Tantrums, Twitter and Tennis

I lost it with coeliac disease yesterday. Totally lost it. See, my OH is currently having a holiday without me and though it was ultimately my choice not to go (free spirit, can't bear to stay at other people homes, need my own space to do as I please!) I got really wound up at a statement he made.

It's The Little Things

I was just thinking back to the magical day that me and my lovely spent at the Harry Potter Studio Tour and had so much fun. I didn't eat anything while we were there as I think I ate before we left for our afternoon booking after gluten free research had been done and it wasn't very conclusive.

Warning: Pessimistic Coeliac Mood

So this is my second chicken stock attempt.

It Smells Lovely

Problem is, I thought that by refrigerating it the fat would easily be skimmed off. I thought wrong.

I'll Be Honest, It Was A Disaster

After 14 hours in the slow cooker I assumed that the chicken stock would have been packed full of flavour. I was wrong. After successfully removing all the fat and being able to taste, it was a watery mess that lacked everything. I failed.

I know where I went wrong because my old fashioned Chicken Casserole has bags of flavour with no use of any pre-bought stock, I needed to add vegetables for the base flavour. No more late night stock making for me. Next time I will triumph!

Attempting To Make Gluten Free Chicken Stock From Scratch

I have a bigger problem than most when it comes to finding gluten free chicken stock either in cube or powdered form because of my pepper allergy. All except Heinz have pepper in them and I can't source Heinz chicken stock from anywhere it seems. Such a nuisance as I use chicken stock all the blooming time!

Gluten Free Food At Wimbledon Tennis

We're just entering my favourite time of the year, the grass court tennis season. Thought I would do a bit of research and find out what the gluten free situation is with regards to attending Wimbledon fortnight.

It was far easier than I expected, unlike the official information for the 2012 Olympics. This is what the official Wimbledon site has to say:

"People with special dietary requirements should bring with them what they need to eat and drink to avoid disappointment. A limited choice of pre-packed gluten-free foods can be purchased on request in the Aorangi Food Court."

How To Open A Jar

Simple right? Not when it's stuck. Same for bottle tops too. There's been a couple of things recently that have proved impossible for me to open, one being Mirin bottles. Once opened, if the Mirin drips down the top of the bottle and then the lid is put back on it's incredibly difficult to re-open because it's such a sticky substance. I have mentioned this trick before but I've been using it time and time again recently so we took photos.

This trick has worked on both bottles and jars, no effort required!

The Allergy Mystery

I figured out that I was allergic to pepper and tomato skins just after I realised that I couldn't eat gluten. It was a hard one to pin point because at first I thought it was the seeds but after eating countless tins of peeled plum tomatoes and being fine I concluded that it therefore must be the tomato skin that I'm allergic to.

But now I'm wondering again.

Smoked Lemon Sole

I don't have a photo for this right now because I didn't plan on documenting it, but it was so amazingly good that I figured I may as well share. The combination of the wood smoke flavours combined with the texture of the Lemon Sole was a triumph. We've smoked Lemon Sole before but with a combination of Alder and Cherry, that's nice but not a patch of what we produced last night.

Nom Nom Nom

What a lovely four day weekend that was! We spent it eating great food and watching very exciting tennis, that's pretty much my idea of heaven. Meals included Ribs, Sea Bass, Chicken Bacon Bites, Summer Rolls, Pancakes and Bacon, Fondue, Poussin and Lemon Sole. Tennis included Murray v Gasket, Tsonga v Djokovic and a very shouty Sharapova who took far too long to win before Murray could get on court.

Gluten Free At The 2012 Olympics Stratford

I'm not personally visiting the games but I still have an interest in what will be on offer for those who are visiting and on a gluten free diet. It's taken quite a bit of research but I finally have some information. There's quite a lot to get through, so here goes!