After a few tough months, and a much needed blog break, I’m back to blogging. I hope you all didn’t forget me. Much deliciousness to come.

I recently returned from the most delicious trip of my life.  Full write ups to come, but the photos from my Spain and London food adventure can be seen here. (including an amazing Thanksgiving at El Bulli)

Happy Holidays!

 From the archives – but still so true!

My mom is not a foodie, but during my call to wish her a happy Mother’s day, for once she started talking about food:

“I’m throwing away a green lemon, not because it’s not ripe, because it’s moldy. We’ve got to get the science experiments out of the fridge. One shelf at a time…the yogurt said December 21st, I figure it is time to get rid of it.”

I asked her permission to share that on my blog and she said “Of course, you can use it as an example of how far you’ve come and that liking to cook is not genetic.”

The fact that food is of so little importance to my Mom means we find other topics of conversation. But what’s really remarkable is the effort she puts forth to make sure I am comfortable and can eat completely gluten-free whenever I go home. They even stop eating gluten for the most part when I am there. I told them as long as flour isn’t flying in the air, we could keep the gluten from contaminating me, but she and Victor don’t want me to feel deprived when I am visiting. I am able to cook as easily in their kitchen as I do in my own.

I am lucky to have such an incredible Mom and wish I could be there with her today. All of my love and thoughts are with her on this special day. I hope you are able to celebrate Mother’s Day with your loved ones.

Congratulations to Jaime – winner of the $50 Carrabbas gift certificate – Jamie has a blog called Red Hat Man and her husband is gluten-free.

Thanks to everyone for their comments – I promise more giveaways to come.

PS – the photo of my nephew has nothing to do with the giveaway but I didn’t have a ‘winner’ photo so I am being totally self-indulgent here – I think it is ridiculously cute that he now does “yoga” ever since my trip to Texas for our gluten-free Thanksgiving.

(Winner selected with a random number generator on Feb 15th at 8:44pm EST)

Congratulations to Johanna B, winner of the gluten-free granola from JK Gourmet.

Johanna loves her gluten-free granola with vanilla yogurt and frozen blueberries.

As always, announcing a winner gives me an excuse to post a picture of my nephew. This is a picture of Cam during Halloween this year. I will be getting a whole new batch of photos soon when I visit him in California.

Winner selected by random.org – don’t worry if you didn’t win this time, another great prize is on it’s way.

I’m greatly saddened to share the news that one of the forerunners in the online gluten-free community passed away this summer. After battling an aggressive form of cancer, David Marc Fischer was taken from us abruptly in August.

I have struggled to write about it as sadness begins to overwhelm me. David was a dear friend and support. The loss hit me in a profound way, and I know I must be experiencing only a glimmer of the pain his family is feeling.

I first met David at the Gluten-Free Cooking Spree in 2007, though we knew each other ‘virtually’ before that. We became fast friends once we crossed over from digital to real life. David and I both went to college at the University of Virginia. We shared tales of Charlottesville in years past and were constantly exchanging tips on restaurants and gluten-free products. David came to my apartment for gluten-free tastings – he introduced me to a variety of gluten-free beers and always knew the best sources for gluten-free breads and pastas.  Who else could understand the funny stories that come about when dating gluten-free?  He was such a positive person, I felt truly lucky to count him among my friends.

In addition to authoring Gluten-Free NYC, he also wrote Blog About Town and was remembered at Emdashes for his dedication to the New Yorker cartoon contest. While his memorial was in August, the Celiac Meetup Group in NYC is having a dinner in his honor Monday, September 14th . The dinner will begin at 7pm at Lilli and Loo’s, one of David’s favorite restaurants. After spending time in China after college, David LOVED Asian cuisine. Since he only ate at restaurants that were part of the Gluten-Free Restaurant Awareness Program, the arrival of Lilli and Loo’s was truly a gift for him. I realize many of you are too far away to make it to dinner, but we are lucky to be able to use the Internet to connect and share.

It feels like yesterday that David and I were making risotto together at a gluten-free cooking class he invited me to. I am so grateful for his friendship, thoughtfulness, conversation, intelligence and cheer. My life is richer and the world is a better place because he was a part of it.

And the Betty Crocker Gluten-Free prize pack goes to Andrea – who would like to see a gluten-free version of the Warm Delights mixes.  Thanks to everyone for your suggestions, hopefully Betty Crocker will listen and add more!

As always, announcing the winner gives me an excuse to post a picture of my nephew – this is from his second birthday party. He will have a little brother later this year so I may have to start rotating between nephews next year….

(number selected by random.org)

Hopefully many of you are grilling on this 4th of July holiday, but before the summer is over a picnic should be on your ‘to-do’ list. While for most people, sandwiches may be the first thing that comes to mind for ‘picnic food,’ I put together a perfectly palatable offering without ever considering great gluten-free bread.

A few of the items in our ‘basket’:

Assorted cured and smoked meats – Speck, Salsiccia and Hickory Smoked Turkey Breast

Antipasti – Marinated Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Artichoke Hearts (try wrapping a sun-dried tomato in a piece of turkey – yum!)

Cheese and Gluten-Free Crackers – Cypress Grove’s Truffle Tremor and Midnight Moon cheeses were perfect with a Roman Cacio cheese and Blue Diamond Almond Thins

Fresh Fruit – Apples and Strawberries

Yogurt – plain greek yogurt was great as a dessert with the strawberries

Beverages – Water and White Wine were our choices for this gluten-free dining adventure

Mix and match – it’s not difficult once you get past the idea that you have to have a sandwich.

And just because you may not like camping, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy a great meal outdoors. Happy Independence Day!

Since completing my gluten-free soft-serve round up last summer, Pinkberry has added coffee to their flavor offerings and Grom gelato, that I first tasted in Florence, has added a West Village outpost – all gluten-free flavors are marked right on their menu.

If you are ambitious enough to make your own ice cream, the options are even more plentiful. Something simple like David’s Easy Chocolate Ice Cream Recipe looks sublime. But if you are going to the effort to make your own, perhaps try a more unusual flavor like Deb’s Fennel Ice Cream Recipe, David’s Candied Bacon Ice Cream (yes, that says Bacon) or this Honey Lavender Ricotta Ice Cream Recipe from Cooking Light. I first discovered ricotta gelato during a summer in Sicily and still dream of those cones full of sweet and creamy gelato topped with a sprinkling of cinnamon. Even with those dreams dancing in my head, my all time favorite ice cream has to be the Toasted Almond flavor from Fosselman’s in Alhambra, CA. Thank goodness I have a ticket to visit my family this summer in California; I won’t have to wait too long before indulging.

What are your favorite ice cream flavors?