Well, I see it's been quite some time since I posted. I guess with the move to Oregon, starting a new job and living out of an RV has been rather, well, taking up a lot of my time.
I will say though that living in an RV with no counter space and a tiny oven and stove makes being creative in baking and cooking difficult to say the least. But it does give me the opportunity to explore new places safe to eat at and shop.
I've moved to the Willamette Valley in Oregon. It's beautiful here and am finding many more options at restaurants for gluten free and corn free than I found in Santa Fe. I think my first week or so here I found a good Pizza place here in town. The sad thing is, while the pizza is excellent, it's really the only gluten free thing they offer. There is plenty to offer here in the Asian cuisine realm, most Thai food is gluten free, which is nice on those days I don't pack my lunch and wander off campus to sup. I am sad though that for such a huge and advanced campus they don't really have anything to offer besides salads at the eateries on campus.
But.... Tonight! After checking out menus online of the local eateries where I'm living, I went downtown to a local Brewhouse, Cappies to be specific. They offered calamari only dusted in seasoned rice flour. Sorry, but I was most tempted as I love good calamari and to get it gf is nigh impossible! So off I went. The waitress was great when I asked about their hot wings in their house sauce, see, I'd been missing those too, as my bestie, Rebecca and I used to go for them all the time at the Blue Corn in Santa Fe. Much to my delight I finally found wings that weren't coated, were gf, and I had to try the sauce! Well, I had both, wings and calamari with a roasted spicy red pepper remoulade to dip in! It came out promptly and the calamari was cooked perfect. They were tender and delicious, not rubbery! Yay! So I noshed on those a bit to let the wings cool a little. I think though that I reached heaven when I bit into a wing of perfection. No, I'm not exaggerating, they really were heaven. Between the service and the perfect tasting food, I'll be going back there again.
We also have a wonderful traditional Hungarian restaurant here. And their homemade sausages and cabbage rolls will melt in your mouth. Very reasonable and they worth with food issues.
There is a wonderful little coop in Corvallis that has many gf foods available, but a bit expensive. Though Safeway here carries a lot of gf foods also. I haven't checked local asian markets here, but did explore the big one in Portland and was able to find most of my favorite things there.
There are many farmer's markets here that carry raw milk cheeses and other tasty things. I have to limit myself on what I buy because I'm restricted on what I can make in the RV. But the cheeses I can get in small quantities and spoil myself. They're so good. There is also a queseria here in town or rather a place where they make the wonderful Mexican cheeses and creama. I'll be going to check that out.
Most of the restaurants that are local take pride in using local products and locally pasture raised meats. I think I came to the right place.
I'm still in the middle of house hunting, and as soon as I get a real kitchen again, I'll be back to baking and sharing nummy things with you all.
Do remember that you can get out there and explore new foods, new cuisines and many of them are gf. And world food or asian markets are good places to find gf goodies.
