Sunday, October 30, 2011

Off to Australia For The Second Time In Two Days!



"You are a part of Australian history", my new Aussie friend, Tony informed me last night as about twenty of us stranded Qantas casualities surrounded a tiny lobby bar in the Marriott Hotel in Irvine, California. Two days ago, Qantas announced their worldwide strike only after we boarded and settled on our plane to Brisbane. The hot plane we sat on for two hours that would never take off. Yeah, that plane.






I drank a Rosemount Estates Shiraz ironically from Australia as I sat and listened to all of the travel stories from the people around me. One might think we were drowning our sorrows there but no such thing happened. I learned that Australians - the authors of such phrases as "No worries" and "Good on ya, mate" - let everything roll off their backs. As that is my attitude too, I fit right in with them - right there on my home turf in Southern California.


As I sat there, I pulled out this book called "In a Sunburned Country", by Bill Bryson that my dear friend Ly, who lives in Cairns, sent to me to read on the flight over. One Aussie grabbed the book and said "We all should sign it for you!" And that's what they did.


I love my precious keepsake and will treasure my Australian memories of the Qantas strike and the lovely hospitable people I met. I'm a total sap and I have tears in my eyes at the moment, making it a tough view of the computer screen.


The announcement to board my flight to San Francisco just finished. Time to go. So, for now, good day mate! I can't wait to see Australia via Hong Kong. I'm already in love.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Four Italian Restaurants With Gluten Free Pasta!




Recently I had the great fortune of traveling to San Diego to meet up with a BFF from the east coast for a few days. She is quite the officiando of Italian cuisine. Being gluten free, I am painfully aware of the amount of flour flying around Italian Restaurants so the mention typically strikes a bit of panic in my heart. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Italian food! It's just that pasta, and all that delicious bread have gluten in them. In spite of my fears, I decided to venture in to see just what they had to offer.



First, we went to Chianti Restaurant where pictures of clebrities including Oprah hung on the walls. Even though I was only in the mood for a salad, I asked if they had GF pasta. They did! I was thirilled that I could, at the very least, pass this information on.



The next Italian restaurant we went to was Osteria Panevino where I asked again. Yes! They had gluten free penne. I ordered my absolute favorite pasta dish. Linguine and clam sauce with penne instead. I was in heaven! It was so delicious that I nearly licked the pasta bowl.



The third place we went to was Opera Caffe. They also had gluten free pasta! I opted for a salad - which was fabulous - because I wanted to cut down on simple carbohydrates. But this particular restaurant was really my favorite in terms of atmosphere, food quality, preparation, presentation and flavor. I highly recommend this one.



Back in Los Angeles, I dined at my favorite Italian restaurant in The Grove - La Piazza. My LA BFF, celebrity hairstylist Billy Lowe and I love to dine on the patio and watch the people go by as the fountain sprays its song and dance each half hour. When I asked if they had gluten free pasta, they also said yes! I had the pasta bolognese and again, I was thrilled.



A very important tip for you here is to also ask if they have a colander, pot and utensils that are dedicated to gluten free pasta. If you are super sensitive, you need them to say yes to all of the above before you eat so you can be certain not to have a reaction.



The moral of this story is: ASK!!! If you don't, it's an automatic "NO".



For more information on living a gluten and dairy free life, go to http://www.deliciousandhealthy.com/