Conversations With A Non Gfree-er

Another semester down only a handful more to go...hopefully? It seems that after every round of finals they get more and more anticlimactic. I remember after finals in high school my friends and I would be so so happy. Maybe it was our innocence? Or lack of experience? Who knows, anyhow I'm sure all students can relate and understand the feeling of mental and physical exhaustion afterwards.
During the school semester it's obvious and natural that you interact with different and new people on a daily basis.

So...you know when you meet a new person for the first time and the conversation is pleasant, the two of you get on well and naturally/eventually the both of you need to eat or get a drink. Casually the non-gfree-er suggests Italian food or burgers or some other gluten laden fast food joint and you’re thinking “Shoot! Uhhh how do I decline nicely?!... Should I just repeat the same memorized gfree speech that I usually say?”  

It’s okay, no worries, never fear! This is what I do(and maybe it can help you).

I explain that I have Celiac’s Disease, that I have a food allergy. Plain and simple then I suggest somewhere that is similar, but somewhere I know I can eat something. Usually the non-gfree-er is willing to compromise. Since gluten intolerance is becoming more prevalent more people are aware of an gluten free diet and occasionally are even intrigued to know more about it!

In the past I have met people who have absolutely NO idea what being allergic to gluten means. Even after breaking down the allergy into the most simplest terms it seems to boggle their minds. They even rub it in your face when their about to chow down on an uber juicy hamburger or a delicious looking slice of pizza. So you just sit there across the table looking jealously as they dig into whatever they want to eat because they don't have an allergy like you do.

 I use to feel sorry for myself and unlucky, that I couldn't enjoy a bowl of pasta or a piece of chocolate cake. But I've come to realize that having a pity party about things you cannot control does not help the situation or anything in life for that matter.

We are lucky enough to live in a time where there are gluten free alternatives to pretty much anything. There's no reason to feel sorry for yourself. NO PITY PARTIES. 

So now when I sit across the table with my non g-free friends and they ask if I'm "Jealous?" I say "No, I'm Good" and I mean it. I know that even if the food I'm eating isn't as delicious as their's, I can go home and cook myself a gfree version of the meal and be content and happy with that. 

Life is too short to spend thinking about the "What if's" or "If only...".  Enjoy life and do what you want with what you have.

Xoxo,

~ T 

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Gluten Free Dim Sum!

Hello to all my Gfreers out there on the web! I hope the day is treating you well!

I am happy to say that I have officially defeated my jet lag enemy and am back to a [relatively] normal sleep pattern since coming back to the States.

One thing that I mentioned in my previous blog posts, "Gluten Free in Hong Kong", was that I frequently ate at many dim sum restaurants while I was there. Since I assumed that many Chinese are not aware of celiac disease, let alone severe allergic reactions to wheat/gluten (and not in the form of anaphylactic shock), I had to eat smartly and cautiously in order to avoid cross contamination and other hidden forms of wheat in dim sum.

Dim sum, if you don't already know about it's wonderful existence, is a traditional Cantonese tea time meal in which you are served a plethora of bite sized or individually portioned food served in steamers or small plates. In Cantonese Chinese, it is pronounced, yum cha, which quite literally means to 'drink tea'. It is called this because you drink tea throughout the meal while eating. Dim sum is now popularized in the States so you don't need to fly all the way to Hong Kong to get a taste (although the dim sum in the States really can't compare to authentic fresh ingredients from HK)!

Unfortunately for gfreers, much of the food in dim sum is off limits since many of the dishes are fried and covered with batter, drenched in soy sauce, or are originally made of wheat like buns and pastries.

BUT, never fear because there are foods that are safe to eat in dim sum and still offer lots of authentic flavor and yummy goodness! And now I present to you this all-intensive guide to safe gfree dim sum eatery!

SAFE MAIN DISHES     

Har Gow (shrimp dumplings)- a clear, translucent wheat starch skin with shrimp filling*. A dim sum meal is not complete without har gow!
*Har Gow is not entirely gluten free because of the wheat starch skin. Highly sensitive gfreers should not consume har gow but those with low sensitivity should be okay (I never really have any adverse reactions after I eat har gow) because wheat starch is the powder left over after most of the gluten has been removed.

Fun guo -a clear dumpling with peanuts, dried shrimp, garlic, chives, pork, and shiitake mushrooms wrapped in a glutinous rice flour wrapper.

Haam Seoi Gaau (salt water stuffed dumpling)- deep fried oval shaped dumpling made of rice flour and filled with pork and vegetables. The outside is sweet and sticky while the inside in salty (a delicious combo)!

Gip jap (steamed meatball)- beef with tofu skin on bottom bathed in worcestershire sauce. For the meat lovers out there! ;)

Paigu (steamed spareribs)- pork ribs with black bean sauce*
*some black bean sauce may have soy sauce so be wary!

Lo Mai gai (lotus leaf wrap)- glutinous rice filled with chicken, Chinese mushrooms, Chinese sausage, scallions, and dried shrimp wrapped in a lotus leaf and steamed*. OMG so so so so so good. The lotus leaf flavor gets imprinted in the rice and it's delicious!
*often times contains some soy sauce in the Chinese sausage or in the rice as flavoring

Congee (rice porridge)- thick, sticky rice porridge. Most common is "Duck Egg and Pork" or Pei Daan Sou Yuk Juk. Always a safe selection.

Coeng fun (steamed rice rolls)- wide rice noodles that are steamed and rolled. They usually contain shrimp or cha sui.* My go-to dim sum choice!
*The rice rolls are gluten free but ask for the server to not put soy sauce or to put the soy sauce in a separate dish if the other guests are not gluten free. The cha sui also has a small amount of soy sauce so those highly sensitive should stick to plain, chives and onions, or shrimp.

Fu Pei Gyun (tofu skin roll)- this dish is absolutely DELISH if you're a tofu lover. Can be served steamed or crispy and the typical fillings include shrimp, leeks, chicken, bamboo shoots, carrots, tofu, scallions, sesame oil and bean sprouts

Lo Baak Gou (turnip cake)- pan fried cakes made of mashed daikon radish mixed with dried shrimp and pork sausage.* Made with rice flour.
*Chinese sausage may contain soy sauce

Wu Tau Gou (taro cake)- similar to the turnip cake except with taro!

SWEETS

Nian Gao (Chinese New Year cake)- made of glutinous rice flour

Bak Tong Gou (whtie honeycomb cake)- a light, somewhat chewy and textured cake made of white sugar, yeast, rice flour, and wheat starch* Has a slight, but not unpleasant, sour taste.
*I am not positive every recipe of bak tong gou has wheat starch but, again, I emphasize, if you're highly sensitive, just don't add this to your bill.

Jian Dui- a type of fried Chinese pastry that is made of glutinous rice flour and sesame seeds. It may contain filling such as sweet red, black, or lotus bean paste. Very yummy indeed! :)

Dou fu fa- silky tofu in sweet broth (usually ginger or jasmine flavored)

Mong Guo Bou Din (mango pudding)- this brings back memories of childhood for me! I have such a sweet tooth and I absolutely adore mango. This is a sweet, mango flavored pudding that is the perfect dessert to top off a great meal!   

A slice of the 8 Treasures rice. This one is pan-fried!

Ba Bao Fan (8 Treasures Rice)- traditional Chinese New Year dessert made of glutinous rice and the '8 treasures' including glazed cherries, raisins, apricots, lotus seeds, and bean paste. Remember this one? I blogged about it in my HK adventures Part 2. Check it out if you haven't seen all the photos! :)

Tong Yun (sticky rice balls)- rice balls usually with filling like red bean paste, sesame, or peanut. Usually bathes in a sweet syrup broth or in red bean paste porridge.

Blogging about all this food makes me miss all the dim sum I had in HK. Hopefully, I'll get to visit again soon! Until then, enjoy the food pictures and safe eating!

-Kris

**All photo credits belong to their respective owners. Pictures supplied by wikipedia and other blogsites powered by Google image search as well as from yours truly.

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Gluten Free in Hong Kong: Part 2

Welcome to Part 2 of "Gluten Free in Hong Kong"! 

Over the 3 weeks that I stayed in HK, I was able to sample many a kind of absolutely fantastic, gluten free desserts. Of course, the pastries such as the famous Chinese buns, custard tarts, and cakes are off limits. HOWEVER, never fear! There are still yummy desserts that await the gluten free diner. Here are some types of gluten free desserts I enjoyed: 

HK Bubble tea! The tapioca balls are naturally gluten free and provide a fun chewy texture. Plus, in HK, you MUST try the original famous milk tea! (I got thirsty so half of it was gone before I remembered to snap a photo!)   

Red bean sticky rice cake! Made with rice flour

  

Snowman cheesecake with no crust! Yes! 

Flan, vanilla creme, and raspberry mousse! 

Sweet almond soup

Pan fried Eight Treasures Rice with candied cherries and powdered sugar

Glutinous rice ball in sweet red bean paste soup 

Most of the desserts I stuck to were creams, mousses, jello as well as fruit and desserts made from rice and beans. 

During my stay in HK, I was seriously in dessert heaven. Having a major sweet tooth, even though I had just ate a really big meal, I always had room for dessert! What I didn't know was that my dad had planned an even bigger dessert heaven for me by reserving a table for my family and I at the famous Hong Kong Ritz-Carlton where the tourist attraction of sky100 is located- one of the tallest skyscrapers in Hong Kong. 

Here are some of the desserts and small appetizers I ate: 

My aunt and I in front of the Ritz-Carlton!

Vegetable mix of zucchini and bell peppers on gfree bread

Smoked salmon on gfree bread

 Delicious mango salsa appetizer!

 I'm holding the yummy vanilla panna cotta!

Mango pudding

 Strawberry rose marshmallow

 Chocolate cremeux with hazelnut nougat

Flourless chocolate cake with cranberry 

The same tips for safely eating gluten free wherever you live also applies for eating in a foreign country. Here are some tips I found to be useful on my trip:

1) Make sure to bring non-perishable snack foods (pretzels, cereals, cookies) that you can eat on the plane rides and during your stay. 

2) Try to familiarize yourself with the types of cuisines offered where you're staying to find out what you can and cannot eat. (Eg. HK has dim sum everywhere so it's good to find out what you can eat- I'll probably do a future blog post to help you guys out!) 

3) Bring a friend who knows the language if you don't already know the language! It helps, trust me. 

4) Gluten free dining card (where it applies). I didn't actually use a dining card because of the hassle it would bring to my parents and more so to the fact that if you show that sort of thing to a local HK restaurant, you will probably spend more time trying to explain what it means than the time it takes to sit down, order, eat and leave.  I don't mean to discourage you from using it, but Chinese restaurants on the streets don't tend to be that obliging when you're paying that little. 

5) Have fun and don't be scared you'll get sick at any moment! I was really scared during the beginning of the trip that I would definitely get sick from the food, but surprisingly enough, when I just relaxed and accepted that there is going to be cross contamination, I found that I didn't get sick that often. Much of the pain you feel is self induced and generated by the mind- enjoy your vacation and you'll find that eating gluten free in a foreign place will become second nature in no time! 

That's all from me! I hope you enjoyed reading about my time in HK and all the food pictures. Let me know about your travel experiences, challenges and successes in eating gluten free! I would love to hear from all of you! 

Thanks and talk to you very soon.

-Kris 

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Gluten free in Hong Kong: Part 1

 Hello everyone! 

I hope all of you had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and New Years! I was fortunate enough to be able to spend both holidays in Hong Kong with my family, this time including my aunt and uncle. It was so much fun revisiting after about 5 years since my last trip and spending time seeing all the beautiful Christmas decorations and experiencing the holiday cheer. The only difference between this trip and my trip 5 years ago was that this time, I had the challenge of eating ALL gluten free. 

Luckily enough, Hong Kong has LOTS of delicious, naturally gluten free goodies for you to enjoy! I will attempt to document my trip, my struggles but also successes as well as tips and tricks for eating gluten free. 

First off, and this is an important point, cross contamination is inevitable. Although I would love to say that all the naturally gluten free food is 100% safe to eat, truth is, it's not. In a place where the word, 'gluten free' pretty much doesn't exist, you're going to have to prepare the Pepto Bismol if necessary or eat very carefully in order to limit the amount of exposure to gluten especially if you're going to eat out. If you are planning on visiting Hong Kong, or any Asian country, and you don't speak the language, it is wise to bring a friend who can communicate with the chef or at the very least, can pick out some foods that are safer to eat for you. 

Okay, so let's begin, shall we? :)

As you may or may not already know, most long haul plane flights have specialized diet selections, including gluten intolerant meals. Make sure to select for a gluten free meal for the plane ride over and back so that there's no confusion in what you can and cannot eat once you're on the flight. Here are some sample pictures of what my meals looked like: 

Steamed veggies, rice, and a chicken breast with tomato sauce

Yay for gluten free on the plane!

The meals to and from Hong Kong were pretty basic: some starch, protein, grains, fruits, salad, and dessert. On the way back, I was surprised to find a gluten free dinner roll that was lightly sweetened. Put some butter on it and bam! delicious ;)  

Once my sister and I met up with the fam in HK, we were extremely jet lagged but happy to be there! The day we arrived, it also happened to be my 21st birthday, and my family was sweet enough to buy me a gluten free Haagen Dazs mango ice cream cake! I didn't even know they sold these!

What's better than ice cream? When it's put into a cake! 

After about 2 days of rest, we were ready to hit the streets and have some adventures! 

Besides the shopping and tourist attractions that make HK a great place to visit, the FOOD is just incredible! Looking back on the trip now... my most vivid memory is eating, and eating, and more eating! So can you still enjoy all the great food while eating gluten free? 

Absolutely! 

While visiting HK, rice will be your best friend. Rice and anything made of rice is generally a safe bet and a good way to go while dining and snacking. The only thing to really worry about is sauces, especially soy sauce. Most all dishes that are usually bland have soy sauce to flavor the dish, whether it is steamed fish or dim sum. If this is the case, make sure to find a way to communicate with the waitstaff to keep the soy sauce separate from the main dish. Also, if there are other people in your party that don't eat gluten free, make sure to get a good helping first or set out a separate utensil to avoid as much cross contamination as possible!

Fresh steamed fish from the harbor! Usually has soy sauce, so get a helping for yourself first. 

Surprisingly enough, I did not experience any stomach pain or other ailments I had during my previous trip, like diarrhea or feeling like I needed to vomit. This trip was mostly pain free, but for first time travelers to Asia, be cautioned that you will probably experience some discomfort and sickness due to different bacteria in the water and food. HK is pretty safe though, in comparison to China, but if you are still worried, make sure to bring some Pepto Bismol to soothe your stomach especially if you feel sick due to some small contamination. If you have very severe reactions to small amounts of gluten, I would advise you to be even more careful with what you eat. I, luckily, had the option of cooking some of my meals, but for those living in a hotel, that might be more challenging. You may have to eat at restaurants that are aware of gluten and celiac disease, which is usually at large chain hotels. This is probably a very pricey option for most people, but remember that your health is most important, so do what you feel comfortable doing.   

If you're not severely sensitive to gluten, like myself, you can get away with picking food on the menu that has the least amount of contamination. Here are some sample meals that I had while in HK:

Chicken and mushroom with rice with a side of Chinese broth

A simple meal at most HK cafes: chicken breast with veggies and rice noodles in clear broth. 

Preserved duck egg and pork congee. A delicious gfree option! 

Pan fried whole chicken with rice, corn and steamed veggies

Mushroom, bean sprouts, gai lan and rice noodles in fish broth with iced coffee 

Another great thing about HK is that if you're strapped for cash, there are meals as low as $3 (or around HK$24) that include the main dish, a side dish as well as a drink. These meals are usually eaten by most HK residents before they go to work and during tea time (normally around 3-5pm) when prices are lower. This is akin to  Happy Hour in the States. 

Stay tuned for part 2 when I talk about desserts and my experience at the Ritz Carlton for high tea! 

-Kris   

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