Gluten Freebird

This is primarily a blog about living with gluten, but right now, it’s a tribute to living without another special must-have. I won’t go all cheeseball and suggest that this place nourished my soul, but Dutton’s Brentwood Books in L.A. is a special part of me and it closes today after 25-someodd years of business. For those who don’t know Dutton’s, this may not mean a lot, but it’s a universal blow to bookworms.

[Read more →]

I’m not picky. If it’s edible, I like it. The one glaring exception: cardamom pods. I can’t fathom how anybody would welcome the soapy, acrid flavor that pollutes my mouth when I bite into one (always by accident, never by choice).

Ground up in chai, ok, but the pods, no.

Despite my membership to the anti-cardamom club, Indian food is probably my favorite cuisine.

[Read more →]

One day the world is my fried oyster, ready to be eaten, and the next even soy sauce is off-limits. Gluten is a tricky thing.
In the few weeks since I was diagnosed with celiac, I have come to think of gluten as the wallflower of food ingredients. It’s never front and center (unless you fancy [...]

[Read more →]