This is a sponsored conversation, in collaboration with McDonald’s. Yes, I really eat there!
You know, there are lots of great reasons to love living in Northern California. Besides being a tech geek’s dream come true; we have the ocean & beautiful beaches, iconic state parks, gorgeous weather, diversity, wildlife galore, and now we also have McDonald’s Gilroy Garlic Fries! I’m hella happy about that! (See what I did there, “hella” … it’s a NorCal thang!)
What are Gilroy Garlic Fries you ask? Gilroy California, is known as the Garlic capitol of the world. Every July they hold the Gilroy Garlic Festival. By the time you leave the festival, after eating ALL things garlic, you will have garlic seeping out of your pores! The Gilroy Garlic Festival is where I first tried Garlic Fries a few years ago. I immediately fell in love with them at the festival. Matter of fact, I’d try to eat as many as I possibly could while there, because I knew I’d have to wait an entire year before being able to enjoy them again.
Guess what? My wait is over, because McDonald’s now has Gilroy Garlic Fries in their Northern CA locations! Last week I got to go behind the scenes & see just how these delicious fries are made, along with 8 other garlic-lovin’ bloggers. We donned our aprons & headed into the kitchen for a little hands-on garlic action.
It all begins with the sauce: olive oil & crushed garlic… but not just any crushed garlic, McDonald’s uses Christopher Ranch Garlic, because only the best will do. Hot fries are placed in a metal bowl, and a scoop of the sauce is added. Then a scoop of the parsley & parmesan cheese mixture is thrown in. Now the fun part: Get to tossin’! I was instructed to dig deep & get my (gloved) hands dirty, so I did. The result? A perfect Gilroy Garlic Fry.
I was tickled to be in that McDonald’s kitchen, making my own Gilroy Garlic Fries. The aroma of garlic was so strong, I wish I had a way to share it with you. We made our fries & then quickly ate them, they taste their very best when they’re nice & hot. What I haven’t mentioned yet is that this particular location is a Create-Your-Taste McDonald’s. I’d never been in one before and my mind was blown! There are huge kiosks that look like cell phones (at least that’s what they looked like to me!), that’s where you place your order. But wait- it gets better … you can customize your burger! There are ingredients listed on the kiosk screen that you’ve never seen on a McDonald’s menu before. Don’t believe me? How about grilled onions, mushrooms, parmesan cheese shavings, grilled tomato, guacamole, kale … and on & on & on! Here’s what the kiosks look like:
I made a little video, showing the order taking process on the kiosk…
Isn’t that the coolest thing ever? OMG! You should see the burger creations we came up with… I’ll share those next time! For now, I just want to invite all my NorCal readers to try the new Gilroy Garlic Fries at a McDonald’s near you! And for those of you planning on visiting the Bay Area soon, be sure to get yours too! 
You know I’m lovin’ it!
