Getting over the pity party.
About a week and a half ago, I went to see Shauna (of The Gluten-Free Girl fame) at Whole Foods. She was promoting her book,Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back...And How You Can Too and I bought a copy. I'd been hesitant to do so - not because I thought the book wouldn't be good, but because money was really tight for me at the time.
I'm so glad I bought that book.
It almost immediately brought my out of "feeling sorry for myself" mode. My husband had been saying "Don't think about what you can't have, think about what you CAN have," which was good advice, except that I couldn't think of what I COULD have. Shauna's book was able to finish that sentence for him. The book said "... and here's what those things are." (That's not all the book was about, but that was a big portion of the book.)
But now, I'm in a kind of "tough spot". The truth of the matter is that I'd love to try baking with specialty flours and flirting with gourmet ingredients, but I'm not exactly rich. And a lot of those things ARE expensive. So, I'm trying to figure out how to eaten gluten-free without breaking the bank or feeling that my food has become monotonous. I've found some inexpensive naturally gluten free things that have been pretty tasty. For instance, lunch yesterday was rice with cheese on top and tea eggs. It was pretty tasty, and not expensive at all. I packed it in my bento box and for some reason, that always makes things feel a little special.
To slightly switch topics, on Sunday night, we celebrated my mother's birthday at the Old Spaghetti Factory. They now have gluten-free pasta. It's actually pretty good, though it doesn't reheat very well (the same could be said about most noodles, however). The pasta is NOT spaghetti-shaped, but that's fine - it was spiral-shaped. It was okay with the spaghetti sauce, but was REALLY good with the mizthra cheese and olive oil. I think that it seemed like a simple pasta dish that way... maybe "old world" is what I mean to say. The pasta itself didn't really have much flavor, which isn't a bad thing. However, to be fair, I will admit that I'm constantly congested so it's hard for me to detect some of the "lighter" flavors. It had a slightly sweet hint to it. I'd be willing to order it again. Also, I called ahead and the staff was able to tell me what and how to order it in such a way that the kitchen staff would know what to do. It was nice. One of my little sisters was going to order the gluten-free pasta. I told her if she did, that she'd better not have any bread or the cake afterwards... or I'd personally kick her. Hard. I explained that it's hard enough to get places to offer such foods. It's even harder to get people to take us (people with gluten problems) seriously, and not just think it's a "fad" or worse, that we're being picky or want to be "treated specially" and are making it up/lying about it. She opted for the whole wheat pasta instead. I think she realized that I really would kick her. VERY hard. The dinner went fairly smoothly for me (food wise)... I only had a short wistful moment when the bread was down near me. I used to eat TONS of that bread every time we went (embarrassing amounts, really) but I thought really hard about how cruddy I'd feel for three days after eating it and it didn't seem as desirable after that.
I'm so glad I bought that book.
It almost immediately brought my out of "feeling sorry for myself" mode. My husband had been saying "Don't think about what you can't have, think about what you CAN have," which was good advice, except that I couldn't think of what I COULD have. Shauna's book was able to finish that sentence for him. The book said "... and here's what those things are." (That's not all the book was about, but that was a big portion of the book.)
But now, I'm in a kind of "tough spot". The truth of the matter is that I'd love to try baking with specialty flours and flirting with gourmet ingredients, but I'm not exactly rich. And a lot of those things ARE expensive. So, I'm trying to figure out how to eaten gluten-free without breaking the bank or feeling that my food has become monotonous. I've found some inexpensive naturally gluten free things that have been pretty tasty. For instance, lunch yesterday was rice with cheese on top and tea eggs. It was pretty tasty, and not expensive at all. I packed it in my bento box and for some reason, that always makes things feel a little special.
To slightly switch topics, on Sunday night, we celebrated my mother's birthday at the Old Spaghetti Factory. They now have gluten-free pasta. It's actually pretty good, though it doesn't reheat very well (the same could be said about most noodles, however). The pasta is NOT spaghetti-shaped, but that's fine - it was spiral-shaped. It was okay with the spaghetti sauce, but was REALLY good with the mizthra cheese and olive oil. I think that it seemed like a simple pasta dish that way... maybe "old world" is what I mean to say. The pasta itself didn't really have much flavor, which isn't a bad thing. However, to be fair, I will admit that I'm constantly congested so it's hard for me to detect some of the "lighter" flavors. It had a slightly sweet hint to it. I'd be willing to order it again. Also, I called ahead and the staff was able to tell me what and how to order it in such a way that the kitchen staff would know what to do. It was nice. One of my little sisters was going to order the gluten-free pasta. I told her if she did, that she'd better not have any bread or the cake afterwards... or I'd personally kick her. Hard. I explained that it's hard enough to get places to offer such foods. It's even harder to get people to take us (people with gluten problems) seriously, and not just think it's a "fad" or worse, that we're being picky or want to be "treated specially" and are making it up/lying about it. She opted for the whole wheat pasta instead. I think she realized that I really would kick her. VERY hard. The dinner went fairly smoothly for me (food wise)... I only had a short wistful moment when the bread was down near me. I used to eat TONS of that bread every time we went (embarrassing amounts, really) but I thought really hard about how cruddy I'd feel for three days after eating it and it didn't seem as desirable after that.
Labels: gluten issues, milestones, nablopomo, restaurant meals
