Love Erika
29 November, 2017
Coffee and cake
Today I'm in Petersfield for a little bit of shopping. I popped into One Tree Books, not only to look in the shop (I do love book shops, something wonderful about the smell) but I also had another mission - a coffee related one. Last time I was here there was hardly any gluten-free options in Petersfield, but that seems to have changed. The café, hidden away in the back of the book shop, is called Madeline's Kitchen and serves light lunches as well as delicious cakes, tea and coffees. I was just about to ask the chap behind the counter if they had any gluten free cakes when I saw that the labels were clearly marked with GF. I had a choice between a chocolate brownie, a lemon and polenta cake and a French almond cake. In the end I went for the almond cake. Absolutely perfect. Rich, perfectly moist, not at all dry and of course gluten free! Can highly recommend a visit here if you're in the area.
Love Erika
Love Erika
26 November, 2017
Hungry at Arlanda Airport
I've done this silly mistake once again, so here I am hungry, with a headache and no gluten-free food to be found... So stupid of me not to get something to eat before going through the passport control.
Anyway, to you fellow gluten-free travelers, and for my self as reminder, keep in mind to eat before going through the final passport control on terminal 5 by gates 58-69. Otherwise you'll might have to settle for this gourmet lunch for 70 sek (don't get me wrong I like cottage cheese, bit for a snack perhaps and not lunch) and also you could find some fruit as well if you feel like it.
Happy travels!
Love Erika
Anyway, to you fellow gluten-free travelers, and for my self as reminder, keep in mind to eat before going through the final passport control on terminal 5 by gates 58-69. Otherwise you'll might have to settle for this gourmet lunch for 70 sek (don't get me wrong I like cottage cheese, bit for a snack perhaps and not lunch) and also you could find some fruit as well if you feel like it.
Happy travels!
Love Erika
20 August, 2013
Before going to Asia
First and
foremost, translation cards are a good help in any Asian country, but you can’t
totally depend on them. Some people might not understand what an allergy is, and
not in the least an intolerance. Some people might not be able to read. And
some people might not simply care.
One translation card I didn’t find was one in Khmer, the language most commonly spoken in Cambodia. Although many people in Cambodia are very good in English, an intolerance to gluten is a hard thing to describe… My solution to this was pictures and so I made my own “translation card” with pictures from google. This actually worked very well!
Love Erika
I had a
stack of printed translation cards on A4 papers. In my experience a big piece
of paper is easier to read for the people who want to try and help you and it’s
easier for you to get it back when they have finished with it. Also, leave the
paper on your table even after you have ordered your food, they might what to
check something again, or even double-check it.
Find free
translation cards for printing here:
Available
in 51 languages.
OR
A
Swedish website with “cards” available in 41 languages.
If you
are one of those gluten free people who can’t eat soy, it might be quite
difficult for you to find things to eat, me on the other hand has been fine
with all the soy sauces I have tried so far. However, I tried to eat as little
soy sauce as possible just to be on the safe side. If you want to read more
about soy sauce and wheat take a look here: https://glutenfree.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/safety-of-asian-soy-sauce-in-gf-diet-janssen-et-al.pdf
AND http://www.celiac.com/articles/23061/1/Is-Soy-Sauce-Gluten-free/Page1.html
One translation card I didn’t find was one in Khmer, the language most commonly spoken in Cambodia. Although many people in Cambodia are very good in English, an intolerance to gluten is a hard thing to describe… My solution to this was pictures and so I made my own “translation card” with pictures from google. This actually worked very well!
One thing
you can be almost certain of when you travel to Asia is that you will not feel
100% all the time. Don’t worry! Just because your stomach is upset it doesn’t
mean that you have eaten gluten. So relax, and don’t let your tummy destroy
your trip!
Love Erika
It is time for me to start to update this blog…
Oh, I’ve
got so much to tell you since I last wrote!
I have travelled a lot this year, Thailand,
Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Cambodia; Germany,
Canada, and a few places in Sweden, and because of this I have many things to
write about and share with you.
I hope I’ll
have time to post some of my stories later today.
Love
Erika
30 March, 2013
Still in Asia!
Hi you all!
I'm still on my backpacking trip in southeast Asia, and right now I'm in Manila, Philippines. Tomorrow my friend and I will continue to Vietnam. We'll fly with Thai airways this time, so it'll be another company to test how gluten free friendly they are!
I'm really enjoying myself on this trip, and I have so many things to tell you all about when I come back home - it's a little difficult to write all posts on my phone, so I just write down notes and then I'll have a lot to do on my computer later ;)
Love Erika
I'm still on my backpacking trip in southeast Asia, and right now I'm in Manila, Philippines. Tomorrow my friend and I will continue to Vietnam. We'll fly with Thai airways this time, so it'll be another company to test how gluten free friendly they are!
I'm really enjoying myself on this trip, and I have so many things to tell you all about when I come back home - it's a little difficult to write all posts on my phone, so I just write down notes and then I'll have a lot to do on my computer later ;)
Love Erika
15 February, 2013
Koh Tao - Thailand
I know I should try to keep my posts in somewhat chronological order, but I just have to warn you about this a place on Kho Tao, Thailand. It's a restaurant and dive shop, and I can't say anything about the diving part, oh the food and especially the SERVICE I can say one or two things about...
To all my fellow coeliacs: don't eat at Big Blue Diving, Koh Tao! The staff there was stressy and very rude, and didn't even try to read/listen to me and my dietary requirements. Since our waiter's English seemed okay, I tried to ask what kind of wrapping they had on their spring rolls (I've heard that if they use rice paper they are gluten free). Anyway, I just about managed to ask my question and say that I can't eat wheat, rye or barley, before our waiter, whilst walking away from our table, says that he doesn't know about the spring rolls and that if I have allergies I should choose something I know I can eat. Then he was gone again. I was SO annoyed! How am I supposed to be sure about what I can eat if I can't ask questions and make requirements?! If there's something a waiter/waitress don't know they ought to be able to ask someone who do! And the fact that he just ran off without letting my friend or me to order is just unacceptable.
Eventually he came back so we could order our normal "safe" meal - fried rice - which you can easily get a tastier and cheaper version of in several restaurants on Koh Tao...
Based on the service, or perhaps I should say the LACK OF SERVICE in this place - I will NEVER go back to this place and I would NEVER recommend it to anyone, coeliac or not!!!
Oh dear what an angry post, but both my friend and I were very upset after this. And also there are so many much nicer places on the island - like Simple Life for example!
The manager at Simple Life is the only one there who read Thai (the others didn't understand my restaurant card) but he is a lovely person, and so helpful when it came to find me something I could eat that wasn't fried rice ;)
So leave Big Blue Diving to its own destiny and head to Simple Life to eat!
Love Erika
To all my fellow coeliacs: don't eat at Big Blue Diving, Koh Tao! The staff there was stressy and very rude, and didn't even try to read/listen to me and my dietary requirements. Since our waiter's English seemed okay, I tried to ask what kind of wrapping they had on their spring rolls (I've heard that if they use rice paper they are gluten free). Anyway, I just about managed to ask my question and say that I can't eat wheat, rye or barley, before our waiter, whilst walking away from our table, says that he doesn't know about the spring rolls and that if I have allergies I should choose something I know I can eat. Then he was gone again. I was SO annoyed! How am I supposed to be sure about what I can eat if I can't ask questions and make requirements?! If there's something a waiter/waitress don't know they ought to be able to ask someone who do! And the fact that he just ran off without letting my friend or me to order is just unacceptable.
Eventually he came back so we could order our normal "safe" meal - fried rice - which you can easily get a tastier and cheaper version of in several restaurants on Koh Tao...
Based on the service, or perhaps I should say the LACK OF SERVICE in this place - I will NEVER go back to this place and I would NEVER recommend it to anyone, coeliac or not!!!
Oh dear what an angry post, but both my friend and I were very upset after this. And also there are so many much nicer places on the island - like Simple Life for example!
The manager at Simple Life is the only one there who read Thai (the others didn't understand my restaurant card) but he is a lovely person, and so helpful when it came to find me something I could eat that wasn't fried rice ;)
So leave Big Blue Diving to its own destiny and head to Simple Life to eat!
Love Erika
Airplane food - Qatar airways
We had already eaten at the airport, because we didn't know when or if we were supposed to get any food on this first flight to Doha. And Another reason was that I've read so much about coeliacs who got the wrong food on the plane, or that there was something wrong with the order, and to end up without anything to eat for 5 hours is not my idea of fun...
Never mind, we started and just a few minutes after take of the flight attendants walked around handing out refreshing towels, and after that they came with drinks for us before they started giving us food. My tray was clearly marked with my name, chair number and allergy information. Though you have to be alert so they don't give you one of the "glutenated" bread rolls!
The food was okay, the chicken a little dry, but pretty much what you can expect when it comes to airplane food... I got fruit for dessert, and the others got carrot cake, which was a bummer because a gluten free carrot cake would have been nice, but hey I'm not going to complain about that.
After we had eaten the staff were walking around offering us a variety of drinks for the rest of the flight. I tried to get some sleep, but I was too excited about my backpacking trip, so I watched a couple of films instead.
All in all, it was a very pleasant flight with Qatar airways to Doha.
Love Erika
Never mind, we started and just a few minutes after take of the flight attendants walked around handing out refreshing towels, and after that they came with drinks for us before they started giving us food. My tray was clearly marked with my name, chair number and allergy information. Though you have to be alert so they don't give you one of the "glutenated" bread rolls!
 |
| My tray was marked with a sticker saying it was gluten free. |
 |
| The dish it self was also clearly marked with my name and seat number and dietary needs |
 |
| This is what the food looked like. |
The food was okay, the chicken a little dry, but pretty much what you can expect when it comes to airplane food... I got fruit for dessert, and the others got carrot cake, which was a bummer because a gluten free carrot cake would have been nice, but hey I'm not going to complain about that.
After we had eaten the staff were walking around offering us a variety of drinks for the rest of the flight. I tried to get some sleep, but I was too excited about my backpacking trip, so I watched a couple of films instead.
All in all, it was a very pleasant flight with Qatar airways to Doha.
Love Erika
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