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

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

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.

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:

http://www.celiactravel.com/cards/

Available in 51 languages.

OR

http://celiaki.se/celiaki-intoleranser-allergier/sojaproteinallergi/tillganglighet/oversattningskort/

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

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!

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

On my way to Asia!

Okay, I'm going to start at the beginning;
Our flight with Qatar Airways was to leave Stockholm Arlanda 15.15. I met my friend, who came with another flight from the North of Sweden, at 11, which left us with plenty of time to check in our bags and find some lunch.

 

Wended up at a place (can't remember the name tight now...) were they had ready made salads, which had allergy information on the label. Just double check so you don't get any bread with it. There was a dressing that game with the salad as well, but i didn't dare eating that and I'm not to fond if dressingar anyway, so i left that...