From there to here…

So, what am I doing here in the blogosphere? Well, about a decade ago I discovered gluten and I were no longer friends. And our relationship-ending fight was bad enough to make it a permanent breakup. I grieved the end of my love affair with gluten in all its various forms: crusty bread, tender cakes, chewy cookies, pizza, cinnamon rolls, and every other yummy wheat-, barley-, and rye-containing foodstuff you can imagine. I loved them all.  I have been baking since I was but a wee lass, including making my own birthday cakes from age 8 onward. So, as you can imagine, it felt kind of tragic to be forced to make a relatively drastic change.  

Lest you think I only eat (and make) baked goods, I also cook actual meals for my family frequently. Few things give me a warmer fuzzy than creating a really good meal to feed people I love.  But I was not about to prepare a separate meal for myself after making a gluten-full recipe for my family, and I also didn’t want to chance gluten-contaminating myself by commingling ingredients. So, the no-gluten transformation was quickly complete. It was a bit rocky at first, as it was still fairly uncommon at that time to find much of anything that was gluten-free, anywhere. So I bought gluten-free cookbooks, searched out GF recipes on Pinterest, and experimented on my own. I had some delightful successes, and some disheartening failures. Now, I’m happy to say, nearly every store has some gluten-free flours, breads, baking mixes, pasta, and other staples. Most restaurants offer at least one or two GF options, and some have realized that they can make a large part of their menu gluten-free, simply by making small changes that don’t sacrifice one bit of taste. I’ve also had a decade of becoming comfortable cooking and baking without gluten, so it’s no longer scary, and I no longer feel like I’m missing out. I also came to realize that I am very fortunate to be able to choose other foods in order to avoid feeling ill; there are many, many people out there with conditions, diseases, and syndromes that do not respond (or respond enough) to dietary changes, and they must pursue treatments that leave them dealing with side effects from those very treatments. I am thankful that the only side effect I have is having to do some detective work to verify which foods I can eat.

And then, my middle child developed a whole slew of dietary restrictions concurrent with her alphabet soup diagnoses: POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome), MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome), and EDS (Ehlers-Danlos syndrome). Some of the dietary things are temporary, depending on her overall health status, and some are probably here to stay, at least for the time being. So if she is eating, I’m making food that is not only gluten-free, but also dairy-free, nut-free (although she can tolerate cashews and pistachios), shellfish-free, and low-sugar. Sometimes we are focusing on low-FODMAP, when her GI issues are center-stage. And often she remarks that our AIP-friendly meals make her feel the best. When our food is our medicine, I feel like I’m getting it right.

And let’s not forget the cocktails! I’ve long been a fan of a nice glass of wine with dinner, or a GF beer on a hot summer day. Recently, my bestie and I have embarked on a quest to learn how to make proper cocktails. And how to drink them. Like real grown-ups. (Many grown-ups do not drink alcohol at all, which is obviously totally fine. And sometimes necessary. So at times I will share mocktail recipes, because there are occasions when that is just the right thing.) There is a whole world of flavor out there that we are just discovering, along with joy in the process of creating delicious, fun drinks.

The central theme here is sharing a meal or a drink. No matter how much I love to cook, or bake, or mix drinks, I’m really only interested if I can share it with someone; it might be family, or friends, or sometimes friends I haven’t met yet. So let’s break bread together. Let’s share the beautiful experience of nourishing our bodies while we nourish our souls with companionship. Let’s remind ourselves that we are all in this together, and that we can support and encourage one another. And let’s make our bread a new one, one that we can all enjoy.