Hello NYC!

I love going to New York City - this I cannot deny.  It is the city the never sleeps and there is always something happening somewhere, whether it be a bar in the Village at 11:30pm or buying an iPad at 1am the choice is yours.  And these we indulged in whilst we were there.

Another thing that I really love about the city is that the leaps and bounds in the knowledge and awareness around coeliac disease (or celiac disease in American).  The waitstaff at restaurants are always very friendly and are more than happy to find out what options are GF on a menu.  And yes they probably are working that little bit harder to get a good tip but the willingness to go the extra mile really does make eating out an absolute pleasure.


We visited restaurants, friend's houses, supermarkets and delis and everything was really easy.  There is always great GF options on hand.  A breakfast favourite on this trip was to go the local Wholefoods for GF muffins, yoghurt and coffee each morning.


Wholefoods have a great range of GF bakery products, GF crackers, GF yoghurt, GF ready made soups/salads/curries and the list goes on.  The number of gluten free items does vary from store to store mainly due to the size of the shop but there is always a number of options.  This place is a go-to for me.  I always love to go to Wholefoods when I am in the States.

The restaurants we visited were varied from pubs to gluten free restaurants.  The highlight would be and always will be where we have our first meal each time we visit NYC:  a very delicious restaurant, Risottoria in the Village.
This is a must for all coeliac visitors to the City.  This restaurant is one of the few that you will find that is has a gluten free menu.  The plus is that it is so delicious and the freshly prepared  GF pizzas and GF risottos are fantastic - gotta love the GF carbs!  They even have GF beers and on the table when you sit down are GF breadsticks - they are to die for!
I must get the recipe - can anyone help??  I know that most of the flour mixes that they sell through the restaurant have tapioca and corn flour as the main GF flours but what else do they do that makes them so delicious to eat, especially with a GF beer?  If anyone knows, please tell me!

This is only the start of our NYC adventure - stay tuned for more.....to be continued.....

Love Gluten Free on Tour - London Tips

When traveling in the UK you find that you do have an easy time when finding breakfast, lunch or dinner. Each time that I return to the UK I find that more and more places have gluten free options advertised on their menu and that the wait-staff are aware of what gluten free means and what you can safely order.

As I have a mentioned in an earlier blog, the River Cottage Canteen was a real treat - all three courses of it. But this was not the only place that I safely enjoyed a meal.

A quick lunch on the run years ago, before my diagnosis meant I would grab a sandwich from Marks and Spencer Food Hall or Boots and eat on the run. Now I no longer have the option of the sandwich, but both Marks and Spencer and Boots still have their takeaway lunches and snacks but they now include salads, sushi and soups. Each of these items have the ingredients listed on the back and highlight any ingredients such as gluten, wheat or dairy.  If you have the pleasure of good weather, then you can enjoy a picinc in a local park or square whilst you enjoy your meal.


If you want to buy a little more in bulk Sainsburys Local, Tesco Express, Marks and Spencer Just Food are all smaller versions of the larger supermarkets and do have a smaller range of gluten free options which is useful for breakfast ie a two pack of muffins or a half loaf of bread.  Some have the gluten free items under the 'Free From' banner - take a look at the links to these stores below. Waitrose have the smaller stores as well and do stock GF items. I have found that they usually have stores that attached to petrol stations along the motorways - useful when on a driving trip.

For a gluten free carb fix I managed to find a few places by stumbling across them in the various parts of town that we happened to be in.
Zizzi restaurant: we visited the Notting Hill branch of the restaurant and enjoyed a gluten free pizza and salad. They have just introduced gluten free items to their menu and were rather pleased that someone was ordering a GF meal. In addition to GF pizza, they have GF pasta as well.
Orsini Restaurant is located opposite the V&A Museum in Kensington. It is a little Italian restaurant that serves GF pasta. They have a good variety of GF pasta types and a variety of really simple yet delicious sauces too.
The Wolseley on Piccadilly: I had never heard of The Wolseley until a friend invited us to brunch there one morning. It is a beautiful building, a very old world, English style of place. I enjoyed an omelette with gruyere cheese - yummo! I would recommend visiting here even for a pot of tea one afternoon for the experience and people watching. But do book as they can get rather busy.
Humming Bird Bakery:  this is a great place to stop early on a Saturday morning before the Portobello Rd Market in Notting Hill becomes chaos.  They have a couple of GF options - I chose the Red Velvet cupcake and a fantastic Illy Coffee - heaven as we had only arrived that morning.

Pubs are always welcoming but the typical English pub is something very special. I find that the older the pub the more atmosphere they have as well as being so different from what I go to at home. Often the pub meals are rather hearty fare but the staff, depending on the pub itself are very helpful and worse case scenario, there is always a grilled steak and salad for dinner. Pubs usually have local ciders on tap which I recommend. A lovely apple or pear cider is rather refreshing after a day of sightseeing and walking around town.

Marks and Spencer click here
Sainsbury click here
Tesco click here
Waitrose click here

Zizzi Restaurant click here
The Wolsley click here
Hummingbird Bakery click here

Pizza in a Flash

A great alternative to buying takeaway gluten free pizza is making your own.  Whilst I do make my own bases from time to time, I am known to use pre-made pizza bases as a shortcut.  It is also a great way of ensuring that you have dinner prepared in a flash.

These bases from Old Time Bakery are a great consistency and nice and thin.  They are a convenient solution to the 'what to cook for dinner?' question and your can use your own choice of gluten free toppings.

One of my preferred toppings is a homemade tomato sauce, a generous covering of cheese (hard mozzarella of course!), then lots of thin slices of gluten-free pepperoni finished off with a final sprinkle of grated mozzarella.  Cook for about 15 minutes in a hot oven and devour.

Check out this link for more information on Old Time Bakery:
http://www.oldtimebakery.com.au/gluten-free-pizza-bases.php