Now bring us some figgy pudding...

Okay, it isn't figgy pudding, but it's close.

Most people who have listened to Christmas songs throughout their life have heard of Christmas pudding. It's one of those old-timey things like caroling and those pictures of you in a snowman sweater when you were seven years old. However, I doubt most people have a tradition for Christmas pudding that extends beyond that absurd line in "We Wish You a Merry Christmas". But then again, not everyone has an awesome Canadian grandmother.

Every year for Christmas, my grandmother whips up a suet pudding for each of her children's families in her tiny kitchen in Anaheim. About midway through December, the pudding arrives in a tin with terrifying pictures of teddy bears or gaudy lights and we all rejoice. Really, it doesn't feel like the holiday season unless there is a suet pudding on the counter.

However, this year my grandmother was too busy to make puddings for all of us, so I was charged with making the one for my family. And surprisingly, it was fairly simple. Flour, bread crumbs, dried fruit, spices, milk, molasses, and of course suet. What's suet you ask? Well, it's the fat that surrounds a cow's kidneys. They don't stock this next to the hamburger meat at the supermarket, but luckily my Dad was able to score some at the local butchery (the aptly named Blood Farm) and brought me home a bag of the stuff. I was then charged with cutting it up, because Blood Farm wouldn't grind it for fear of gumming up their machines.

I never expected there to be so much connective tissue holding that stuff together. And surprisingly, it wasn't wiggly or squishy in any way. It was the same consistency as when you try to use butter straight out of the fridge without letting it thaw first. After I had cut the block of fat into manageable chunks, it went through the food processor to chop it up even further. The result was what can only be described as pink snow:

That was another surprise. It didn't put up a fight while I was chopping. I've met strawberries that were more resistant to the whirling blades of death. Now that that step was over with, it was just a question of combining the ingredients as you would with any cake recipe. The batter was very thick, like a mix between regular cake batter and bread dough, which I then scooped into my mom's pudding steamer.

I put a pyrex bowl at the bottom of our stew pot and nestled the steamer inside. I then popped on the lid (well, rested the lid on top. I have no idea how to lock the thing...) and filled up the pot halfway with water so that it was halfway up the steamer. Then I set it to boil for two hours and let the steam work its magic.

A steamed pudding is hard to describe. It's not at all like Jell-o pudding (that's more of a thick custard). Rather, it's more like  a dense, sticky bread. Well, at least this one is. My mother's lemon pudding (which I hope to get for my birthday next week!) has more of a consistency somewhere between angel food cake and pound cake. Then it's slathered with lemon curd and swimming in vanilla custard. Mmmmmmmm.

Now that this Christmas pudding is done, all that's left is to put on the sauce: a half stick of butter, a quarter cup of brown sugar, a little bit of vanilla, and (if you're my mom) rum.

Okay, it's not a picture out of a magazine. But hey, after waiting all year for this, I don't care how it looks!

Mantra time

For all intents and purposes, I am home for the holidays! However, now all the fears that I had going into this semester about changing my diet have become a reality. At school, really I don't eat that much. That's because everything I do eat I either have to cook or have enough of it lying around so that I can grab a quick stack. Sadly, I never seem to have a snack surplus. How, I am home in the land of plenty where there are lots of things to eat, but not enough food. 

This is where the food mantra comes in. "Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." A couple of months ago I read In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan and that was really the takeaway message. If you can find a copy and have a couple hours to read it (it's fairly short), I highly recommend it.

The "Eat food"  idea is that you shouldn't eat anything that your ancestor wouldn't recognize as food. The first clue is to look at the ingredients. For bread, is it flour, water, yeast, and salt? Or is it packed full of iron, calcium, riboflavin, etc? If your great-great grandmother wouldn't recognize the ingredients as food (or if you don't, for that matter), by Pollan's logic you shouldn't eat it. Why make bread sexier by adding iron and calcium when you can eat some broccoli along with your sandwich?

Okay, by reading labels over the past year I think I've gotten fairly good at determining if something is "natural" or "safe" to eat. If it has "natural flavors" I generally put it down, so I think I'll be able to spot "food" this break. As for the "not too much" part, that's going to be hard. I tend to eat a lot, especially if its food I really like. And of course, Christmas means Christmas food. Even before I went gluten/casein/corn/soy free at school I would go on a Christmas binge because I couldn't get tree-shaped butter cookies with green icing any other time of the year. I think I might be in trouble.

Luckily, my body has become accustomed to working on less food. So far this break as well as during the Thanksgiving break I stuffed myself to the point of shame and being downright uncomfortable. I say this is lucky because it means that I can work on listening to my stomach and gauging when I am full and should stop eating. If that means that I only eat two dinner rolls instead of three, so be it. I can ask my mom to make them again if I really liked them or I can make them myself. Plus, by committing to eating only "food", I can cut down on what I am actually putting in my mouth.

The "mostly plants" part of the mantra is going to be extremely hard. When I got home yesterday, I looked in the vegetable drawer and found it stocked with potatoes and not much else. I know we have bags of frozen peas and corn in the freezer and maybe a bag of baby carrots tucked behind one of the potato sacks, but that isn't a whole lot. There is maybe two onions and a single head of garlic in the house. My boyfriend and I usually use that much every time we cook dinner. I see no cabbage, no parsnips, and no full-length carrots! My world is upside down! Well, at least the potatoes mean that I can make a batch of home fries if I ever need a snack. And because I would actually have to make them  means that I won't be mindlessly grazing. I think I might have to ask my mom to throw some more veggies in our meals too. Also, she needs to pick up some more onions.

So what's my progress so far? Well, yesterday I won't count because I had one foot in Amherst and the other back home and during the drive I was eating leftover Chinese food out of a container I was holding between my knees. I got orange beef (aka deep-fried candy meat) all over my pants. So today I decided to make myself an egg in a basket (for those who don't know, you cut a whole in a piece of toast, drop the egg inside, and fry it). I didn't check the bread, but it probably wasn't exactly food. Damn. I used canola oil as the frying medium, and that is usually genetically modified. Double damn. The "butter" I put on the bread to make it extra crispy was actually Benecol light, which is various vegetable oils solidified, colored yellow, and flavored to taste like butter. Well, at least the egg was natural, right? Well, it was pure white, all the eggs in the carton were uniform, and they each had a little breast cancer support ribbon stamped on them. I'm in trouble, aren't I? Well, at least the only bad thing about the Greek yoghurt I had after that was that it had natural vanilla flavor....

I can't really avoid the bread issue unless mom makes her own bread, which might happen soon. And all of the eggs at the supermarket are going to be uniform and have some sort of stamp, so I'll have to live with that. I don't know what other oil to use because olive oil won't taste right (believe me) and the only other oil we have is corn oil, which would be out of the frying pan and into the gas burner. I can at least avoid the Benecol. In fact, I wanted to use butter for breakfast but I didn't take it out of the refrigerator in time. I was worried that the oil would start smoking so I had to butter my bread quickly with a butter-like substance. I'm trying!

Cake

Since today was my boyfriend's birthday, I decided to be awesome and make him a birthday cake using this recipe. It turned out great and was super easy to make, however it wasn't without drama.

My original plan had been to use both regular dark chocolate and some flavored with espresso for more of a dark and exotic taste. Going into Whole Foods, my standards for chocolate were high: obviously allergen-free, fair-trade, and organic if possible. A word to the wise, fair-trade and organic do not always mean safe. There is one company in particular I was looking for, Taza, because they meet all of the requirements and are also locally produced in Massachusetts. Alas, there was none to be seen. Every other bar of chocolate I looked at had soy or milk in it. I stood forlorn in the aisle, banging my head against the shelves looking for inspiration. Eventually I found a bag of Enjoy Life chocolate chips, which are made in a dedicated allergen-free facility, however I had to let go of my stipulation of the chocolate being fair-trade or organic. One down, one to go.

Next I looked for some cocoa to use. Once again, everything had soy lecithin in it. Everything. I ended up buying a canister of Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa, but decided against using it because it is made on the same equipment that makes soy products and is made in a facility that processes milk. So much for my dream of hot cocoa this winter.

What am I going to do with you? 

Then there was peripheral drama because I had no idea what to bake the cake in, considering that college students aren't in the habit of carrying tart tins to school. And then my boyfriend and I weren't able to get eggs this weekend, so my roommate saved the day by getting me six aluminum pie tins and a half-dozen eggs when she went home. I owe her big time. The pie tin worked out great because the cake got some nice scallopy edges on it!

Isn't it purdy? Om nom nom....

As for the actual cake making process, it went swimmingly. I substituted the butter with coconut oil, which adds a little extra flavor, and used almond milk instead of regular. Because I couldn't use the cocoa, I added a half cup of rice flour to thicken things up a bit. So technically, this wasn't a flourless chocolate cake. But whatever. I also never used any vanilla extract. I didn't want to buy a bottle because it gets pretty expensive and I don't think I'd use it for much else. I was tempted to go for the vanilla almond milk, but the "natural flavors" listed on the package turned me off. In the end, safety is safety when it comes to my boyfriend's diet and I figured that with the coconut flavor I could let it slide. I also didn't use the salt, but heck, it was only 1/4 teaspoon.

All in all, the cake was delicious and went fast. It packs a lot of flavor even though its only a couple inches high. If you have a 10 oz bag of chocolate chips laying around the house, I highly recommend that you give this a try!

Quit bashing my national dish

I'm tired of everyone bashing the haggis. Often when I Google the recipe, I come up with snarky sarcastic websites that give you the directions and then usually say something like "serve with a glass of whiskey so that you can actually eat the stuff!". Even Alton Brown, Food Network Chef and new darling of Concord Grape Juice, ends his recipe with "Serve with mashed turnips and potatoes, if you serve it at all!"

Well excuuuuuuuuse me!

What is haggis you may ask? In basic terms, a sausage. Albeit a large, football sized sausage, but a sausage none the less. However it gets a bad rap because the contents are a sheep's pluck (heart, liver, lungs, and tongue) and is cooked in the sheep's stomach. Sure, organ meat isn't everyone's cup of tea, but sausage is traditionally made from various "bits" of animals. Want to know what makes the casing of a sausage crisp when you cook it? That would be the small intestine that the filling is pressed into.

Haggis and other types of sausage were a great way to use up the nutritious organs of animals before they went bad (the pluck got it's name this way, because these organs were the first to be "plucked" from the carcass). They were a cheap way to make sure that  you were using all of the animal while getting a hearty meal.

I am determined that some day I will make haggis. In fact, I hope it will happen this year. There is a man at the farmer's market who sells sheep, lamb, and goat meat and I think sometime I'll ask if he could hold the pluck and stomach for me. There is a lot of prep time involved, because you have to soak the stomach overnight, cook the organs, and then boil the mixture in the stomach for three hours. However, apart from butchering the various organs (which I have minimal experience with), it's pretty much just waiting for it to be done. Plus, I think I can just use ground beef instead of suet, because for some reason suet seems to be extremely hard to come by in these modern times. I am so becoming a butcher's best friend in the future.

And if I decide to go all out Burns Supper, I am so reciting "Address to a Haggis" and ceremonially stabbing the haggis. It's hard to memorize poems with a Scottish accent, though.

(image from here)

Better late than....

Back in May, I emailed Larry and Luna's Coconut Bliss about the origin of the xanthan gum in some of their flavors like the chocolate almond brownie and ginger snap. I got a reply saying that they would look into the xanthan gum issue because they get their brownie and cookie base from another company. Alas, the xanthan gum is indeed made from corn. However, it is extremely comforting to know that my email was not lost in the void of customer questions. I had been wondering if I would get a response for a while, and just when I had given up hope the reply appeared in my inbox.

For anyone who still hasn't tried Coconut Bliss, please do so. It's amazing.

Clean out the fridge soup

The other day was the day that we pick up a fresh load of (free!) veggies from a local farm, which means that we have to make room for them. How? By eating last week's veggies of course! Our freezer is packed with peppers and kale, and the vegetable crisper had some hot peppers and leeks going mushy. Plus, there was a surplus of potatoes. So I figured I'd just throw it all in a pot and see what happened. The result? Potato and leek soup crossed with kale soup! YUMMMMMMY!

This actually tasted like kale soup, and I think it's a good substitute for vegetarian/vegan crowd. Since kale soup has sausage in it, that's obviously out. However, the potato added a similar texture (biting into something that isn't kale) and the hot pepper added the spice round in the hot Italian sausage we usually get. Curious? Here's the recipe!

Clean out the Fridge Soup (Vegetarian Kale soup)

Olive oil

Kale: not just an alien, it's an amazing leafy green!

1-2 stalks leeks (or one large onion), chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 hot pepper, chopped into small-ish pieces
2 bell peppers, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
2-3 medium potatoes, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can red kidney beans
1 Tbsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. chili powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1-1 1/2 cups loosely chopped kale

Coat the bottom of a soup pot with olive oil and heat. Add leeks (or onions, if using) and cook until soft, then add garlic. Let cook 1-2 minutes until the garlic starts to cook a little, then add the hot and bell pepper. Cook until slightly soft and add potato, kidney beans, basil, chili powder, salt, and pepper. Pour in enough water to cover the vegetables by a half inch. Let soup simmer until potatoes are almost done and add kale. When potatoes are tender, serve it up and enjoy!

-------------------

This is sort of a hodgepodge soup recipe, however it had a striking resemblance to kale soup when we ate it. I supposed if you wanted to, you could substitute chicken or vegetable stock for the water if you wanted a little extra flavor, but I thought it was just fine on its own. If you want it less spicy you can use less chili powder, or if you wanted it spicier you could even add another hot pepper (for the original, we used one and a half to get them out of the crisper). All in all, this soup was hot, tasty, and perfect for the cooling October weather. Plus, it was super easy.

(image from here)

Procrastination station!

While in the midst of trying to figure out how exactly to do my Linguistics homework, I started looking up recipes to give my mind a break. Well, truthfully I started looking up Russian pelmeni (they look so yummy!) and then got sidetracked. But I digress.

I realized that being both gluten and casein free is hard. Like, really hard. At least for me, because every recipe I know from my mom's cooking has butter or some kind of dairy. In fact, I'm finding being casein-free harder than going gluten-free. Now that I'm more familiar with baking and cooking with rice flour, I'm starting to get a handle on the addition of xanthan gum and other additives. I have a lot to learn, but I think with some experimentation I can convert wheat flour recipes to gluten-free. Plus, with this recipe I found for wonton wrappers, the pelmeni will be close behind! YAY!

However, what about my old friend butter? For most of the recipes that have required a solid lipid substance, coconut oil has been the prime candidate. However, I'm not sure if coconut oil would work exactly the same for things like toffee, and then there's the taste. There are some recipes that I can't imagine without the creamy, slightly salty taste of butter. Alright, so I won't make them. Or I could use a substitute like the casein-free ghee we found a while ago, but I'm still very skeptical.  Having butter without casein sounds to me like saying "It's snow, but without the frozen water crystals" or "It's Hitler, but without the genocide". It's so integral to how I perceive the object that I can't see how ghee could exist without the casein.

I'm mostly surprised because it suddenly hit me how many restrictions we have when looking for recipes. For instance, on the Gluten Free on a Shoestring website recipe page, especially the dessert section, there are so many recipes that still have butter or cornmeal. It just narrows the playing field a little more. However, there is an upside. This leaves room for experimentation. Maybe almond meal instead of cornmeal, or maybe we could find ways around using butter by taking the basic idea of the recipe but tweaking it a bit. You would have no idea how many recipes say they require butter but then only use it for caramelizing onions or a small amount of frying. We could always use oil, especially safflower oil, which tastes slightly buttery on its own.

Despite the fact that eating gluten/casein/soy/and corn free can get hard sometimes, we still have a bunch of recipes to work with. For instance, tonight we're having leftovers from the BEST SHEPARD'S PIE WE'VE MADE YET! I can't tell if it was the extra veggies, the garlic in the mashed potatoes, the tomato, or the half pound of bacon, but it's delicious. Personally, I think it was the bacon.

(image from here)

I'm a mutha' truckin' foodie!

It's been a long time since I last posted on this blog. Like, a really long time. I could blame school, or the fact that I haven't had too much to report as far as food labels go, or even my laziness. Maybe it's all of the above.

Going gluten/casein/corn/soy free has been both hard and easy. It's easy because my boyfriend and I have been experimenting with some really yummy recipes and adding twists to old ones. Seriously, adding cumin was the best idea for the good ol' standby of rice and beans. Plus, I lost a ton of weight. The process has been hard, however, because of the budget. We buy all of our fruits, veggies, and meat from the local farmer's market, which gets pretty pricey. But that's only half of it. The rest of our snack items as well as sundries like olive oil, salt, and spices either come from Whole Paycheck Foods or a local health food store. Each shopping trip tends to add up to about $70, and we usually need to stock up on snacks once a week or so. Things had to change.

Luckily, my boyfriend worked at a farm out here over the summer. We considered purchasing a CSA share from them, which would be a deal where we pay about $135 to cover the season and every week we pick up a load of veggies. However, since my boyfriend either planted, weeded, or harvested the veggies, the guys running it said we could get the food for free. SCORE!!!!!!! Plus, we're even closer to the farming community out here and we get invited to potlucks and potato feasts with them, which is always fun.

So how does this make me a foodie? Well, now that we have more veggies than we could every possibly afford on our own, this has freed up the food budget so we can go a little crazier with our meals. The result? This:

Acorn Squash stuffed with Lamb and Rice

1 cup rice
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 bell pepper-- cut into small chunks
2 medium carrots --cut into bite-sized pieces
1 lb cubed lamb meat or lamb leg steak cut into chunks
Olive oil
Garlic (about 3 cloves) minced
1 tsp rosemary
2 acorn squash
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cook rice according to directions on package. When done, stir in cumin, chili powder, and bell pepper.

Coat a skillet or pan with olive oil and heat. Place in lamb meat, garlic, carrot, rosemary, salt and pepper. Brown lamb on all sides, but do not cook through completely. Spoon out the meat and carrot garlic mixture and mix into rice. Save the olive oil left in the pan.


Cut squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Place in a glass cooking dish or other pan which will hold the squash flesh-side up while cooking, Score the squash flesh or spear it with a fork. Pour olive oil left over from cooking the meat over the squash halves and season with salt and pepper to taste. Spoon meat and rice mixture into the hollow left from scooping out the seeds, making sure that each squash half has at least one or two chunks of meat (it's only fair!).

Place stuffed squash in oven and cook until squash flesh is tender and top layer of rice is slightly browned and crunchy. Enjoy!

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I had been thinking of cooking lamb with cumin rice for a while, however when we got the acorn squash from the farm, I needed to find a way to cook it. Plus I had  to find a way to get some of the carrots and pepper out of the fridge. Hence this recipe. I had watched my mom make stuffed peppers before, so I made an educated guess as to the oven temperature. I don't know the exact cooking time because squash cooks slower than peppers and I was also doing dishes at the time, and kept running back to the oven to check the tenderness of the squash. Basically, the squash was done when the dishes were done, but that's no accurate measure.

Also, all the measurements were approximated. Really, the only thing I measured was the rice. This gives some flexibility if you want to try the recipe yourself. If you want the rice hotter, add more chili powder (mmmm). If you want it less cumin-y, use less than a teaspoon or leave it out all together. You could also try this recipe with ground beef if you aren't a fan of lamb. If you don't want meat, I bet this would be tasty with some eggplant in lieu of meat!

Seriously, how many other college students are making lamb in their dorm? I bet none. Sorry I couldn't add any pictures, but the meal has been long since eaten and I couldn't pause to take a picture when I was so hungry!!

Thank *insert deity here* for Larabar

For a few months now I've been fretting about what I'm going to eat for snacks once I go back to college. Because my boyfriend and I are going to be in the same building, I have decided to go allergen-free. However, that means a complete overhaul of my eating habits.

The meals I'm not so worried about. However, snacks were where I took in most of my gluten as well as my Red 40 and artificial flavors. It was getting hard for me to start thinking about healthy snack foods that I would actually want to eat. I'm not in the habit of eating fruit unless someone hands it to me and everything salty or sweet has gluten, casein, corn, and soy. And then came Larabars, down from the heavens like a majestic eagle of snacking. If I am waxing overly poetic, it's because I love them.

If you haven't encountered them before, Larabars are snack bars. Unlike other snack bars they use very minimal ingredients. For instance, their Cashew Cookie flavor contains only dates and cashews. That's it. Plus, they have a huge number of flavors that couldn't be pulled off by other snack bar companies. I don't think any other company could convincingly pull of a coconut cream pie flavor, let alone one that only uses five ingredients.

Okay, so we've well established that I love the taste, but why is it great for being allergen-free? It says right on the label that they are gluten and soy-free. There are no corn ingredients that I can see as well. The flavors that contain chocolate say that there might be some milk in that, but there are a bunch of great flavors that don't have chocolate so it will be easy for me to avoid those. Plus, the greatest think about the labels in my opinion is the fact that not only are the ingredients listed clearly and bluntly, they also put the nut products in bold print so that they stand out. They are drawing attention to the potential allergens contained in the product. They do this too with the warning about milk.

This is such a simple thing and yet I appreciate it so much. I like the company's honest statement about the ingredients as well as the fact that they blatantly admit that there are allergens to some people. With just a glance you can see if the product is safe or not. On checking their website, it appears that they are committed to being gluten-free, ensuring no cross-contamination and testing for gluten. They also explain that although they use milk and soy-free chocolate chips, the manufacturer shares the equipment with chocolate chips that contain milk and therefore there is potential for contamination. Why is it so hard for other companies to be this honest? Why don't other companies spell out the potential for allergens in clear and concise language on easy-to-find web pages? Why is it always buried deep in the depths of the FAQ page or in the wishy-washy language of customer service emails?

Larabar definitely has my business, both for their honesty and the fact that I now have an allergen-free way to get my sweet fix.

If you're curious, check out their list of products or pick up a few flavors. From what I've seen, their pretty easy to find if you go toward the natural food section. Enjoy!

Wow. Just....wow

One night in Bangkok makes a hard man crumble!

I had the sudden urge to pick up a new kind of tea when I was out shopping. I was in a pretty hokey grocery store up in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, so it wasn't going to be anything gourmet. In any case, there were some tins full of Harney & Son's "tea sachets" with some interesting flavors. The one that caught my eye was a mixture of green tea, coconut, vanilla, lemongrass, and ginger. Or as the tin put it "Green tea with Thai flavors". Sure, that's real specific. I turned the tin over and over looking for the usual food label but couldn't find it. Not even an ingredients list.

I say, anyone for tennis?

I bought it anyway, thinking that I could at least polish of the tin in due time and use the empty container to hold some of my other tea bags in style. When I got home, I read some more off the sides and got the feeling that this stuff was pretty quality (as if the price tag didn't indicate that). It gave suggestions for "optimal brewing" and said that the sachets provided the "sophistication of full-leaf teas with teabag convenience". Well, excuse me! Maybe some of the chums will enjoy it when they pop 'round for tennis! Despite my gripes with the airy wording, the tea was actually delicious.

So as with any new food product I try, I hopped on the company website to see just how safe it is for my boyfriend. This was hard, because the company carries not only regular tea but also "blended" varieties like the one I purchased and also bottled juices and fruit teas. Some of the bottled and fruit beverages do mention "natural flavors", which I am wary of, but I couldn't find anything to indicate that with my new tea. So I wrote to the company asking if their blended teas contained gluten, casein, soy, or corn products and if the product as a whole was safe for people with intolerances. This was the response:

"None of our products contain gluten, soy, or casein. Two of our blends, Yellow & Blue and Chinese Flower, contain corn flowers though I'm not sure if that is relevant or not."


Erm, two completely different plants there. I appreciate the sentiment and the concern with the two plants having similar names. Heck, I even double-checked just to be sure. However, I thought that it was rather funny after the wording on the container. I think that as long as I purchase their regular or blended flavors of tea, my boyfriend and I should be fine. The impression I get from the company is that they are devoted to the full tea experience, hence the fancy "tea sachets" and lofty talk about the "transporting" effects of the flavors. For more of the novelty flavors, such as mango fruit and peach and whatnot, I can see why they would add some natural flavors in there to make it taste fruitier. I mean, when you drink a mango tea you aren't exactly drinking it for the quality of the tea leaves. You want to drink a mango.

My boyfriend still might be a little wary, however I personally think that this product might be a little less shoddy than Celestial Seasonings. Oh well. With the rate at which I'm drinking the tea, he might not even get to try it! 


(images from here, and here)

A trip to the store

Tomorrow as we flip our calendar pages from July to August, we realize that summer ends in a mere 31 days and soon it will be time for back to school. Personally, I can't wait to be back at college and I'm throwing myself into back to school fever. This means that I am, for the most part, done with my shopping. Yes, I may have a few sundries that need attending to, but all of the major things are done with.

Today I took another huge step in that direction by stocking up on all the toiletries I'll need to start the year. Unfortunately, since I got a job this summer my parents are less willing to pay for these sort of things, but at least I saved myself a trip to CVS when I could be in my dorm room watching movies online. Oops, I mean doing homework.

Plus, going without my mom meant that I could take longer to look for some different products. Although I'm not so concerned with food contaminants in my products, I am still trying to avoid parabens and propylene glycol for reasons I will explain when I full get a grasp on why I am avoiding them. Plus, with the whole "natural" movement that's been going on, a lot of soy has been introduced into products. This isn't a bad thing, unless some of the soy stays on my hands which then touch the ingredients when my boyfriend and I are cooking (and we cook a lot). There is probably a small risk of this, but I saw this as an opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone.

Normally, I could zone in on which products I want and be in and out of the shampoo aisle in a flash. However, they didn't have the Suave Rosemary and Mint line that I recently picked up, so I had to settle for something that did have propylene glycol (which I shall shorten to p-g), but at least no parabens. I figure that since I don't really know my whole stance on p-g, a little bit won't hurt. Besides, I didn't buy a lot and the stock I do have will buy me time until I can find a substitute. It was a tough decision, but I was in a CVS and not a natural market, so the selection was limited.

Next was body wash. I got a Suave Naturals product purely because it didn't have p-g or parabens, and it was on clearance. The catch is that it does contain "fragrance", which my boyfriend likes to avoid. This relates back to the perfume/gluten argument and also the fact that he likes to avoid additives when they really aren't necessary. Hopefully we will start making our own body wash using recipes from a book I found on natural home products, so I won't have to rely on fragrance-added products for too much longer. Plus, I can always give half of the bottles to my sister.

Deodorant was pretty much the same thing. There is fragrance added element, but that's to be expected. I don't really worry too much about the odor element, otherwise I would look into alum crystals or something. I really wanted the anti-antiperspirant in it and until I research more natural ways of getting that, I'll stick with the yummy plum and sakura scent.

My real killing was with my hair mousse. I have naturally wavy hair that basically is a huge ball of frizz. I use a mouse product to define it into curls and to kind of wrangle the beast, if you will. I took a look at the ingredients for the product I've been using for years and discovered that it contained both propane and butane. I've been putting gasoline and lighter fluid on my head. I did a quick online search a month or so ago for "natural curling products", but mostly came up for results for kinkier African-American hair. I took a cruise around the styling products section and found three contenders as a substitute. First was from Herbal Essences, but it had p-g. Next up was one (I forget the brand name!) that promised that it was fragrance free. So far so good. The last was from Wild Harvest Hair, and although it contained fragrance it looked to be pretty devoid of the things I was trying to cut out. I was actually considering the other product until I saw that it contained several wheat products. No good. I ended up going with Wild Hair Harvest and do not regret the decision. Or at least I won't until I actually try it and then I will revise my opinion.

So all in all I ended up avoiding most of the direct contaminants I was looking for and made a slight concession with the shampoo and conditioner. Fragrance may be an issue, but what I bought hopefully will just be a stepping stone until I can find better alternatives. The one thing I regret is that I couldn't find a new body lotion. Almost all contained parabens or some sort of oat extract which could hide gluten. Or they contained petrol byproducts, which I am also trying to cut down on. Well, at least I have a few recipes for body butter from that book I got, or in a pinch I could order some of Dr. Bronners Organic Body/Tattoo Balm. Hmm, I might do that....

I also have a warm fuzzy feeling that that one company whose name I don't remember labeled the wheat ingredients in an obvious manner. I don't even know what part of the wheat plant they were using because I just saw the word and put down the bottle. I wish that other labels were like that so that I wouldn't have to look for keywords like "soja" or "citric acid" and run them through my mental babel fish. Maybe it is about learning the keywords, but I love the companies that meet me half way.

D'aww

(images from here, here, and here)

Really, people?

I have a sunburn, and it's bad. I'm probably complaining so much because I haven't had a bad sunburn in years, but it hurts. This is probably due to the fact that I try to avoid sun exposure as much as possible so that I don't tan, but then when I visited my boyfriend on the farm he worked at I got a good five hours of exposure with only a white tank top to cover my back. Needless to say, moving my arms makes me feel like my skin is ripping.

So in order to combat the pain I'm applying generous amounts of aloe vera gel and moisturizer. Today, out of curiosity, I took a peek at the ingredients on my lotion. I probably didn't even need to look that far for the problem, because it said right in the name "oatmeal". Ah, yes oatmeal. The comfort of our chicken pox days. Normally it would be no problem and I would get some small satisfaction from using a "natural" product. However, oatmeal also has potential for gluten contamination. Oatmeal itself contains no gluten, however sometimes it contains traces of other grains from processing or even harvesting. The oatmeal listed on the label said "oatmeal flour", so there's a chance that bits of wheat got in there. I was very surprised, not so much by the ingredients but by the fact that I would need to find another product if I want to moisturize near my boyfriend.

Along with the oatmeal revelation, I also saw that the lotion contained some alcohol in it. Why? Doesn't alcohol dry out the skin? Forgive my ignorance, but it's like bringing a box of matches when you're trying to stop a fire. I checked my sister's lotion too and it also contained alcohol. So did the aloe vera gel. I also saw a paraben listed on my sis' lotion and propylene glycol in the aloe, both of which I am trying to avoid. So what's a girl to do?

For now I think I am going to keep using the aloe and my lotion, which doesn't cause a daily issue because I don't see my boyfriend very much during the summer. This, and I don't feel like going out to the pharmacy to look for alternatives right now. However, I did pick up a book a few days ago that has recipes for everyday household products from body butter to silver polish. Most look fairly easy to make and store, so in the future I'll be moisturizing with my own homemade products!

"Why you in that bubble, boy?"

Now I understand why moms are so paranoid when their children have health problems. There are times when I have flashes of thought where I think “this isn’t safe”. This stems from the whole cooking process my boyfriend and I have. We don’t just have to worry about buying safe food, but also we have to make sure that nothing sneaks in while we are cooking. Living in a college dorm, we don’t have the luxury of having our own kitchen. Most of the time the counter has broken bits of ramen noodles all over it and the sink is perpetually filled with dirty dishes which are left like Moses in the basket. But I digress.

In order to avoid contamination from the kitchen, my boyfriend and I use designated pots, pans, and cutlery which are stored in a large container which is clearly marked (which sometimes works). We also use our own dishcloths instead of the communal sponges, however even if allergens weren’t an issue we’d probably still use our own dishcloths. The worst part about sharing the kitchen (other than all the dirty dishes) is the fact that we can never be sure if the table and counters are safe. Even though one patch looks clean, it could just be that someone wiped of some breadcrumbs. This means that when we are cooking, if a piece of food falls onto the table we have to throw it out. It breaks my heart to throw away a large piece of onion!

Of course, there is always this way...

I’m used to being paranoid in the kitchen about surfaces and whatnot, but sometimes I think about how easy it would be for crumbs or residue to accumulate on door handles, sink faucets, and desks. There are literally thousands of opportunities for my boyfriend to be accidentally exposed to allergens throughout the day. I suppose anyone would exhaust themselves worrying about all of the possibilities, which is why I guess my boyfriend chooses to only worry about the most common ways allergens could get into his system. However, now I am thinking about all of the people who can have allergic reactions just by touching peanut butter and the like. That was why we had special lunch tables in middle school and why we weren’t allowed to bring any nuts into the classroom. All of that went away as I entered high school and moved on to college, and now I wonder how people with severe allergies are able to keep themselves safe.

 (image from here)

The trouble with quinoa

One of the staple ingredients my boyfriend always keeps on hand is quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah, as the label annoyingly insists). The fallback dish almost every day was usually what we came to call "quinoa and beans", which was pretty much what it sounds like: a mixture of quinoa, beans, and whatever vegetables we happened to have in the refrigerator. When I was first introduced to the dish, I was completely in love, probably because we use plenty of onions and caramelize them thoroughly (yum!). I professed that I would never tire of the dish, that is until I got a nauseous migraine one evening and tasted it coming back up. Since then, whenever I have eaten quinoa I can't finish the meal.

Let me back up and explain what exactly I am talking about. Quinoa is a grain from South America which is prepared and used almost identically to rice. However the taste, unlike rice, is a sweet nutty flavor. It's also less starchy than rice and apparently is an excellent source of protein, which makes it favorable among the vegan/vegetarian crowd. The only thing that would be off-putting is that it is more fragrant than other grains, so it may take some getting used to.

So why can't I eat it if it isn't unpleasant? In short: I don't know. For a while after the migraine incident, I couldn't eat it because it brought back memories of nausea. Once I forced myself to break the habit of slightly-embedded conditioning towards associating the taste with feeling ill, I still found that I couldn't finish what was on my plate. I just didn't want to keep eating it. Even the act of chewing was difficult, so I was forced to give the rest of my meal to my boyfriend, who is, in a nutshell, a human garbage disposal.

What I think may have happened is that I simply got tired of the taste. This has happened to me before with foods that I eat too often, and since I was eating quinoa for at least two meals each week, this seems like the best possible explanation. To counteract this, we started to experiment with adding different flavors, like using a chile pepper to kick up the vegetables and boiling a piece of kombu seaweed with the quinoa to get a salty/meaty flavor. Sometimes it worked, depending on how hungry I was, but there is still some experimenting to do.

Since I haven't been able to eat with my boyfriend for a while and haven't had quinoa in nearly two months, I decided to buy a bag to see if I could at least finish a portion. As of yet, no avail. I caramelized a vidalia onion, used plenty of carrots, red bell pepper, and snow peas hoping that the vegetable flavor would help. No luck. Maybe adding new spices. I used the traditional oregano and basil, and tried a dash of tarragon because I was intrigued. That didn't work either. What resulted is a mixture of sweet and bitter from the balance of the vegetables mixing with the quinoa. Plus, the cooked pepper tasted slightly acidic and tomato-y, which isn't exactly my cup of tea. I decided that what was missing was a meaty flavor, and in having no kombu I added a leftover bratwurst. The result was a game of "find the pieces of bratwurst in the quinoa".

I definitely think that I need some saltiness to offset the overwhelming earthy-sweetness that has been established. Adding meat clearly didn't help, so I was thinking of perhaps simmering the mixture with a bit of chicken stock so that the flavor permeates rather than just sitting on top. Or I could just add more salt.

-----Edit------
It turns out that adding more salt helped immensely. Plus an obscene amount of pepper didn't hurt either. I guess when it comes to flavor, always cover the basics before you get fancy. Although eating quinoa is still slow-going, it doesn't feel like an uphill struggle after a few bites. Since I discovered the secrets of salt and pepper I have finished off the batch of quinoa and vedge I made, although I'm holding off on cooking the rest of the quinoa.

(image from here)

Five Flavors Gluten Free

I recently (as in 5 seconds ago) saw a commercial for Rice Chex advertising the fact that five of their flavors are gluten-free. They have even written it in rather large letters on the front of the box! The commercial addressed the fact that it's difficult to find safe foods that people actually want to eat and also included the line "as a mom, I don't want to tell her no all the time". So basically, they are saying "yes" to Rice Chex.

On top of their gluten-free stance, the website is extremely helpful. Just click on the flavor you are interested in and you immediately get the nutrition information and not a flowery "Sweetness of honey with a hint of nut flavor" schpiel (sp?) one would expect.

As for my situation, the plain ol' rice flavor is the only thing that would even be remotely safe. Not to my surprise, most of the other flavors rely heavily on corn and the chocolate flavor contains milk. However, this is a promising start. I'm going to check with my boyfriend, but the rice flavor might be a possibility for a snack I can keep in my room without too much fear of contamination. I'll probably still have to be careful around finals to make sure, but it might be alright for casual grazing.

I'm really happy that the General Mills company is directly advertising to the gluten-free population. Not only are they showing some of their products are safe, but they also indicate which ones are safe, which takes out some of the guess work. They aren't just referring you to a brand, but a specific flavor. I hope other companies follow suit and don't mess opportunities like this up. If they claim a product is gluten-free when it really isn't, they would have hell to pay from someone who had a reaction to their product. It would be like saying that their product absolutely has no nails in it and then opening it up and finding little iron spikes that could be used to adjoin pieces of wood.

(image found here)

"You need to watch your diet"

One time I was watching one of those "overweight teenagers lose weight" shows, and there was one parent/child dynamic that startled me. The mother would buy cookies or other snacks and leave them in plain sight of her daughter, knowing that she couldn't resist eating them. Then she would find the wrappers that her daughter tried to hide and just leave them out on her bedspread as if to say "I know what you did". She would constantly set her daughter up to fail by buying the snacks and then would punish her for it.

My family works a little bit the same way, but to a less extreme extent. After every candy-associated holiday (Christmas, Easter, etc), we have what I call the "Sugar Holocaust". This is when my dad starts to feel sluggish from all the holiday food and throws away our treats, sometimes without us knowing. He claims that we don't need the stuff, which is true, but this purge only happens a few times a year. Even less frequently, about once every two years or so, one or both of my parents decides that the entire family needs to eat healthier and we try a diet (or something resembling one). This usually lasts a week or so but then my mom starts to crave brownies and the whole thing goes down the tube.

Like the girl from the TV show, I can't really control myself when I'm surrounded by treats. Just knowing that there is a bag of Mike and Ikes "hidden" in the cookie jar means that I can walk by and grab a handful whenever I happen to walk by the kitchen. The same can be said for the rest of my family, although they tend to eat in substantial amounts during one sitting as opposed to grazing. I've been trying to get away from this habit and next year it should be easier because I won't eat "unsafe" foods, and therefore won't eat as often. However, until I actually move into my new dorm room next semester, I am still out to pasture.

What really chaps my khakis is the fact that my family doesn't know a wide range of food groups. My parents are the children of WASPs (on my dad's side) and Scottish-Canadian immigrants (on my mom's side). Therefore, our diet is mostly made of meat and starch. A meal might be steak, potatoes, and corn. Or chicken and peas. See the pattern? My mom doesn't make too many salads because she knows that they won't get eaten, however somehow this has translated into very few greens at all. The most exotic we get with our vegetables is green beans or maybe asparagus on occasion. There are even times when the meal is only one item, but in vast quantities. These are often quick meals that my mom makes when she gets home late or has me or my sister start, things like spaghetti or some other pasta. Now don't get me wrong, all of this tastes great. However, I think my parents are having trouble thinking three dimensionally when it comes to meals.

Recently, my dad saw me eating a bowl of instant ramen noodles. For the record, I hadn't had any in just about a month, but my dad made a comment about how I should probably watch what I was eating. The truth is, I have been craving "safe" meals with quinoa or a delicious mixture of veggies with a little bit of ground beef but I am afraid to suggest them because my parents don't really show an interest. The most adventurous grain we use is white rice, and most of the recipes I've made over the last year have relied on beans as the protein source, and my mother isn't that keen on legumes.

Furthermore, my dad said that come fall, when both my sister and I go off to college, he and my mom would start cracking down on what they were eating. Why wait? Why are they telling me to watch what I eat when they aren't going to bother until the fall. Okay, the hypocrite horn is sounding right now, I realize. However, I want to make quinoa and eat cabbage but can't find an outlet (or inlet as the case may be).

I think one of these days I might just break down and make one of my recipes, even if it's just for me to eat. The trick will be finding the quinoa....

A decision is made

When the new semester starts and I can visit the farmer's market again, I am canning everything I can for winter. No joke.

Ever since my boyfriend and I discovered this amazing jam-making site (well, hub), we've been a tad obsessed. Admittedly, we have only made two batches of jam, but we hope to someday make all of the recipes there. Plus, I really want to make my own ketchup because there is probably no way that the store-bought stuff is safe, and also because it would be awesome to recreate that opening scene from Meet Me in St. Louis (I'm a movie nerd).

I started to remember how many amazing fruit seemed to go to waste at my hands. I would buy a small package of plums thinking that they would be a snack through the next week and then the last third would be left to sit and go soft. I would still eat them, but without the relish that I had when I first bought them. Then when winter came  I prayed for some sort of fresh fruity flavors. That's when Beaumont's came along. The Beaumont's jam lady came to know my boyfriend and I by sight and it even came to the point when she knew we were after her strawberry rhubarb jam.

The canning funnel: the one kitchen accessory I never knew I needed

So why can't we do it too? We could even preserve tomatoes or other veggies through canning or even freezing them, which is how some of the farm stands were able to sell peppers during the drudgery of March (that month should secede from the calendar year). Since my boyfriend is rather committed to eating only in-season foods (i.e. no grocery store veggies), this might be a way to save some peppers or plums when we crave them.

Plus, it will be fun. Both times that we've made jam have been wonderful experiences. My boyfriend and I are still amateurs, so when we made dandelion jelly we forgot to increase the amount of pectin needed to thicken the amount of the dandelion infusion we made. The result was a thin mixture closer to Jell-O than jelly, but it was still great. It's just little mishaps like this that indicate more practice in determining when the jam is thick enough, but at least we'll have some delicious things when we're done.

I think the most interesting thing I've noticed while perusing the jam sites is the fact that a bunch of recipes include rosemary. Here I was thinking that it was merely the perfect spice for beef or potatoes, but I guess it also compliments those plums I'll buy once I get to the market!

(image from here)

Curses!

I find it strange that I willingly have taken to historically "feminine" pursuits. I love to cook, I knit/crochet almost constantly, I adore dresses, and I crave shoes. However, there is one part of femininity that I have never mastered: makeup.

Maybe it's my Nova Scotian farm wife heritage, but I never really had a need for make up. My daily toilette includes mineral foundation with SPF 15 and if I'm feeling particularly invested in how I look, L'Oreal's Bare Natural's mascara. In the winter, I add gluten-free lip balm out of necessity. When I was a pre-teen, I dabbled in lip gloss but I always hated the sticky texture that it had and I always put on too much, causing a sheer pink glossy streak all across my lower lip whenever I pressed my lips together. I played around with eyeliner, but being incredibly near-sighted made it difficult to see what I was doing . I would either have to hold a hand mirror 3 inches away from my face, which would get in the way of my hand, or I would bend over the bathroom sink and my back would hurt before I was done with one eye (no contacts).

I realize that most makeup skill is acquired through practice, and since I never really practiced that much it would account for my inability to apply liquid eye liner. However, ever since I started dating my boyfriend I was a little relieved that I would never be expected  to wear that much make up. In truth, I was dreading learning how to apply lipstick and was putting it off for the longest time. However since I couldn't be sure what was exactly in the lip stick, I could just forgo the whole ordeal.

And then curiosity killed my cat. I decided to see if there were any allergen-free cosmetics on the market and I came to find out that there are a few companies who are gluten and allergen free. It seems like the gluten-free market has reached into cosmetics!

I haven't looked at too many companies thus far, but one that caught my eye was Afterglow. What I like about them is that they list their ingredients right on the web site and most of their ingredients are organic. In fact, I love this quote from their website:
"Full disclosure - we disclose every ingredient in every product we sell. Since the FDA allows companies to conceal and not list the true ingredients in items listed as “fragrance”, “flavors” and any ingredient under 1% of the total formula – you never know what you might be using." 

Another cool thing is that they don't use preservatives, which although it reduced the shelf life of the product, means that they are even further committed to safe ingredients. Plus, they are also free of petro-chemicals, which is reducing the dependance on oil. Sure, fossil fuels are being used to ship the product all around the world, but at least it's not being put on your face! 


The absolute thing that I appreciate about this company is the fact that they are gluten-free. The founder has family members with Celiac disease and is therefore committed to making safe products for people with similar problems. In perusing the ingredients list for the products, I see that there are no soy, casein, or nut products in there and the company states that most of their products are free of major allergens. There is some corn in a few of their products, but it is clearly labeled. For example, their Color Lock says that it contains fructose, however after that it says (organic, made from corn). Awesome! That saved me an email asking if there were any potential corn derivatives! 


This company is so sensitive to allergens and it's great that they spell everything out in case there are any questions. With sensative skin or allergies, you don't want to spend money on a product, test it out, and then find that you got a reaction from it. Letting people know up front what they are in for so that they can decide to take that risk makes the process easier. 


Although I am now in love with this company's message, now I begrudge them for making such a safe product. Now I might have to start wearing lipstick!

The inevitable result.

(images from here and here)

Danke kindly

In continuing the Bobble story arc, I got a follow up on their reply to my reply to their reply to my question. Put simply:

"There is no soy or corn material and/or by-products used in the plastic. Filters also do not contain any corn or soy products."


Huzzah! My inner grammar Nazi wants to correct them for using "is" instead of "are", but oh well. There shall be no prescriptivism here!

I'm sorry that I haven't had time to do more active food research for my posts. My computer time has become precious of late so I am finding it hard to sit down and really get into the topics I come up with. That, and since coming home for the summer I haven't come across too many labels in the supermarket that surprise me or are worth writing about. This is probably because I don't have time to go with my mother to the supermarket and also because I know that most of the food in my house contains gluten. We're bread addicts, what can I say? 

Well, that's all for this session. Next week here on G.T. Dave's Theater on the Air, we'll bring you "Oedipus" starring Potato as Oedipus and Tomato reprising her Broadway role as Jocasta. Our star cast also includes Broccoli as Laius and Garlic as Tiresias. We hope you have enjoyed tonight's performance, and as always:

We thank you, and good night.

(image from here. Can I get a "squee" for Orson Welles?)

Thaaaat's more like it

As mentioned in my last post, I wrote a reply to the reply the Bobble company sent after my inquiry about the safety of their plastic for people with corn allergies. I told them that I had looked at the FAQ page and still did not find the answers I was looking for, and was merely wondering if there were any corn derivatives in their product. I made a point to mention that I was not interested in the exact composition of the plastic (to mask my intent to create the Boddle, which would be a sister company of Seasonal Celestials), and underlined the fact that I was concerned about corn allergies.

I got an email back and someone at customer service says that they will look into this and write me back as soon as they find an answer. This email was definitely more personal than the last and felt like it was actually written by a human being instead of being a reply they spit back to everyone who tries to contact them. I get the feeling that the customer service people are trying to answer the hundreds of emails they receive every day as efficiently as possible and simply memorize statements that will hopefully answer any questions. I got the same thing with Coconut Bliss (no news as of yet), so it seems like you have to break down that barrier and send more emails with very specific questions to get what you are looking for. I know this seems like common sense, but I've made sure in my emails to ask if products are safe for people with corn or other food allergies instead of just asking if there are any corn derivatives because this seems to set of a red flag and show that this is a priority question instead of just a flippant inquiry.

As usual, I will try and update any news I get from both Bobble and Coconut Bliss.

Well there's no need to get snippy

I decided to hop on the bandwagon and stop using bottled water. Really, when you think about it you have to wonder why you pay money for something that comes out of the sky naturally. What you are paying for is mostly the convenience of having it right there and chilled in a handy container you can take with you. However, after you pay for that convenience hundreds of times it gets a little ridiculous. On top of that, there's a bunch of controversy about BPA and the safety of plastics being used, as well as the effects on the environment. I'm not trying to preach, but this documentary definitely has me intrigued.


What did I do? I went and bought myself a Bobble. Personally, I really hate those metal bottles that have become the rage because no matter what, to me the water always tastes like when you handle coins and then accidentally put your hands to your mouth. What really drew me to the Bobble was the filter and the fact that I could potentially drink water that might otherwise be deemed unsuitable. It isn't a wonder product and it won't protect you from microorganisms other nasties that might hide in questionable water. However, it does stop most water from tasting like a pool or the inside of the faucet it came out of.

The neat thing is that it's made out of biodegradable plastic and is BPA free. However, I somehow remembered long ago and far away that biodegradable plastics can be made from plant materials; and if there's one thing writing this blog has made me realize, it's that "plant materials" usually means corn. I emailed the Bobble company asking if this was the case with their plastic and if it was made of corn would it be safe for people with allergies. The last thing I want is for me to have my boyfriend have a reaction to my water bottle! I got a rather speedy reply, but it was very unsatisfactory. It said simply:

Thank you for your interest in bobble and making water better

please see the FAQ section on our website for a comprehensive list of questions, answers, facts and information:

http://www.waterbobble.com/#/bobble-water-corporate-information

regards,

bobble

customer service

Wow guys, really? I combed the FAQ section but it was the usual general questions that they think they can weed out of the emails being sent to them. They probably saw the word "safe" in my email and thought I was worried about BPA or other "toxins" in the plastic, not the potential for allergens. A snippy response probably deserves and equally snippy retaliation, so I will probably gather all of my inner snip and type that email up in the next few days.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy with the product and will continue using it. However if I can't get a satisfactory response I may have to switch to another kind of water bottle just to be on the safe side. On the other hand, if you aren't concerned about exposure to corn or other food-based allergens in your diet, definitely check Bobble out. They bottles are relatively cheap and are reusable. After about 2 months, just replace the filter. Wow, I'm really starting to sound like a spokesperson. I'll stop now before I say "now for the low low price of two easy payments of $29.99!"

(image from here)

I SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM!!!

 I absolutely love when companies explain how they avoid cross contamination as far as allergens are concerned. Apart from King Arthur Flour, which makes all of their allergen-free products in a separate facility, most companies either are completely allergen-free or have the “made in a facility which processes…” blurb on their label.

Luna & Larry’s Organic Coconut Bliss found a happy medium. If you aren’t privy to this magic, Coconut Bliss is a brand of ice cream made with coconut milk for those who are unable to eat dairy or soy. Now that the weather has been warming up, my boyfriend and I have been tearing our way through the flavors. I was poking around on their FAQ page and happened to see the question “is Luna & Larry’s Coconut Bliss processed on ‘shared equipment’?” It turns out that yes, they do share equipment for processing flavors with allergens; however they have a very intricate process for making sure that there isn’t any cross-contamination.

First they schedule their processing so that no dairy or soy will be in the plant and they clearly label and store all nuts and other potential allergens for their flavors in a separate area from their other ingredients and only move them onto the production floor when they are ready to make a flavor with ingredients. They also only make the nut and other allergen-containing flavors at the end of the day, so that there isn’t any potential for contamination. At the end of the production day, dismantle wash, and inspect the equipment. The next morning it is inspected again, and then sanitized and rinsed.

I absolutely love this methodical approach. I also love that they detailed it on their website (trust me, you got the short version). I get the feeling that most other companies would simply say “Yes, but we make sure to clean all equipment after making an allergen-containing flavor”. Sure, that would suffice, but Coconut Bliss went a step beyond.

For those of you who are curious, I highly recommend Coconut Bliss. The coconut flavor isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t taste like you’re “eating sunscreen”, as my mom would have it. I have only tried a few of their flavors but they have been excellent so far!

http://www.coconutbliss.com/info/basic-faq

(image from here)

Splendifferous

I think it’s impossible to convey just how much of a sweet tooth I have. I grew up in a house where both my mom and my godmother are both excellent bakers and they have almost a fanatical devotion to butter and anything relating to cheesecake. Therefore, I tend to avoid bitter drinks and use obscene amounts of sweetener even in naturally sweet teas. Since my mom essentially outlawed table sugar for beverage use during one of our diets many years ago, I’ve gotten in the habit of using Splenda.

I get in bit of a sticky situation when I drink tea with my boyfriend. For a while I meant to investigate whether or not Splenda was a safe food but never got around to it. Instead I would end up using a lot of honey as a sweetener and cringing at how “bitter” my chamomile tea was (I’m hopeless, I know!).

Well, it turns out a lot of people are concerned about Splenda’s safety, but for a bunch of different reasons. Their FAQ page is full of questions like “does sucralose cause headaches/migraines?” and “does Splenda Brand Sweetener affect the thymus?” This is understandable because over the past few years there have been some questions as to whether or not a chemically created calorie-free sweetener is the root of several health problems.
http://www.issplendasafe.com/

I can understand that the Splenda company doesn’t want to answer thousands of emails asking if their product is safe for pregnant women, so it’s smart that they actually used their FAQ page to answer some frequently asked questions.

As I scrolled down to the bottom I finally found questions relating to food allergies. The most obvious one was pertaining to gluten. The answer says that they do not use any grain ingredients during the manufacture of Splenda, however they don’t test the final product for gluten. This makes sense because if they weren’t using gluten in the first place, why would they check it afterward? However, some people including myself sometimes get a little antsy about stuff like this, so I’m glad they put it in. There is no information about casein or gluten, however one of the Splenda products, their “Minis”, contain lactose. I would imagine that they use milk as a binding agent for the little tablets of sweetener so that would explain it.

By a bit of luck (if you can call it that) I found that Splenda is derived from corn. Yes, corn is king still. Surprisingly I didn’t find this information under the “What is Splenda made out of?” questions, but rather one asking if it was made from any ingredients derived from genetically modified organisms (GMOs). If you’re worried about that, no Splenda does not have GMOs, however it is derived from the starches in corn. I probably won’t use Splenda around my boyfriend even though his reactions to corn aren’t that severe because I am not really comfortable with using artificial sweeteners. Through my research for this blog and through shopping and cooking with my boyfriend I’ve started to value natural sources of nutrients more than before, so I will probably switch to a raw sugar sweetener soon. Also, I think that I’ve been indulging my sweet tooth too much with Splenda. I need to work on enjoying foods that can’t rot your teeth on contact!

(image from here. Sorry for the gruesome imagery, but I found it horrifying and cute at the same time. That's what I find when I Google image search "sweet tooth"!)

My secret plan is found out

Just like with the Yogi Tea company, I asked the Celestial Seasonings company about their natural flavors to see if the ninja corn could be hiding inside. Apparently, yes.

Their email started off with the usual “Thanks for your patronage” message followed by a very brief answer to my initial question. They wrote:

“In general, the herbs and spices used in Celestial Seasonings teas contain proteins, fats and carbohydrates (which may include naturally occurring sugars). In addition, some Celestial Seasonings teas contain natural flavors, which may contain sucrose, maltodextrins (cornstarch) and corn syrup solids at very low levels. While we ensure that the ingredients of these natural flavors are all natural, the exact amounts in the flavors are trade secrets.”

Ooh dear. For the most part, we’ve found that the single ingredient flavors are safe and as usual the amount of corn isn’t really an issue. However, it will be avoided during stressful times (aka finals…) to make sure my boyfriend doesn’t have a reaction.

I’m glad that the email stated which ingredients are derived from corn even though they aren’t specifically stated in the nutritional information. Most of the time companies just say “there’s probably corn in there”. I was just a little cheesed at the fact that they were apparently concerned that I wanted their trade secrets. Yes, I shall steal all their recipes and make my own company: Seasonal Celestials! Bwa ha ha!



(image from here)

All your oils are belong to us!

In spending more time with my boyfriend, I’ve learned that I have to look carefully at the products I use. I’ve already tried to cut down on my usage of perfume, to the point where sometimes don’t use it when I know we’re going to see each other. I also switched to an allergen-free toothpaste. Now, we’re being even more careful.

It turns out that soybean oil is relatively common in beauty products. I bought a bottle of some “olive oil” hair treatment to help with my winter dry scalp, and found that the first ingredient was in fact soy. I was also looking at BioOil (that seemingly miracle alternative to Mederma for scars and stretch marks) and soy is in that too.
http://www.bio-oil.com/en/ingredients/index.html

The worry is that although the soy wouldn’t be ingested, there is still a risk of the allergens being left on the hand and then getting carried to the mouth. This was the issue with the condoms and now it’s starting to pop up more and more with other products. Curses!

(image from here)

10 Things I Hate About Southwest

I know, this is a food blog. However, due to a recent so-called riot on campus due to the death of Osama Bin Laden, I feel compelled to tell you folks about my life outside the kitchen.

The UMass dorms are split between several areas on campus. There is the North apartment area, Sylvan, Northeast, Orchard Hill, Central, and Southwest. I live in the last one. Each area has its own character and style, which is nice. However, that also means that each area has a bit of a reputation. For instance, since the Northeast area is located near the science buildings, it's known for housing the engineering majors. Central has a lot of brick buildings and grassy areas that make you want to sit under a tree and read a book for hours. Southwest, however, has more of a cityscape. There are five "tower" dorms and several "low rise" buildings surrounded by asphalt and gravel with sparse sprinklings of trees.

The reason I live in this area is because I signed up for a particular program which had us live in Southwest. I could have moved for the second semester, but I thought I could tough it out. Even if I hadn't been placed in the program, I still would have been intrigued by the layout. Being a girl from a cow town in northern Massachusetts, living in something that resembles a city seemed exciting. Now I don't want to live here ever again. The reasons?

10. Ice Cream
You can't walk 10 feet without seeing a dark stain of ice cream on the ground. This is due to the fact that one of the dining commons has a soft serve ice cream machine, and it's handy if you want your dessert on the go. I would be fine if the majority of these stains were from spillage accidents (the prime fear of our youth), however the shattered remains of the cones and the fact that the stains appear on walls is a sign that people are throwing them. Why? Who wastes ice cream? Besides, it's not bad enough that it's all over the ground outside. Oh no, today there was ice cream and cone remains in the stairwell of my building. Again, who throws ice cream? And for what reason?

9. Skateboarders.
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know I was walking straight through your own personal skate park. No, let me stand here while you try and jump over an imaginary obstacle. It's not like I have a class or anything to go to. You know what, I could go around too but this is the ONLY WAY THROUGH THIS PART OF SOUTHWEST! Yeah, so you try and jump that imaginary trash can. I'll just be standing here.

8. It sucks(and blows)
With the campus being in a valley, we have a lot of wind troubles. There are times when you walk past the library on a windy day and you have trouble standing upright. I've even heard of migrating geese avoiding that particular patch of sky because it's like flying into a wall. Sorry geese.

Since I live in one of the towers, the wind blows pretty mightily. You can hear the annoying whistle and whoosh outside sometimes, but the worst is when a window is open. If you live the door open too, the wind sneaks into the window and slams the door for you. It wasn't a problem during the winter, but once it warmed up you could hear the familiar "ker-SLAM!" all the way from the other side of the building. Similarly, if the wind is really strong you have to force open the door just to get into your room.

7. Stoop Culture
This isn't a complaint about Southwest itself, so much as a complaint about my particular building. You see, my building has a set of concrete stairs which lead up to the front door. Out of a natural instinct to convene, people go out there to smoke and generally hang out. During the daylight hours they normally stick to the sides of the stairs, sitting on the little wall partitions on either side. However, as it gets later they start sitting in the middle of the stairs and blocking the way to the door. There have been times when I've seriously considered hitting people with my bag to get them to move. Or, what's even worse is when it's raining outside and a small group gathers in the overhang near the door. However, this is right in front of the card reader which is the ONLY WAY TO ENTER THE BUILDING. Yeah, I've narrowly missed touching various asses in my efforts to get back to my room. So far no one has sustained backpack injuries.

Also, they get really loud, or so I've heard. I don't live "stoop side".

6. The crowds in Berkshire DC
The Berkshire Dining Commons is one of the more popular eateries on campus (maybe because of the throwable ice cream). This, coupled with the fact that is in the residence area with about 5,000 students means it's packed at eating times. Maybe it's my own fault for eating at the same hours as everyone else. My schedule allows for me to eat an earlier dinner if I wish, but I'm used to between 5:30 and 6. Apparently so is everyone else. Finding a seat is difficult, and then the layout means that there are lines of people getting food that project right into the line of traffic. However, the worst thing is that people walk very slowly. I understand not wanting to rush with a plate full of fries and that skirting the crowds is hard, however that doesn't mean that you can travel at the speed of a narcoleptic snail on a turtle with a limp. You might as well stand still and become part of the Asian food display.

The worst part is when people slow down and talk near the doors. The way the DC is set up, there is a room where you deposit your dishes to get them washed, and then their is a door that leads out into the main entrance area. People tend to halt at this doorway to talk about who knows what, however since it is basically the ONLY WAY OUT, a bottleneck is formed. And then I feel the urge to swing my backpack. Notice a theme in Southwest? Bottlenecks.

5. The smell
As you reach your floor, you smell a distinctive scent. You run through the possibilities in your mind. Well, there's no way a skunk could have made it through the doors and climbed up the eight flights to your floor, and it's near impossible that the little guy could have pushed the elevator button...And then you check the time. Oh, 3 PM. It must be pot.

4. The construction
Right now Southwest is going under some renovations to bring it into the 21st century. Some of these marvels include putting a brick pattern on the walkways, adding more green things, more trash bin areas, and wireless internet. In that order. Most of the renovations can't be done with the students around, so that's why the computers are shackled with Ethernet cables. This didn't take too long to get used to, but most of my peers complain that the construction wakes them up at 9 in the morning. Oh the horror.

My main issue with it is, you guessed it, the bottlenecking. For a while, the middle portion of the main path in the area was fenced off in order to put in that precious brick pattern which is now smattered with ice cream guts. This meant that I couldn't take my usual route and had to chart a different course to the center of campus. It didn't take me any longer to get there, but I hate breaking up a perfectly fine routine

3. Tech-No more music. Please.
For some reason the only music people prefer in the floors above and below me is techno or hip-hop. However, because of the concrete walls only the bass beat penetrates into my room. It doesn't make it any less annoying, especially when you are trying to get to sleep. I know that it's college and that people are going to party, however at least in Central it's Led Zepplin. I'd rather fall asleep to "Kashmir" than the constant "BOOMF. Boomf-boomf" from the floor above me.

2. Piano Man
At 3 AM. The night before my 8 AM math final. Sung very poorly by drunken football players. The same goes for "Don't Stop Believin'".

1. The reputation
UMass has a bit of an inexplicable reputation as "ZooMass". Yeah, crazy stuff went down in the past but now we don't even make the list of top 20 party schools in the country. Maybe we're trying to look badass. Anyways, out of all the areas, Southwest has the reputation for being where the parties are. If you tell people you live in Southwest, they nod and smile knowingly. Or when you tell them that you were required to live their for a program, they start to pity you.

Simply by living in Southwest, people assume that I party. I've heard advice like "once you move out, you just keep going back!". Well, no. It's as if people can't tell by looking at me that I'm the shy bookish type. Even my parent's friends all laugh when I say that I'm in Southwest because they've heard stories either from their kids or their own wild exploits.


Don't get me wrong, I don't hate every portion of Southwest. I like how you can see the hills from the windows or that you can see all the way across campus if you live on a high enough floor. I like the unusual layout of the rooms and the fact that there are more than 2 shower stalls per bathroom. When it's quiet, Berkshire DC can be a cool place to eat with a lot of interesting options. Of course, there's Yen the lady at the card-swiping station who always puts a smile on my face. She made it into my roommate's list of 75 favorite things, so she deserves a spot on my blog dammit! I'll also miss the guy who works at the pizza station who knows me as the girl who always has a book in her hand. However, the small doses of awesome cannot outweigh the large doses of fail. I can't wait to live in Central next year with all my fellow bookish types.

(image from here)

By the way, in the video of my roommate's favorite things, that little stud of a fig tree behind her is Cal. He's waving hello.