Right Now
Well, I haven’t been posting regularly here, as much as I wish I could.
There’s a couple reasons for the delinquency in posting.
1) I have been posting on my other food-related blog, for my special dietary plan. So, I don’t want to post twice. Yes, I am lazy.
2) Life is busy. Kind of along with the laziness thing I have actually been quite busy with work, with some side projects, and with writing. Plus I rejoined the gym and have been going for hikes a lot lately too – so there. No time.
3) I am not eating out in restaurants anymore for a while. That’s partly because of the recommitment to eating healthy. So, I am cooking at home a lot more now, which is great. Don’t think I haven’t been. See Reason #1 again.
I will keep posting here as often as I can though.
Video Hosts
I think I’ve found the video host I am going to use for my upcoming video blogging entries. I’ve already run a test on the webcam – and promptly deleted it (bad hair day, thankyouverymuch) – and I am so far very impressed with Viddler.com.
I am looking forward to starting out with some simple video posts shortly.
New Countertops
One of the cool aspects of renting is that any time improvements need to be made, we don’t have to pay for them. Not so cool aspect of course is getting the building managers to actually do the improvements. Luckily for us, we only have to beg for about a year and then out of the blue they may or may not get taken care of.
For example, last summer in the heat of the summer my patio screen door broke. It didn’t just come off the track, but it simply would not fit on the track anymore because of the way the building had shifted. I sent a note to our building manager who said she’d send someone up to fix it right away. It was fixed the following February. I am not exaggerating.
Two years ago my husband, the plumber, noticed something was up with the faucets in the kitchen and bathroom. Since he is not the contracted plumber for this building he is not allowed to fix stuff in our suite. That’s fine. Let someone else do the dirty work, right? Well, the plumber came and replaced our faucets in the kitchen and bathroom sink, and tightened up the tub faucet. It only took him like 3 months to make it to our suite to do the repairs. Of course, the kitchen faucet is still loose and every time I turn the hot water on or off the entire faucet shifts a good two inches. So, the contractor came by and decided that it was time to replace the counter tops, since they were rotting away underneath the sink where the faucets attach, causing them to move so much.
One year later a carpenter came by to measure for counter tops. Two months later, today, they are here installing them. It caught me off guard, I didn’t expect them today. I had to clear out all my cupboards and countertops in 5 minutes. I haven’t even gotten a close look at the countertops yet. I am sure they will be neutral and boring. That’s fine by me. I didn’t pay for them so I don’t really get a say now do I.
When the guy is all done and I have put everything back where it belongs, I’ll take a picture and add it to the post.
Yay to the new countertops…for my humble little kitchen.
Hot Dogs and Nostalgia
I miss summer so badly. What I miss about summer the most is the beach and camping. Then I think of camping food and I am reminded of home-made hamburgers and tasty smokies and hotdogs.
I don’t know if I’ve ever heard of anyone really craving hotdogs before. That is until this year. I have a friend who has had hotdogs twice in one month, during winter, and this is so unusual for her. She is pregnant so I chalked that up to pregnancy cravings.
Then at work they had a staff lunch a couple weeks back and the feature was, you guessed it, hotdogs. From what I hear that lunch was a huge success and when I was there last week I had people ranting and raving about the best staff lunch being hotdog day.
Hotdogs are not gourmet food. But for some reason we all love to eat them, especially when camping. Thinking about camping made me think of hotdogs. If I was to eat a hotdog right now, I am sure it would remind me of camping.
I love how food triggers memory and vice versa. I don’t have hotdogs in the fridge. I also don’t feel like going out and buying any. So, I will just pine away for summer time food and try to remember the good old days of camping last summer to get me by.
“Gluten?…oh there’s no sugar in this”
Seriously.
I don’t expect everyone in the entire world to know and understand what gluten is. But, being as it is one of the top food intolerances out there, you’d like to hope/think that not everybody is living under a rock.
Levi, my husband, has Celiac Disease. He also has a secondary gluten-intolerance condition (a form of Celiac Disease) called Dermatitis Herpetiformis. He has had these conditions his entire life. As an adult he was properly diagnosed and after a while he made the decision to stick to a gluten-free diet seriously.
Gluten-free living is a challenge. I won’t deny that. But I have to be honest I have really embraced the idea of living a healthful, gluten-free life and keeping a gluten-free home. I like to think – self-centeredly – that I make it easy for Levi to live gluten-free. He may or may not agree with you. 🙂
You’ll notice that from time to time I will talk about gluten, gluten-free products, gluten-free recipes, eating out gluten-free, etc. This is not a gluten-free blog. There’s enough awesome ones out there that I don’t even need to bother. But I will add my own perspective, and Levi’s too, where I feel like it.
The quote I used as the title of this blog post might sound outrageous but it actually happens more than you might think.
“Is there gluten in this frogurt (frozen yogurt)?” “Ummm, well we do have a sugar-free one.”
“Is there gluten in this sauce?” “It’s a savory sauce, not sweet at all.”
“Can you let me know if you have a gluten-free menu?” “Oh are you diabetic?”
Literally. Seriously.
At first I used to get so annoyed. Like how could these people be so obtuse. Now it just makes me laugh. Just because I knew what gluten was before Levi was diagnosed doesn’t mean that the average population must, or that they even care about whether or not he has an intolerance to the stuff.
And just for everyone who thinks eating on a gluten-free diet is nasty and boring and tasteless…you’re so wrong. Otherwise I wouldn’t be posting about gluten-free on the TastyFoodBlog, now would I?
Brand spankin’ new
This is a new blog. It’s not my first foray into the blogosphere but I do intend on trying out some new things with this blog.
First, let me tell you what this blog is all about. I have high hopes of being able to share some great recipes, funny stories, anecdotes, wisdom, ramblings, and more. The title of the blog is TastyFoodBlog but there’s more than just actual ingredients that go into making real food real tasty.
I want to add that I am not a professional chef by any means. I have no formal culinary training. Scoff if you wish. Say you don’t believe I can help you with anything since I do not have a chef’s hat on, if you must. I still think I am good. People like my food. Mostly though, I like to make food an experience.
One other thing I want to make clear…I like to give my opinion. That’s what a lot of people do, but they probably aren’t so open about it. I am opinionated. I know that sometimes I say the wrong thing. I don’t think I care all that much about it. I have fun doing what I do and I look forward to bringing that fun to all my readers via this blog.
I have a great circle of friends who I hope to get involved in this blog a bit too, possibly with guest posts, appearing in some of my off-the-cuff videos, undercover restaurant reviews, etc. I have so many fun ideas and plans I can’t wait to get started.
Thanks for joining us and please return often. Leave comments, share your own opinions, and join in the conversation.
Ciao.
The Tasty Food Blog 