What to Do This Weekend: 7/29–7/31

Hi friends! I've been busy pulling together a writing sample for a possible future job I'm really excited about, so this week is full of tangents. Like always, right? Sorry....

creepy garlic guy from nowpublic.com

Friday, July 29–Sunday, July 31:

Gilroy Garlic Festival: I know this event is far, but I’ve always wanted to go because I love events centered around one food item and figured someone else that reads this blog might share my love. While there are a ton of other activities going on during the festival, like live music, cook-offs and a Miss Gilroy Garlic competition, for me it’s all about the food and smelling like garlic when I sweat for the next week. Garlic fries, pasta, garlic bread, stuffed mushrooms, and garlic ice cream are just a smattering of the items that will be lacing your sweat with an enveloping putrid aroma. How far is it to Gilroy again? 10am–7pm, $15.

Christmas Hill Park

7050 Miller Ave., Gilroy

Website

Saturday, July 30:

from mlb.com

Oakland A’s Beer Fest: This 15^th annual event gives you access to 30 different microbreweries, including 21^st Amendment, Pabst (does that really count as a microbrewery?), Sudwerk Brewery, and Trumer Brauerie. Tainted Love (are those the guys that do ‘90s covers over at Dan’s?) will be providing the tunes. Who wants to go with me? Better, who wants to go with me AND get my shift covered at work? Eh? Eh? Free admission with game ticket (when I looked to see what was available the site was down), but you can splurge for a souvenir mug and three tastings for $12. When you consider the price of beer at a ballgame, not such a bad idea. 4:05–6:05pm, with the last pour at 6.

Eastside Club, Oakland (o.co?) Coliseum

Website

Saturday, July 30–Sunday, July 31:

Park Street Art & Wine Faire: Arts, crafts, food, beer, wine, and mimosas. Really, if all else fails just go down to Scolari’s, order something (really, anything) and post up at Lucky 13 with a beer and amazing food. There’s also a petting zoo, if petting soft things when you’re drunk is your whole bag. Free as far as I can tell, 10am–6pm.

Park St., Alameda

Website

Openings:

Home of Chicken and Waffles (Walnut Creek) is still open, and an anon commenter assured me it's real, with chairs and people and everything!

Zaika (Berkeley) is a 120-seat Indian restaurant that opened up in the old Meridian International Foods Cafe spot on University Ave. [Tablehopper]

Reviewed:

• Go enjoy Berkeley's Best Ice Cream, as voted by Berkeleyside readers.
• Boot and Shoe Service's New Cafe
• Or try out 7x7's list of the best brunch spots in the city
• East Bay Express stopped by Smokey J's, the new barbeque place on Shattuck in Berkeley. 
• Skates on the Bay (Berkeley) gets a visit from the Chron and survives.

Under Review: C.R.E.A.M.

Stopped by C.R.E.A.M. (Cookies Rule Everything Around Me) the other night, despite a friend's insistence that the line was "always out the door." I mean, I guess, but that's because the inside is like a shoebox, if shoes smelled delicious and doled out goodness sandwiched in more goodness. The concept behind C.R.E.A.M. is ice cream sandwiches. That's it. You pick your ice cream, you pick your cookies, and depending on what server you get they either make it with tender loving care or slap it together haphazardly because they hate you, as you can see to the left. Mine (top left): Two oven-warmed chocolate cookies gently but snugly hugging cookie dough ice cream. D's (bottom right): A scoop of chocolate roughly forced into two hard peanut butter cookies. My sandwich was delicious and gooey, albeit extremely difficult to eat since the ice cream keeps pooping out the back of your sandie. They've got quite a list of amazing sounding ice creams and cookies, making combinations like old fashioned cherry vanilla with butter sugar or mint chocolate with oatmeal (I don't judge!) possible. Also, the sandwiches are uber cheap at $2, so you can try as many traditional or fucked-up versions as you want.

Side note: Do not try and take pictures in there. They will glare at you, as evidenced by the picture below. She was not a happy individual. 

C.R.E.A.M.

2399 Telegraph Ave., Berkeley

http://creamnation.com/