A Celiac Braving the Boca Restaurant Scene: First Watch

I very rarely eat out.  This is actually quite sad because I am a self-proclaimed foodie and, as much as I enjoy cooking, I really love for somebody else to do it for me every once in awhile.

A recent discovery of mine, thanks to the Find me Gluten Free App, is a place called FirstWatch.  This is a chain that promises to take your food allergies seriously, so I decided to seriously give it a try.  It is a breakfast and lunch place only, so I'm still on a quest for a good dinner joint.  I'd love some recommendations in my comments…yes, I mean it!

The place has the feel of a refreshed diner.  More modern, cleaner, fresher.  Less Grease.

 They have a separate Gluten Free menu, but you can discuss all your individual needs with the server, who will *hopefully* convey your needs to the chef, who will then look after you.  My issues are not solely gluten, but soy and dairy as well.  They did some checking for me to make certain I'd be safe.

FirstWatch Chicken and Cherry Quinoa Power Bowl sans dressing

My Husband's Gluten-filled breakfast

Notes for the chef

Cobb salade sans dressing, bread and Blue cheese substituted with goat

Greek Fetish Omelet sans Bread

This menu can also be found at FirstWatch.com

Daughter's Hot Chocolate (Contains wheat starch)
She proclaimed it to be the best hot chocolate in the world

Everyone was happy with their food.  Was it spectacular?  Do I dream of it at night?  No, but it sure beats Denny's.  My hunger was satisfied and I didn't feel like a heart attack waiting to happen afterwards.  The only real complaint was over the coffee.  A breakfast place should have really good coffee, just saying!  It came out quickly, but tasted very fresh.  Fast, inexpensive…and you can let somebody else do the dishes!


XO, Ami

Eating Big in Boca: Brio Tuscan Grille

It was our first Valentine's Day in Boca Raton.  A Thursday night.  As newcomers, we didn't get too adventurous in our dining choice.  We wanted safe.  Brio recently announced their new Gluten Free Menu.

Safe.

At least, that was the hope.

At the top of the Gluten free menu, it stated that people with allergies needed to notify the server.  My confidence wavered slightly.  It would seem that this menu was created for those who chose to go gluten free...not for those of us who had to.

Still...like I said...first Valentine's Day in a new town.  Big changes here, people.  I looked forward with optimism!  Plus, the server was notified that I was not, in fact, on a fad diet...please don't poison me.

We ordered cocktails and bread was served.  No gluten free options, darn it.

I ordered the Pasta Pomodoro.  It really was lovely.  Pesto, tomato, pine nuts-- all glorious!

We took our time over dinner, savoring the flavors as well as the conversation.  Service was decent, not outstanding, but as well as expected.

Then it began...

a deep, thumping pain in my head.  The later it got, the worse it hurt until finally I couldn't even stand being with myself!

Valentine's evening...as good as ruined.

I got glutened. Mildly.

This is all speculation, of course, but the only answer I can come up with is, the pasta must have been boiled in the same water that regular pasta was cooked in.  Alas, I may never know.

Finally, after about 36 hours detoxing, I was back to standard issue Ami.

Would I go back?  Perhaps, but I will be more forceful when explaining my needs and fears of cross-contamination.  The food was good, service adequate.  However, there is a great big world of restaurants in Boca!  I think next time, I'll try something new.

XO, Ami

Adjusting My Sails

Beach Palm Sailboat by Gregory Allen Page

Jimmy Dean once said (Why yes, I am talking about the sausage guy):

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination."

So, mentally, this is where I'm situated.

The move to Boca has been a culture shock, indeed, but those things I see as so different from the Virginia mountains are not likely to change any time soon.  They are part of what makes Boca...well, Boca.  Good or bad, take it or leave it.

It's time to focus on the favorable and see how I will carve out my spot in this curious town.  The eternal goal being to always to make a place a little better than how I found it...and to improve myself along the way.

I chose the quote above, not only because it is snazzy and reminds me of breakfast, but because it mentions wind. Yep! This is honest-to-goodness one of the first things I fell in love with down here.  Seriously...I am not merely being trite...this is some luscious breeze.  I realize how ridiculous this must sound, but here in Boca, the air feels more... substantial.  Normal wind seems thin in comparison.  Oh and the way it blows warm and cool all at the same time -no clue how that works I am just giddy that it does.  I could stand outside and let it swirl around me for hours.  When I am driving about, windows down, sunroof open, I look at all the people closed up in their cars and feel sympathy for them.  They have this luxurious natural commodity and they aren't even appreciating it.

So yes...you did just read a blog post about wind.

Or did you?  Hmmmmm...

I am setting my sails. Charting my course. Hoping for a gust in the right direction.  Determined to make a home...with windows open!

...well, at least until hurricane season.

XO, Ami

Diving Into the Grocery Store

Migrating Blue Birds visiting my home in Virginia

So, it's done.  I am a Florida resident.  Not only a Florida resident, but a Boca resident!  Goodbye, Blue Ridge Mountains...it's been a pleasure!  I will miss your autumn foliage, and your rolling landscape.  I will miss your down home, earthy appeal.  I will miss the home you've so willingly given me and my family.

I won't miss your cold and snowy winters.  

Ok well, maybe just a smidgen.  I do enjoy Hot Chocolate and roaring, cuddle inducing fires.  

Anywhoooo....

So, Florida it is.  I like Florida.  Sunshine is my favorite.  LOVE Disney World.  No, I mean really.  Some say I'm certifiable.  I just say I'm finely tuned into the magic.  Still, I find myself three hours away from there and in a place so foreign to me I am not convinced it's really in the United States.  It's....tropical.  The water is azure blue and lizards run amok.  Like, I just flew to the islands and somebody better hand me a frozen drink with an umbrella, if they know what's good for them...and darn it- where is my sundress and flip flops????  What do you mean I have to make my own bed and cook dinner?  I am obviously in the Caribbean, so I must be on vacation.  Ta Da!

I want pillow chocolates.

Moving in, unpacking boxes, decorating my new home, putting chocolates on my own dern pillow...have all been kind of surreal.  The worst thing, though?  

Grocery shopping.

You get a good cross section of the population when you grocery shop.  There are the mega-riche elderly ladies with shopping companions.  The "not quite as elderly but you really can't tell" ultra thin women whose faces don't move are in the next category.  The other moms...slender, put together...maybe a botox injection or two...push their carts and eye my buggy- and me- unapologetically. There are the very fashionable gay men who look better than anyone, and look down on no one.  The couples in bathing suits and cover-ups, smelling of coconut fill in the rest of the spaces, as well as your olfactory sense --- see THEY are on vacation!  I bet they get pillow chocolate.

Then there's me.  

A Mountain Mama.  No stranger to hard work.  Kids free to be contradistinctive.  Bare fingernails that may or may not have been bitten off.  Bare faced, product-free hair.  Ice cream in my shopping cart.  No...not even frozen yogurt.  Oh...plus I jiggle when I walk.

I think that if I saw a slightly haggard young mother towing an infant and a toddler, hair askew, with this mornings cheerios still stuck to her butt (you know, a normal grocery shopper) - I do believe I would hug her like a long lost friend!  

I'm too old to assimilate to superficial standards.  Too set in my down-to-earth Virginia ways.  Too much in love with real butter.  Who knows, sticking out like a sore thumb could have it's advantages!  As Tracy Turnblad from Hairspray says,

 "I think I've kind of been in a bubble... thinking that fairness was gonna just happen. It's not. People like me are gonna have to get up off their fathers' laps and go out and fight for it."

Let's see if any standards get redefined.

I think this may be the start of a pretty big adventure!

XO, Ami