I feel pretty terrible.  I’ve neglected this site for five months.  I haven’t written anything, not updated my platform, and didn’t check my email.  I did this intentionally.  In August, I moved from New York City to Vienna, Austria.  While I mentioned that in this post. I thought that perhaps I’d continue Gluten Free and the City in Vienna, but change my focus to Vienna, instead of New York City.  But after a while I realized I’d rather just write about my new experience here in a foreign city and country rather than focus on being gluten-free.   So, I stopped posting.  I stopped checking email.  I started German classes and have been doing other side projects.

Then, today I decided to check my email.  I had an email from a woman who was traveling to NYC in December and wanted to know of a place to eat in midtown near the Christmas-y sites.  I felt terrible.  I had just left her hanging without a response.  And, I knew of a place as well.  Then, I checked my google analytics, and was surprised to find that more people actually visit my site than before even without anything active.  I had given up on my site, but others hadn’t given up on me.

So, I’m writing this as a “sorry it’s been so long, can we still be friends?” kind of post.  Even though I’m not living in NYC anymore and therefore can’t really write anything current about living the gf life in the Big Apple, I am still happy to answer your emails about my experience living there, gluten-free.  I promise that I WILL check email!

If you have any interest in my life abroad, you can find me at La Vie Claire.  If you were following my wedding updates, you can read about my thoughts and feelings on the wedding here.

Thanks everyone for reading!

Claire

Transitions.  That’s the word that has been floating around in my head and in my heart and also frequently coming out of my mouth lately.  It’s the word that describes exactly what my life is right now.

Three weeks ago, today, I got married.  In one week, I will leave my job I’ve head for three years.  In another 2.5 weeks, I’ll be on a plane to Vienna, Austria, where I’ll live for about a year with my new husband.

When I was first engaged, I didn’t really think about the transition that was happening then.  I was getting married in about a year, and all I knew was that I had to plan a wedding.   Wedding planning became my time, my energy, my happiness, my stress, my life for one year.  What I didn’t realize was that the Wedding was replacing this blog.  You  of course have noticed that I haven’t written nearly as much as I used to.  And, frankly, it wasn’t just because I didn’t have the time, it was because it just didn’t seem as important.  I had taken a big step last July when I purchased a domain-name and wanted to create a site that was uber-personalized and uber-me.  I didn’t get there.  By the end of 2010, wedding planning was all I thought about and all I cared about.  And now, it’s over.

There is something frequently talked about among brides- the post wedding blues.  I have the post-wedding blues.  The minute we got back to our hotel after the reception ended, I started feeling an overwhelming sense of sadness.  It was over.  All my hard work, my time, my energy, my happiness, my life, felt over.  A wedding is a celebration of love and marriage but for me it was a project that I didn’t want to see end.  Work never gave me the same sense of fufillment that wedding planning did.

And.  I’m moving to Vienna.  Soon.  Another transition. This initially freaked me out post-wedding.  The idea of being far from my family, not having anything I have to do, not have that project to focus my every minute on.  But as it’s becoming closer and real-er I am getting truly excited about it.  I’m signing up for German courses.  Alex and I are planning a road trip that will take us through 5 countries in October.  I’m thinking about volunteering at a therapeutic riding ranch or at a museum.  I’m going to make an album from our engagement photos.  I’m going to start research on gluten-free businesses.  Big or small, the opportunities and possibilities are endless.  And while that sort of terrifies me, it excites me too.

There’s another project that I intend to work on.  This blog.  Readers, this blog will also experience a transition.  This blog was originally intended to be a resource for gluten-free eaters in New York City.  I think in my more active months, it was that exactly.  Now, though, it’s time for this blog to serve me too.  It will be more of a travel journal.  The domain will remain the same, but the writing will be a little different.  I’m still gluten-free and I’ll still be living in a large city and while I will write about my gluten-free life, my regular life will appear more often as well.

I started this post wanting to write about my wedding.  But, it didn’t feel right.  It felt too trivial to sum up one year of my life in a post about gluten-free food.  So, I won’t do that.  When it feels right, I’ll let you in on every detail of the wedding, not just how delicious my cupcakes were.

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.

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.

Would you take weekly shots just to eat gluten again?

That’s the reality of the Nexvax2 vaccine, currently being tested in phase II.  Nexvax2 works like any vaccine, where you are actually injected with the virus, causing an immune response.  Since celiac disease is an auto-immune disorder, Nexvax actually contains the peptide that most celiacs (90%)  have already that responds to gluten like a virus or bacteria.  Apparently, in phase I testing, the gastrointenstinal stress that some participants endured after receiving injections was evidence that they had isolated the right peptide.

That’s the basic science.  One shot won’t do the job, however, for celiacs.  Instead, the Nexvax2 is much like allergy shots that people get regularly to control their environmental allergies.  However, unlike seasonal allergy sufferers, celiacs don’t have to become hermits to avoid their allergen.  All we have to do is avoid certain foods.

I’m not saying avoiding gluten is easy, but it’s certainly doable and eventually becomes part of life.  Gluten-free doesn’t mean flavor-free or nutrient-free, and for many has helped them become healthier in general.  I always tell people that if I could eat gluten, I would.  But would I endure regular injections to have the occasional slice of cake at a co-worker’s birthday party or late night pizza?  I don’t think so.

What about you?  What are your thoughts on the celiac vaccine?