More on my California trip and staying vigilant July 9, 2008

I reported that I had eaten some oatmeal at the hotel breakfast buffet.  I won’t do that again.  The more I think about it that was not a smart move.  I don’t know for sure if I had a reaction to the oatmeal but I haven’t been feeling well.  I remember that the enterologist who did my biopsy told me if you do get some gluten it will affect you for 2 weeks.  That oatmeal was not worth the risk. 

The lesson is that I need to be sure to be prepared.  That is the key to successful and satisfactory travel while staying on your gluten free diet.  If I had some of my instant quinoa cereal with me, or some rice cakes, I wouldn’t have been tempted to try the oatmeal.

I forgot to mention that while we were in the Monterey area we went to the Central Avenue Bakery in Pacific Grove for lunch.  They had gluten free bread and we had a good sandwich which is always a real treat for a celiac.  They also had some gluten free desserts ~ cookies and cake ~ but we were too full from the sandwich to try them.

My Gluten-free trip to California July 5, 2008

I visited central California last week for a wedding and a brief vacation. I met my son in Cupertino. He is from Maui and also has celiac disease.

As usual, since I was flying, I took some snacks with me. It is hard to find nutritious and gluten-free choices in airplanes and airports. I like Prana and Boomi bars:

 

 

The first night I went to dinner with a large group of friends to a restaurant in Los Gatos, at Manresa. This is a very nice restaurant and the waiters were really helpful with my gluten free questions. I placed an order and after the waiter talked with the chef he returned and told me everything was gluten-free except the dessert and he listed the desserts that I could safely eat. (This was a restaurant that offers a 4 course dinner ~ you make on choice from their list of each course.) They also offer several small appetizers to the table before the 4 courses begin and one of them was a fried ravioli so they brought me another appetizer (shellfish) which was gluten-free. I would recommend this restaurant to anyone in the area whether they need to be gluten-free or not but I feel it is especially nice for a GF patron to be able to enjoy the delicious gourmet food with confidence.

The next night I ate a good dinner at Dio Deka which is a Greek restaurant in the Hotel Los Gatos. It was a nice Greek dinner which was prepared for a large group (a wedding rehearsal dinner). There were things which I couldn’t eat, of course. When the waiter learned I couldn’t eat the pita triangles with the hummus he brought me some freshly sliced cucumber which was greatly appreciated.

I had done some research ahead of time and found out about Dana from Gluten-free Gourmet from Book of Yum’s blog. Dana sells her goods at the Saratoga Farmers Market at 14000 Fruitvale Ave. in Saratoga on Saturdays from 9-1. We had the morning free so we found the market and bought some cherries and blueberries and then we found Dana. She had samples for us to try. We bought the carrot cake and a berry cobbler. The carrot cake was especially delicious and the cobbler was good, too. It is such fun to find something good to eat which you didn’t have to bake yourself. Dana was really friendly and surprised that we had come so far to find her!

We also went to a Whole Foods in Cupertino and found some gf granola, an apple pie (which my son loved) and some other goodies. We don’t have a Whole Foods where I live so it was fun to check out their gf options.

In Monterey we noticed a Thai restaurant, Amarin. We loved our meal. We told the waitress we couldn’t eat gluten or regular soy sauce. We weren’t too worried and really enjoyed the curries we ordered. It is near the Monterey Aquarium.

I did a first since I’ve been diagnosed with CD. At the breakfast offering at the Hotel Valencia in San Jose – on Santana Row – I had a small bowl of the oatmeal. I did fine with it but I don’t know if I’ll do it again. Oatmeal still worries me a little. Do any of you eat oatmeal regularly?

Overall we had a great trip and enjoyed many wonderful gluten free meals and snacks. I’d say these areas in California are friendly for gluten-free travel.