Here you will find an archived weblog of my food, travel, and creative pursuits which I kept from 2010-2016. Please note both that the travel information contained here may outdated and that these logs were created on a prior version of this website and may not yet be optimized for the current version. If you’re looking for specific content, use the search field below! <3
Looking for a great short(ish) day hike just outside the Seattle area that takes you on a trip back in time? About 75 miles northeast of Seattle, the Iron Goat Loop Trail is a great option! At 5.7 miles with 700 feet of elevation gain it's a reasonable trail that follows the path of the historic Great Northern Railway.
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Scotland and Ireland are on my travel list and these lovely photos make both look like such a magical place.
I always love Jenn's naturally gluten free round ups!
There's such a thing as the World Domination Summit? I must go.
Phew! I didn't even think I'd make this Ratio Rally, I sadly had to miss the last one since I was out of town for three quarters of the month! This month's rally is being hosted by Caleigh of Gluten Free[k] - so make sure to stop over there and look at her delicious cake. I've also included a list of everyone else's at the very bottom of this post.
I've never made an Angel Food Cake before and frankly, I haven't had much luck making any kind of gluten free cake - they always seem to sink or shrivel up. So anyway, when I got back from all my travels I was craving bagels. My recipe leaves me with a whole bunch of extra egg whites - which I prefer not to waste. So I decided just to give an angel food cake recipe a try.
My first one came out pretty great, but it was way too sweet for me. On my second attempt, I went for a vanilla orange flavor with coconut palm sugar. It came out way too dense and with too much flavor for my liking. So on my third attempt, I went back to regular cane sugar but reduced it down to 8 oz and tried to replicate some of my favorite chocolate flavor. My final ratio ended up being 3 parts egg whites, 2 parts sugar, and 1 part flour.
Yet, another trip took me back to Anchorage and this time I decided I would only go to new places. I thought this would end up being a bit of a challenge, but after a couple of phone calls and some luck I ended up finding three different places with either gluten free menus or excellent labeling.
Finally! The return of Things I'm Reading Thursday!
I was off and about traveling the last three out of four weeks (to Las Vegas, San Diego, Anchorage, & Washington DC) and couldn't get the time or the internet access to put this post together.
I've been loving Kate's posts about the Faroe Islands and this one looks just heavenly.
Hip Hip Hooray for Goat Milk!
You know how I love New Zealand and these are all the best spots!
In the Hauraki Gulf, Rangitoto Island is just a short, and not to mention highly enjoyable, 25-minute ferry ride from Auckand. The unpopulated island is actually a shield volcano that is the youngest (only 600 years old!) in the Auckland Volcanic Field.
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I stuffed myself silly in San Diego. Aside from Portland, Oregon - it's the most gluten free friendly city I've visited thus far.
It was quite fun to visit San Diego and seek out all these amazing restaurants because I actually used to live here back in the early 2000's. This certainly made it way easier to find my way around all the different neighborhoods.
What wasn't easy was deciding between the oodles of gluten free friendly restaurant options! In addition to some of my regular resources I use to research before traveling - there is a wonderful website that has a huge list of gluten free friendly restaurants in the the San Diego area.
Since I was in town for an intensive Photoshop class and staying in the Old Town neighborhood, I stuck to restaurants nearby in Hillcrest, North Park, and Ocean Beach.
I know, it's been so long since I've posted an update on the garden! I keep taking pictures and then by the time I have a chance to upload and write a post - the garden has completely changed! This time things are different. This is an actual and timely edible garden update!
Overall, things are growing really well and I'm learning a lot! For example, fennel takes up way too much space to be worthwhile in our garden. We ended up pulling out our two plants early to make more breathing room for the carrots, beets, leeks, and garlic. I also recently learned that when you snip scallions instead of pulling them out by the root, they grow back!
A few weekends ago, I got the opportunity to experience something totally new to me; the Marquee Day Club at the Cosmopolitan Hotel. It's basically like a Las Vegas nightclub, but in a pool with a much more casual dress code. Since our plan was to spend most of the day at the pool - I called ahead to find out if their menu would offer some gluten free friendly food for me. They assured me that there would be plenty of options available to me.
Usually, I hate eggs - they make me feel queasy. Eating them in baked goods doesn't bother me, but just straight eggs can be trouble for me. And so I have no idea why, but I've been craving this particular omelet recently. I think it may have something to do with the recent increase in sunshine we've had here in Seattle. As well as the strong desire to go camping.
Camping always makes me think of omelets. When I was in Girl Scouts, we would make plastic bag omelets for breakfast. That's where you crack your eggs into the plastic bag, mush them around, add your cheese, bacon bits, chives, and whatever else - then seal and drop it into a pot of boiling water. Those were good memories.
