Throwing Down the Gauntlet

It's come to my attention through gregarious trial and error, and much bemoaning the death of my taste buds, that there isn't a whole lot of choice out there for gluten free eaters. A friend of mine who, needs to go gluten free and hasn't yet, cites the difficulty of finding food to eat and the feeling of giving up on life, at least the life of her taste buds, as her reason(s) for not doing it. Well Audre, this is for you. And everyone like you who feels that they need help getting going and are overwhelmed with the lifestyle that being celiac or gluten free brings. I'm with you. All of you.

While I've been celiac, at least known I was celiac, for going on 3 years now I haven't been strict about adhering to the lifestyle. Being part of a family, my sister and I are the only ones who are celiac, makes living gf hard. Especially when my mom decides to order pizza for her and my brother, the only ones who can eat it and live. Then my will crumbles and it takes my sister "knocking some sense into me" for me to realize I choose life over pizza. Not an easy choice mind you, when I have the absolute best recipe for pizza...And it's been proven. (Unfortunately it isn't gluten free so oy!)

So this is me. Deciding that I want to have a gluten free bakery, at least one day, but for present I shall have to content myself with "proving" my dear friend wrong. My dear, I shall find a suitably drool worthy gluten free pita recipe. And what's more!: I shall make it! MWAHA!

Today marks day 1 and the beginning of my self imposed trial. I shall find gluten free alternatives to things like ciabatta, and pita (of course!;) and bread...REAL bread that doesn't taste like cardboard and doesn't crumble into dust when you try to eat it. Bread that makes you remember what a sandwhich used to taste like...And fulfills those same requirements. Being gluten free shouldn't mean the end of sandwhiches...It should mean the beginning of an adventure to try new things and learn about an entire new way of living. And the health benefits!!

With this in mind, I shall endeavor to accurately inform about the joys, sorrows and the inevitable successes and failures I shall face. This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship my duckies. Betwixt us...and gluten free bakery items!! HA!

This Just Proves It...

So, today I randomly decided to update my humble blog. I've spent almost all of my day between scheduling classes for the Fall and searching out gluten free blueberry muffin recipes...(At Next I completely defiled my celiac's and gorged on pizza, bagels and blueberry muffins...It is not an experience I would like to repeat. I was literally hung over for days afterwords. I don't really remember much of Sunday or Monday...And that's sad...but the stories shall be forth coming at a later time so that you all may laugh at me and my gluten induced awkwardness. Seriously, I think I made a lot of people really mad! And what makes it even worse it that I don't remember doing it!) But I digress.

And I came across comments that have been made by various people, the Stranger and my ex-blond roommate of something resembling elvish decent, and I realized that I've never actually mentioned how much I appreciate the comments that get left for me. They really do brighten up my day and make me happy...(If only momentarily:) So, I thought I'd take this moment to say thanks! Its greatly appreciated and I'd say more, but scrambled eggs are calling and my stomach is grumbling and I can only think of food at the moment.

But thanks for reading and posting! Some of the comments still affect me even after all this time when I go back and read them.!

Commencement

Sooo...A friend of mine (see dord defined) had commencement today...*sigh* He's gone and graduated from college as of today. What a day to graduate, Mother's Day of all days, I mean really! *shakes head*

So this is my congratulatory announcement to him. Great job! You've survived college and now have a B.A....Now, what was it you said? Something about going for a Phd?

There's good news and bad news for you hun...The good news? You're a third of the way done! Congratulations! Now all you have to do is survive another 3 or 4 years! Yay!

All joking aside, congratulations m'sieur! Can't wait to hear the stories..! and to see the pictures!

A Change of Pace

Hello all ye weary travelers! And merry welcomes to ye too! I have at last returned, and while I haven't really been forgetful of this merry band of thoughts and travails I have been unable to actually post anything...Sad really, but utterly true. (And for today's morbid trivia: Louisa May Alcott died exactly 100 years and about 5 months before I was born...Such a pity:)

I'm of half a mind to blather on about politics...My latest love...And speak of my views...It is so interesting what one learns when one tries to learn, isn't it?

I have a question in general...I'm interested in learning whether or not Jesus is/was against political involvement. Personally, I'm disinclined to believe so. Everything that Jesus did was froth with political implications. While he was never directly involved in the wonderful world of politics her certainly was involved with people who were involved in politics. But time alone will be able to tell me what I long to know. To get involved, or not to get involved. 'Tis the question of the hour...And one I long to answer. But alas! This was not meant to be dreary and to burden thee with such ponderings....Go now and be at peace, life goes on and so shall we all.

That's Right...MORE Poetry!! (cue maniacal laughter)

Today(or tonight depending) for your viewing pleasure we have the works of my two of my favorite poets. Namely E.E. Cummings and Arthur O'Shaughnessy....So firstly for ol'Arty!

Ode

We are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample the empire down.

We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.


And E.E. Cummings:

I Carry Your Heart With Me

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear; and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)
i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)


And now I shall leave you. I just thought I would post these. So enjoy!


- Rae

A Moment of Poetical Poetry...Otherwise Called: 'The Mood Struck Me'

So Sunday I was feeling a little poetic and wrote some, you guessed it!, POETRY!!! (And you were wondering what I was doing...! You naughty cabbage you!) And so my duckies I decided that I would post it for your viewing pleasure and let you be the judge!

On a side note, all comments are going to be moderated by me from now on. Why? Well, unfortunately someone decided that it would be hysterical to spam by blog with their stupid spammy-ness instead of commenting. Which is what a normal person would do, the commenting not the spamming.

At Hand
Bound from
and by
our sin
slavery holding
us still
killed by
choices we'd
made.
Death alone
holds us now
where has
the bright
hope
of dawn
fled to
whilst
we've been
dying?
killed?
For nothing
from nothing
is gained.
And night
has engulfed
us till now.
Arise O Sleeper
arise!
And look
to the east
with the dawn.
For night now
from dawn's waking
must flee
and behold
our king
sets us free.
Arise O Sleeper
arise!
Hope now
at last
is at hand.
And
death now
to death
has been
put.
And life
we've
been given
anew.
So sing with the dawn
you who slept
For sin no longer can hold
and now power
below
or
above
can take us now
from His side.
Arise O Sleeper
arise!
Arise O my soul
and give thanks
for now
at last I am free!
For Jesus
Himself
set me
free.
And love has now
bought my life
how much more
now my heart?
Arise O my soul
and give thanks!
Forever
together
we'll be
never
now to depart.
His kingdom
forever shall stand.
His kingdom forever
shall stand.
And peace's King shall
forever now rule.
Together
forever
I'll stay
forever and always
His now.

For Lack of a Better Title

So there's nothing really to 'report' on as it were...I'm part-way into the semester, again, and like some of my classes and can't stand others...Who really keeps up with the readings?? I mean, it's boring as all get out, and when you feel like the backside of a horse class readings are the last thing on your list...Or at least their the last things on my list. Whichever works for you.

Tonight I'm going to make Tiramisu, the gluten free version, and I am going to devour it like there's no tomorrow...Or at least like if I don't then my siblings and my roommate, the cookie monster (no joke), will eat it all first. Which is an entirely likely scenario let me tell you!!

Have I mentioned that I love Tiramisu?? No, well then let me take this moment to inform you of the wonders of this particular Italian cake. It's soft, moist, and creamy. It melts in your mouth and then leaves you with the delightful flavor of espresso afterwords. It's cheesy and, in my opinion this is the best part, it isn't incredibly sweet. The sweetness of the cake doesn't overwhelm you. It's a muted flavor that's kind of like oh, this is a custard-ish dish covered in cocoa and oh yeah, it's sweet too. Not that cloyingly annoying crap that is so sweet you can feel you teeth rotting. Yuck!! Ik! No, *shakes head* not like that. The Italians like to be subtle in their flavors, unless it's tomato (lol), and so the sugar content of this is a companion to the many flavors of the dish, not the main attraction. It is a light desert that is a wonderful way to finish (any) meal...At least in my opinion, which is why I'm going to make it! Mwahahahaha!!!!!!


Oh yeah, I went there...Look at me now!
- Rae

And You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Wyrder...(Boy Were You Wrong)

So today I randomly decided to check my blog and low and behold people had left comments...Now this isn't normally odd, but this time it was people I don't know. So I'd like to take a moment and say, YAY UK!! Woot!! YAY!! Apparently my blog's made it to the UK, and that totally rocks! So all you UKers out there, leave me a comment! I find it interesting to know what people think, so start a conversation already! (Really, I'm that bored!!)

On another note, Monday I went to the phlebotomist to get my blood drawn to test for diabetes and other stuffs that I'm not aware of, and after getting stabbed three separate times in both arms, and having a burst vein, I was sent home. Literally, I was unable to bleed, there wasn't any blood when she pulled the needle out! And my brother was convinced that it's because I'm a vampire and therefore am unable to bleed.

So, she was like, umm..you're really dehydrated soooo...Drink a lot of water and then come back. So the next day I went back, after drinking an obscene amount of water (really, if 70% of the human body is water and then I was drinking enough water to make it like all 100%) and Tuesday I went in and was actually able to give blood! The lady got the blood that she needed to perform the stupid tests!


And now I'm left to wait....and wait....and wait....and wait...And I'm still waiting, and it's the waiting that's killing me. I want to know what my results are!! UGH!


And now I'm off to help plan the June Show....Until next time!

Wow...

Since I've been diagnosed with Celiac's I've pretty much taken it to mean that my life, as I knew it, was over. And I promptly began the mourning process. Yeah, dark day at my house. It wasn't pretty.

But I have to say, once I started to do research on gluten-free recipes I started to see a silver lining. Ok, yes I have to make pretty much everything I eat from scratch. and yes I can't eat out anymore (I'm also really sensitive to chemicals. seriously, it's obscene I went to a friends wedding over the weekend (I'm so happy for you hun! and I can't believe she's married!) and I made the mistake of imbibing some of the punch...and I spent that night and the next day on my back (I kept feeling like I was going to pass out, was incredibly dizzy and my sight was fuzzy around the edges) so needless to say I'm not doing that again....Like ever!) but there's a silver lining here....Know what?! Know what?! I'm making and eating foods that I never would've otherwise....

Example? Applesauce. Now, many of you are probably already shaking your heads in exasperated wonder and thinking to yourself Self, is she serious? I've been making that for ages...And so have like a bazillion other people. Who's she kidding?? But let me tell you, I've never have I ever made applesauce. Never. And I don't know anyone in my family who's ever had the delight of ever making it either. So ha! I'm breaking ground!! Mwahahahaha!!! And when I'm done with that?? Know what??!! I'm going to ballet and then I'm going to make chocolate cake with espresso chocolate ganache icing...It's going to be warm and gooey and melt in my mouth and I'm going to melt into a puddle of Rae and enjoy every minute of it...

But that's just desert...So maybe being Celiac is the end of the world as I knew it, but hun, it's been the start of an entirely new one. (Yesterday I made salsa from scratch, loved every minute of it...Seriously I had the entire house eating out of my hand...Almost literally!! It was fun!) But I'm learning as I go, and making things I never would've even thought to make otherwise. So yeah, the world hasn't ended (yet) but I'm not suffering...I'm enjoying (almost) every moment!

~Rae

Canoli

Hello my friends, so for New Years I thought I'd make something a little sweet for my family. Since I'm a relatively new Celiac I've been scouring the wired trying to come up with things that I can eat...Being a poor college student doesn't really help matters much, but I do what I can.

Having said that, I wanted to do something special. After all, it was going to be a quiet New Years with just me mum and I. I wanted something to commemorate the occasion. So I found a recipe for gluten-free canolo (which is the singular form of canoli). They are an Italian desert made from deep fried dough and then filled with sweet cheese and sweetened (I used honey) and chocolate.

They were a hit! It went better after I realized that the oil was at too high a temperature and was burning my canoli dough before it was cooked all the way through...Ah, the joys of learning and baking! But it was fun (I got my blond roommate of elfish decent to help out at the end) and then my housemates ate like 5 each! (which is quite an accomplishment since they're very sweet) Even my mom (who had 4 right after they were made) couldn't seem to put them down! The general consensus was that they were wonderful and the only way to show that wonderfulness was to gorge themselves until bursting and then to groan about it the rest of the night!!

Ha!

All in all it was a great time and I enjoyed watching their faces as they ate. It certainly made it worth it! Now to try my hand at gluten-free cinnamon rolls and then who knows?