I’m still here!

Hi there!

Just thought I would post a quick note to assure the Universe that I am still here! RL has been… well, a bit of a personal bear lately, preventing me from posting.
I have been trying to catch up on comments and emails and I want to thank everyone who has contacted me! I AM responding, thanks for your patience and I’m hoping all this weirdness ends soon and I can return to my online world

Ariana

Xmas was insane, but I love the tree….

Wow!

My insane Christmas season is over and this insane winter will soon be over! We were almost completely snowed in twice! Aaah!

I feel horrible about not posting, but I have thrown myself into writing and crocheting so I don’t feel TOTALLY bad!

My novel is finally moving forward. It sucks – but that’s okay. I keep reminding myself that the important thing is to get SOMETHING on paper. A blank page cannot be edited – or so they say – so blankness be gone!

I have also been trying to put the revamped fructmal website together – writing the html myself from scratch – yes… that means no “frontpage” no wysiwygs… just notepad. Ugh!
I think making all the pages of the wordpress would be easier – then people can comment on all the articles, recipes, etc.
So now I have to redo it all – again.
~sigh~

I have yet to take down my Christmas tree…this happens every year. I just adore it too much! BUT, I did promise my sweetie it would be down before Valentine’s Day…. so I’d better do it soon!

AVT

Hi Sammie!!! (imagine me waving!)

This post is to welcome my good friend Sammie on her first visit to my blog!

Sammie and I have been friends since elementary school.  She is now married, with kids and the whole she-bang… and lives AAAALLL the way in Ontario     (that’s a sad face, Sammie!)

I am a LAZY BUM and do not call her NEARLY often enough… well basically never?  Not never!!  Well….  I have to say I’m AWFUL at keeping in touch.  Always have been.    ~sigh~~

So…. leave a comment so I know you found the place, eh Sam?  Just check at the end of this message… There should be a place where it says 0 Comments (or maybe it will say 1 Comment, if someone left a comment already.  Click those words and you’ll get to read whatever comments other people have left, and there will be a box to leave your own!  Don’t forget to sign it “Sammie”!

Welcome!

Ariana

Trip pics and New Site Update

Well, it’s taken me some time to upload my pics from our trip to the sis-in-law’s, but here are the randomly selected ones that don’t show anyone’s face!

Yup, I’m one of those bloggers that doesn’t like to put up pics or info that’s too personal. I know the big thing is social networking sites, and that everyone seems to put up personal details, candid photos, even their address!…….yah…NO.

We started out early, so ended up having breakfast on the road! Great little place with a lovely patio.

The drive was beautiful and relaxing!

A very “Canadian” sign posted at the exit of a Tim Horton’s (doughnut shop) drive-thru:

I’m a junkie for “sun breaking through the clouds” shots:

It was a fun and relaxing trip. Tried some Glutino brand gluten-free hamburger buns…very crumbly. I did bring the rest home with me and I’ll use them for any recipe that calls for breadcrumbs. I’m also going to try thawing them out by lightly steaming them – perhaps they just need moisture.

If you get a chance to try Glutino’s Sesame breadsticks, though….TERRIFIC! My husband even likes them and he can eat wheat just fine.

Well, I’m off to finish up the new and improved fructose malabsorption website! I’ve got a new host, and I’m almost finish the HTML. I’m very excited about it! If you haven’t checked out my original website, please do!

Fructmal Website

AVT

Checkin’ in from the Road…

My husband and I have been at the home of his sister and her husband (and baby) for the last couple of days.  After getting home, I will post some pics from the trip!

The local grocery had some new wheat-free options!  I tried the wheat-free hamburger buns from Glutino and they weren’t bad!  The ones I baked from the Celimix mix were softer and less crumbly – but perhaps if I steamed the frozen Glutino buns rather than just letting them sit on the counter to thaw…..

The weather has been blazing hot – not a cloud in the sky.  Having grown up in the desert I love it!  The fact that my novel is set in Nevada…. I’m really feeling the characters!  I’m sorry this post isn’t more substantive, but I wanted to “check in”!

More about the trip next post!

AVT

My First Sale, Before Even Finishing my Portfolio!

I was quite thrilled today to discover I sold my first article for usage rights from my online portfolio!

It was completely unexpected as I only just uploaded it!  I got the editor’s approval of the article and the sold notice virtually simultaneously in my inbox!  I wasn’t actually anticipating any sales yet, as I am still building my portfolio and haven’t even been able to upload a photo to my profile (tech is working on that).

The idea that despite all this, someone wanted to buy from me anyway makes me smile!  Makes me think that perhaps my work “speaks for itself”!

AVT

Gluten-Free Wackiness…

Well, as I mentioned yesterday my latest wheat-free baking was inedible.  I tried a classic wacky cake recipe.  If you’ve never baked Wacky Cake (and can have wheat) google the recipe and give it a go!  I grew up on Wacky Cake and it’s great.  Traditionally it’s chocolate, and the recipe was apparently developed in the Depression during food rationing.  Wacky Cake requires no eggs, no milk, and no butter.  It’s great for vegetarians, people allergic to eggs, lactose intolerance…. great cake.  Also, there’s no dirty dishes!  You put all the ingredients directly into the cake pan and stir it with a fork, so it’s perfect for kids.

I checked out a few websites and decided to substitute sorghum flour, potato flour and tapioca starch for the flour.  I also added 1/2 a teaspoon of xanthan gum to “capture” the air from the leavening.

They came out very flat.  I think part of the problem is I was TOO CONFIDENT since I’d baked this so many times before.  Traditional wheat Wacky Cake is VERY forgiving – I’ve even made it with Extra Virgin Olive Oil (because I was out of veggie oil), Hot Chocolate Mix (because I was out of cocoa) and Malt Vinegar (because I had no white vinegar)..AND..I baked it in a loaf pan.  It still tasted good!  As a result I threw in a couple of handfuls of ground hazelnuts – I think this made the texture too course and allowed the air to escape.

I think I also need more xanthan gum, to capture the air.  The chocolate chips I threw in sank right to the bottom, the texture of the cupcakes was very crumbly and the bottoms were oily.  Everything separated.  The nice thing is, Wacky Cake is very cheap to make!

I picked up the America’s Test Kitchen Annual cooking magazine – a “best of” thing and there was a great recipe for Guinness Beef Stew.  I going to christen our slow cooker with it – though I can’t get hold of one bottle of Guinness!  I have to buy a whole six-pack and neither myself nor my sweetie are beer drinkers.  Also, I don’t know if Guiness has wheat.  I picked up a single large bottle of an English Ale – St. Peter’s Organic – which is apparently wheat-free, so I’ll try that.

I should get off the computer now, as I start my new job at the hardware store in the morning!

AVT

Wood! Anniversaries and bookshelves

Well, today is largely off for me – I’m giving myself a day off writing and baking because my sweetie and I are celebrating our fifth anniversary today!!

We’re not actually “married”, so we celebrate the anniversary of our first date (and since we moved in together a week later, it might as well have been our wedding, LOL!!).  We decided that since all our money is going into renovations we wouldn’t buy each other gifts, but traditionally the fifth anniversary is wood, so…  I think I’ll throw some more decking material on the Visa and call it his anniversary gift!

I’m also adding another link to my blog’s sidebar…. I’ve discovered Shelfari!  The idea is you create a profile for yourself which includes all the books you’ve read.. (and I’ve read some obscure books, but they were all in their database with cover art and everything!).  When people check out your profile, they see a virtual bookshelf with the books you’ve read on it. You can friend other people who’ve read the same books and join groups on shelfari.  Groups have their “recommended” virtual bookshelves.  You don’t have to have read those books to join, but checking out their selections really gives you a good idea about where they’re coming from as a group.

If you’re a reader, check it out!

AVT

Fructose Malabsorption – dextrose experiment

Well, all my time lately has been taken up trying to negotiate through my new foodplan. I have Fructose Malabsorption Disorder and now that I am in contact with others and some research-based hard data, I can finally start thoroughly removing all my problem foods – foods I didn’t know contained fructose! Wheat, spelt, kamut, artichokes, onions, shallots, leeks, wax beans, as well as all fruit products, fructose itself (naturally), sucrose (like table sugar, brown sugar, molassas, maple sugar, beet sugar), and any sweet stuff ending in -ol (like sorbitol).

As an avid baker, this is very frustrating! There are a lot of recipes out there for those who can’t have wheat, but they all have table sugar and/or brown sugar. The only sugar I can have without problem is dextrose (also known as corn sugar or glucose powder).

I haven’t been able to find many recipes at ALL baking with dextrose, so I did a little experiment this evening to get an idea of it’s sweetness compared to sugar: two mugs, each with one measuring cup of tea and a quarter of a cup of milk. I then put two teaspoons of unrefined granulated sugar (I don’t have any white sugar in the house – close enough) in one mug and put the same amount of dextrose in the other and tasted them. The dextrose one was still very bitter, so I upped the dextrose by 1/2 a teaspoon and tasted again. I continued this until they tasted the same….well that was the idea…but something curious happened.

The more dextrose I added, the more “dry mouth” I started to experience. It was quite pronounced by the time I reached 3 1/2 teaspoons. By 4 1/2 teaspoons, the dextrose side still wasn’t anywhere near as sweet as the two teaspoons of sugar and curiously, the richness of the milk was almost totally gone. It’s like I was tasting one cup with milk and sugar and cup with dextrose and no milk! This made comparison very difficult.

By the time I reached 6 teaspoons of dextrose, the sweetness was very similar but the milk issue was making certainty difficult. I started the experiment again, omitting the milk. The final result was the two teaspoons of table sugar (okay, unrefined sugar) is equal in sweetness to 6 1/2 teaspoons of dextrose with a very tiny shake of salt to tone down the tea’s bitterness.

The milk….perhaps using evaporated milk or 2 or 3% (I was using organic 1% milk) would rescue the lost creaminess.

All in all, a VERY enlightening experiment. I now know I’ll have to figure out a way to compensate in the recipes for the added bulk of all the extra dextrose. The creaminess issue and dry mouth may indicate I’ll have to up the liquids and maybe add more fat to a baked recipe.

hmmmmm….

AVT

………..what does this have to do with writing? Well, with this little info – I’m thinking COOKBOOK!! LOL!

Why Not Write About Writer’s Block?

I’m afraid I’m not the type who enjoys reading about what people had for breakfast, or what they bought at the mall. The unfortunate result of this is that I feel I can’t write in my own blog unless I actually have something of substance to say. ~blech~

I have been plagued with writer’s block for quite some time now – which is serious as I am trying to make some headway freelancing online. I have started grinding my teeth at night – I wake up with blinding pain in all my teeth. The pain lances up into my eyes, into my ears and down my neck. This is a new thing for me and I can only think it has to do with my writing, as nothing else is bothering me so much.

I am still unemployed. I am truthfully holding out for a job that will start in late April, as it will provide both my husband and myself full medical and dental benefits, even though it’s only part time. I am becoming a shut in, though.

Maybe that’s why I have writer’s block.

AVThompson