The Gluten-Free Assistant Goes To Portland

     The Gluten Free Assistant is headed 2,298 miles away to Portland, Oregon.

     I have been accepted into one of Portland's universities and will be starting classes at the end of September. The big move is scheduled for August 11 – just under thirty days away! I will be taking a one way flight and renting a room until I can get a place of my own and move the rest of my family up to join me. I am very excited about the new state and new city, neither of which I have been to before. Because I am changing my area of study I will be entering as a freshman despite my previous classes. However, making the switch from accounting to community health is a great change for me and more in sync with my interests. A minor in anthropology is also on the horizon.

     My family is very much supportive of me and my mother will be coming to visit me about a week after I arrive and attend a few events at the university with me. After that, I probably won't see a familiar face for about two or three months. Not a huge deal, but I'm sure going to miss my cats that cuddle with me in bed, my own apartment, and my boyfriend among a long list of other things I'll miss about Austin.

     My rabbit is coming with me for the move, so I will not be without at least one companion until I can get to know a few people around town. I've been applying at jobs in the area as well and am expecting to get a call back from one soon. I will be renting a room until I can afford a decent place of my own that is big enough for the boyfriend and the cats to come up as well. We also need to have the cash to move up, so a couple more months of savings and I'm hoping that we'll be able to make the move then.

     I normally do not make personal posts on this blog, but this is a major step in my life and I felt it was important enough to share with you. Portland is a town that, like Austin, loves it's food and I'm hoping that passion for food will bring me great blog fodder for you guys! I should get a few more posts in before I go and hopefully be posting soon after I arrive and get set up a bit. If anyone has any favorite places Portland, let me know!

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Austin Ice Cream Festival

      It's 100* here in Austin, Texas right now and there aren't too many thing available for doing outside. There's canoe and kayak renting for $10 per hour on Lake Lady Bird. Add a six pack and a couple sandwiches and you've got a great afternoon!

      If canoing is not your forte, then there is still time to make it to the Austin Ice Cream Festival going on today at Waterloo Park, just east of the capital building. Enjoy an ice cream eating contest, a screaming for ice cream contest and a popsicle stick building contest. Oh, and mountains of ice cream to be devoured!

      There will be vegan selections so those with dairy problems can still enjoy the festival. There is a small charge of $5 to get in the gate, but sponsor donations will go to help out the Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Austin, a great organization to support.

      You know where I'll be for the rest of the afternoon! Also, if you're looking for some real food while you're in the area, check out some of the amazing Thai places downtown or head up to the University of Texas campus near 19th and Guadalupe and check out Veggie Haven next to Brave New Books. Freebirds is also just south of Lake Lady Bird on the south east corner of Riverside and Congress. Excellent places for the gluten-free vegetarian!

      Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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My Heart Died a Little...

     On a recent trip out on the town with The Artsy Tartsy Jeweler we stopped by Sugar Mamma's Bakeshop here in Austin hoping to find some delish gluten-free brownies to go along with the vegan cupcakes they make on a daily basis. I showed up only to discover they had discontinued their gluten free line! I spoke with the owner and he assured me that they were selling, but to truly be gluten free they needed a dedicated bakery to process the delicious treats in and that at this point in their business venture, it just was not a viable option for them. Totally understand and I really wish them the best so maybe one day they'll bring back the gluten-free line!

      The trip panned out well, however, despite the disappointment at the bake shop. I brought the boyfriend home some delicious Black and Tan cupcake - Guinness Stout cupcake and Irish cream frosting! He loved it to say the least.

      If you are ever in Austin, this is for sure one of the places you should check out on south first street. They do not use shortening and they are wind powered, how cool is that?

     If you're still looking for your gluten free sweet tooth to be satisfied, head up to Amy's Ice Cream and try out some of their vegan ices - very nice with the ridiculous heat we've been having the past few weeks. Each store carries different ice flavors, but they're all vegan so check em out! They've also got some of the best ice cream you can find in Austin. They've got a ton of locations, so there is sure to be one in your area.

     I've been dabbling with videos for the site, so you may be seeing one of those soon! Enjoy the rest of your day!

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Gluten-Free Austin

      I had a great time out on the town with one of my sisters this past weekend. We saw a movie, toured a museum, hit a local bar for some darts and ate at a couple Austin favorites of mine. Also this past week, I got in an awesomely comfy tee from NadaMoo! I wore it out on Saturday with the sister and several people made a comment about the great dessert it was. People in Austin know their local businesses – especially when they're as good as NadaMoo!




      Speaking of local Austin business, if you live in Austin or plan on visiting and have never been to the Alamo Draft House, you need to make a point of going to this town icon. This weekend we caught the pre-screening of the final Futurama movie at a free showing. They serve tons of food and drinks while you watch movies there. They do some theme nights like Rocky Horror showings and 80's sing-a-longs and even Saturday morning cartoons served with cereal, but they also show some of the current movies out. It is an Austin favorite and worth the slightly long lines to see the good shows. (Get there early!) As a bonus to all us Celiac's, they serve ACE cider and have plenty on the menu that's gluten-free. My sister, who is not a Celiac, shared some chips and queso with pico, guacamole and jalapenos. Everything was tasty, reasonably priced, unlike some movie houses, and best of all did not make me sick.



      Another Austin favorite we hit up this weekend was Freebirds for the best burrito in town. For the Celiac crowd, they serve tacos or nachos made with 100% corn chips and tortillas. They only put in what you want and have a wide selection of ingredients. When my sister finished up she told me she understood what everyone was talking about when they gushed over Freebirds being so great.





      We had dinner out at Whip-In and while there is much potential in their homemade Indian food and newly acquired on-tap beer selection, the newly expanded staff isn't always the most helpful and the menu tends to change quite often making this hard to still call a favorite. It's a great place to stop on the way home from work and pick up to go Indian food with your beer or wine selection. They also stock lots of chips, salsa, frozen vegan and gluten free tamales, desserts, and baked goods from local bakeries making this a great way to support the local economy.

      We also got pretty silly drunk at The Dog and Duck Pub playing some form of darts. While this pub does serve a pretty serious lunch almost everyday of the week, their dinner menu is scaled back a bit to mostly finger foods making it not very Celiac friendly. On the brighter side, however, they do serve Woodchuck's Apple and Pear cider on draft at a reasonable price per pint. The atmosphere at the pub is a slightly older crowd than what you would expect for downtown Austin and offers darts, pool, boardgames and a pinball machine that seemed pretty popular. My arm is still sore from the epic dart games.

      I am hoping to showcase more things gluten-free around Austin in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

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What Else?

      Some may wonder what else I spend my time on other than food.

      If I could spend all day around awesome ingredients and amazing food I would be the happiest piggie in town, but I'm not writing a book and I'm not a chef – I don't even work in a restaurant. It's not something that is appealing to me when I break out in hives at the touch of gluten or milk. I don't think I would last very long. While all things food do take up a small portion of my daily life, there is plenty of time left in the day for me to do other things and live a non-food obsessed life.

      I work. Imagine that!? I have a shitty job in a shitty location downtown Austin. When I mention the word downtown before I tell people where I work, they assume something glamorous or at least something that pays well. Oh, how wrong they are! There are bums and while I do not think I could ever get paid enough to deal with bums, I still don't get paid what I would like. Who does? I like being downtown because it's an easy bike ride or right on the bus line, whatever I'm feeling for the day. The bike is dangerous and the things people do to bikers would really shock an average person (I hope) who has a shred of sense in them. As bad as some of this may sound, it keeps my day interesting and I really would not change it right now.

      I learn. I'm an accounting major going at an incredibly slow pace. College is expensive and I go when I can afford it. I'm hoping this will pay off more than most college educations and I might actually be able to use it in the “real world”. I really hate that saying.

      I knit. Knitting is not for your grandma anymore. I could make a sweater that would put your grannie's to shame. While I'm pretty much a vegan in what I eat (minus those eggs and honey), I do not abide by the vegan laws when it comes to knitting. Bring on the silk, Alpaca and sheep's wool, baby! I never really understood the vegan point on wool anyway – it's a 100% renewable resource each year. They get sheared anyway to help with the heat in summer, so why not use it instead of throw it out? Some silk harvesting can be damaging to or kill the worms, so I suppose I could understand that point, but there are programs that have no cruelty silk.
      I also sell my knitting on a great site www.Etsy.com. It's a wonderful place for crafties, such as myself. Go support someone there! I've got a little banner up on the left with my shop items, but there pretty much anything you can think of there. Great for Christmas gifts! I know that I've already got my eye on a few things from a local clay artist for my kitchen!

      I read. In my living room you will not find a television, you will find bookcases. Same goes for the bedroom. We read around here – lots. Mountains of books. We've gotten rid of hundreds of books, too, enough to fill small dumpsters and we've still got enough to last us through the next nuclear winter. Well, almost. Books are a vital point for us. We're always pulling something off the shelf to reference or share with someone or just to browse. The goat and I have fairly similar tastes and so everything of ours is just kind of thrown together.

      I ride. I love my bike! It's hard to want to go places in the winter, but its still so much fun. My back tire is bent from a silly bike accident and that needs to be repaired before next spring. Nothing major, but it rubs my breaks when it turns so it's like driving with your emergency brake on. I've been hit by cars, but thankfully nothing bad enough to knock me out or land me in the road. It's illegal to ride on the sidewalks here, but I'd rather do that than ride in the street.
      I understand that it is much more dangerous for a bike when you ride on the sidewalk because cars do not see you there for some reason, but I'd rather stop on the sidewalk before they hit me than not be able to stop in the road and get creamed. Austin is a major city for bike activists – it's one of the worst cities for bikers and we're everywhere here. Our Critical Mass events draw close to 300 bicyclists regularly. The sad part is, with as much awareness as we try to raise bike cops still get hit on their bikes and regular riders still get harassed by the cops in cars for silly things. People tell me regularly how much they hate bicyclists and how we need to watch out for the cars on the road. Pedestrians even tell me to get in the road when there is no bike lane. Please remember that we all carry bike locks and chains and are pretty much guaranteed to be in better shape than you. An ass beating is not out of my league and it's happened before.

      I like to think I'm a pretty typical 20-something, but I don't really know if that exists. For now I'm happy with where I'm at sharing my ½ food obsessed life with the goat and riding the Town Lake Ladybird Trail with him. Maybe one day I'll have a less shitty job that pays more in the accounting field. Until then, I'll keep knitting.

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