Birmingham

Tomorrow we are heading to Birmingham. We will be stopping at Whole Foods and Penzeys for sure, and whatever else looks interesting.

At whole foods I plan to buy things I don't normally buy - GF Mac & Cheese, GF pretzels, GF cookies, GF frozen meals, etc. Right now, I feel we are climbing a steep mountain and if I need a safety net (GF convenience foods) until I have a better footing, then so be it. The foods are mostly to have on hand so when Alex is somewhere else, I can be sure he has food and snacks to eat. So far, we have done pretty good but something happened the other day that made the mama bear in me decide that he needs cookies etc. at his disposal when he is out of the house.

Long story short - The boys went to a Christmas party and a kid waved a cookie in Alex's face, teasing him that he couldn't eat it. It was a friend of his and I am sure was not done in a malicious way, but I felt so bad for him. He told me later that he didn't want to go anywhere until he memorized the list of ingredients that he can't have. Instead,we bought him an app for his iPod that he can search by brand name and find out if things are gluten free or not.

I am 100% confident that we can live happily gluten free without a bunch of convenience foods, and I fully plan to do that. Right now though, it just feels safer to have convenience foods on my shelf that I fall back on if need be. (Much like non-gf families fall back on takeout or restaurant meals when life gets in the way.) Once the holidays are over I will take a look at what we really need and shop accordingly.

Did you know that Whole Foods offers lists for each individual store of their "Special Diet" offerings? My store has lists for Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Gluten and Casein Free, Low Fat, Low Sodium, Soy Foods, Sugar Conscious and Wheat Free.

So the issue of where to eat in B'ham came up. Whole foods Mountain Brook has a huge cafe area, which includes cooked to order foods, a deli, pizzaria, buffets, etc. If I remember, I will take some pictures tomorrow. It is unlike any WF I saw in Detroit, that's for sure! Anyway, I was going to call to see if they offered gluten free options, when I came across a blog post saying that Red Robin has a gluten free menu, and that most have a dedicated gluten free fryer for their french fries! I also read that they have no problem with you bringing in gluten free hamburger buns! Alex has been so bummed that he can't eat real, fried in grease, restaurant french fries, so you can guess where we are going.