Eatin’ Without Wheat – Domestic Goddess Attempt Part 1

For a long while now I have wondered if I am allergic to wheat flour. I’ve suffered from dizziness, lightheaded-ness, amongst some other maladies for awhile, and wonder if it could also be in something I eat on regular basis especially since the feeling seems to be increased after I eat flour. It wouldn’t be uncommon since the allergy exists in my family. And so I am on a quest, a test if you will, to see if I can stay away from wheat flour for a couple weeks, and see any changes in my health and state of mind.

Embarking on my quest I had no idea how difficult it could be at first. I’m sort of a wheat-addict if you will, plus it’s in everything, especially food on a budget. It’s in the macaroni, ramen noodle soup, cereal, bread, burritos, candy bars, dressings, and even soy sauce (gimme a break!!) Now I never really noticed how much wheat is on the shelf in every grocery store aisle product until I started really reading labels, and I found myself wondering what kind of alternatives I would have to use to substitute my craving. And it is a craving, dear readers. If there was a social profile for a Wheat-a-holic, I would fit it to a T. So what’s a lassie to do? I thought awhile and came to these conclusions:

One must get back to basics. Back when food wasn’t complicated and filled with all these sneaky chemicals and preservatives. I’m going back to the olden days and olden ways (save for grinding my own flour between two stones and cooking with a wood burning stove for hours, lol). I’ve got modern tools, a treasure trove of alternative recipes online, and a community of Celiacs to turn to, so I can do it right? This is what I’ve come up with…

My no wheat project officially started last Sunday. Thus far I have not ingested this grain in any form. A couple nights ago I decided that I would use white rice flour as a possible alternative. I found a good recipe for rice muffins on the internet and set about making my own rice flour. Lucky me I had a little mini grinder I’d never used (the kind that blends coffee, salsas, etc…), and it worked like a gem. A bag of rice came to about 2 and ½ cups of flour and was done in about 10 minutes. Here’s the recipe I used, changed up a little for more flavor, and might continue to change as a work in taste bud progress.

CINAMMON APPLE RICE MUFFINS

1 egg

1 tbsp oil

½ cup of milk

½ cup of applesauce

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups of rice flour

2 tbsp of baking powder

2 tbsp regular white sugar

2 tbsp brown sugar

½ tsp of salt

DIRECTIONS. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (May be higher for higher elevations, but I’m in California and my oven makes me do things at a lower temperature or else they will burn). Mix liquid ingredients together first (including apple sauce). Then add the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. This recipe makes a little over a dozen cupcake sized muffins. If you want bigger muffins you can put more into the pans and you’ll get just a dozen. Bake for approximately 12 minutes. I like to check the progress with a toothpick. You will know they are done when it comes out pretty clean. You can’t completely tell by the color of the muffins as the tops don’t brown much, though the bottoms will. After that you can take them out and add butter, honey, or jam. YUM! Here are the end results:

Psychedelic rice muffins (courtesy of my crappy camera). Unfortunately I had already partaken of one of the muffins to create unity in the picture. Oh well! (Actual color of muffin slightly less YELLOW!) LOL!

My rice muffin hand- slightly out of focus, could be a lump of anything really, but luckily its a delicious and healthy rice muffin! Gobble up!

Unfortunately I don’t know the calories of these babies (though I gather it is better than regular flour). I imagine they’re not the lowest of calories due to sugar/carbohydrate content, but you can substitute the flour for brown rice flour, and the sugar for splenda, which I intend on trying in the future. They’re not as fluffy as wheat or white flour, similar consistency to corn bread, but they are a good enough alternative if you are trying to stay away from regular wheat flour and don’t want to feel totally deprived of bread-like things. Anyhoo, I think they're delish.

I am looking forward to diving into more rice recipes. May even get a little rice crazy! I could make rice milk, horchata, rice cookies, rice candy, (LOL, okay maybe that is going a little too far!), rice ice-cream (oh wait, should that be called rice-cream?) I shall let you know of my progress!

This is rice-cream, what I would like to eventually attempt to make (once I buy an ice cream maker, and also start churning my own rice butter, haha). Anyone note the irony of this photo? (The cow God looks down with envy at the bowl of rice-cream tastiness. After all, if we don't need her for milk, what will we use her for instead?!)

Which brings me to my next topic. Next thing to kick from regular diet: Dairy (this one is going to be even harder!) It’s really supposed to be a no-no for us singers, plus I’ve had sinus issues at moments when I need to sing. I will have to learn to overcome this addiction formed since childhood. I just love cheese, butter, and ice-cream! Help me Lord! Who’d have thought that the lactic secretion of Bovine in its various forms could be so addictive and alluring? I am searching for appropriate alternatives to this one as we speak. Have faith in me!

And so the journey continues!

My Lil Red Rosies....

Just wanted to reminisce in the memory of these lovely agents of love my boyfriend sent me for my birthday. They are pretty much dead now and I have to throw them away(except for a few I'm drying as a keepsake), but I wanted to remember and bask in the glory of them when they were in their prime, lol :) Cue the violin music....

Summer Holiday Merriment....

Not so long ago my dearest love got on a jet plane and flew back to England, but before that we had a 2-week vacation of a lifetime, a few memories of which I shall share here.

Pete flew into L.A. at the end of last May. We had a good week of taking in the sights of my city (I had fun playing the tourist again, and remembering that there are actually some pretty darn cool things to do here) before heading to Vegas to get hitched (just kidding, haha. He'd never been there, and we were meeting up with my family). Pete had a simple list of things he wanted to see when he got to America, the ocean, the Getty museum, Hollywood, the Grand Canyon, Vegas, and the La Brea Tar Pits (anyone whose ever been there will know they are not as exciting as they seem on film, lol). I did my best to make my man happy, and even though we didn't make it to the Grand Canyon, we did have a GRAND time. Here are some snaps of us on our tour of Los Angeles.

Me and Pete on the Santa Monica Pier

Pete and I at Pacific Palisades' Park

Pete at Grauman's Chinese Theater with the original Terminator's hand print (Arnie Schwarzenegger)

Me with the new Terminator Poster, trying to look dangeroooouuuus!!!

Us at the Getty museum, which looks more like an engagement photo pose, lol.
After the L.A. chapter of our trip we got in the car and headed for Nevada, which was a blast! Pete is the perfect road trip companion because he's sexy, hilarious, a great conversationalist, and can make any activity fun and interesting really (that and he's got the most dashing cleft chin and dimpled smile that makes a girl swoon. No complaints here!) Pete even had his first driving lesson of driving on the opposite side of the road in America...

Pete behind the wheel. From his expression he almost looks drunk, which, of course, he wasn't!
Don't worry, it was legal. (letting my boyfriend drive I mean, haha). It was a long drive and I needed a break so Pete took the wheel. I must admit that my student won his driving test with flying colors and I couldn't help but reward him with a kiss, or two, or three-thousand ; P

A view driving along Interstate 15, before a rain shower. The desert has a lonesome beauty to it doesn't it?
Right before Vegas we came upon a sign that was very appropriate...

We felt so privileged that the city of Primm, Nevada would take such personal measures to make Pete feel so welcome (even if he doesn't like whiskey!)
Vegas was more than Pete expected, a place wilder than his wildest dreams. He said he'd never seen anything like it, and I daresay, he never shall since because its that spellbinding (LOL!). We checked in at the Luxor, and after getting some grub, washing up, and meeting up with some of my family we went out on the town.

Happy and smiling couple, little did we know that a couple hours later we'd really have somethin' to smile about...
Let's suspend the suspense...It was not but 10 minutes after we'd entered a casino that first night when Pete and I sat down to a slot machine and won $255 (on a $10 bill!!!) We were shocked! Amazed! Flabbergasted! Especially since my sister Kim had just won a $265 jackpot on a machine a few slots down just a few minutes earlier! It was certainly a lucky night for all of us (and we kept the majority of our winnings, which is also a pretty remarkable feat). Pete had never experienced anything like it as he'd never gambled and was very skeptical about the practice. He had so much fun he said he could understand now why people get hooked on gambling, haha.

More snaps from our adventure....

Tally ho! Me, in front of the Luxor, commanding the statue goats (or were they camels?) to march! Attempted feat was unsuccessful.


Rockin' the shades, Luxor style
Some other highlights of Vegas: I took Pete to "Cafe Rio" in Las Vegas for dinner with my big family. (Anyone who knows of Cafe Rio, knows this is a BIG deal cause the food and house dressing are delish!) He absolutely loved it and said he'd never been so full in his life after eating an entire chicken salad in one sitting, haha. I felt proud that I had converted my British boyfriend to the American way of eating (bigger portions, better food, haha).

Pete was also a hit with my family, especially my niece and nephews who enjoyed his funny voice impressions of Gollum from Lord of the Rings. My 10-year old nephew Isaiah couldn't stop bombarding him with questions about video games like, "Hey Pete, do you have Halo in England? If you have Halo we can play on the internet! Do you have a PS2? You don't? You need a PS2!" While my 5-year old niece Rissa proclaimed things like, "Hey Pete, I asked Aunt Jessie if she was going to marry you someday and she said yes!", and "EW, why are you two kissing so much?! That's gross!". Those little rascals leave no mystery for me to pretend that my family isn't loud, wild, and outspoken, haha. But luckily, Pete passed the family test as he loved them anyway and they loved him, and so he'll be moving on to another level up next time he comes to America and meets more of my huge extended family. Should be fun! (I am now trying to mentally prepare him due to my family's large and intimidating size and personalities, haha).

Whilst in Vegas we also had a chance to sample the lunch buffet at the Luxor. Pete was eager to try it since he'd had many referrals from his British comrades that if you go to Vegas, you eat Vegas style a-la the buffets. The Luxor food wasn't spectacular (but their desserts were, so we couldn't complain).

After 2 nights in Vegas of gamblin' winnin', buffet fillin', family embarassin' fun we headed back to L.A. It was a sad time as this was the last leg of the trip before Pete would go back to England. Our last day together we went took a drive to Malibu and watched the sun go down at the beach. A sad day of reminiscing, and we were prone to fits of laughter interspersed with bursts of tears. It was an emotional time, but what can I say, we were feeling sentimental, and who can blame us?

Mushy, I know, but I don't care :)

Salutations from sunny Southern Utah....

So... I am here in Southern Utah after a long stay, and am finally writing a blog to say hello, sorry I've been gone, life's been busy sort of, but more than that, I've felt uninspired to write anything well, inspired (not to say that my writings are that, they're more like journal entries really, lol) Speaking of journals, I never really wrote in those religiously growing up, so it would make sense that I don't blog regularly either. Anyhoo, enough of that, I wanted to write a small post to say hello, I hope you're all well out there.

I've been spending my last couple of weeks hanging with family and enjoying Utah (though now that the HOT HOT weather has sunk in down here, I recall very vividly why I left the desert in the first place). Methinks I'm a California girl, I enjoy the sun, but not so much that it burns me on a regular basis or makes me feel like I'm in the Sahara desert. Because it's so expensive we haven't really had my sister's AC on much and so have tried to keep cool with fans and a spray bottle (makes me have great sympathy for the pioneers who hung it out here without either, and they were wearing long dresses, and warmer clothing, goodness me!!)

I wouldn't say I've accomplished a great deal of things while I've been here (unless of course, colon cleanses count, which really, I doubt you want me to regale you on that experience, HAHA!) I've babysat. I've gone to movies. Del Taco. Red Box. Wow, I sound really ambitious don't I? LOL! I haven't felt too well to be honest though, so I've started a new health regimen down here which has been good though and helpful (ha, I just realized, how odd that I say "down here" when in reality Southern Utah is north of where I live, lol). It must be habit, since I spent the majority of my life in northern Utah. Anyway, onwards and upwards I say, there is much I wish to accomplish this summer, and its definitely more ambitious than Del Taco and Red Box DVD runs, lol!

Next week I am going up to SLC for a few days, hopefully I'll get a chance to meet both my new nieces (who look absolutely adorable in their pictures) and reconnect with a few old friends before flying back to L.A. and quickly cleaning up my apartment and making it pretty before my boyfriend arrives from England for a two week stay. Yes, Pete is coming, and I am so excited to see him! We are planning on going all around L.A. and then possibly driving to Utah so he can meet some of my family (which should be lots of fun, and very interesting, considering I have a "big" family) Poor Pete, I hope he won't be too intimidated, he just has one sister, and no nieces or nephews, and I have 23? (the number changes frequently so its hard to keep track, oh, and that's nieces and nephews, not how many siblings I have, haha). Pete is a good sport though, he's very gracious and has good manners, plus he's very funny and charming, so I think they'll be impressed.

Alright well, I shall bid you adieu for now. I hope you are all enjoying the beginning of summer!

England Trip Part 5 The Lake District

Well dearies, this is the finale to my trip to England, and my favorite part, (drum rolls please) ............the Lake District, former home of children’s author Beatrix Potter and a premiere holiday destination for Brits and International people alike (like moi). I have to admit, I was SOOO looking forward to seeing the Lake District as I’d already saved up dozens of photos of this ethereally beautiful place in a folder on my hard drive. Being there in person I can tell you that my daydreams didn’t even do it justice. The Lake District really is magical, and I can say with certainty it’s definitely the most beautiful place I’ve ever been.

When I arrived in England Pete asked me the top places I wanted to see in England. I told him my #1 destination was the Lake District. He told me he wanted to make my dreams come true, and he did. What a sweetie!

We had driven up to Manchester to meet his parents and I knew at some point we would make it up to the Lake District, which was about an hour and a half away from his parent’s house. But the trip up north to the Lakes was shrouded in mystery. During dinner the night before we went to the Lakes Pete was acting rather mysterious. Pete's dad suggested we stay at his uncle’s “chalet” by the Lakes when we arrived to which Pete declared that it was DEFINITELY not a chalet and basically that I shouldn’t get my hopes up about where we were staying. But Pete’s dad has a smirk on his face and I had a feeling something was up.

Pete has often warned me he is the King of Surprises, and I can definitely confirm that he is. The morning we left for the Lakes he drilled it in further that where we would be staying that night would probably be really cold, cramped, and we might not even be able to take showers there, haha. I felt like he was playing it up since he knew what a time I was having adjusting to the cold English climate. Despite this I tried to be a good sport, and it was worth it.

My whole Lake District experience felt reminiscent of the film "Somewhere in Time", because it really feels like you are traveling back in time. The Lake District is a beautiful oasis of nature surrounded by lush green hills and open pastures, old stone cottages and fences, small, cozy villages with cobblestone streets, and of course, lakes, as expected. We had a fun drive to the Lakes cracking jokes, singing random songs, and taking random pictures of the gorgeous country Landscape. As we drove along the narrow two-lane country road to my mouth was agape at the glorious splendor surrounding us. Here are some of the snaps I took along the way.

Can you see the sheep in the distance? I want to live in the countryside here! It's heaven!

Ode to Green hills! Beautiful!


I actually took this pic while we were driving, I was pleased with myself for catching an in focus image. Not shabby ey?! Lake Windermere was so lovely!

And reaching our "shabby" accommodations for the night....

As you can see Pete led me to believe we'd be staying somewhere rubbish, but far from it! We stayed at Lyzzick Hall Hotel, which was a beautiful, comfortable, lovely hotel, with AMAZING views from the window. It was so beautiful it actually brought tears to my eyes, and was the most romantic gesture anyone has ever done for me.

That night we had fun going to the nearby town of Keswick for some authentic fish and chips. I was surprised at myself, I'm definitely not a seafood person and was skeptical, but it was SOOO good!

The next day we had fun touring around Keswick and Lake Windermere some more. Here are some pics of us goofing around at the hotel, and then through the Lakes.

Me and my Pete.

Pete being the sexy beast that he is, hehe.

Keswick (pronounced Kes-ick)

Lake Windermere. Other worldly beautiful.

A cool structure across Lake Windermere.

An amazing place and fantastic trip. I can't wait to see England in the summer!

England Trip - Part 4 MANCHESTER

Continuing with my journey to the motherland (of my ancestors, hehe)...here are some pictures and anecdotes of my visit up to Manchester, England. My boyfriend Pete's parents live up there and we were planning to stay with them for a days so that I could get a chance to see the north of England.

We drove up on a Thursday and the drive up was very pleasant. It took about 4 and a half hours (due to a stop in Derbyshire visiting Pete's best friend John and his gf Selina). They cooked us a nice dinner of Indian food (one of my main staples of food in England actually), and I got my first taste of orange squash (its actually a juice drink, not some new vegetable, and very tasty btw) and then we drove up to meet Pete's parents in Bury (a burrough of Manchester). I was a little nervous as this was the first time I was meeting Pete's parents, but luckily I had nothing to worry about as they were very kind, fun, and hospitable people.

Friday, February 20th we spent the day exploring the countryside outside Bury. I absolutely loved it. I found that I much prefer the north of England than the south due because it has more hills...

Pretty pretty hills.


The Rock of Gibraltar (okay, well, no, but it had been there since the Roman occupation)

Me and "the rock". It was a fine rock. A sturdy rock. A friendly rock. And it liked posing for pictures.

Petey poses with the rock. He's 6 feet tall, so as you can see it towered over him.

Rejoicing from the splendor of my surroundings (and oh yeah, it was BITTERLY cold!)

This was taken right after we stopped the car to get out and take pictures (in the middle of the road mind you, these things are allowed in the country). As I stepped out of the car, I fell unexpectedly into a ditch. Most lovely, haha.

This was a nice footpath in the country near a farm/estate that is open to the public. Public footpaths are all around the countryside, even through private property/land sometimes. I suppose its a treaty that the government made with country folk. I just love stone fences.

I have a fascination with old cemeteries. There is an air of mystery and spooky-ness surrounding them. It also makes me wonder about the people there, who they were, what their lives were like when they lived so long ago.

An old church converted into an antique shop across the street from the old cemetery. There were so many beautiful churches in the countryside, I was in awe.

A cute country pub we saw during our drive called "The Grey Mare".

A country church in Ainsworth built in the 14th century I believe. This was where Pete was christened as a wee babe :) It was so beautiful in person.

I have a thing about doors. I love them! Especially ones rusted with age. I find them very artistic, so much so that I'd like to buy a professional camera just to take pictures of old doors, hehe.

The lovely tower and clock of Ainsworth church. I would've rang the bell but I might have gotten into trouble :)

And here's me and Pete at the church (right before it rained and we had to leave). Don't we make a fine pair :)

We had a lovely time and some lovely memories, and I can't wait to go back again this summer, when all the flowers are blooming (and its warmer!). There is so much more I'd like to explore of England. Hope you enjoyed the pictures everyone!

England Trip - PART 3 Cambridge

Right O', time to add some more photos and tidbits from my trip to Great Britain. Last Valentine's Day Pete and I drove up to Cambridge (it's about an hour and a half outside of Finchley, London). It was the first time I got a chance to see true blue (or rather green) English countryside and I was SOOO excited. The drive was very pleasant and nice. Along the way I enjoyed hearing a bit of the British radio stations, BBC 1 in particular (I believe that's what it was called). They played a lot of Top 40 tunes they play here in the states.... artists like Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Pink, but with some artists I've never been privileged to hear as well....(Yeah, British rap is quite interesting, lol!). For instance, Lily Allen is HUGE over there. A mega star. As is Jimmy Osmond (yeah, his posters for a Broadway show were plastered all over the London tube stations). I can understand the hype with Lily maybe, but Jimmy? What gives?! LOL!

Pete and I arrived in Cambridge in early afternoon and I had my camera in hand to snap as many pictures as was possible (scratch that, in actuality I wasn't able to snap as MANY pics as I truly wanted due to my memory card not formatting properly). I was forced to take only probably 5-7 photos to be saved on my camera's internal memory, otherwise I'd have to delete some precious photos taken in London. The rest of the pictures from Cambridge would have to be memories saved in, well, MY internal memory.

We did a lot of walking through Cambridge. Its a beautiful town with breathtaking architecture, an interesting mix of the old traditional Gothic & Georgian styles fused with modern contemporary. Most of the buildings still have the historical facades, of course, which I really liked, but were renovated inside, to suit our 21st century needs. I absolutely loved it! They also had a lot of American establishments I recognized like Starbucks, Pizza Hut and Chilli's which made me feel a little more at home.

Speaking of which, I made up a game with Pete during my time in England. Whenever I saw an American business, whether it be a restaurant, coffee shop, clothing store, etc..., I'd make a 'T' symbol with my hand and haughtily yell "T", as though we Americans somehow had the upper hand on Brits, and that's why they want to copy us. A competition ensued between us and Pete tried to trademark as many British establishments as he could in a certain amount of time against me. I always said I'd tally up the points between us at the end of the day to decide officially which nation is the best, but I never really did. Guess this trip was more a United Nations mission trying to unite cultures vs. dividing them. Which is why we held hands and kissed, ALOT, to fill in the cultural gaps, of course, hahaha! Call me a good will ambassador from America if you will, lol!

Anyhoo, here we have some pictures of our journey through Cambridge. First up we have a picture of a church I took during our drive through Cambridge trying to find parking (it was rather difficult!)


We'd finally found parking at a shopping centre and began our long walk through town. Here's me standing in front of a cute old hotel across from a park, the name of which escapes me.


And poor Pete trying to keep warm at the park (it was rather cold that day).


Walking through Cambridge.

The Fitzwilliam Museum and its grand white columns. This is one of my favorite pics of that day.


A beautiful old building used by the University where Pete deciphered the Latin inscriptions and then tried to explain them to me (courtesy of his private-school education. Why oh why don't they teach us Americans Latin in school, lol?!)


Another of the streets of Cambridge.


The historical and spellbinding King's College. It was such a massive building it was hard to capture the full building on one sole picture, so here's a couple shots!






Lastly here's a pic of a cute little church that was in the center of a shopping street. I couldn't resist taking a pic; it had so much character.


SOME MORE HIGHLIGHTS OF CAMBRIDGE

After a lot of walking we got rather tired so decided to take a break in the evening at a mall in the center of Cambridge. We stopped at a little coffee stand and it was there that I had my first eccles cake (very good pastry, crusty, flakey, nuts & raisin goodness) and the best hot chocolate ever with whipped cream (possibly the best in my life!)

While walking around we decided to stop by a pharmacy called Boots (Think Rite Aid in America). I was in dire need of a shower cap because, well, I didn't feel like washing my hair every day (my hair dryer took FOREVER to dry my hair due to the low wattage converter). We looked for one of those cheap disposable thin plastic shower caps but to no avail. All we could find is something that resembled this:

I don't know why that model is so happy. These shower caps aren't exactly beauty enhancers. Mine could only be described as a hideous, beige colored, industrial strength plastic shower cap that belonged in the 70's. Luckily Pete thought it was hot stuff and happily modeled it on his head in the line for check out to make me feel better. He even encouraged me to try it on in public, too, to my dismay, which I did, trying to ignore the curious looks of onlookers. But I tell you, Pete was so persuasive and he wore that cap with such finesse that even Paris Hilton herself would have to buy one, cause it was just HOT! (On a side note, I later lost that shower cap when I accidentally left the bag in a bathroom stall at the mall that night, not on purpose of course, or was it?!!). I later had to search throughout London to find another suitable replacement of its high quality and grace.

I also enjoyed getting lost at night in Cambridge trying to find our way back to the car park at a mall. I know this sounds odd, but it was kind of fun as we retraced our steps of the day. We finally found the right streets after I recognized various shops and restaurants from our Trademark game. Yeah, it came in really handy!

So all in all it was a great Valentine's Day. We drove home and Pete cooked me a wonderful dinner of Indian food, Chicken Tikka Masala! I couldn't have asked for more!