2011 the best of

Happy Holidays!

This has been a weird year.
5 jobs and 3 moves latter, I am still not sure how to think about 2011. There are few things I can be more certain of than knowing I have the best friends. They truly are! Do you have someone in your life you can call or text with urgent chocolate questions? Know a pal who will drop everything and help you move, again? Is anyone on speed dial who can find the episode of Dr. Who that you are missing and just "have to see"? This is what I am talking about! Oh and did I mention that several have reserved special "gluten-free" space in their kitchens so that I will not only feel welcome but safe to eat and cook in their homes?! I am telling you, I am super lucky.

So without further ado, a year in review...

I had an amazing time branching out from blogging to teaching coffee & chocolate classes at Qualia Coffee in D.C.

No Gluten Required business cards came into existence.

I got to test recipes for an amazing new book: Caseus Fromagerie Bistro Cookbook: Every Cheese Has a Story, created by a friend and fellow BU Gastronomy student, Jason Sobosinski. Why yes, he is the man you have seen on the Cooking Channel.

I still get excited when someone emails me or comments on a post. I like using this space as a way to force me to write down what I am cooking, and I often refer to it when I am in the kitchen. But I truly feel that both my writing and my cooking get better when there are people to eat and read with me. This year, people have emailed and commented more than ever! So thanks readers for listening, tasting, and chatting along with me.
When I was first diagnosed, it was great to not feel alone. Now, its something more special.

NGR has always been a little rant-filled, but this year things got revved up a bit:
Sex and the celiac
Thomas Keller's C4C
Occupy NGR
NYT...

Superlatives were not allowed in my high school yearbook - and yes, I know because I worked on it. So to make up for lost time, here are mine for gluten free products for 2011:

Favorite snack food - Oven-fried chick peas (recipe forthcoming)

Second favorite snack - crackers

Favorite alcoholic beverage - Clos Normand Cider

Best new packaged food - Trader Joe's Gluten Free Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I haven't written about these because I just just recently discovered them. They are truly fantastic. A group of us were eating them and someone uttered, "finally someone harnessed the crunchiness of rice flour and used it for something its good at". These are truly the best packaged gluten free cookies I have eaten. They remind me a lot of my memory of Tate's cookies. Very crispy and buttery. They rule. (Why they have a medieval-style etching of bakers on the package is beyond me. Just trust me to look past this, judge little, and eat liberally.)

Favorite kitchen experiment - Homemade Tonic Water
From running around Chinatown with phonetic translations of cinchonia bark, to impromptu filtering systems, this was hands down the most delicious idea.

Second favorite kitchen experiment - rugelach

Third favorite kitchen experiment - injera

A safe and happy New Year's celebration to all!