Coffee

Do you like coffee? How about tea?
My sister always told me that it was important that I force myself to like tea and coffee, so that when I go to people's places I can always drink something. The only thing was, I never had to force myself to like it. Ever since drinking my first coffee I've loved it.

And now I drink too much.... too much coffee that is.

Ok, I don't go over the five cups a day rule, I usually only drink four. But that isn't what is worrying me. Every morning, after crawling out of bed and eating breakfast I make myself a coffee. I drink coffee when I don't know what to do on my assignment. I drink it after lunch, after study in the late afternoon and any time in between. I could drink coffee at 8pm and not have a disturbed night's sleep.
Why do I drink it so much? Because I like it.

Just yesterday morning I realised that I might be becoming coffee dependant. Before Church I rushed to have a cup of coffee, and after the service I had another cup, then when I got home I had yet another strong cup of delicious coffee.

Nah, that's just silly, coffee doesn't do that much to you.

So, what's the problem? I just don't want to be dependent on coffee. I don't like feeling like I have missed out on something if I leave the house without having ingested coffee. So I'm going cold turkey, not for long, just until Saturday. Hopefully I won't get headaches like tall brother did when he went off coffee completely. I'll keep you posted.

I've already got my first cup of green tea sitting on my desk. Trust me, it tastes gross cold. Bleugh .

So, are you an avid coffee drinker? Have you ever thought that you might be dependent on coffee?

Bye, time to go and study... without coffee.

What I'm going to do...

I'm a list maker. I write lists when I have lots of things to do, I write lists of books I'm going to read, things I'm going to cook, what I'm going to do tomorrow, shopping lists... the list is never ending [ha!].
One of the main lists I love writing however is the "what I'm going to do after this assignment is over" list.
At the moment I need to finish an assignment, it's one of those assignments that just doesn't click with me. Yes, it's not just people, assignments have to click with me too, if we're ever going to get along.

I'm in one of those situations right now. This assignment is "... arrgh!" That's the only way I can describe it, mainly because I know that it should be really easy but I want to do really well at it... ok, sorry I'm getting all complicated.

Without much ado, here's my list:
What I'm going to do when I've finished this assignment [this should get me off my bum and studying! Incentive!]

• Make gluten free ANZAC bickies! First I must find some rice puffs or corn flakes that don't have barley flavouring in them. Yay! A shopping mission!
• Make cupcakes and watch Much Ado About Nothing for Shakespeare's birthday on the 23rd of April. Any ideas for cupcake decorations? Would Shakespeare quotes look too cheap? [I love how Keanu Reeves is Denzel Washington's brother in the film version we will watch, it just adds to the comedy of it all]
• Play the piano like there's no tomorrow. I have hardly practised over the past few weeks which is really bad for my hands, they need constant practise to keep them up to scratch with the level of music I'm playing. Poor hands, I'm sorry for you.
• Clean the old recipe tin that I scrounged from somewhere and arrange the funky old recipe cards somewhere, or perhaps write my special G-free ones on the back.
• Dream about cake stands.

Phew, I feel so much better now and am ready to get off my bum and do this assignment.

Random fact: If I could do anything right now, it would be bake and decorate cupcakes. And it's late at night... I'm weird.

Are you a list writer? If you could do anything right now, what would it be? [keep it clean, please]

[Sorry about the absence of pictures, blogger wouldn't let me upload any.]

LIVER!

Do you like liver?

I used to love it. When I was little my Mum needed more iron or something so she ate liver. I loved it with lots of salt.

But then I found out what it was. I became all Lily-livered [ha!] and decided that it wasn't supposed to be eaten. When I was older Mum cooked a whole cow's liver - it reeked and stank out the whole of our big house thus affirming my opinion.

Yeah, I wasn't such a fan of cow/sheep's "filter", which is what we call it now.

That is until I tasted it again the other day. Augh, I've changed my mind. I like liver now!

Temperamental? yes, I am. But I've decided that I can get over eating a lamb's entrails because it just tastes good.

some slices of liver [and salt] on my plate

Liver doesn't really go with a salad that also contains green olives and spring onions... by the way.

Potatoes are vegetables, gluten free and possibly the best root crop ever. I wonder, can you be allergic to potatoes? Or do you know anyone who, heaven forbid, doesn't like them? Do tell.

I don't think I've eaten kidneys, heart, black pudding [ew, blood], brain or tongue before. But I've eaten Haggis! 

So, do you eat liver? Are you a fan of eating entrails then? What part of an animal wouldn't you eat?

Guest post from Lydie: the mish!

This is a post from my good friend Lydie. She's been gluten free for a couple of months now and is loving it... well, loving the health benefits! It's great having a friend who loves food, we can talk about it [and Jane Austen] for hours on end. The other day we went on a gluten free flour mission and this is her account of it:

Part 1

My blogging friend Theresa, from gisforgluten and I drove out about a week ago to Piko, an old curiosity shop.

Apart from being an old-fashioned, red-bricked building with a sign that has an outré picture of a pumpkin on it, this cosy, out-of-the-way barn has hidden treasure. Walking in was like entering gluten-free paradise; the shelves that filled up every square inch of wall were packed with every kind of organic flour, spice, chemical additive, grain, fruit, tea and cereal known to man.

It was just the kind of shop that you could stay in for hours, meditating on flours like Amaranth, millet and sorghum, agonising over xanthan vs. guar gum and pondering the merits of rice flakes and chestnut powder.

We didn't stay for hours - closer to 1/2 to 3/4 of an hour, but it was enough. By the time we'd left, I was lugging a huge box full of various flours, organic cupcake cups, xanthan, guar gum and cereal. The next part of the mish was to go to my place and try to create something edible from the flours we'd bought.

Part 2

Theresa and I love cooking, so naturally we talk about it a lot: ideas for new, revolutionary g-free recipes, ways to create lighter-textured baking, and the results of what we make. Actually eating food is fantastic, but scheming, collaborating and creating food is where the pursuit of happiness ends. Pretty much.

When we got to my house, we'd already decided to make pasta: organic, whole-grain flour, eggy pasta, with Italian tomato and herb sauce.

Here's the pictures of what we came up with:

..An action shot of the dough. It was so stretchy and sticking-together-ish. Just beautiful.

The strips of dough - tagliatelle? Before they were cooked..

Here's the 'Italian' pasta sauce - good mix of caramelised onions, chopped tomatoes and paste, some Italian herbs, spices and sausages, and a good dash of balsamic vinegar.

..The cooked pasta. We weren't too sure how long to cook it, but it turned out okay in the end!

End result.. ..the melted cheese and basil enhanced the flavour and appeal of the pasta. It was so, so good. Here's a recipe for pasta, from Recipezarre. By the way, the speckled appearance of our pasta is due to our using different types of whole-grain flours (because they're good for you!). You can have a go substituting brown rice flour, amaranth and sorghum in small quantities instead of just using tapioca, cornflour etc.

Happy cooking!

Please note: I actually wrote most of this post on notepad because the Internet 'broke' [yes, someone typed 'google' into Google!] halfway through the post. Oh Internet, why do you fail me so often! Just when everything else is breaking too!

I think my camera is broken. When I say "my" I actually mean Dad's, I'm a poor student and don't have enough money to buy my own. [because if I'm going to buy one, I want it to be good]

When I turn the camera on the light flashes and all I hear is this clicky noise. *cries* This is most upsetting because the other cameras [nothing flash, just digital] will be leaving the country for a few weeks - noo! No photos!

Therefore I don't have any photos of my nice new brown bread recipe to show you! I've been craving brown bread since, well, since I became gluten free. So the other day, after a friend and I went on a flour mission [more on that later] I whipped up some ridiculously brown bread. It was amazing!



But again, I don't have any pictures for you. Sorry.


I do however, have a some quotes.


Well, this first one is more of an excerpt really, I just love the way the author put it! When I read this in Grow it, cook it by Sally Cameron I think I may have shrieked with laughter!
"If you are a slave to your bowels and follow a gluten free diet, or even if you are looking for a nutty shortbread, this recipe is for you."
Ooh, yeah, I'm a slave to my bowels. That just makes me feel like an old lady...

Now for more serious stuff: Gluten Free Easily, an awesome blog that I follow posted 20 things you should know about gluten from allergy guru Ron Hoggan. I copied out a few of his points:

"Depression is the most common symptom of coeliac disease."

"It's not a sacrifice to give up gluten. It is a gift to understand the need to give it up." -Ron Hoggan.

If I was the kind of girl to pin inspirational messages to my wall, that last quote would be on it. The first one is purely informational. But wow! Who'd of known that depression was actually a MAJOR symptom?! Traditionally it's all gut stuff. I get [as well as some gut problems] mental issues when I eat gluten. I can't classify it as 'depression', but I get serious mental fog. And it is very safe to say that I feel SO much umm, stronger emotionally as well as physically now that I'm G-free.

I reckon Strong Sad has coeliacs, that depression quote above just confirms it.

How about you? What symptoms to you get?

Oh, and has your camera ever broken on you before?

Feed your mind

Wow, I'm totally overwhelmed at all the great feedback I've had on the post below! Thanks people!

These are two favourites from when I was about 13

You may not know, but I'm studying Library and Information Studies [quite a mouthful isn't it?] and during the course of my study this year I have to read children's books. Isn't that awesome?! I think so.

Yesterday, during my course readings I had to answer a few questions about my reading habits as a child, what my favourite books were from ages 5-15 and whether my choices reflect the type of reader I am today.

I discovered that I loved historical fiction and realistic books. Sure, that doesn't exclude the odd hilarious, fantasy or adventure story. My choices definitely reflect what I like to read today. I love reading classic literature, good historical novels [written today] and other novels that are set in the real world with real characters and ideas.

Real, real, real. Now I understand why I turned up my nose at Inkheart when I read the first four chapters in 2003. 

Helen Keller was my first "chapter" book. And the Little House series were [and still are] a firm favourite. Classic!

 Mum almost threw this one away, but I rescued it because it is just so classic.

Ok, perhaps I did like a little bit of fantasy when it was well done. I will forever be recommending these Arthur books to people, especially adolescent boys.

Really short chapters! I loved how they just kept me reading and reading.

Oh, Apple Pigs, how I loved you!

I always wanted this to happen to my house.

Yeah.

There are heaps of these bear books, I loved them.

We [or was it just me?] attributed different people to each of the bears. I was the black one with glasses and my brothers were the other bears.

So, what were your favourite books as a child? Lets relive the nostalgia together!

I need your help!

But first here are some cupcakes, I like cupcakes.

And my friends funky old baking powder tin and my weird looking thumb. Edmonds baking powder is gluten free!

Now to the point: I recently got a new computer so I'm finally able to actually do things with my photos. Seriously, my old one was lame as, which made it really difficult to do almost anything. The lameness of my old computer explains why my blog currently has an ugly, pixely header. Yup, it's ugly.

I'm in the process of re-vamping my blog layout but I just can't decide what header to use! I've uploaded a few suggestions below and would LOVE to hear your comments.

What do you think?

I've got a speical thing for black, obviously.

When I first looked at this one I wondered if it was actually for a New Zealand yachting company... just saying.

So, what do you think? Any ideas? Hit me with your comments! I need to hear the truth, so be blunt.

Thanks!