Wedding mishaps

For those of you who have read my profile will know I was recently married, December last year. It was wonderful, honestly the best day of my life. The reception was at a function centre at the beach, with the glass doors looking out onto the water, beautiful!

Anyone who has been married knows the thousands of things involved in making the big day happen. As a coeliac my first question when we started looking at venues was can you provide a gluten free option for me (without being grilled chicken and vegies!!, had that before). At our chosen venue I was guaranteed that the meal would be gluten free and that they cater for people with dietary requirements frequently, not a drama madam!!

I put faith in their claims and was very excited about the food tasting that we were invited to attend, for free (though the overall price of the venue for the wedding per head I'm sure we paid for it in those costs!).

We went along and were given a three course meals with canapes, there was a wedding in the next room and the chef made extra for us and some other couples who were having their reception at that venue in the near future.

The entree wasn't something that we would have first picked a pork belly dish, it sounded very fancy and exotic on the menu (as most dishes do). It was surprisingly delicious, we were sharing the meals, but I gobbled up my half, scraping the sauce, it was so delicious!!!

As you know I enjoy to cook and I loved this entree, I asked the waitress if she could find out what was in the sauce, I wanted to give this a try at home! She came back a few minutes later after talking to the chef, to tell me that of the many things that were in the sauce, soy sauce was one of the main ingredients. My first thought was crap, I hope they have used gluten free soy sauce! Surely though, a big function centre like this, knowing my dietary needs who ensure that it was gluten free, so I pushed the anxiety to the back of my mind and enjoyed the rest of the meal.

During the final course I started to feel a bit funny, maybe it was just that I ate alot......

Sure enough it started in the car on the wary home, the puffer fish reared its ugly head and the pains and wind started (not a pleasant trip home for both of us!!). I felt crap for the rest of the night, the first thing I did when we got home was heat up my beloved wheat bag and curl up on the lounge.

My first phone call the next day was to the wedding coordinator, to let her know that there was something in the pork belly sauce that contained gluten, probably the soy sauce and I had a reaction! I was not happy!! What if this happened on my wedding day!!!, the puffer fish isn't a good look in a wedding dress! It wasn't just me I was worried about, for some reason we had a number of guests who had dietary requirements, mainly due to allergic reactions! One good friend in particular was highly allergic (anaphylaxis) to peanuts, I certainly didn't want her having a reaction on the wedding day!

Every phone call or meeting we had (and there were a few) after the food tasting, I mentioned my concerns and how important it was that they adhered to the dietary requirements!

As much as I liked the pork belly, it just wasn't worth the risk on our wedding day, not a fun way to spend the wedding night either! So I opted for the prawns (which were lovely), and definitely no risk of containing any form of gluten.

People's ignorance of how much food contains gluten, particularly chefs is rather annoying! This mishap, along with numerous others, has taught me to ask further questions even if the meal states its gluten free. If you think there is something like stock or soy sauce in the meal, ask the waitress to check that the product the chef is using is indeed gluten free. Don't worry about appearing rude or annoying, trust me its much better to ask, even if it annoys the waitress or chef then to have the puffer fish emerge and spoil your night!

Recipe of the Day
Chinese Marinated Pork Ribs
Serves 4 adults

Ingredients
12 pork ribs
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup port (cheaper kind)
1 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground chili (optional)
2 cloves finally chopped garlic

Method
Place ribs in a bowl and pour all ingredients into bowl, mix through, ensuring ribs are well coated. Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour (the longer the ribs are in the marinade the better). Cook ribs on a grill for 15 minutes or until cooked through, baste with marinate as you are cooking.

I served ribs with rice and vegetables. I cooked the rice in a rice cooker and added 1 teaspoon of beef stock to the water, gives the rice a bit of flavour. I also cheated for the vegetables and used frozen steamed vegetables, you just place the bag in the microwave for a few minutes and serve. They taste good and its better than throwing away vegetables that have gone rotten in the vegetable crisper!

Enjoy
xxx

A Belated Birthday Toast

Happy Belated Birthday to you, Happy Belated Birthday to you, Happy Belated Birthday to Mishaps and Mayhem of a Gluten Free Life, Happy Belated Birthday to you!!!!!!!

It's been a week and a day since I started writing this blog! I wanted to say a massive thank you to all my fantastic readers! When I started this blog I  thought it might reach a few people but I have been completely overwhelmed! In a week I've had a little over 400 people read my blog! And not only that you come from many different countries. So a big thank you for reading to my readers from; Australia, America, Germany, Denmark, Malaysia, Greece, Ireland, Canada and Singapore!!!! Apologies if you are reading from a country which I haven't mentioned but and advanced thank you to you!

I would love for my readers to let me know what access to gluten free food is like in your country, or your town, whats your dining experience been like and did you have similar problems to me before or indeed after you were diagnosed? 

For my overseas readers I understand that the restaurants that feature in my 'Restaurant of the week' aren't of any use to you unless you are travelling to Australia (which would of course be fantastic and highly recommended). So I thought it would be great if you would share with me a restaurant in your city/town, in your country (you can email me and I won't share you identity if you don't want to, only your country). With your help I can create a blog that provides people who are on a gluten free diet, safe places to eat when they are overseas. I haven't had the opportunity to travel overseas AD (after diagnosis) but I know that's something that would worry me, the puffer fish emerging and ruining my holiday!

For my faithful Aussie readers, I know that you come from all over this vast country, so the same thing for you. Send me an email of a favourite restaurant or just somewhere that you have been that has  been accomdating to your dietary needs, email me the details and I'll feature it in 'Restaurant of the week'.

My email is mmoagflife@gmail.com

Also readers this blog isn't just for me, it's for you too, the reason why I started writing was to provide people with an honest encounter of my life as a coeliac to let people know they are not alone in their plight and to also provide a resource for readers that shares recipes and restaurants etc. So let me know what you would like to see or read more of and I'll to my best to accommodate your suggestions.
I'm new to the blogging world and I am in the process of making the blog more user friendly and also making following me easier to do. I've had reports from several readers that they have been unable to follow me or to successfully write a comment. As soon as I get a few things figured out and up and running (I may be calling on the assistance of some very good computer savy friends) I will put a posting up that walks you through step by step how to follow me and how to write a comment. I am also in the process of setting up a Facebook page for the Blog and I will keep you posted when that's up and running!

So once again thank you for reading, if you are liking what you are reading or I have helped you in some way, pass the blog details on to your friends who you think will like it. And finally it's our belated birthday and as we can't all party together have a celebratory glass of red, white, beer, spirits, tea, coffee (whatever floats your boat) tonight. Though for those who like beer or scotch etc, be mindful that anything made with malt has gluten in it, not a fun thing for lovers of these drinks (not only can't you eat so many other things, but your favourite drink has gluten in it too!!!) Enjoy whatever you have, maybe even cook up one of my recipes (today's recipe is so easy and sooo yummmmyyy!!!) to have with your drink.

I look forward to hearing from you with all the details of those restaurants overseas and throughout Australia!!

Recipe of the Day
Popcorn pudding
Recipe is from the Gluten Free Bible by Jacki Passmore
This recipe is so easy and so very yummy! It doesn't taste much like popcorn at all. I made it to take to the in-laws for desert, and picked this recipe as everything that was needed to make it was in my cupboard or fridge. I wasn't quite sure how it would taste but everyone loved it, all plates were left without a crumb! It doesn't look that appetising but it tastes wonderful.

Serves 4
Ingredients
5 cups plain cooked popcorn (I just used microwave popcorn)
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup sugar (I used caster sugar)
2 cups milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Thickly butter a 4 cup over dish.

Crush popcorn (I put popcorn in a large bowl and crushed with the back of a large metal spoon) and pick out any unpopped kernels. Combine popcorn, sultanas, sugar and milk and pour into the dish.

Bake for about 40 minutes until set and golden on top.

Serve warm or cold with ice cream.

Enjoy

My gripe with product placement

I was out with a girlfriend yesterday and we wandered into one of the big supermarket chains to get some munchies. She headed straight for the biscuit aisle to get some Tim Tams, unfortunately full of gluten!! So I trudged off to the 1/4 aisle of gluten free food. I shouldn't really complain, I know that in the past 5-10 years the range and availability of gluten free products has greatly increased, BUT it still has a long way to come!

Anyway as I was browsing through the various products, sadly none were as tasty as Tim Tams, something caught my eye. In a very good play of product placement was two very long rows of home brand rice crackers, the Japanese kind.  I started to get excited, this was something that I loved to eat BD (before diagnosis) but all the products that I had found contained gluten.

I picked up the packet and read the bag, I'd learnt my lesson from previous mishaps!. Low and behold it contained wheat flour and wheat starch! What makes it even more infuriating is that in bold letters and the bottom of the ingredients list is contains gluten!!!

Let me clarify in the middle of the gluten free products, which only make up 1/4 of a very large supermarket aisle, with rather large ticketing (the product was apparently on sale), is gluten filled snacks!!! Seriously, did anyone think to read the ingredients before placing the products in this aisle in prime location!!!! Obviously not!

Most people who have been diagnosed or are aware that gluten has some affect on them have learnt over time after various mishaps that you need to read the labels even if the product or the product placement looks okay. But what about those poor people who have only just found out! Think they are doing the right thing and end up in agony with the puffer fish emerging! Or indeed the family and friends of people who are gluten intolerant and think they are doing the right thing, buying some food that their beloved can eat!

Argghhh!!! Just really annoying. So please if you work in a supermarket or somewhere that sells gluten free food, please ensure you read the ingredients list before placing the product in prime position for gluten free buyers.

And yet another warning for the coeliacs and gluten intolerant readers, please don't be lured in by clever product placement and marketing ploys! It's a sucky part of not being able to eat gluten and shopping takes longer but PLEASE read the ingredients list of everything you buy, even if the positioning and labelling looks okay (use common sense though, it can't claim it's gluten free if its not, so the GF wording on the front means less reading for you!).

Recipe of the Day
Scones
This is another recipe from the 4 Ingredients Gluten Free Cookbook
The additional ingredients of the extra carton of cream, vanilla essence, icing sugar and jam is things I have added, for serving with scones.

Makes 12
Ingredients
4 Cups GF self raising flour (I ended up using the entire box)
2 tsp GF baking powder
2 x300ml cream
375ml can lemonade (sprite for US readers)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/4 cup icing sugar

Method
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Sift self raising flour into a bowl, mix thoroughly and make a well, pour in cream and 3/4 of the lemonade. Mix with hands to make a firm dough (I added more flour as it is very sticky and wet, you won't get the consistency of gluten scones). Roll onto a GF floured surface and knead into a high round mound. Cut with scone cutter (I didn't have one so just formed small round molds), onto a greased baking tray close together. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

While scones are baking, pour second carton of cream into a bowl with vanilla and icing sugar, beat with electric mixers until cream has thickened (this is how my grandma made cream, lovely and sweet). Put into a serving bowl.

Remove scones from oven and serve warm with jam and cream, and a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy

p.s My profile picture is going to be my blog logo, its my design of the puffer fish, rather appropriate I thought!.