Opinions About Food: Udi's Gluten Free Sandwich Bread

Are you currently living in a tent due to the economic downturn? Are you currently living in a tent because you're occupying Wall St/Boston/Iowa City? If you're living in a tent for any reason, I've got great news for you! Udi's Gluten Free Breads are satisfying even without toasting!

Pros: Udi's breads taste good and they hold up slightly better than other breads. These breads don't have any of the weird beany, metallic, or odd flavors that some gluten-free baked goods have. These breads also lack the grainy texture of some gluten-free breads and bread-like products. I had a hamburger between two slices of their white sandwich bread and it crumbled/got soggy/disintegrated slower than typical gluten-free breads. I was able to eat about half of my burger before reverting to a knife and fork! Progress! It also makes a damn fine grilled cheese sandwich. This bread also freezes well, in case you don't eat a lot of bread.

Cons: The loaves are tiny. I felt like Gulliver eating  Lilliputian sandwiches. But the Glutenless Goddess don't care (That's a Honey Badger reference for those of you who aren't on top of old viral videos... NSFW). 

Go forth and fill your tent with Udi's bread. If you live in a high-end tent, go ahead and fill your breadbasket. 

Dating Gluten-Free

Pretty much everyone I know who reads this blog is neither dating, nor a glutard, but I thought I'd throw two cents at this topic anyway. Dating can be particularly tricky since many dates involve food and you may or may not feel like talking to strangers about your dietary regimen. Remember, it is ALWAYS up to you if you want to tell others about your food allergy, and it is up to you if you trust other people to prepare food for you.


I usually tell dates about my gluten intolerance. This way they understand why I am so picky about restaurants and food. While this has generally worked well for me, I have encountered some guys who could not deal with it. One guy did not want to go on a second date with me because he did not want to be part of this lifestyle. Fine, I understand that it is both difficult and intimidating. A different guy asked me an inappropriate question that I won't repeat here. That was just weirdsies. Sometimes I just didn't feel like talking about it, so I didn't tell the guy and was just secretly vigilant about my food. Most guys just ask a lot of questions and look a little terrified. This is normal and shouldn't freak YOU out. ...After all, most guys exists on pizza and beer alone for the majority of their 20s. If nothing else, a gluten sensitivity gives you something to talk about and you can educate another person. The more people we educate, the more people may be equipped to feed us! 


If you don't want to disclose your food allergy but still want to eat, you have a few options: (1) Obviously, you could offer to pick the restaurant. I tend to do this, since I know more than novices do about gluten intolerance (and most things. I'm a Dr, you know :P). I've also been accidentally poisoned so many times that I am kind of a control freak about my food. (2) You could do some sleuthing in advance by calling a restaurant and asking them if they can accommodate you and what they recommend. Both strategies spare you some of the questioning that typically happens when trying a restaurant you know nothing about. (3) You could also do non-food stuff, like coffee, or bowling, or trampoline dodgeball (which is apparently a thing). (4) If you're feeling lucky (and I am not the type of person that is inclined to hit that Google button), you can arm your date with some info and let them choose. This is risky, but I've done this before and it has been okay. ...But usually after I've known someone for more than a date or two. 


Bottom line, because I have to rush to catch my bus: If anyone gives you shit about your allergy, they ain't worth your time. Find someone who is willing to learn and who'll learn to deal, because you're worth it. There are plenty of good guys (and gals!) out there. 

There's Nothing Scary About A Gluten-Free Halloween!

Well, well, well... Look who finally decided to show up. Yeah, it's me. The past two weeks have been jam-packed with laptop malfunctions, so my after-hours productivity has mostly ground to a screeching halt. The gabillionth trip to the Apple store has me feeling optimistic that it was the final trip. After all, we are running out of parts to replace. 

Let me take a moment to give MOUNDS OF PRAISE to the kind folks at the Apple Genius Bar. Unlike my customer service experiences with Windows products, the people at Apple have been nice and helpful and have been willing to try to solve my problems ASAP rather than routing me through a phone tree that leads to hell. They believe me when I tell them that I've already restarted my computer twice and it didn't fix things. They give me little troubleshooting tips so I can learn to fix things on my own. They've even tried to figure out what the problem is before checking to see if I'm still under warranty. It is great to see my customer service/repair person in person and watch them try to fix my compu-beast, and to see them bump me up to the front of the line because I've been there recently. But this isn't a post about my love for Apple. This isn't even a post about my love for apples, even though I've gone apple picking twice in the past three weeks. This is a post about the opposite of apples. Instead of keeping doctors away, today we're going to talk about keeping your dentist in business. 

Admittedly, holidays in which it is customary for other people to give me food make me nervous as a glutard. I can never REALLY be certain that the people (who always mean well) didn't do something to accidentally poison me. Halloween is great, though, because treats typically come packaged. While each individual snack-size piece of candy may not have ingredients on it, the treats tend to be easily Google-able. Clearly, glutards want to avoid anything like Kit-Kats, Twix, or Take5's, which clearly contain cookies/pretzels and therefore are unsafe. There are tons of great glutard-friendly candies, though, so you won't even miss the mess that Twix make if you happen to sit on one that you left on your chair. For your Halloween-candy-binge convenience, I am linking to this list of Gluten Free Halloween candies. As always, I make absolutely no promises about the accuracy of the contents of this list. And as always, I am going to implore you to check every label of every food before you put it in your candy-hole. So don't sue me. But this list is a great place to start if you're looking for ideas. My personal favorite Halloween treats include Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (although if the special pumpkin-shaped ones are anything like the heart-shaped ones, keep your eyes peeled for wheat flour ::shrugs in disgust::), Almond Joys, Swedish Fish, and Hot Tamales. If you have higher-end Halloween tastes, Ghiradelli chocolates tend to be glutard-friendly, but beware that Lindor Truffes and Godiva chocolates usually are not. If you're a health nut, fresh fruits and veggies are gluten-free but not particularly exciting. At least not as exciting as candy websites try to be. 

Happy Halloween!

BRB

My computer is still broken, so I still can't post easily. I have a tumultuous history with electronics -- they have a tendency to be unreliable and leave me when I need them most, and I lean toward abusive tendencies. We recognize that it isn't ideal, but both technology and I try to embrace each others' faults so we can share in peaceful productivity and entertainment. I have an exciting post about Halloween treats bouncing around in the ol' noggin, so bear with me while I rebuild from the ashes of yet another technology snafu. 

Whoa. No Bueno.

My brain and my hard drive might be malfunctioning, so no blog post this week. 

As a reminder to all y'all out there: Back up now, back up often. 

Happy Columbus Day!

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue...


To celebrate his accomplishment, I'm going to peruse the internet for nice blogs, then try to claim them as my own.


Hope you also got the day off!

Mmm... Beer...

Greetings, adult readers.
Non-adults: How about you play in a pile of beautiful fall foliage while I talk to the grown-ups.


Coast clear?


Sweet. I found a new gluten free beer that I like, Estrella Daura. It doesn't taste like regular beer, but it is better than most of the gluten free beers I've had. (Disclaimer: I haven't had a lot of gluten free beers. After I went gluten-free, I switched to wine and harder things.) It doesn't have the weird metallic, sorghum aftertaste that New Grist has. It doesn't have the weird rice-y skunky flavor that Redbridge has. It is refreshing and satisfying. Go try some if you're 21 years of age or older. 


Does anyone out there have recommendations for other gluten-free beers? Know of any good foreign brewskies that we can get stateside? If so, I'd love to get other recommendations!