Gluten-free Mother's Day Weekend
May 16, 2013
I could write about how great it was to be with our son Jeremy and his family in Maryland for Mother’s Day. I could say how amazing the grandchildren are, how much I enjoyed Leo’s soccer game, the barbecue at their neighbor’s, the visit with a childhood friend, our Mother’s Day brunch, and Seth’s Mother’s Day email from Berlin which, of course, made me cry. All good.
Instead, I want to write about gluten.
We went to lunch after Leo’s soccer game. The kids and Peter went to Five Guys, a hamburger place, and Katrina and I went to Sweetgreen next door where the counter staff composed a gluten-free salad per my direction but put a piece of bread on top of the greens. “No,” I shouted—you’ll have to start over—I said I needed gluten-free.”
“Not to worry”, they replied. “It’s gluten-free bread!”
We took our salads next door to join the males. Five Guys makes their French fries in a dedicated fryer and they are therefore gluten-free. I ate my first fast-food French fry since my celiac diagnosis fourteen years age. It was heavenly.
That night the neighbors offered piles of barbecued pork and chicken brought in for their party. I planned to stick with the raw veggies. But my daughter-in-law called the barbecue place and they said I could eat all but the bread.
The one disappointment was at Costco’s on Friday night where Peter and Jeremy each had a huge ice cream dipped in chocolate and crushed almonds. The woman at the counter didn’t understand what gluten was so I couldn’t join them. Peter admitted it was fantastic. I sulked.
But when Jeremy called Costco customer service after our Mother’s Day Brunch and learned that, in fact, that bar is gluten-free, we took a quick detour on the way home, and Jeremy bought me my own ice cream bar dipped in chocolate and crushed almonds. Delicious.
Life is gluten-free and good.
I love your descriptions in this post and related immediately to "I sulked."
I am just back from three weeks in Turkey where I had some high moments in gluten-free eating and some very low ones. Perhaps my best moment was when a restaurant that my daughter found (she's my strongest advocate about gluten-free eating) served me gluten-free bread that I could dip into my own dish of olive oil. Yummy!
My lowest moment was when I had to carry back to our rental apartment 45 minutes away a very heavy bag full of what turned out to be delicious — for the others — tahini buns and almond cookies. As they opened the door, I handed it over saying something to the effect of, "I — the gluten-free person — just carried this very heavy bag all the way back here so you gluten eating gluttons could indulge in your gluten goodies." Do you hear the sulk in that?
Wynne
Posted by: Wynne | May 17, 2013 at 01:11 AM