If I could only have one...

When I found out that the menu for our company laser tag retreat this year was "pizza for lunch, Chinese for dinner," I was devastated. Really? Don't they remember that I have celiac disease? And don't they know there is absolutely nothing for me to eat at a Chinese restaurant? Of course, Alexis contends that there are plenty of things that I can eat at a Chinese restaurant, to which I reply: "Like what? Chicken with that gloopy clearish white sauce? I'll pass, thanks." I mean, no soy sauce, nothing deep-fried, nothing breaded. What does that leave at your standard Chinese place? Lucky for me, Peking Gourmet Inn in Falls Church, VA, is not your standard Chinese place. For one thing, it's the Bushes' favorite Chinese restaurant, and as soon as I walked in I saw one million photos to prove it. Hmm. One the pro-side: good enough for former leader of the free world. Con-side: he's not celiac. There was no gluten-free menu, which always makes me ...

Obviously it would be the pork dumplings at Lily's 57 . Oh my god, how much I've missed Chinese food since being diagnosed with celiac. When people ask which gluten-free treats I miss, I usually keep it to three things: great naan, fresh New York pizza, and real New York bagels. I miss them for their convenience, their chewy deliciousness, their irreproducability. But lurking behind that neat list is an entire category of delectable Chinese food, entirely off limits. Oh, delicious brown sauce, tempting fried items, greasy egg rolls, steamy dumplings, I admit it: I miss you. Even, you, slightly stale fortune cookies. I miss you, too. Until now. Based on the Celiac Chicks review , I took my mom, aunt Sue, and Alexis to Lily's 57 after an off-Broadway show last weekend. With low expectations, I requested the gluten-free menu, and was immediately dazzled by the choices. It was like the first time I went to Tao Palate as a vegetarian: you mean I can have *any* of this? Really? I...

Last night I had the most delicious meal ever. For the past few months, I'd been fighting the suspicion that maybe there wasn't great Mexican food in Brooklyn. Sure, there was Bonita (with expensive and seemingly non-alcoholic drinks, and food that was good but not great), and Maria's (excellent guacamole, but weirdly greasy food), and Habana Outpost (do I really want to wait on line for 30 minutes for a taco? I also always find myself doubling up on orders, just to avoid having to wait on line again) and maybe Taco Chulo (also strangely greasy), but nothing quite right. No go to. And then BrooklynBased delivered a list of delicious Mexican spots in Greenpoint . With a Google Map --the way to my heart. Last night we went to Papacito's on both Huron and Manhattan (it's L shaped) in Greenpoint . The fluorescent -lit storefront is just a fake-out, the real action is in the alley on Huron. Dim, with picnic tables and a relaxed bar with lots of water on the cement an...

As I said, for many years, my beverage choice was caffeine-free diet coke--slightly flat, if possible. Many people argued that it was the same as water, since it had nothing in it. My response was that whatever was in it made it taste so much more delicious than water. Turns out that whatever was in it is not, however, so much more healthy than water. Like a smoker, I always really knew this in the back of my mind, but after reading the Omnivore's Dilemma , I finally quit it. And delicious seltzer stepped in to take it's place. Oh, seltzer. So delicious, so refreshing, so watery. But also so heavy, and kind of expensive when you drink 2-3 liters a day. At first, Alex would buy it for me at the co-op, but the cost of the car service pretty much negated any cost savings. Then I had FreshDirect deliver it for me. Effective solution, but it also made me feel like kind of a jerk for using all of the human and fossil fuel energy to essentially deliver water to my house. And then I w...

It would be Kinnikinnick . Oh, those crafty Canadians and their delicious gluten-free bread products. I first met Kinnikinnick through their bread mix. After reading amazing reviews, I took the plunge and went for an entire case of Kinnikinnick Kinni-Kwik Bread & Bun Mix, from Amazon. I was not disappointed. Some excellent features: You only need to add water. If, like me, you have a hard time keeping milk and eggs in your house without rotting, an ingredient list of "water" is ideal. Sure, you can get fancy and use milk or soymilk or ricemilk, but water works just as well. It's so easy to make. The directions pretty much read: Open package, Add water, Mix, Pour into pan. Just like the Tastybake oven, but with bigger, and fluffier, results. You can make as much as you want. You can make one bun or an entire loaf. The resulting bread is springy and delicious. After an hour of baking, your whole house smells like bready goodness, and the result doesn't disappoint. ...

I grew up in Verona, New Jersey (the Queen of States, in my opinion), which was a lovely suburban town to be a kid in. There was a park at the end the block, a stream in the backyard, and a town within walking distance. Summertime involved a lot of all three of those, especially walks to town to DiPaolo's Bakery. Have I mentioned how much I love bakery cookies? Those kind on the tray that have sprinkles on them, that have sprinkled sugar in multi-colors, that are Neapolitan? Those. Italian bakery cookies. I miss you and long to have you again. In a gluten-free version, of course. I thought I had an answer in these Kosher for passover cookies at Fresh Direct. The bummer was that they were a little gritty from the rice flour, and came frozen, which I didn't know how to manage (defrost? eat frozen? give up and let them get freezer burn? yes.). Then, while visiting Alexis's mother in Greenwich, NJ, I found them. Mr. Ritt's Sugar Cookies . They have the perfect buttery, Ital...

When I was growing up, a staple of all family vacations, trips, and get-togethers was a food-based forced choice game that began "If you could only have one ____." The rules were pretty simple: you had to pick the one food from that category that you would eat for the rest of time. We played so often that I forget what most of my choices were, except that for several years I answered "if you could only have one beverage" with "diet coke" for many years. I think the fun of the game comes from thinking about eating all of the options, but ultimately only getting to pick one. Some choices were more pragmatic (a baby me posited that "you can make anything out of potatoes..."), while others were more obsession based (if I could only have one dessert, it was "Cadbury Cream Eggs"). There weren't many categories I wasn't sure my answer was the right one. Now I'm older and gluten-free, but still so confident in my opinion. And when y...