I really do not enjoy David Bowie. Actually, I think I’ve said that for a long time but haven’t ever given Bowie a fair chance. Maybe as part of the changes going on, I’ll be a little more open to Mr. Bowie. Maybe (probably) I won’t.
There has been a lot going on, thus the blogger MIA. Again. I’ve still been cooking quite often, though many meals have been thrown together last minute resorts without photos to accompany their creation or demolishing. I’ve been photographing tons. Though centered mostly on fall colors and everything the kids have been up to, rather than food.
I am officially a married lady, as of this past Tuesday. The mister and I kept things super non-stressful, laid back, and focused completely on the coming togetherness of marrying one another. It’s exciting and feels like a new beginning that only has room for real, positive, growth from here on out.
The evening we got married, I began experiencing sharp pains in my stomach. That night I got up at about 3:30 AM and thought a hot bath sounded good to help with the stomach pain… So I began filling the tub, then my ears began ringing, my head started spinning, and the only thing I could do to keep from falling over was to lay on the bathroom floor for a minute. I got up and climbed back into bed with a cold sweat going on and fell back asleep for an hour. When I woke up, the cold sweat was gone, my ears weren’t ringing, my head didn’t feel on fire, but the stomach pain was still stabbing. After reading about these symptoms and various other health issues I’ve had in the last year, including going through this mysterious stabbing pain for a week nearly 6 months ago, I decided to try cutting gluten out of my diet.
Its only been three days. I’ve been keeping track of everything I eat. The stomach pain’s gone – well, it was. I’m trying not to be discouraged about the fact that some of my favorite foods I need to stop eating. No more bread, wheat-based pasta, beer! I’m tryingto get excited about cooking and baking with some new ingredients, like coconut, almond, and various other flours. I tried my first gluten-free sandwich bread today (Udi’s), disappointed only in the size of such an expensive loaf of bread. The taste was great; hardly noticeable from any other bread I’ve had before. I have a feeling that will be one of my first experimentations: homemade gluten-free bread.
I’ve found that grocery shopping suddenly takes twice as long because I need to pay more attention to labels. I gave in to temptation tonight and drank a beer (although I guess there are gluten-free beers I can learn more about). And ate a brownie that The Mister’s mom made. Eating both those things definitely brought a noticeable change in the way I felt afterwards. (Bummer!)
I am finding myself having to learn about ingredients I know nothing about… Xanthan gum?! But that’s always an exciting thing for me. I enjoy change, too. So long as I can find some balance and maintain sanity in the meantime :)
Julie Hashimoto-McCreery
