Haunted Celiacs in Salem

We travel a lot. The hubby travels for work almost constantly, and the monkeys (read, our children) and I tag along whenever we can as well as try to visit family here and there. A huge part of my joy, and terror, each time we land in a new spot is seeking out good gluten free food.

Recently we've spent time in Nantucket, Salem, and Phoenix and I have buckets of experiences to share! Let's start with my favorite place in Salem, The Howling Wolf.

While they don't have a dedicated fryer (don't fall for the whole chips are gluten free in the morning thing or that fried items are on the GF menu - it's still the same fryer) and you will have to ask that your food be handled specially, they were very accommodating and the kitchen was otherwise very knowledgable. Taking the time to double check on the safety of a few things there was well worth it though. The stuffed jalapeños were amazing. They stuff them with cheese and chorizo, then wrap them in bacon, which was a brilliant, gluten free way to finish them and added immensely to the flavor and an even greater crispness than the usual breading. The textural contrast of crisp bacon to the creamy cheese was delightful, like the truffle of appetizers. The spiciness seemed to vary from pepper to pepper, but some had an awesome bite, which made them even better. The house-made pico with, I think mango, that they were served with was also fresh, flavorful and thoroughly yummy. I actually fantasized for weeks about driving all the way back to Salem just for the jalapeños. Now I just fantasize about making some... Oooh, I should do that!

Back to the food. I wish I had taken pictures, but the meal was too good to stop and click in the middle. The Hubby and the Monkeys had tacos and quesadilla on corn tortillas, which were good, but they were nothing to the cheese enchiladas, which had no sauce. Weird right? I first thought I was getting jipped for being a Celiac, as usual. But then I took a bite. Brilliance! Just the right combination of cheeses were all they needed to make the dish divine.

In the end, I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone who can't do cheese, or anyone who's not comfortable working with the waitstaff to be sure you only get safe GF food. But for the rest of us? The food was wonderful, the meal memorable, the decor very fun, the location very close to all the sites, the pricing moderate, and they didn't poison me! Huzzah!

The rest of Salem was a little scary in October though, and it wasn't the witches…
Amber waves of grain are the real stuffs of my nightmares.

Happy, Gluten Free New Year!

It's gonna be a great year for baking. I can feel it!

Happy, healthy, gluten free 2014, everybody!

Bloggity blog blog blog

I suppose it's about time that I kicked off this blog in earnest. But really? I don't want to. Quite frankly, I'm terrified. To even get to this point, my brother had to start the bloody blog for me. I had to be guilted into posting in the first place. Then I had to build up the pressure of desperation and bravado, like shaking a bottle of soda, for 4 months before the top blew tonight and I'm finally trying to post again. Truly, truly, blogging scares me.

I realize that rising incredulity may forcibly roll the eyes most of the people who've actually met me. I was a thespian, drama geek, and even theater teacher before the baking became my primary obsession, and somehow it's difficult to convince people you're an introvert when they know you love the stage. But an introvert I am, and an especially self-conscious one at that. I'll play any role in the world, just as long as you don't ask me to play myself. Which of course, is exactly what blogging does. Somehow, I have to play me. And I don't wanna. 

But I do have to start somewhere. It's hard to sell books that no one's ever heard of. And harder still to justify all of the amazing experimenting I'm doing creating recipes for a holiday book when I can't sell the first one, because again, no one's ever heard of it. Unjustifiable baking. That's what I'm doing. But that's the part I love!

I love working and reworking a recipe until that eureka moment when it finally comes together just right. I love the miraculous few times when I've made something out of the blue and it was completely perfect on the first try. I even adore those few recipes that I keep tossing aside in frustration only to pick them up again a few months later to bang away at once more. Some I may never finish, but I've thought that before and pulled off what felt like miracles in the end. The flat bread and pie crust in my book were both like that. I remember making and remaking the flat bread for whole days, day after day, really aiming for a foldable tortilla but shhh, you didn't hear that. I went through so much flour! But then I turned out this batch that was so heavenly soft and satisfying that we gobbled all of them up plain. They didn't roll well without cracking, but damn! Were they ever good. One more revision, and I had my eureka moment. I felt like I was feeding myself all the way down to my soul as I took bite after slow bite of that bread. Indescribable satisfaction. That's what I found there. That's what I find in the kitchen.

Quite frankly, I just want to bake.

And eat rum cake. Blatant non-sequitur, sure, but none the less true. I do like my rum cake. Wish I had some right now instead of a blog...

Think I've been me enough for one night? Thank god! Have some rum cake.