Wimberley Weekend

So this weekend was the last weekend that we have miss Brit with us before she and Ben head back to Jupiter (just north of West Palm Beach). We figured it would be fun to head to Corpus Christi so she could spend one last weekend with her cousin, Lauren, but it turned out that Lauren's family had other plans... they were going to be renting a house in Wimberley for the weekend.

Luckily, her family is extremely inclusive, and although her mom is no longer with Ben's brother, she was very kind and extended the invitation to us to come and see them. So, we packed up the truck, picked up Jasmyn (youngest niece on this side of the family, age 12), and headed to Wimberley for the weekend. The girls were going to stay with Lauren and her family at the house and Ben and I decided to stay at a bed and breakfast since afterall, we did just celebrate 15 years of putting up with one another! :)

The house was beautiful... five bedrooms, great kitchen, and a nice pool with a hot tub to boot! After spending time out here, Ben and I have made the executive decision that our family will be doing this from now on. It's so nice. Everyone is on neutral territory, no one has to worry about hosting, you can literally spend ALL DAY floating in the water relaxing, the men can be manly and grill, and at the end of the day you are just spending time being with the people you love!

After spending the entire day relaxing, Ben and I headed to our Bed and Breakfast, Highpoint Manor. It was only about 15 minutes away from the house, so an easy trek to get to. It was super quiet and we were met by I think the son or son in law of the owner and his cutie baby girl, Brooke. He informed me that they would have plenty of gluten free options for me at breakfast. (mmmm, I like this guy). Then he pointed out a tray of carrots and told us to take a few and feed the animals. ANIMALS! YAY! Let's see some animals, shall we?

After hanging out with the peacocks, tail-less cat, three legged dog (not shown), miniature horses, donkeys, and the llama, we hung out at the pool and then spent a while in the hot tub relaxing. Great way to end the night!



Got up the next morning and woke up to the smell of bacon (I don't like the taste, but I can very much appreciate the smell of it) and coffee and knew that we had a great breakfast coming. Thanks to these guys...

We had a great breakfast of farm fresh eggs, pancakes (well, Ben enjoyed those and I must say, they were QUITE fluffy), rosemary potatoes, homemade salsa, fresh fruit, juices, coffee... mmmm... it was delightful. So here we are, well rested and well fed and ready to spend another lovely day with family at the pool. Great weekend!



Oh, and today's happy gluten free tidbit... Bartlett's restaurant (used to be Houston's) has a gluten free menu. Happy day!!!

Whole Foods... Fail.

Well, I survived the weekend. I was a bit mopey but I stayed pretty preoccupied. Every now and then I would have a thought that would make me really miss my cousin but I know that things are really good for her right now. She's finally getting to LIVE with her husband, who spent the first year of their marriage in Afghanistan, and she's going to get to go to school - which is such a great thing for her. We spent Saturday afternoon out on the lake with some friends of ours and enjoyed some fun in the sun. My friend Kris was kind enough to bring me a sampling of a new gluten free beer... I think it's called Greene? Because the only one I can find in Round Rock is called Red Bridge. (which actually isn't bad at all!) Being out on the water and hanging out with these folks was a really good distraction. We got home and took a quick power nap, had some Jason's Deli for dinner (they offer a GF menu) and watched So You Think You Can Dance. Then I proceeded to have insomnia all night. LOVELY. Ben let me sleep in a little, though, so that helped.

We decided today to conquer WHOLE FOODS. I tend to shop at Sprouts. I really like it. It's small. It's reasonably priced. It's not so predictable that there is a music video about it. But Ben has been talking about going to Whole Foods and I humored him and said, SURE! Let's go. So the three of us piled in the truck and headed down to Capitol of Texas to Whole Foods.

$100 later and still needing groceries at HEB... we left Whole Foods. Do you know what was REALLY surprising to me? Whole Foods did not have Gluten Free worchestershire sauce. Lee & Perrins is GF and you can find it at any Grocery store. So I had to go to HEB to get it. It's little things like that that really annoy me. And I think that Ben learned that Whole Foods charges a premium just so you can say, "I got this at Whole Foods." Jeez. I'm just a Sprouts girl. There's nothing wrong with that.

I got something really thoughtful in the mail today. Beth Anne's mother in law (greg's stepmom) is celiac and is very active in the celiac community. She goes to conferences, meetings, etc. She and her daughter, Ellie, (who is also celiac) just got back from a national conference in Orlando. Upon her return she sent me some literature, some magazines, and a thoughtful letter and invited Ben and I to have dinner with her family. She specifically asked for my favorite dessert so that she can challenge herself to make it gluten free. I thought that was pretty sweet. :)

I'm making the fam gluten free meatloaf tonight; taking one of my old favorite recipes and using GF bread crumbs rather than the standard ones. Wish me luck that it doesn't fall apart...

Stupid La Margarita. Stupid Kansas.

Ben is not much of a mexican food fan. I'm okay with that because I'm lucky to work with a group of people who are so I frequently get my fix. However, Ben and I finally were able to compromise with a restaurant called La Margarita. He loves it because they have these disgusting Mexican White Wings that for some reason people tend to obsess over.

Chicken, wrapped in bacon, with some buffalo type seasoning and a jalapeno in the middle. I don't see it. But if it makes him eat at a mexican food restaurant with me, he can eat them all he wants. In fact, he takes them with him everywhere he goes. He takes them to parties. He takes them to friends' houses. The man likes his white wings.

Anyway. Since I've been learning the hard way that even though things appear safe to eat, they aren't always what them seem, I decided to ask the question... "I assume that my order is gluten free"? (My constant order here is bean chalupas.) NOPE. These people make their chalupa shells with a mixture of corn and wheat flour. *cry*. Which is also how they make their chips. So nachos are out. Oh, and they make their corn torillas on the same surface as their flour tortillas, so eat at your own risk. And their fajitas are in a marinade that has soy sauce. So essentially I'm screwed. Which is what I kindly told the waitress. I was a bit pissed. Completely not gluten friendly, and it's disappointing because I literally would eat there at least once a week with either Ben or my coworkers. Guess I'm eating salad.

My sister got the results of her celiac blood work this week and it turns out that her numbers are positive for celiac. Her GI wants to do an endoscopy for her on Monday. She's super stressed about it but I am so glad she's moving forward with the process. There are a number of things that I'm hoping will help her. She's plagued with Migraines and Lactose intolerance... both of these are things that may improve with a gluten free diet. I've been doing a LOT of reading about this and as much as it sucks, at least we can work through it together!

We went to a roast for my boss last night, who just celebrated 15 years at Dell... the roast was at a bar called Cover 3. I looked at the menu and pitifully asked if there was anything that I could eat... the waitress was very kind, asked if I was just eating GF or if I was celiac, then made a recommendation. She brought me a delicious dish of ahi tuna served over spinach (instead of noodles, which is how it's typically served) and informed me that the chips were made in a separate fryer and they were absolutely GF, as was the queso and guac. Turned out to be quite delightful and I'll now ensure I visit this restaurant!

So it was a nice evening until I had to go to my cousin's house to say goodbye. :( That sucked. Stupid Kansas. Laura made sure to remind me that it's all my fault, I introduced them. Love you cousin!

Happy Fourth!

I have had a long, but good weekend.

I went to Dallas on Friday to go see my sister and her husband and my oh so beautiful niece, Ida Pearl. We took Ida to the Dallas Aquarium.. I was really surprised by how pretty the aquarium was... it's modeled as a rain forest and it doesn't have just fish, it also has an array of animals... otters, monkeys, penguins... just a really pretty, relaxing jaunt through the rain forest.

On my way to Dallas I had some friend drama that I had to deal with, so it was really nice to spend the evening with my sister and Greg and Ida. They are really good therapy. :) I was still in a bit of a crappy mood but they helped me to get over it a little faster at least. But of course, I'm already irritated and we go to dinner and the damn queso at the restaurant isn't gluten free. Come on, people. There are a number of things that I have to do without in this life now... QUESO? Not okay. Oh well.


The next day I went to my friend Priscilla's baby shower. I have known Priscilla since we were 13 years old so it's really fun for me to get to help throw a baby shower for someone like her. The girl looks amazing. She's 36 weeks pregant and is all baby. The woman is STILL going to the gym. Really? She's a nut. I threw the shower with two of her friends, Valerie and Sooh. We looked at a few options for throwing the shower and decided to use a caterer eventually to do all the food. Omigosh, best decision ever, thank you Sooh. If you are in Dallas and need a caterer for a party, I highly recommend this caterer... I'm too lazy to get the card so the name will have to come soon. :) She was awesome not only because the food was excellent, but also because she was able to clearly articulate what was in each and every dish she made. A good percentage was gluten free so I was not starving at the shower. (SCORE). People hung out, but I was the only one who ended up staying with Priscilla and Simon for the night. I had the chance to catch up with the both of them, which I don't get to do all that often and I love each time I get the chance. We ended up staying up late flipping through channels, and I kid you not, we found a movie called Ticked Off Trannies with Knives. AWESOME. Needless to say the little pregnant lady didn't want to watch that for very long and we turned it off about twenty minutes in. It was horrible but dammit, I can say I watched part of it!

Came home on Sunday and went to a BBQ that Sheila and Justin had... Betsy brought Tom and Kate over and JJ and Gwen came as well. I made some kick arse Burgers with Bleu cheese and red onions... hey, I just realized that this was quite patriotic of me... (didn't have the bun, but the burger itself was quite tantalizing). We hung out, had tasty beverages, hung out with the kiddos ranging from 2 months to 19 years and had a really good time. It was definitely quality time, which was the most important thing. We left there and this morning had round two with Sheila and Justin as we went to Blue Hole in Wimberly. We had brittany and her boyfriend, plus Lauren and her boyfriend and his cousins... then we had Justin and SHeila, and we met Lindsay and Travis and he had his stepdaughters with him... so a big group. We brought a nice sized picnic and laid out in the sun half the time and hung out in the ice cold water just relaxing. A great way to spend a fourth of July. I may make a new tradition out of this. We packed up camp about 4:30 and headed back to town so we could get up to Georgetown, one of the only local areas with fireworks since the drought is so horrible out here. I'm so happy I saw my fireworks, the fourth just wouldn't have been the same without them!

I'm now sitting on the couch with the dogs... the boys are playing a video games, Brittany is passed out on the couch and Lauren is doing laundry because she leaves tomorrow. :( I always miss her when she leaves, she's good people. I guess I should retire for the evening, I'm exhausted. Been a long weekend for a number of reasons but it ended up being really good.

... and it just gets better

I've had a rotten few weeks getting used to this gluten crap. And I know that people are sick of hearing me talk about it. I ended up in tears the other night because my husband said, "what can your gluten intolerant self have for dinner?" He didn't realize that I'd had a bad few weeks; well, he kind of did because I'd told him a few things here and there but things just start to snowball and then one comment just sends you over the edge.

Brittany came into town for Memorial Day and we took her to Tomo, one of our favorite Sushi restaurants. Ben and Brit sat down and started going through the menu... and I did too... and I slowly realized that all of my favorite rolls except for one have tempura. Which, of course, is on my bad list. So Ben and Brit order a few of the rolls that I can't have, and I order the one that I think I can still have and a new one that Tina, waitress extraordinaire, recommends I try. Oh, and I get to try the gluten free soy sauce. Yay. At least they had it and I didn't have to stoop to being that person who pulls the huge bottle of soy sauce out of my bag. We have dinner and I get kind of quiet because at this point I'm starting to really realize that this is sucking, especially as they are devouring rolls that I have always enjoyed. And really, 95 percent of the rolls on the menu have tempura. Now I know that I don't have to have rolls. I can have sushi, I can have sashimi. But I really like Tomo's rolls. I did order some sashimi. Mmmmm...

Life goes on, right?

The next weekend I fly out to Jupiter to pick up Brittany to drive with her back to Austin. On my way to West Palm, I eat at Pappadeaux and order a salad... there's something hidden in the salad that decides to attack my system. Now that was fun, feeling totally sick for a 13 hour drive from West Palm to Mississippi, where we had a two night stop.

We get to Mississippi where we stay with my grandparents... I hadn't been to Mississippi in about 10. maybe 11 years. My grandmother is a phenomenal cook. especially southern cooking. Brittany had made the special request months ago that Lala, my grandmother, would make her chicken fried steak; since I make it for her and Ben on occassion and she wanted the original chef to make it. :) If you'd ever made chicken fried steak, you'll know that you dip it in seasoned flour prior to frying it. So that means I can't eat this recipe anymore. My grandmother is awesome. She did some homework and created a gluten free version of chicken fried steak for me. She used rice flour instead of wheat flour and though the texture was a bit different, it was still delicious. She even made me my own gravy! Now that's love, people! I thought it was really sweet that she did for me.

We got back to Austin and since I've been back, I've been trying to be really good; reading labels, coming home for lunch more than going out so that I don't have to play a guessing game at restaurants to figure out what is and isn't gluten free... I'm not comfortable yet being that person in a group who has to ask the waiter/waitress questions about how food is prepared, is it seasoned with flour prior to grilling it, etc. I'm just not there yet so it's easier just to come home and make a lettuce wrap. :(

I was told by my GI to meet with a nutritionist. We've met twice now. The first time we met she looked over my symptoms and asked me some questions and told me that she thinks there is something that I've been eating still that has gluten. I racked my brain and couldn't figure anything out. Finally I sent an email to the cafeteria at work... every morning, I get to work. I dock my computer, I get my wallet and go to the cafe. I go to the breakfast bar and Jose makes me a breakfast taco on corn tortillas with refried beans and red onions. It is my happy way of starting the day. All the above ingredients are safe, but I thought I should check, just in case.

I get an email from the cafeteria manager:
The refried beans have SOY SAUCE. WTF. WHY!?!?!?!

So now I can no longer have my damn daily breakfast taco. Steal more joy from me, celiac. Keep it coming.

Nutritionist had me take a zinc test. She dropped zinc on my tongue and asked me what I tasted. Uh....nothing? Evidently this means I have a severe mineral deficiency. I'll use that as my excuse for having thin hair, crappy nails and being short. YES!!! So she now has me on four supplements that I have to take with my meals (temporarily, this is not permanent) to help with getting some of my innards working appropriately again and hopefully speeding up the process of healing so I can increase my nutrient consumption.

Whatever.

So on Friday Brittany and I have a date night where she and I go to sushi. We go to Tomo again. I order and I ask for the gluten free soy sauce and this time I ask the waitress if the tempura is MAYBE made with rice flour? No such luck... but this triggers her to realize that I can't have the wheat and she tells Steve, the owner.
1.) It turns out that my favorite sashimi dish that I like to have - I shouldn't have been eating that, Steve had to modify that. (it still tasted good, so it's okay)
2.) The two rolls that I was able to order that time with ben and brit... yeeeeeeah... they served them both to me, this time with absolutely no tantalizing sauce which makes the dish that much better. Just naked rolls. No love. It was depressing and quite honestly a really good lesson. I do need to communicate with people when I order about this stupid situation because I don't know what is in the things I'm eating, even if I think I do.

So although I've been trying to be good, I've still got a LONG way to go.

I think I'm going to eat in more and try and do more research on restaurants before I go to them if I possibly can.

This. Just. Sucks.

On a postive note, I do want to recognize my friend Bryan at Vino 100 Round Rock. We had a party for my cousin who is moving away (waaaaaaah) and he was kind enough to make me awesome gluten free mac and cheese since we served mac and cheese to everyone else. For those of you who haven't been there, Vino is not just a wine bar, it's also got amazing food... and the mac and cheese is out of this world!!!! So though the situation sucks, kindnesses like Bryan's effort, (plus he made a super sweet (no pun intended) dessert), my grandmother's chicken fried steak, and efforts of my friends who try to understand and proactively send me links and tell me about foods and things they learn about are pretty damn cool.

I'm BACK!

So it's been more than three years since I've posted anything on a blog. But recently I've had something that I really want to vent about and I'm sick of talking about it so I think that blogging about it is a great idea.

I've had the chance to go to the web and see a lot of blogs that are out there about this particular topic (a lot) and now I GET IT. I understand why people blog about this. Because it's frustrating and it SUCKS. What am I talking about? Celiac. Yes. That. So I decided that rather than bend everyone's ear, I'm just going to start blogging. I figure that this can be therapeutic.

All my life I have not been a fan of some of the simple things in life... bread. Pasta. Pizza. My friends would tease me and tell me I was a freak of nature. "Who doesn't like BREAD?" "Really? You don't like Pizza? You're weird." Over time I realized that really, when I would actually be polite or humor my husband and go to an italian restaurant for dinner, I would feel really sick after eating one of the above items. I always wondered in the back of my head if I had an allergy or something but I figured that my body just wasn't used to dealing with that type of food and so I had a hard time digesting it. Well, about three months ago, I ran home for lunch. We had no food in the fridge that looked decent. All that I saw that appeared remotely edible was some Velveeta Mac N Cheese. How much harm could that do, right? Within 30 minutes I just wanted to die. I sat at my desk for the remainder of the afternoon and wallowed in self pity. I still didn't take any action but I realized that I really did have a problem.

Luckily, since I live in the Austin metro area, the capital of ALLERGIES, I had an appointment with an allergist, Dr. Thomas Leath. AWESOME allergist, btw. I asked him to test me for a wheat allergy. I sat there for my 15 minutes of itching, with many allergins poked in my back. I waited with excitement to get the results... and nope. No allergy to wheat. Dammit. So he sent me to the lab and said that he would send my blood to be tested for celiac disease. I knew that the chances of that being the case were pretty slim.

A week later I get a call from Dr. Leath. Lab results are in and I've tested positive. My initial reaction was honestly one of utter joy - in fact, it shocked him. But I explained to him that I finally felt validated that I wasn't crazy! And hell, I don't like bread. I don't like pasta. This can't be that bad, right?

Next step: go to my GI and get an endoscopy just to get that final stamp of confirmation.

I go to GI a few weeks later and he reviews the test results - based on the blood work he doesn't doubt it but still needs to do the endoscopy. He schedules it for the next week. I won't bore you with the details; but I will tell you that I had the best nap ever during that endoscopy and I will raise my hand to have that done any day. Results come in and everything is confirmed. This girl has to go gluten free from now on. Again, this can't be that bad, right?

My brother in law's stepmom has celiac as does her daughter. She was kind enough to send me an email with tons of resources for me to read and review. I went out and bought a book, The Gluten Free Bible, which she recommended and proves to be pretty interesting reading. In addition, I bought my first of what I anticipate to be many cookbooks. This is easy.

It was a Tuesday night, which of course means it's Taco Tuesday at the Bernfeld house. When it's beef taco night Ben particularly likes to use Taco Bell dinner kits (which is endearing since I love Taco Bell) - Don't JUDGE. I open the box... I take out the shells... all is good. I put them on the tray. I put the beef in the pot. Brown. Smells good. I take out the seasoning. Ingredient number one... WHEAT FLOUR. DAMMIT. Luckily I had some extra Penzeys seasoning that my sister bought me for Christmas and they looked safe so I used those. Ben started to sulk and I had to start explaining to him that life was going to be changing. Okay, so maybe this wasn't going to be so easy after all...