Blogging at Home - why dont I do it?

Ok, I am making a commitment to myself to blog at least once a week. The best food I have is the food I make myself, yet I neglect to post or take photos of some of our delicious meals.

So after this next trip to the UK and Norway, I WILL be posting home cooked and uncooked foods and recipes.

On Friday alone I made butternut squash soup, vegetable soup AND tofu scramble! Unfortunately, NO photos!!! But here's a photo of my beautiful grandchildren instead!

San Francisco -Vegan Paradise, but not for me

Fructose Malabsorption!!! My recent attempt to reintroduce some foods has NOT been successful, so for now it's back to basics.

A trip to San Francisco on Virgin Atlantic(great airline) confirmed the necessity of always bringing food. There was very little I could eat (Because wheat is a fructan I cant have it, so SOME gluten free foods work well) The gluten free crackers that came with the veggies and dip were delicious! And the veggies were great! But the hummus and curry dips did not come with an ingredient list and I indulged anyways! My guess is there was onion or garlic in one or both and I suffered for days!!!

When my daughter flew up from LA we eagerly set out deciding which vegan friendly restaurant we would visit, would it be Millenium, Greens or Cafe Gratitude? Due to torrential rain, we settled on the closest, Cafe Gratitude. It was a bit challenging to find something without onion, garlic, apple cider vinegar or agave, and very disappointing that there was not one dessert without agave or honey! The vegan thing and eating out just does not work for a fructmal! I ended up with a veggie tamale, black bean, a salad instead of the coleslaw, and some awesome cashew cheese sauce! My daughter had the same with the Mexican cilantro coleslaw which was pronounced delish!!!

The Ferry Building was delightful, the shops and the aromas so inviting. Farm Fresh to you provided enough take out to carry me through a few days of hotel meeting and conference foods, and I did indulge in a gluten free goodie from Mariposa Bakery.

My lesson - next time rent a car!!!!

Green In San Antonio, TX

Fabulous!!

More LA Food

More places I liked, Bird Pick in Pasadena for the great iced teas, Eple at the LA farmer's Market for juices that I could have(kiwi) and Hugo's for some gluten and fructose free friendly meals.

Real Food Daily I think I love you

My absolute favorite restaurant (as of June 2010). Celebrity sightings abound so I have been told, but I was unaware - it was all about the food. From the appetizer, a sweet potato something, to my daughter's noodles, to my vegan blt wrap - couldnt eat the wrap-RFD PLEEZ get gluten free wraps - it was a delight. I LOVE tempeh bacon when it's done right, and this was so good I went back twice this trip to have more.

RawVolution - sadly my mecca no more

RawVolution in Santa Monica!! How I loved you from afar, ordered your food, and dreamt of the day I could visit. And when the day came, alas, with a fructose malabsorption, there was almost nothing I could have! All your treats contained the dreaded agave nectar or honey. I did indulge in an almond milk which was, sorry to say, a total disappointment. My own is much better.

Santa Monica - on the road to recovery

Looking at this photo and comparing it to a more recent one, it's like night and day as far as how healthy I look. This was at the beginning - my diagnosis, depression and fear of food. At the wonderful Urth Cafe in Santa Monica I had small dishes of beans(which don't bother me in moderation - but if you are fructose intolerant better check it out before eating in a restaurant), avocado, rice and cheese(took a lactaid) and had on lettuce as they didnt have corn tortillas. It was great! And was the beginning of thinking - yes, maybe I can do this. Drinking ice tea which is my staple in restaurants as well as sparkling water.

I lived on corn tortillas with rice and beans and happen to LOVE them. Hugo's Taco stand in LA is awesome and very very cheap - wish I had taken a photo - next time!!!!

I also indulged in sugar free frozen yogurt at Menchie's (read the labels and they use small amounts of dextrose which I CAN have) with nuts as topping. There were so many choices here that I cannot wait to return!

Fructose Free

I was ready to stop blogging after being diagnosed with a lactose and fructose intolerance, also known as fructose malabsorption, several months ago. The lactose isn't so bad, I wasn't eating much, if any, and there is a pill that will provide the enzyme. The fructose diagnosis was devastating. Most of the vegan foods I was eating contained fructose. My favorite foods - apples, pears. peaches, watermelon, actually most fruits, asparagus which I LOVE, onions,honey, agave were all on the no list.

A trip to LA to visit my very supportive daughter helped me to see that there were lots of things I could eat, and it could be an adventure finding foods, especially restaurant foods that were acceptable!

I had been super healthy with food for a long time, eating fresh fruits and vegetables, whole foods, and buying organic when available. I began having symptoms several years ago that seemed to be connected to food but I couldn't make the connection. I had digestive symptoms sometimes immediately after eating, sometimes not, everything from severe pain, gas, and the classic fructose malabsorption "bathroom urgency". I also had frequent headaches, fatigue and a discomfort in my eyes which caused me to use eyedrops regularly. I never felt as if I looked well. Thus started the journey from vegetarian to macrobiotic to vegan to raw vegan. All of my dietary changes seemed to work in the beginning but the symptoms always came back. I was diagnosed with irritable bowel and the regimen of adding fiber and imodium seemed to work at first, like everything else, but the symptoms returned. I became afraid to eat. Finally I had the lactose and fructose breath tests which were very high positive. The first week of low fructose was brutal, I felt weak, tired and sick. But the symptoms were gone, and have not returned unless I eat something I shouldn't. And that's the hard part.

Why did this develop over time? There are theories out there about our bodies being unable to handle the SAD diet of processed foods and modern sweeteners over time, there is a theory that our bodies lose enzymes over time, and then it is proven that sometimes after an episode of gastroenteritis, we get stripped of proper enzymes. The latter is what my dr thinks is my case. It doesnt really matter, though it does give me hope that this diet may just be temporary.

So basically there are some foods that are high in fructose that I just cannot have. Then there is another group of foods containing fructans that I may be sensitive to(I am), and they include wheat. There is another group called polyols, which contain sorbitol and many other -ols, and yes, I am sensitive to this group as well, meaning NO sugar free gum.

There is a lot of conflicting information out there, some hospitals list foods on the ok list that others list as nos. It's pretty much trial and error. Monash University in Australia is continuing to do research, and publishes a brochure that is pretty good. There is also a yahoo group out of Australia that has great resources, including Sue Shepherd's diet, which has a large following in Australia.

Fish Soup

The island of Ona, near the beautiful village of Aalesund, on the west coast of Norway, has one restaurant that serves what must be the best fish soup in the world. It is heaped with lobster, shrimp, crab, whitefish, carrots and more! I could not believe that this restaurant, on an island with only 40 year round residents had gluten free bread. With a lactaid pill in hand(certain it was a cream base) I was near heaven.

Chocolate

Today my entire office went out for lunch, as we always do when my boss is here from the UK. It was nice to have a break from Legal Seafoods and random places that the boss reads about on TripIt - NOT good. We went to the Fat Cactus on Rte 1, brand new and still finishing construction outside. It took a while to get the food and the service was less than stellar, but the food was not bad, I got the vegetarian quesadilla, the jicama slaw was amazing! Best item on the menu.

When we returned to the office my co-workers had a 10 year anniversary celebration for my boss and I!!! Champagne - or sparkling cider for the non drinkers like me, strawberries, and chocolate. Godiva chocolate, assorted truffles and a big box of chocolate covered biscuits. As much as I like to eat healthy and vegetarian or vegan, whatever my thing is, when I see chocolate, I have no dietary restrictions.

The Godiva was good, but I have to mention my recent absolute favorite chocolate ever!! And it's vegan!! Lagusta Yearwood's Bluestocking Bonbons. The truffles are the best I have ever had, flavors like beet coriander, apple fennel, chipotle vanilla, raspberry balsamic, I've tried them all, and they're amazing! My favorite of her other chocolates are the peppermint patties - heaven in a really really cute box. I think I need to go order some now!!!!!!!

What is Sult og Mer

Sult was the title of a Knut Hamsun novel that I read when I was a high school student at Grefsen Gymnas in Oslo, Norway. This blog has absolutely nothing to do with the content of the book, which is typically dark like the Scandinavian personality stereotype - which I have finally come to accept that I have. It has to do with the word, which means hunger. Hunger and more. It's mostly about food hunger but also spiritual hunger and some other stuff that I might be interested in. These days though it's mostly about food, good food, healthy food, with occasional decadent chocolate indulgences.
Today the office talk was all about tofu. I had brought in a package of fried soft tofu that I got at HMart, a super sized Asian market in Burlington. My fellow veggie coworker was so excited to cut the package open, and we were pleasantly surprised at the round puffs of tofu, not unlike mini beignets. She ate them cold, I heated a few in a wrap with hummus and arugula. Delicious! H Mart is THE best place to get tofu, any kind of tofu, there is a wall of it, all consistencies and types, after my first trip I cannot in good conscience EVER buy tofu at a regular grocery store again!