More thoughts on my Asia trip

April 9, 2010

Thank you for your responses! Celiacs can sometimes feel emotions that most

people don't - i.e., feeling deprived when you can't eat something everyone else

is enjoying, sometimes feeling isolated and different, not being able to totally

enjoy eating out. Boy, we could go on and on, couldn't we?

When we visited Italy a few years ago, I had heard so many stories of how easy

it was to eat g-f in Italy. I found that not to be true, for me anyway. Of

course, I had my own food and the pharmacies in Italy had g-f food that I could

snack on, but to be able to easily eat lunch or dinner somewhere was very hard.

We took taxis at night to certain restaurants that I had researched before we

left to make sure they had g-f pasta and pizza, so I knew I had at least one

meal a day I could look forward to, but it was so hard to walk around the cities

in Italy during the day and not be able to enjoy a slice of pizza, etc. for

lunch like everyone else. All I could find to safely eat was gelato (and my

snacks). By the 5th day or so, I was starting to cry and dreaded eating the

same old thing again. I think I even started feeling resentful. I think my

deep-seeded fear is that I'm going to ruin our vacation to our son's wedding by

not controlling my emotions – and I know I WILL be deprived because I cannot eat

most of what will be offered to me in Asia. Thank goodness we will only be gone

for a week, but I'm a bit disappointed in myself for not being a stronger

person. Geez, I'm really opening up, aren't I?

Any thoughts on how to control these emotions of feeling deprived and a bit

resentful?

Sue

April 10, 2010

I forgot to mention- you can also find plain, tiny tubs of ice cream at

Convenience stores in Japan. Vanilla is easy to identify and safe.

There are lots of vending machines with tasty cold beverages.

Did I mention Chocolate?

If you feel deprived, indulge your sweet tooth or promise yourself some shopping

in one of the gorgeous department stores. Gourmet coffee at Starbucks (latte,

mocha, frappucino- i like the Japanese maccha frappucino (green tea)) or a

Japanese chain is another good deprivation buster because you can have so many

things on the menu.

Schedule in an Outback night- although I don't know if they have their GF menu

in international locations or not.

http://www.outbacksteakhouse.co.jp/en/location/index.html

Also- if there are any matsuri festivals while you are there, you can get a hot

buttered potato (jagaimo) or corn (tomokoroshi). Stands sell them by themselves.

Don't bother with the chocolate coated fruit- the chocolate is weirdly not sweet

and not very tasty.

Most of all, enjoy this once in a lifetime opportunity! Biscotti is another

thing that is easy to make and pack, as well as parmesan toast points and

homemade graham crackers. Makes that morning coffee taste all that much better!

One easy meal from a supermarket- buy hot prepared rice and put sliced avocado,

fresh tomato, sesame seeds and salt (or soy sauce) on it. Salt and pepper with

butter make even plain rice taste good. Try not to do this at a fancy Japanese

restaurant in sight of the chef as it is insulting and implies the rice isn't

good... but it does make things taste better. I like pickled ginger (doesn't

have soy sauce may have glucose but is usually ok) on my rice, too. Some (rural)

supermarkets sell hot charcoal roasted sweet potatoes that are super yummy with

butter, salt and pepper.

-

>

> Thank you for your responses! Celiacs can sometimes feel emotions that most

people don't - i.e., feeling deprived when you can't eat something everyone else

is enjoying, sometimes feeling isolated and different, not being able to totally

enjoy eating out. Boy, we could go on and on, couldn't we?

>

> When we visited Italy a few years ago, I had heard so many stories of how easy