Well to put it briefly, I have been on the go. It all started with the largest Natural Food Show in the country. Expo West located in Anaheim, CA saw 52,000 attendees parading up and down aisle after aisle. And it seemed like most of them stopped at our booth.
Yvonne, Jessica and I wore ourselves out baking and handing out cookies.
The response to the two new flavors was terrific. We have added a Sugar Kookie and a SnickerPoodle. Watch for them in a store near you. They should be available for our Distributors in the next few weeks.
I have to tell you that I was planning on going to Disneyland while in the neighborhood, but after 10 hours on my feet the energy just wasn't there. I did make it to Downtown Disney for dinner one night, so I was able to do a little people watching. Folks that are at the magical kingdom really are a happy lot.
So no sooner were we back from the show and we had to take a trip to central Oregon. What I thought was a 4 hour drive, turned into a sojourn of more than 7 hours, plus we had to stop in Seattle on the way to deliver our little Yorkshire Terrior (Spike)
to the animal hospital.The poor little guy has been eating the BARF diet for a number of years and thriving on it. However we introduced a new dog a few months back and now they horde food from each other. It seems that there was a bone left out and it dried. Spike swallowed it and it lodged in his throat.
They had to go in with an endoscope and remove it, so he was hospitalized for a couple of days. All is well now and he will celebrate his 13th birthday in June.
So while we are in Eugene we need to find a place for a celiac to eat. McMiniman's was across the street from the hotel and actually fed Yvonne a nice meal.
On our return trip we hit rain, wind, hail, snow, sunshine and just about every other kind of weather you can imagine. It was bizarre to be driving in sunshine and then a mile down the road have hail coming down so hard it was difficult to see. At one point there was up to an inch or more of hail on the freeway and cars were reduced to 10 mph.
We made it back and after driving back to Seattle the next day to pick up Spike it was time to get ready for another food show in Vancouver BC. Although not as large as Anaheim it was just as busy for Yvonne and I. We stayed right at the event with the dogs
This is Klondike and she is suffering from an injured ACL (from chasing deer on the property) so we have to be careful with her.
As soon as the bank account recovers from Spike's little adventure Klondike will go in for surgery on her knee. Oh the joys of parenthood.
So we stop in a little town right on the Canadian border for dinner and we served a down right delightful meal. It was presented beautifully (although it was slow to arrive), and the flavors were superb. If you are ever in White Rock BC be sure and look up the Giraffe. It is small, cozy and well worth the wait. I can't wait to go back when I have more time to enjoy.
We get back to the States and it looks like we may have a moment or two and then realize we have a meeting in Portland, OR so it is back in the car and off we go. Fortunately this trip we were able to stay with my sister who I hadn't seen in awhile. We were going to stay with her on the trip the week before, but Spike had us late so we pushed on to Eugene and spent the night there.
For dinner we found a fish and chip house. I know you are thinking, how can a celiac eat fish and chips at a restaurant. Surprise, little sister had done some research and found Corbett's Fish House. It uses a rice batter and advertises gluten free fish and chips and to make it even better they served Redhook beer. Yvonne was in heaven. It had been 9 years since she had order fish and chips with beer. I had a fish platter with the gluten free coating and have to say it was tasty.
If you are ever in Portland, look them up you won't be disappointed.
If you can't make it to Portland try this recipe from http://www.glutenfreeda.com/ for a close facimile.
Serves 4
Difficulty Medium
Ingredients
3/4 cup gf mayonaise
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 Tablespoon cider vinegar
1 cup gf flour
1-1/2 teaspoons Old Bay seasoning
1-1/4 cups gf beer
Vegetable oil for frying
1-1/2 lbs halibut
For potatoes:
8 russet potatoes
Peanut oil for frying
Salt
Directions
For mayo: Whisk mayonaise, tarragon and vinegar in a small bowl; season to taste with salt and pepper.
For french fries: Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees F. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/4" slices and then cut each slice into 1/4" strips. Place potato strips into a large bowl of cold water. Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Pour about 3" of peanut oil into a dutch oven/deep fryer and heat to 300 degrees F. Drain potatoes and dry with a paper towel. Working in batches, carefully slide potatoes into hot oil and fry for about 5-8 minutes. Potatoes should just start to turn golden. Remove potatoes with a large slotted spoon onto paper towels. Just before serving time, bring oil back to 300 degree F temperature and fry potatoes for about 5 minutes, until browned. Drain and salt. Transfer french fries to oven to keep warm.
For fish: Add flour and Old Bay seasoning to a medium bowl and blend. Add beer and whisk until blended. Pour 1" deep oil into large heavy skillet to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle halibut filets with salt and pepper. Dip fish into batter and then carefully into hot oil. Fry pieces until golden, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer fish to paper towel to drain. Serve with potatoes and tarragon mayonnaise.
Finally a weekend at home. For me it had been a couple of weeks since I had slept in our bed and it felt good. It was also time to move the chicks which are now looking like full blown chickens, into their new home. But first I had to finish the Chicken Cathedral. I'll post pictures after I take some. We have lost a number of flocks to predators, so this time I rebuilt the entire pen complete with aviary. I went to the beach and brought back logs for support and then tied it all to the horse shed and strung netting over it all. This hopefully will keep all the ravens, raccoons and fox out and the chickens alive. Did I mention that one of the Barred Rock chickens was a rooster so we have a complete flock? We are attempting to make them tame so are hand raising them. We got a couple of camping chairs for the Cathedral and sit with the chickens. We try to hold one or two each trip so they get used to use and are friendly when the grow up. We'll see how that goes.
Back to routine this week. We are testing new products for a summer launch, sent out another truckload to Trader Joe's today. You are aware that we supply them their gluten free peanut butter cookies dough, I hope. It would be greatly appreciated if you get up right now and go to your local store and look for our Real Cookies, if they are not available in your area then go to Trader Joe's and get them their. Either way you are in for a treat.
This has been too long of a post so I will leave you now. But remember to well and eat often and always finish with a gluten free cookie.
TTYL
