Category Archives: New York City

Gluten Free News: August 2011

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Sorry for the belated post, but I’ve just returned from my honeymoon!  I’m now a married woman!  More on that later.  Here is your New York City GF news for August.

Al Roker bakes Gluten-Free Cupcakes

“Weatherman Al Roker told newscaster Ann Curry he’d made gluten-free cupcakes (with tapioca flour and rice flour) for his son Nicholas’s 9th birthday, which he shares with Mandela.” source: Bloomberg News.

DogFish Head adds a new Gluten-Free Beer to the Mix

In November, DogFish Head Craft Brewery will release their gluten-free concoction, Tweason’ale.  This is great news for gluten-free beer lovers, whose options are pretty limited. source: Bloomberg News.

Joan’s GF Great Bakes suffers from Fire

This news makes me really sad.  Joan’s makes some of the best frozen GF bagels out there.   I am keeping them in my thoughts and hope you do too! source: Long Island Herald

Babycakes at Rockaway Beach

Get your sugar fix while suntanning at the 97th Street Beach, where a half-dozen vendors share space.  source: New York Post

Sample Gluten-Free Bread on August 21

One of the NYC Celiac Disease Group’s members, Karen Freer, has just started a line of fresh gluten-free rolls, called, Free Bread.  She’s having  a tasting at her home and Meetup Members are invited to join!  source: NYC Celiac Disease Group

Fresh Gluten-Free Bagels in NYC!

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One of the tragedies of being gluten-free and living in New York City is not being able to enjoy the bagels.  I used to look forward to the hearty breakfast of a sausage, egg, and cheese bagel sandwhich from Ess-A-Bagel on weekend mornings.  Now, I sneak bites of the cheesy sausage from my fiance’s when he gets them.

Of course, I’ve tried frozen gluten-free bagels.  Udi’s makes a good bagel, although it seems a little too bready and not chewy enough.  I recently was introduced to Joan’s Bagels.  Joan makes par-bakes her bagels, freezes them, and then lets you bake them to your desired doneness.  This makes for an incredible texture, but they had the dreaded xanthan gum after taste.

I didn’t think that fresh gluten-free bagels existed, but I was proven wrong.  Vic’s Bagel Bar in Murray Hill makes gluten-free bagels because Vic was diagnosed with a gluten allergy 6 months after opening his bagel shop.  They make their bagels first thing in the morning as to not contaminate them with the gluten-full bagels.  I’m pretty pumped about this.  I haven’t tried a bagel from Vic’s yet, but I plan to before leaving New York City!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gluten Free News: July 2011

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Happy Fourth of July Weekend!

The start of July means the final countdown for my gluten-free wedding!  Wish me luck!  This will likely be my last regular post until August since I’ll be getting married at the end of July.

News

Another Tennis Pro Goes Gluten-Free

Biggest Women’s Serve Is Just Enough to Beat Li -  New York Times

Events

New York City Celiac Meetup: Spicy Summer GF Mondays July 11 at L’Amman

http://www.meetup.com/Celiac/events/22023331/

New York City Celiac Meetup: Gluten Free Scavenger Hunt July 31

http://www.meetup.com/Celiac/events/22838241/

July Fourth Recipes

ATX Gluten-Free: Recipe Roundup: Jessica’s recipes perfect for an Independence Day Cookout

Gluten Free Pie Party: Shauna at Gluten-Free Girl is hosting a virtual pie party- share your pie on July 5!

Elana’s Fourth of July Menu

Gluten Free Corn Dogs by Shauna: Sounds amazing, no?

Watermelon and Fennel Salad by Jenn: A great way to use a July 4th favorite, watermelon

Gluten-Free Makes Metro

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At the end of my 12 minute, 5 avenue walk to the subway each morning, I am greeted everyday by a bubbly and warm Metro Newspaper delivery man. He says, “Good morning, Miss” and “Have a nice day” when I reach for a paper. It’s something I look forward to everyday, and even when I have my own reading material for the subway, I take a newspaper anyway.

Unfortunately, the contents of Metro are not nearly as uplifting as its distributor. If I had forgotten that there is a Long Island Serial Killer on the loose, Metro reminds me. Despite its mediocre journalism, I read it, mostly to pass the time.  This morning, I was about to give up on it and throw it away — its cover story was a bunch of pop stars photo-shopped together, headline reading: Summer Music Mix 2011: We’re Pretty Sure it Rules — when I came across an article in their food section entitled, “The Gluttony of Gluten-Free Food.”

Folks, when Metro has a story on gluten-free, you know it’s mainstream.  Unfortunately, the article was pretty lame, it’s lead-in was “Is gluten-free the new Adkins or “Skinny Bitch” diet fad?”*  I personally hate it when the media spins the gluten-free diet as a weight loss fad-it seems like a cop-out- and it perpetuates the perception that the gluten-free diet is about weight loss and not a necessary diet for folks with a disease or food sensitivities/allergies.  Of course, the article does go on to say that increased awareness and diagnosis is the cause for the rise in gluten-free products and establishments and interviews Erin McKenna of Babycakes, who is awesome.  However, I’m tired of reading generic articles like this one that don’t really bring anything interesting or new to the table.  Let’s see some more stories like the ones in the New York Times about Gluten-Free Baked Goods and a Gluten-Free Plan B.

 

 

*Chadha, Tina. The Gluttony of Gluten-Free Food. Metro Newspaper.  June 23, 2011.

My Plan B

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On Saturday, a friend of mine sent me an article from the New York Times about gluten-free (another one, so soon?!).  It was about the recent growth of gluten-free focused businesses like bakeries and stores resulting from the owner’s dreams of a “plan B.”

It is fitting that I would read this article now.  Although I’ve revealed to my readers that I am getting married soon through posts about gluten-free cupcakes, menu tastings, and how to accommodate guests with food allergies and dietary restrictions, there are more big changes ahead in my life.  Alex and I are moving to Vienna, Austria in September.  Alex is a dual Austrian/American citizen and to keep his Austrian citizenship must complete civil service with the government for 9 months.  It’s a temporary move, and while necessary, is also about the experience: traveling, learning and hopefully speaking a foreign language, making friends, exploring a new city, and doing this all before we have to “settle down.”  I am incredibly excited and incredibly nervous.  But, it’s really happening now, we’ve bought our plane tickets.

Of course with this move, we’re leaving our jobs and leaving New York City (not to mention friends and family- but they’ve promised to visit).  I’ll be sad to leave the life I’ve made here, but I’m ready for a change.  I have been happily employed at my job for three years starting right out of college.  I’ve realized in those three years, that maybe, what I thought I wanted to do after college, isn’t playing out how I imagined.  While I do love my organization, and the people I work with, I’m not sure that the office-desk job is right for me.  So, I have a plan B.

Maybe I’m a little young for a plan B (did you figure out how old I am?).  Maybe, it’s really Plan A 2.0.  Whatever you want to call it, it’s a big change from what I’m doing now.  Going gluten-free had a huge impact on me: from learning how to adjust to the new diet to writing this blog, it’s a big part of my life and I think I’d like it to be even bigger.  You see, I’m just like those women in the New York Times article.  Even though gluten-free awareness has certainly grown, it’s not mainstream, and in a city a large and all encompassing as New York City, there are still only two dedicated gluten-free bakeries and dedicated gluten-free shop.  I don’t think it’s enough, and I’d like to do more for the gluten-free cause than just write this blog.  I want my own gluten-free business.

The most common question I get when I tell people I’m moving to Austria is, “What are you going to do when you’re there?”  Well, first I need to learn German.  Then, I’d like to travel.  And when I’m not doing either of those things, I’ll be working on my plan B.