoyed some really garlicky sauce made with plenty cloves of raw garlic.
Poor me.

This morning I found myself screaming and pushing him away,
'Honey, not that I don't love you. But please don't kiss me until you have a few mints and a bottle of green tea. Baby...you stink!'

The Stinking Rose is certainly worth going to.
Warning:
1) Don't go there for the first date.
2) Don't go there if you expect to end the night with a lot of kissing (and maybe more).
3) Prepare mints and green tea.

Bon appétit!
Maybe I should write a series of posts on stinky food e.g. durian and stinky tofu.
Ewwww, no!

Love,
N

Being A Sporty Tourist in San Francisco

For those who know me in person, you know that I'm not a sporty girl.

So, surprise! I did some sport today.

Went cycling for 5 to 6 hours straight, to visit a few tourist spots.

Okay, okay, you got me. 

I don't know how to ride a bike. 

I was on a tandem bike so I don't have to do any balancing.

But technically, I did cycled today, just that I wasn't the one controlling the directions.

Okay, that is not what this post is supposed to be about.

The highlight of this on-a-bike-sightseeing day was crossing the Golden Gate Bridge in the fog.

It was very windy (my hair went crazy, hundred times more crazy than my usual crazy hair).

It was very cold, freezing cold. 

We believed that it was less than 10 degrees celsius on the bridge. 

So cold that I couldn't feel my fingers. My lips and nose tip were icy cold.

I stood on the side of the bridge, the wind was roaring.

I looked into a distance, nothing but a thick thick layer of fog.

I looked down, just the ocean with waves.

I read it just yesterday that the Golden Gate Bridge is a popular site for suicides--a person a week, on average.

I looked down again, thinking 'deadly height' and 'it must be freezing, the wind and the icy cold water'.

Then I thought 'why can't people put up nets along the bridge to prevent suicide attempts? That could save lives!'

I wish they did.

Anyway, picture time.

'Topless' Golden Gate Bridge

Very foggy

Fog descending from the mountain, after we reached the other side of the bridge

View on the bridge

My thighs and butt are so sore that I can barely move now. 

Still feeling the burning sensation.

Climbing up the stairs in the hotel is so painful. Ouch!

One good thing about living in a cheap hotel above the bars--free music.

Tonight they're playing jazz. (thank god it's not those party electro music again!)

The jazz performance tonight is good. They are playing well. 

Love it!

Goodnight my dear readers.

More updates tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Love,

N