5/13/14. The post where I talk about garlic and Nutella.

5/13/14: it continued to rain quite a bit through the night.  So much so that when I looked out the window this morning, I felt like a genius for packing my rain boots.

I slogged over to the convention center for day two of the conference, the envy of all my non-rain boot packing co-workers.  It was cold, rainy, and windy all day today and my foot was very angry about the whole situation.  I came back to my room at lunch time and elevated it for awhile in a vain effort to calm it down.

One of my co-workers had a birthday today, so after the conference several of us went to dinner to celebrate.  The birthday boy is a fairly finicky eater, so when the waiter brought the obligatory free birthday dessert, Nutella mousse, he was skeptical.  He had never had Nutella (heresy, I know), so another co-worker and I assured him that it was delicious and he would enjoy it. He took a bite off one end and exclaimed, "Yuck! It tastes like garlic!"  Who could possibly think Nutella tastes like garlic?  A second co-worker, who (inexplicably) had also never tried Nutella, then tried it and agreed with his assessment. What is wrong with these people?  My Nutella-eating co-worker and I each tried a bite off the other end and assured them it did not taste like garlic.  Finally, the fifth member of our party tried it and agreed that it did, in fact, taste like garlic.  Exasperated, I took another spoonful out of the end they had tasted, just to show them it was fine.  I got it halfway to my mouth and...holy stinking rose, Batman! I was overwhelmed by the smell of garlic.  I didn't even attempt to taste it.  

When the waiter came over, we told him about it and convinced him to try a bite.  He was horrified and, after offering us a replacement dessert, took it back to ask the chef to taste it.  He came back out and told us the chef's reaction after tasting it: "Well, that's odd."  Oui chef, Nutella mousse that tastes like garlic is, in fact, odd.  And is not going to help our finicky friend become more adventurous in his eating habits.  At least he'll have a good story to tell.

I had to call it a night early because my foot was particularly red and swollen and the pain level was getting out of control.  I suspect it may be a combination of all the walking and the storms, which have continued tonight.  Tomorrow, I have one more half-day of conference and then a drive back home. The weather is supposed to improve in the morning and I'm hopeful my foot will improve with it.  Otherwise, the drive home is going to be worse than garlic flavored Nutella mousse.