Until I met Kevin I was not aware that the opening day of baseball ranks right up there with Christmas, Easter, and the 4th of July…Now I know. Kevin puts it so eloquently: “If Baseball is America’s national pastime then the first day of the season is practically a national holiday and should be celebrated as such”. Therefore, in this house, we observe this glorious day with ‘traditional’ ballpark foods; hot dogs, French fries, and the like.
This year we decided on Bratwurst with sauerkraut and Safeco Field-esque Garlic Fries. For those of you who have never been to Safeco Field and like garlic (and I mean REALLY like garlic) I highly recommend you make the trip and try the real thing. Kevin and I first discovered these yummy little morsels half a dozen years ago on a road trip to Seattle to see the Mariners play the Rangers. The fries are incredibly yummy, but let me warn you. If you eat them make sure your ride home has either eaten them too or doesn’t mind the smell of garlic as it will be emanating from your person for some time.
On that last visit we drove down to my parents place after the game and spent most of the drive down I-5 with the windows rolled down to air out the car. Those burps were potent, but so worth it. 
So, in honor of that wonderful memory we decided to try and recreate them. I read several recipe versions from Mariners fans online and ultimately decided to wing it. I peeled a garlic and a half (no, not cloves…whole garlic) and ran them through the garlic press. Then I put the garlic in a small saucepan with about 2/3 cup of olive oil and heated it. You don’t want to caramelize the garlic, just cook it long enough to get a good strong garlic smell wafting through your house. Mine cooked for 2 or 3 minutes. Next, I strained out the garlic and put it in a mixing bowl and threw in a tablespoon or so of parsley in with it. I also added a teaspoon of salt.
While all this garlic-ness was going on I had some French fries cooking in the oven. I used frozen crinkle cut fries, but you could make your own if you were feeling really frisky. I cooked enough to just cover the bottom of a standard casserole dish. When the fries were done I lightly fried then in the oil that I had cooked the garlic in. Just enough to make them a little crispy on the outside (Seriously, I want to log 45 minutes on the elliptical just thinking about this). Then they were tossed in the bowl with the garlic mixture and tossed along with a handful of parmesan cheese.
By this time the whole house smelled like we were trying to prevent a Vampire Apocalypse. Thank goodness I’m not “Team Edward”, cause he wouldn’t be coming within a mile of this house for the next week (Yeah that’s right, I just threw in a Twilight reference….I am on a roll tonight). Count von Count, Dracula won’t be stopping by either so I guess we can rest without fear of the undead tonight. 
Anyway, let’s just say the results were yummy. Not sure how close they were to the real thing, but they were very good nonetheless. The sauerkraut and brats weren’t half bad either.
Now, before I go and sweat garlic out my pores on the elliptical I want to take a moment to apologize to Kevin’s co-workers in advance. If he comes in smelling a little, uh, whiffy tomorrow blame me. While making garlic fries were his idea, I’m the one who executed the feat. Oh, and Happy Opening Day to you all! Go Mariners!
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