chocolate chip cookies

Guittard chocolate chips made gluten free today. 

I thank them for have cup and gram measurements on the package recipe.  I used the semi sweet chocolate chips, and recipe on said package. 

I used 2.5 cups of my gf flour blend which is just a bit more than 400grams, but that's what I know from baking, and from having started to measure flours in grams a few years ago. 

Guittard uses #sunflower lecithin which works for me!  

#chocolatechipcookies 

#chocolate

#glutenfree 

#glutenfreetastesgreat 

#celiac 

#coeliac 

#soyfree 

#soyoilfree 

#foodallergies 

#foodintolerances

I just want to eat! Conference food & race

Last month I said to myself, "you need a new fighting cancer shirt".  The one I had was the basic gray with white lettering from RaygunShirts in Des Moines Iowa.   I asked them to make the print on a black shirt for me, me Melanoma color.  They said "Sure". 

The note they sent along was so wonderful. It made my eyes leak.  

 Stage 1a Acral Lentiginous Melanoma or my "toe cancer" as I called it. I'm at a higher risk to have regular sun melanoma as well.  As a result, I took advantage of the sale Athleta had last month and ordered more of the UPF swim shirts they have (Pacifica, long sleeve and short sleeve).  I wear these out mowing, and in the car on road trips, and for the pool/ocean too. The guy at the camping store said the UPF protection is usually good up to 50 washes.  

A fellow Melanomie shared that Rit Sun Guard can be used to put sun protection into clothing. However,  does say that it's works best on cotton and not synthetics.  j
I was excited for the conference, but also for the race on Sunday. It turned out that America's Finest City half marathon would be on the Sunday after the conference, so I stayed an extra day to run!  I haven't been doing running in training. It hurts to run on the treadmill, even though the pain doc said that the treadmill would be better than running on asphalt. Running on asphalt is slightly better than concrete. I've been working on keeping my head/chin in a tucked in position, so as to not extend my neck in a fashion that pains me post car collision.  I ran a 10K in mid July and was feeling good about it--I even biked to and from the race!  However, I still stuck with weights, yoga and walking for training of this race. I was using it as a guideline for how my body was feeling all over, and gauging if I could work towards running in training too.

I packed single packets of Sunbutter for breakfast on race day, as well as maybe the flight home.  I also had my Tanka bars, cheese sticks, and my 'granola' mix as I call it (sunflower & pumpkin seeds, Guittard chocolate chips, dried cranberries, and Trader Joe's dried coconut flakes).

The flight out was fairly boring.  There was so much cloud coverage for most of the flight, that I kept my window shade closed. I had a Mamma Chia drink before leaving the house in the morning, and then my packed snacks.  

After checking into the hotel and for the conference, I met up with some other folks and had a cheese appetizer. The bread went to someone else who could eat it, and I enjoyed the cheese, olives, and dates. Later I went out and enjoyed a raspberry Mojito, and a huge Paella dinner. I shared the lobster (too much) and the mussels (I don't care for them).   

Paella, SO GOOD!  

The conference started the next day and I was hungry.  I took a packet of Sunbutter down to breakfast with me, and some of my Canyon Bakehouse mountain bread. I had fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, and a Chobani yogurt. However, the bread, as usually in a catering event, was served on top of bread to absorb the grease.  **Always be on your toes at a conference!   Their sign said gluten free, obviously it wasn't.  When I said something to the staff, I was told "eh".  Different chain than we've been at before, and I can say the Marriott folks were very accommodating and said, "oh, I see, yes. Let me get you some fresh bacon."  NOT this place though.

There was a mid morning snack. I had the fruit. I have to wonder why they served fruit ninety minutes after breakfast that had fruit.

Lunch. Failure.  Complete failure.  I had a sticker on my name tag that was suppose to mean "go to the catering staff, show them, and ask for your gluten free and soy free meal".  In reality, when I did that, I was directed to the buffet. After standing in line for twenty minutes, I saw this dish and tag: 

Being a farmer's daughter, I knew that Farro was NOT gluten free. I pointed this out to the catering staff and was told "it is gluten free, we checked everything."  After I sat down with my lettuce and parm cheese, the catering staff gave me a gluten free meal from the kitchen. I was SO mad and upset that I could barely eat, but I needed to eat something, so I ate the chicken only.  

The afternoon snack was not much better. I was jealous because I thought everyone had donut holes, but it turned out they were pretzel balls with cheese for the side, and then packages of nuts (which had soy).  I guess I don't even know why nuts would be served as they are a major allergen for so many people.  I ran up to my room and grabbed a Tanka bar and cheese stick.  

Dinner that night was a mixer which was another buffet. I ate some plain rice and a piece of fish, literally was trying to not cry from being sooooo hungry. I stayed for a bit to socialize, and then left for the grocery store a few blocks away. Hormel ham slices, cheese, crackers, chocolate milk, avocado, and a few other things.

The next morning I found someone from the conference and let them know of the issues. They were shocked to hear this.  I know I am not the only celiac at the conference, and I know there are others who have more restrictive food needs than I have (some are gluten, dairy, and nightshade free, some are vegetarian, some are vegans, etc).  The person told me to know that I will have food for lunch and dinner, and that I can send in the receipt for reimbursement.

Knowing I only had two more Sunbutter packs left, I saved then for race day and travel home day, and had the eggs, fruit, and yogurt for breakfast.  Lunch was plain and I did not care. I had something to eat. I had salt and pepper to add some flavor to it.  

Veggies, beef, chicken.  Simple. Edible. Needed 

The afternoon snack was like the hotel didn't even try. I don't get why they had sandwiches only. 

NO thank you.
They kind of look good, but they also look like a whole lot of bread. 

I'll have my usual: 

Rice crackers, cheese, Tanka bar. 

Dinner was hilarious.  I let the catering staff at the table know I was gluten free. I didn't feel I was understood. I wrote on the back of the printed menu, "Gluten Free and Soy Free".
"My" meal was served.

Vegetarian is not gluten free. 

A table mate said, "that'd be gluten free". 

I hope they didn't serve it to someone else. I turned on my phone light and picked it apart. Beans, greens, and squash is not the gluten free meal when others have the meat and fish. 

Sigh.

Frustrated, I said, "I'm going up to the room to get my ham, cheese, crackers".  On the way out of the dinner room, I saw a head catering man. [He had a different jacket on than others]. I showed him the photo and he said, "I will get you your meal. That is not it."  I came back to this:

MUCH better!  Slightly different than every one else's. I was still a bit worried about eating it, but I needed food, I had a race in the morning, and I knew there'd be portapotties on course.  

I stayed for a little dancing, and then headed to the room. I had to be up around 3:30am to dress, get a Lyft, and head to the park for a shuttle to the start.  

Flat Quirky: 

Raygun printed design on my own running tank, and my new Sparkleskirts skort.

I knew the course had a hilly/downhill start and a hilly/uphill finish.
I knew some of the course, as I had run from the Cabrillo Monument back to the hotel two years ago.
I thought I remembered it.
I didn't.
The weather was also muggy/humid. For some reason we in the flyover states haven't had much of it. 

The start was a bit of an undulating road for the first couple of miles. We also didn't actually start at the monument/statue, but in the parking lot of the monument.  I loved the downhills. FLYING. I was FLYING.  The incredible feeling of flying.

Then we got to the Sheraton where the course was a turn right for a loop, and then go the other way for a loop.  With the humidity and sweating, my Glide had worn off. Thankfully there were running paramedics on the course and I asked a couple of them for some Vaseline or some such. 

I've never heard of 2Tom Sport Shield before, but I am a firm believer in them now. The paramedic unfurled it, and then said just to rub it all over. She was going to throw the package away, but I took it and the wipe and put it in my sparkleskirt skort pocket for use later if I needed it. That stuff stayed on and only came off with soap and water.  It was awesome.   

The wipe was still very 'slippery' after the race. I put it in a ziploc and am wondering if I can get another use out of it.  I put an order in for some from Amazon though.  

Race on. We had to get to the 10K by a certain point. I did it, with time to spare! More time than in my July 10K.  The downhills may have had something to do with that, but I was elated nonetheless.  

I had to stop and get a photo at the Cancer Survivor's Park.  The sculpture in the background (blocked off) depicts many entering treatment, but fewer exiting.  I am one of those who exited!

I took excitement and inspiration where I could, because I forgot how long running 13.1 can be.  Running a race with 7,000 friends is different than walking Williams Route 66, or Little Rock half when there are a lot of people around!  

Then the hills started. . .  gentle climbing, and I enjoyed seeing T-Rex for some laughs.   

and the hills just kept coming. A gradual one to start, and then we turned the corner and it continued to climb. We passed an intersection that reminded me of a San Francisco hill. Then we just continued on this long, so long, a climb. Up and up and up. I was hurting up the hill. I'm not sure I could have run that whole stretch even in my best shape! Up to Balboa Park.  Then we turned on a flat road. Such a beautiful flat road! (Except everyone kept trying to shove gluten pretzels at me).  We went past the Museum of Man.  Beautiful architecture, and I knew we were almost at the finish with all of that.  A turn here, a curve there, a straight away and the finish.  

The beautiful, beautiful finish line!   

I may have burned some calories.

You know I don't post my times, because my time is for me, not for anyone else. Knowing Quirky's time doesn't mean anything when we are racing against ourselves. I am not an elite runner!    

The beautiful disco ball 40th running medal.
It's so much fun to spin! 

After a Lyft ride back to the hotel and a quick clean up, I went to the pool and hot tub to relax and stretch the muscles.  I also had a fabulous Margarita and a bunless cheeseburger with fruit at the pool. Salt tasted fabulous!   I let the jets of the hot tub pound on my feet and thighs, and up my spine. I did lunges and bends in the hot tub and the heated pool. I thought I was feeling pretty good.

A group of us headed over to Coronado Beach and played in the surf. My blister on a blister was popped after the surf play. I usually try not to pop the blisters, but this one was right on the side at the base of the toes and rubbed against the Birkenstocks.  I couldn't travel like that the next day.  I just popped it, kept the skin there, and put a bandaid over it.

That night I wasn't too hungry, and had a cheese and meat tray at the hotel restaurant again. 

It was simple and I had salt :D
Cheese, cured meat, fresh olives, and dates. I didn't have the pickled onions or cauliflower. 

Monday flying home day was also the day of the solar eclipse in the USA. I thought we'd be in the air when the eclipse was happening, but it turns out it started as we were waiting in the airport.  I tried the hole in the paper part and it didn't work too well. A nice young woman had some eclipse glasses she let us use.  I got a nice photo through those glasses. Then the clouds covered the sun and moon, and I could see it with my Maui Jim sunglasses (not that I stared at it), and I tried to take a photo through my lenses.  I think it worked well for being a guessing photo.  

I was a little stiff when I woke up the day after the race, but I stretched and thought I was doing well. I thought wrong.  Even waiting at the airport for a couple hours wasn't bad.  I had a window seat on the plane. The folks next to me didn't get up at all, and one fell asleep. I didn't want to wake him up, and since I'm short, I was able to do some stretching in the chair. Arms up and forward. Legs down and under the seat. After getting off the plane in Chicago, I headed to the yoga room to stretch.  Afterwards I thought I was doing well.

Then our flight was delayed due to a computer glitch malfunction.  I improvised using my orange juice bottle to rub out the muscles like "The Stick". It worked.  I stretched some more and walked a bit. We were finally able to board, two plus hours later.  

I did some yoga on Tuesday and stretched. Wednesday resumed with yoga class and some light walking. Yesterday I signed up for the Williams Route 66 in Tulsa in November.

Run on. 

Florida, gulf side, beautiful and shell-y Food/travel

I delayed writing this, thinking my photos on the phone can be saved. The Mike is working on that for me.  (thankful I have a techy in house).  I don't have all those photos yet, but I do have ones I shared with people  while I was on the trip :-) Thus, I hope I'm forgiven for not having posted this in January!)

During the middle of January I went to Florida with a friend and child. She had reasons to 'get out of Dodge' for the weekend and had thought of Sanibel Island.  Let me google that, I said. WOW, count me in!  

As with any flights from 'fly over land' midwest, it essentially takes all day to fly somewhere.  My flight departed home at 6:15am Central and I landed in Ft Myers FL at 6:30pm Eastern.  I tried to get on a direct/earlier flight from Ohare to Ft Myers and no, I couldn't, unless I wanted to pay a couple hundred dollars for a flight that wasn't even an option when I booked.  On the plus side, I can say I've been to Charlotte NC airport and it is expensive ;-)  

Cotton Candy skies.

As with all flying/travel, I packed food for travel.  I had my Tanka bars, homemade 'granola' mix of sunflower/pumpkin seeds, Guittard chocolate chips, Trader Joes coconut flakes and dried cranberries. I also had cheese, some yogurt tubes (Siggis brand) and since it was early in the morning, I packed some hard boiled egg whites as well (which I ate at the airport, not on the plane).

Gorgeous dinner plate hibiscus at the hotel

After landing, I met up with my friend right at the airport. The car rental agency is right out the door (love airports like this).  We hit up Outback Steakhouse for dinner (they're great for being gluten free/celiac and soy intolerant (soy oil/protein/flour), then Target for some small groceries, before heading over to the Island ($6 toll/fee for a trip on/off the island--only pay going in).  We checked into the HolidayInn which is undergoing a restaurant rehab, and we knew ahead of time we'd get to dine out more for this, and which turned out to be an outdoor walk-up hotel--seems appropriate for an island. Seemed weird to not have a deck.  FYI:  Sprint does not have much cell service on this island.  I had phone service at the hotel, but not out on the steps which were concrete--dropped a call to The Mike when I tried to walk up the stairs while talking to him.   

Our first day on Sanibel we got up and had some stuff in room we'd gotten at Target (Milk, yogurt, and my granola), as well as OJ from the hotel.  They had some prepackaged danishes, but no UDIs. For whatever reason, Holiday Inn Express has UDIs available. Holiday Inn does not.  

Bowman Beach

We headed over to the beach recommended by the hotel staff for shell collecting. The hotel also gave us a 'shell bag' which was a sling/backpack made mostly of mesh for the sand.   Bowman's Beach was our first beach. Seashell galore at 11am. I can only imagine what it looks like at 5am after the tide goes back out.  I slathered on SPF 30 several times, including before we left the hotel.  (SPF 30 because I had a lot of travel bottles that size and I was flying with carry on luggage only!).  I also had a couple of the Athleta SPF swim shirts to wear over swim wear, which I thought was great as a cool breeze came off the water sometimes. As I said, Bowman's Beach had a lot of seashells. We were good with picking up ones that had been broken and worn smooth by the water, but I know others may want whole shells. I think getting there earlier in the day would be good if that's your goal.

Angel Wings

I have no idea what this bivalve is aside from being called 'angel wings'.  I did find one that was closed and still intact, and sent it back to the water :-)  

More shells 

We had lunch at Cheeburger Cheeburger. I've never even heard of this place before, but it looked good.  We checked out the menu posted to the front window.  Both of the adults were *so* concerned if they could do gluten free (and excited when we saw GF buns on the menu) that we *both* completely missed seeing the "we cook in peanut oil" on the menu.  Thankfully my friend's child is not reactive to peanut oil in the air. My understanding is that very few peanut allergy people are allergic to it in the air.  I had a wonderful hamburger with egg on top and the bun I couldn't tell was GF when eating the bottom portion with the hamburger.  The place had a fun decor, with cutouts of Hollywood people, and photos on the wall of people who ate the monster burger and fries. 

My phone died while we were inside. No food photo.

Off we went to the hotel to charge our phones (and I remembered to put mine on airplane mode while we were away from the room).  Later, we headed to the hotel beach. It was a nice with the afternoon sun on the beach. The water was a little chilly in and fairly level. It took a while wading out until the water was up to my armpits and chin.  

The hotel section of the beach also had recliner chairs, and there are specific beach towels provided by the hotel for use out in the sand.

I was wondering when I'd see warning signs, and this was the first one I saw. It was past the hotel buildings and on the way to the beach.  The hotel has a little lagoon area where the sign is posted. Somehow I saw the sign and missed the water rinse off are right next to it.  

This sign pretty much screamed to me:  do not go for a daybreak run 

I went back to the hotel before my friend, so I could call The Mike. While I was sitting on the concrete curb talking to him--hey, I was enjoying the sun and cell reception--two ladies came riding up on bikes. I noticed the one had an awesome calf/ankle tattoo of the USA outline with 26.2 inside.  We made eye contact and I mimed that I loved her tattoo.  I couldn't talk since I was on the phone with The Mike, but she asked and I answered I had done five.  Runners--we are everywhere :-) 

We went to Island Cow for dinner. A little bit of a wait, but I thought the place was awesome.

 

1. I grew up a dairyman's daughter and granddaughter, and niece. This place has Holstein dairy cow decor everywhere :-)  

2.  Our waitress was very knowledgeable about the gluten free menu and confirmed that soy oil (and definitely not soy protein/flour) would not be used in cooking. 

3. This place had *real* butter on the table. Not butter spread, not margarine, but real butter.
I had the Paella. It was delicious.  After having a clam and mussel, I gave the others of those items to my dining partner.  She likes them more than I do. Shrimp and fish and chicken. Tasty.  

Island Cow Paella 

 The next day we went to the Lighthouse Beach.  The parking was a bit larger and we were lucky to get a spot.  We were there earlier too, at 10am.  Someone leaving gave us their parking pass, which was for an hour.  We were going to use it, but then someone else came along and they said they were only going to be there for a little bit, so we gave them the hour permit.  Each beach has parking, but you have to pay $4 an hour to park (and can do half hours), with the receipt displayed in your car window.   Lighthouse beach wraps around the edge of the island. It does have an old lighthouse on the island which is roped off.  It's a good beach for sand castle building. As we stayed there, the tide was getting to low tide, which made it a little easier to find seashells out in the water. Where we were on the island/water, the ground went out for about two feet and then had a drop down of a foot or so. This is where I found a lot of shells that looked old, had holes in them, and a small handful of ones that were completely intact.

Since my phone is old, I was brave and went out in the water with it.  This far out and the ground was still flat, no drop offs.  We saw some dolphins out further and I wondered at what point the land dropped off. It doesn't. The dolphins were basically swimming in 4 feet of water.  

Another view of being out in the water.  Looking at Sanibel:

 The south side of the Lighthouse beach, where we first came from the parking lot, had some shells (below), but not as many as Bowman's. As we went around the corner by the Lighthouse, there were fewer and fewer of these shells.  

 After the beach, we went to the Lighthouse Cafe which was in a strip of buildings/businesses nearby. Handy, and a nice variety of food. They even had real maple syrup for sale, from Vermont.  We laughed, because there aren't Maple trees on the island ;-)  I had a burger, no bun, and a side salad,  along with part of the cantaloupe my friend ordered (which comes as half a cantaloupe!).  Cool place, with the walls lined with lighthouses from the world over.  I've been to two that were posted on the walls.  We went to a store nearby where I found a sand dollar locally made into a Christmas ornament.  The store owner told us about sea shell collecting, when the best time is, how to tell if a sand dollar is still alive, and more.  Very nice place.

Then we went back to the hotel for some downtime, organize our luggage, sort through out shells.

Did I gather too many?


We stayed in Saturday evening and had restaurant left overs (for my friend and her child) and I had some Annies Mac and Cheese microwave bowl I had picked up at Target. Being out in the water for hours wore us out, apparently. We were tired!  

Sunday morning it was my turn to go down to the hotel beach for dawn to break the sky.  It was windy, as a storm was definitely moving in, and I found several more shells, several of the bivalve ones which were quite large (one almost the size of my hand).  

Dawn, the sun arises.  

On the beach at dawn. Surprised this photo is so washed out, as it was darker than the sunrise photo. 

We didn't have to leave the island for some time on Sunday, so we went to the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge. Bring your national park passport book for the stamp. A nice museum with a good sized gift shop. This might be the first place to visit, as they had reef friendly sunblock for sale, at a fairly reasonable price too.  For just a few dollars per car, you can drive the road through the preserve, as well as take a few jaunts if you're so inclined-in areas where the alligator sign is displayed.   FYI: When you drive through the preserve, make sure everyone is seatbelted in the car!  Someone was pulled over by national park police just after the pay kiosk.  Later, we encountered a woman and child who was venting about having a $150 ticket for not having the children seatbelted in the car. She said her daughter stayed with the baby in the car when we had our encounter with her---especially if you have a job/career that would highly frown upon such a ticket.    

Barely in the park and we saw this guy at the side of the road. There were several others in the trees as well.

There are a couple areas where you can get out of the car for better viewing and photos.  

 When I asked one of the volunteers, I was told s the birds were laying low because it was windy for them.  I was a bit in disbelief, since the wind seemed to be maybe 5mph, but there were calls for bad winds in the afternoon. The volunteer said the fish fed earlier in the day and then lay low during storms.  

Always on guard around wildlife

Jaywalkers 

Before we left, we had lunch at Sanibel Fish House. I figured, Gulf of Mexico, seaside, fresh fish made gluten and soy free would be easy to have. . .and I thought wrong. It was like an Applebees. The hostess said the wait staff would help me. The wait staff seemed clueless, but picked up the menu towards him and proceeded to browse through reading things off I could have, which I couldn't see on the menu because I didn't have it.  The manager came over and told me about a handful of entrees I could have, and she really suggested the spaghetti squash.  I was told no fresh fish for me.  No Salmon, no Mahi Mahi. The manager said not even the appetizer of steamed shrimp.  I ended up with the spaghetti squash served with side of julienne squash and zucchini--and a handful of steamed shrimp (um, what? shrimp? I thought the manager said the shrimp wasn't possible!).  Plus, they used "butter". The manager kept saying butter, but she really meant margarine/butter spread.  

That was Sanibel/Florida. It was gorgeous compared to winter in the Midwest. 

Two hour delay in Ft Myers due to weather.  I thought it was the strong winds at 4pm (like 30mph with 50mph gusts), instead there were bad storms between Chicago and Fl which delayed the flight. There was also an emergency on board of some sort as there were about ten paramedics and a stretcher at the gate for the plane.  

No running while on the trip, unless you count running through Ohare when the flight attendants told me I could make my connecting flight home (I didn't and my low back was angry with me for having run).  An overnight in a hotel and I was home by 1pm the next day.  I got to the airport for the two hours ahead of time, even though I didn't have checked luggage, as I didn't know what Chicago TSA would look like. I  got through fairly quickly,  and ended up walking laps in the airport. My flight departed down one of the staircases as well, and boarding wasn't happening, so I also did steps, up the stairs, down the stairs, up the stairs, down the stairs. I provided some entertainment for gawking men who were skeeving me out, so I stopped for a period until they moved on.  Over 11,000 steps by the time I got on the plane :-)  

Next adventure?  Little Rock half marathon--I'll be one of the walkers! One day I hope to be healed from this car collision and able to run again.   Do you know how big those medals are???

Travel, conference, and food fun--which means: ask questions

This past weekend I was out of town for a conference on leadership for the pancreatic cancer group with which I volunteer.  I am always a little leery of conference food with my food intolerances, but I think it's a good leery/awareness/consciousness.  I love this organization and the catering, because they seem to take food intolerances/allergies into consideration when we register and the catering folks put out tags by the food.  I ran into only a few hiccups while at the conference.

Beforehand, I made The Mike up plenty of food for while I'd be gone a whole four days ;-)  Mostly, I figured I could make it up, and then freeze the left overs when I got home, so he'd have individual lunches at some point if we didn't have a left over for him.   Baked mac and cheese, individual mexican lasagna, an italian lasagna, meatloaf, and then sides of mashed potatoes, potato salad, tomato/cucumber/cheese salad, and carrot sticks.  

 I don't think he touched the carrot sticks at all. I'm not surprised ;-)    Dinner Wednesday was seasoned pork tenderloin, pan cooked, with a sauce of peaches, raisins, and pineapple juice which was inspired by a cookbook recipe. Butternut squash, peeled, diced and roasted worked for a great side.

Flying is always tricky. It's hard enough being gluten free/celiac, but throw in soy intolerance as well and it's just best to stick to things one packs.  I usually take a couple Chobani yogurts and the Mama Chia seed packets or applesauce packets.  They're just over the 3 oz that TSA has a rule about, but interestingly, the TSA doesn't seem to mind, except in airports where they sell Chobani. That is, until this trip! I had my stroller bag packed with all my weekend needs, and the sling LLBean bag packed with my food. Everything shoved into a couple gallon zip bags and shoved into the bag itself. Two chobanis, a couple UDIs choc chip muffins, the applesauce and Mama Chia, Tanka bars, a packet of chia seed, pretzel circles, Baby Bel indivdiual cheeses, and a package of 'granola' I make which is sunflower seeds, pumpkins seeds, dried coconut flakes, dried cranberries, and Guittard chocolate chips (they use sunflower lecithin, not soy, in their milk choc chips).  I go through security in my Athleta skort and pancreatic cancer shirt and get flagged for a pat down waist to knees. Maybe it's because of the double fabric with the skort?    My carryon sling bag is thoroughly inspected by someone who may or may not have been brand new to the job.  She took out everything inspected it, and set all the food to the side, after looking at the ounces on each package.  I told her that I have food intolerances and need to carry my own food.  She wiped the kindle and a few other things, then had to ask another TSA about the food with the comment "she says she has food allergies".  The other TSA said, "that's fine, let it all go through". She said she had to wipe them all because they were over the 3 oz limit.  I get it, I want to be safe while flying as well, but I don't understand what wiping the exterior of a store bought container is going to prove.  The long flight out of the connecting airport let me enjoy some food and a "juice" which ended up being only 15% juice.

Upon landing (late) in San Diego, I checked into the hotel, chomped on a Tanka bar and a couple other things, and headed over to Coronado Island for the day with a couple other folks. (so no set meal yet)

Birds of Paradise, one of my favorite flowers

The ferry to Coronado was great. I was a little hungry when we got there, so I had another Tanka bar. Then we walked around the island, exploring and finding some neat shops. I so wanted to go to the Candy store, but didn't really need any sugar, didn't want to try to figure out what was/was not gluten and soy free, and just said "be healthy" in a calming voice :-)

  We did discover that Coronado is called the Emerald City, and that L. Frank Baum resided on Coronado when he wrote several of the Oz books. One store attendant said that if we read the original books, we would see many things in common with the island.  On we walked to the Del, and the Pacific Ocean (one in our group had never seen the ocean before, so we had made the journey to the far side of Coronado especially for this person). The sand is unlike any I'd ever seen. It's gorgeous. Highly recommend the trip!  

It was sunny!

We left our mark on the beach. . . waging hope for Pancreatic Cancer. Currently has an average 8% five year survival rate. Stage 1 and 2 have a 27% five year survival rate.  When my mom was killed by this cancer in 2012, the five year was 5%.

Back we went to San Diego with no idea where to eat, except along the bay area somewhere.  We passed Roy's at the Marriott Marquis area and the others decided this would be a good place. Excellent food, slower service, and only a small handful of meals that were gluten free, with a few less that could be made soy free as well.  This was the Halibut special, minus the gnocci, and was served with a side of mashed potatoes.  Delicious!

Afterwards, we met a few others with a connection to the cause and walked down a few blocks to the "Top Gun" restaurant. I had no idea what they were talking about. The KC Barbeque place was a set area for the 1980s movie.  I felt bad about not eating, but hey, I'd already filled up on that fabulous fish!  I ordered a Sprite!   The restaurant was neat. Others knew this was a real place and were surprised by my surprise of it being a real place. I said "I just assume that everything in a Hollywood movie is pretty much done on set at the movie lot".  Apparently they filmed another scene nearby, and someone from the film went into this place for a beer, loved the ambiance, and it was written into the movie!  

I'm only going to post the one photo of the place, because it's really something a person should see in real life.  I was surprised at the size of the place though.

The next day started our conference. Breakfast buffet on balcony/deck. Beautiful view and great food. Before I actually looked at the buffet, I asked the head catering person about food allergies. He said there were signs posted on what was what. [Ham (gf/df/sf) type of signs.] He said the potatoes were done in oil, and he did double check what type of oil when I asked.  olive!  Yeah!   All this, plus there was Chobani yogurt, milk, and assorted juices.  

I forgot to take a lunch food photo of the first day. There was the mismarked item on the buffet of CousCous being labeled gluten free. Now, I know of NO couscous grain/pasta/whatever it is that is gluten free. At home, if I make it, I make it with quinoa.  I mentioned it to a regular catering person (not the head guy) and was told that 'maybe it was a different type that was gf'. Uh, no. no way.  I stuck to the meat in a light red sauce, and some lettuce with kalamata olives.  I had something else too, but not an awful lot. Thankful for that big breakfast!  

The evening was a cowboy theme.  I had to take a pic of the tables to show how city folks do country ;-)  Kept it simple and quaint.   

Food for the evening had a good assortment and went with the theme.  There was brisket with bbq sauce, corn on the cob, salad, and some corn bread. I was thankful they had salmon as well.  I love brisket. I dislike bbq sauce. (I know, I'm PICKY on top of having food intolerances!).   Tasty tasty!  The cute gluten thing they had for dessert was premade smores!   They also had three containers on a table of a cobbler. The gluten free, dairy free, soy free sign was in front of the large chafing dish and they said the small one was the vegetarian one.  Okay. I started to scoop out of the large one with the oatmeal and said something about how great it was that this was gluten free. The person manning the station then said, 'Oh, the little one is the gluten free one'.  I told them that's not what the sign was.  Again, it pays to be on the toes and ask questions/make comments to get people to talk about the food.  They served the cobbler with ice cream. YUM!   I ended up just picking the fruit out of the cobbler: peaches and blackberries. It looked like there was chex cereal in it for crunch.  

The next morning I was hungry.  I headed to breakfast and prepared my plate. I put the bacon on the plate and was so glad to see the gluten free/soyfree/dairy free label.  THEN I saw the oat topped rye? wheat? bread underneath the bacon to absorb the fat/grease.  Uh What the heck!?!?   I went directly to the green shirt guy and I said, "how is this gluten free if it's on top of bread. I get that the bread is there to absorb the oil, but it isn't gluten free bread, is it?'  He acknowledged that no, it wouldn't be, and that yes, they would empty a pan of bacon by putting the rest of a pan on top of the incoming pan.  He went in back and got new bacon for me from a fresh pan that didn't have gluten in it at all. I felt bad, but had to toss out my first plate of food. I pushed it to the center of the table and got some weird looks. When I said what had happened with the bacon, several of the people said they understood because of a sibling or friend with gluten issues as well. 

My 'second' plate of breakfast.

The venue had some great snacks for midmorning and midafternoon as well. Two of the snacks I thought were great were the cheese/fruit/date kabobs, which I paired with my round pretzels, and the paper cone with jicama  and carrot slices.  

Lunch on the second day was fish in a red sauce, but I grabbed a piece on top without the sauce, and chicken in a light white tarragon sauce, with a zucchini dish where the zucchini seemed more on the raw side, which probably helped it from being overdone by the time we got the food.  

 Dinner that evening was a served meal in the banquet room.  One of the changes this year was that those of us with gluten/dairy/soy issues would have fruit instead of nothing for dessert (while watching everyone else enjoy their delicious looking chocolate items).  When I first sat down, one of the wait staff came over for wine or coffee, and I informed him that I was gluten and soy free. He quickly removed the dessert and returned with the fruit. This immediate change served a notice to him later during the meal serving to remind him that I got a meal without the extra sauce!

An au gratin potato dish cut into triangles, veggies, a small piece of fish and a small piece of fabulous steak.  It was a great way to end a conference.  Good food, safe food, gluten free, soy free, and friendly company.

One of the things a friend at the conference did was head to the nearby grocery store for some things for themselves, and they brought me back a package of these cookies. FABULOUS!  Soft, chewy, tasty. I have not seen them in a store in the midwest. I shared them with my roommate who also enjoyed them.  Cybeles Free To Eat chocolate chip cookies

Before our flight departed on Sunday, we had some time to walk over to the Gaslamp district of San Diego to visit the Cat Cafe. The walk didn't take long, and we arrived early, walking around the place and enjoying the Chinese sculptures and historical window displays. The Horton Hotel is in this area.  A sign outside intrigued me that said "rebuilt in 1986" (I think it was 86).  We went inside this long building and asked the man behind the counter about the story of the place, and the interesting sign. Turns out, the place was rebuilt because it was torn apart, brick by brick, in the 1970s and placed in a warehouse. The current site is not the original location. It is a fabulous mix of architecture/period styles, all original.  It is definitely worth another view next year, and perhaps a night's stay.

This guy at the Cat Cafe is up for adoption. He never moved off his palm tree perch. In my mind, he reminded me of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland: sitting all regal and mysteriously atop the tree. 

The trip home was long.  I had my granola and muffin snack on the plane to Ohare. At Ohare I stretched in the yoga room some, and did some walking, then decided to head to my gate and have my Chobani dinner. I got to that gate only to find out the gate was changed. It changed five more times in the next hour before it departed. AA said "gates may change at any time".  Uh, any time, once or twice is reasonable. The group of us moving from one gate to another to another had to have looked like some comedic movie.