Monday 28 February 2011

Death by Garlic

I have a serious garlic hangover today. If I could draw a caricature of myself, I would look not unlike a classic Frenchman: striped, Breton top, beret, garlic plait and I would be drifting along in a green, oozy haze of toxic garlic fumes. The only difference between Monsieur le Frenchie et moi being my lack of Citroen 2CV.

It's so bad it's making me feel nauseous and nothing will shift it. I've brushed my teeth with bleach, washed my hair, my clothes, the bedsheets, bath towels, but this bad boy is here to stay I'm afraid. I'm just grateful I don't have to work in an office today or have any important social occasions or else I would probably have to feign illness and stay indoors.

The high garlic toxicity comes on the back of a very enjoyable weekend of food, so I should probably be grateful I don't just exist on bread and water and get over myself.

Skipping over Friday night when I ate cheese and baked bean toasted sandwiches and a bottle of wine, the weekend's gastronomy started well on Saturday. We cruised on over to Greenville as we wanted to go to Williams-Sonoma to buy some trivets (this is sounding like a really boring story, which it is, but don't let that put you off reading it). While we were in the G-Vegas vicinity, we decided to go to Papas & Beers, a Mexican that had been recommended to us. Despite there being about 500 cars in the carpark, we were seated immediately and the food was delicious. James was served a burrito the size of a small baby and I had Baja fish tacos that were light yet filling.

We never made it to the mall as there were about 2 million cars parked there and there's no prospect more dire than a heaving shopping centre on a Saturday. So, we went to Lowes for some extension plugs (I TOLD you this was a boring story) and went home.

On Sunday, we really hit our culinary stride with lunch at a small place we happened upon on our way to Old Navy called the Greek Grille. James loves Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food, so this suited him to a tee.

I am not good with new places, if it was up to me we would have gone to Subway or Atlanta Bread Co.; somewhere I can trust and know I will get an OK meal. But, so I wasn't accused of being a boring whinge-bag like I usually am, I trusted him and we went inside. It was similar to a kebab house back in England; very unassuming, basic seating and plastic plates etc...but the food was delicious. I had chicken souvlakis in a soft, fluffy pita bread with salad and James had gyros in pita.

The meal would have been perfect and I would go back again if it wasn't for the Wayne Rooney style overhead kick assault of garlic that smacked me around the head about 30 minutes later. Like a secret assassin, the garlic had been hidden in what I thought was a benign yoghurty-mayonnaise. Why is it always the garlic you DON'T taste that is so lethal?

Maybe not appreciating the dangerous levels of garlic already in our bodies, we proceeded to have steak for dinner with sides of chips and Portabella mushrooms smothered in, you guessed it, garlic butter.

So, this is how I arrived at my garlic hangover this morning. I think it's gonna take about 48 hours to shift this doozie. Keep your distance!

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In other news, in case you live under a rock, it was the Oscars last night, that starry evening of film recognition and beautiful gowns.

My favourites were Mila Kunis, who, despite having a name that sounds like a disease, looked incredible in a flouncy, lilac Elie Saab number with lacy embellishments on the decolletage. In the past, she has looked edgy & a little rough around the edges but last night she looked demure and grown-up and dressed appropriately for the occasion. My second favourite was Gwyneth Paltrow, in a fluid, metallic Calvin Klein gown which gave her a mermaid-esque appearance. The dress accentuated her lean, athletic physique perfectly.

My surprise of the night was Celine Dion (she of the back-to-front tuxedo disaster a few years back) who was a knock-out in her close fitting, long-sleeved column dress. Celine is in her early 40s and had twin boys a mere 4 months ago, yet she has the figure of a woman 15 years younger. What an icon. Simple, yet stunning.

My least favourites were Amy Adams in a midnight-blue, sequinned gown, which, although was a beautiful dress, was accompanied by an unnecessary necklace (worth a reported $1.35m!!!!), Melissa Leo who wore a white and gold doilly and gave an awful, immodest speech and Nicole Kidman who wore an ill-fitting, ugly Dior Couture dress. She looked as though she could hardly walk in the monstrosity so I found it ironic when she was being interviewed and said that it was incredibly comfortable. Could have fooled me!

Still, a great night for British film with The King's Speech winning the top awards. Bravo!




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