This divine creation was made by Stephanie Avitable of Avitably Delicious in Hoboken, NJ.  She’s a trained pastry chef who offers a variety of conventional and gluten-free cakes with a delightfully tempting list of fillings and an impressive number of gluten-free cake options.   This delicious specimen of cakefulness was particularly notable for its real banana-ey flavor, its light-as-air filling and frosting, and the perfect balance of sweetness.  It was not, as many cakes are, cloyingly sweet, and I really appreciated the thin layer of fluffy frosting which didn’t drown out the cake.  It was every bit as good as my dreamy banana wedding cake, which was NOT gluten-free!

Stephanie delivers in NYC and NJ (see her website for delivery pricing), or you can pick it up in Hoboken as I did.  I found her cakes to be very competitively priced compared to some of the also-terrific NYC options (same price as an 8″ round from Tu-Lu’s, my other favorite GF cake joint–with seemingly comparable delivery fees).

We also went out for a fabulous dinner at Pulqueria– a too-cool-for-school Mexican place on a forlorn street in Chinatown that felt more like a  vintage Hollywood movie set than an actual, functioning alleyway in the year 2011.  The restaurant, down an unmarked stairwell in a now-defunct Vietnamese Restaurant’s space, featured a fantastic and unusual street-food inspired menu that was almost entirely gluten-free–including a real rarity: an empanada-like quesadilla made from corn instead of wheat flour.  And yes, it was deep fried.  Even nutritionists are entitled to let their hair down once a year, no?  The tower of special salsas was a show-stopper, and even though I was most certainly the least hip person in the room (sort of a given, since I had “Wheels on the Bus” stuck in my head all night), the friendly hipster wait staff made me feel quite welcome!

All in all, it was a delicious, albeit fattening, gluten-free, New York birthday!

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Soft tacos with fresh, flavorful and inventive fillings are the name of the game, and there’s no ground beef, refried beans or cheddar in sight.  While my heart belongs to the taco menu at Cascabel Taqueria (and their fabulous Luchador salad on the side), sometimes a girl needs a good, filling vegetarian taco option as well.  And this, as it turns out, is easier said than found.

I stumbled across the perfect vegetarian taco to satisfy my spicy craving in a nauseous haze during my first trimester of pregnancy, when the very thought of meat made my stomach churn: the Aguacate taco at La Esquina.

The taco was a delightfully overstuffed affair starring a gorgeous green hunk of avocado accompanied by a scrambled egg, nestled in a doubled-up soft corn tortilla and accessorized with black beans, citrusy salsa verde, pico de gallo and a crumble of white queso fresco.  (That’s a lot of taco to fit into a 6″ wrap… and a deal for just $3!)  When drizzled with my favorite hot sauce, El Yucateco, I was in taco heaven.

I recently decided it was high time to make my own version of this divine taco creation, staying true to the original concept but swapping out the pico de gallo for some gorgeous pink pickled onions… they’re so easy to make and they have a transformative effect on a workaday taco.  If you happen to have a grill going, I’d suggest grilling the avocado to take this recipe from divine to sublime, though the original version used raw avocado and was still perfectly delicious. Instructions on how to grill an avocado follow below.

This makes an exceptionally tasty breakfast or brunch taco, and you can take advantage of the tomatillos currently in season to make a fresh salsa verde.

Recipe: Avocado tacos

(makes 1 taco; multiply as needed)

2 soft corn tortillas

1/3 fresh, ripe avocado

1 egg, scrambled and fried

1 heaping tablespoon canned black beans

Salt

Garnish:

Pickled onions (see recipe below)

Salsa verde (click here for recipe)

Cotija cheese (aka, aged Mexican white cheese; or use other crumbly white cheese as available)

Fresh lime wedges

Directions:

1. Sprinkle avocado with pinch of salt  (alternate prep: grill avocado halves instead of serving raw.  See note below for directions on how.)
2. Warm corn tortillas one by one in a frying pan over medium (no oil) until soft; stash warmed tortillas stacked on a plate covered by a kitchen towel to keep warm and soft until ready to serve.
3. Double up corn tortillas and fill each duo with beans, egg and avocado (in that order).
4. Drizzle salsa verde to taste.
5. Top with pickled onions to taste.
6. Sprinkle cotija cheese to taste.
7. Squeeze a lime wedge over the fillings.
8. Serve with your favorite hot sauce as desired.

To grill avocados: Slice avocado in half lengthwise and remove pit.  Brush with olive oil and lime juice.  Grill flesh side down on a hot grill until pretty grill marks appear, about 5-7 minutes.

Recipe: Pickled onions

(Recipe from America’s Test Kitchen cookbook)

1 medium red onion, sliced very thin

2 jalapenos, seeded and ribs removed, and sliced into thin rings

1 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Combine jalapenos, vinegar, sugar and salt in a small saucepan and heat until sugar dissolves.
2. Pour mixture over sliced onions in a heat-resistant bowl; stir to ensure onion slices are covered
3. Cover bowl and let steep for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, pour off the liquid and discard.
5. Store extra pickled onions in a sealed container in fridge for up to a week.

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B.Y.O.B: Bring Your Own Bread. Egg salad sandwich with anchovy garlic butter and aged provolone from Il Cane Roso... on a GF baguette I brought from Mariposa.

New York may be the gluten-free pizza capital of the world, but San Francisco wins my vote for the gluten-free sandwich mecca.  I’ve been here for almost a week, and I’m delighted to report that I’ve had more delicious, gluten-free sandwiches than I’ve had in the three years since I went gluten-free.

Great Sandwiches Start with Great Bread

San Fran’s secret weapon in the gluten-free sandwich wars is Oakland-based, gluten-free Mariposa Baking Company, which turns out exceptionally soft, squishy sandwich breads and crusty-outsided-chewy-insided baguettes.  While I didn’t get the chance to visit their

Pre-made GF sandwiches at Mariposa's Ferry Building kiosk

large, Oakland retail bakery, I did stumble upon the company’s kiosk in San Francisco’s famous Ferry Building, where fresh-baked muffins, coffee cakes, cinnamon rolls and cookies were flanked by a display of just-made breads, rolls, bagels and focaccia… all 100% gluten-free.  While they did sell a pre-made GF sandwich to grab-and-go, I opted instead to buy a baguette and bring it to a local lunch spot to see if the friendly Left Coasters would make me one of their signature, environmentally-pedigreed sandwiches on the GF bread I brought myself.  They obliged, and I had the distinct pleasure of being able to order something fancy off the sandwich section of a menu for the first time in years.  The Mariposa baguette did not disappoint… and the sandwich itself was rapturous.

Mission: Great Gluten Free Sandwich

The mesmerizing Pabellon sandwich at Pica Pica

The next great GF sandwich that passed my lips was from the exclusively GF restaurant Pica Pica in the Mission district.  The shtick at Pica Pica, a Venezuelan-inspired place, is that all breads and doughs are exclusively corn-based.  All sandwiches can be made on a choice of 3 corn-based breads: Arepa, Cachapa or “Maize’wich,” a sort-of fusion of the first two.  I opted for the “Pabellon”: an impossibly delicious combination of shredded skirt steak, sweet plantains, black beans and cheese, sandwiched in between 2 pieces of sweet Maize’wich bread in a tight little package of South American bliss.  (This sandwich was the perfect example of why I choose to follow a “flexitarian” diet rather than a strictly vegetarian one: every once in awhile, when shredded skirt steak and black beans show up in a sandwich alongside *plantains* for God’s sake, one needs to rise to the occasion.)  Of course, for stricter vegetarians than myself, Pica Pica also offers two very appealing sandwich options, as well as two GF empanada options, and a handful of salads, soups and sides that are meat-free.

The Future of Gluten-Free Sandwichdom

As I dust the crumbs off of my t-shirt, there’s lots of very cool gluten-free bread research going on–mostly out of Italy– that promises to transform the world of gluten free sandwich-making for the better.  Italian researchers have discovered a clever method of fermenting wheat flour with sourdough bacteria for long periods of time that detoxifies the gluten in the wheat without ruining its desirable texture-enhancing properties during baking.  These researchers have tested such breads with significant wheat flour content on the intestinal cells of people with celiac disease in test tubes and observed no inflammatory response.  Next stop: “in vivo” human subject tests.  If this process can be perfected and shown to be safe in people with celiac disease, the gluten-free bread landscape may explode with palatable new options.  Wheat-bread based sandwiches may once again become part of our collective foodscape, and we won’t need to visit San Francisco every time we have the hankering for a stellar sammy.  For me, however, this past week has been a sneak preview of the gluten-free sandwich future.  And I can tell you one thing, friends: the future is *very* high carb.  Hope you’ve got a gym membership.

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The Gluten-free, brick oven Margherita Pizza at L'asso in Nolita

May is Celiac Disease Awareness Month (and to think I have yet to receive a Hallmark card from any of you!), so I decided to pay homage to the heroes of the hour: the growing number of NYC Italian restaurateurs who have taken it upon themselves to devise exceptional gluten-free pizza for those of us unwilling to suffer a fate of crappy, cardboardy pizza-like foodstuffs while living in the world’s greatest pizza town.

In honor of these pizza heroes, I have devised a virtual Gluten-free pizza crawl for locals and tourists alike, so get out your subway maps, bring a friend, and come see New York through the eyes of a hungry, pizza-loving nutritionist.

Stop #1: Palà Pizza

Our crawl begins downtown on the Lower East Side at Palà, a very celiac-friendly and vegetarian-friendly joint with pizza, pasta and appetizer options (the latter of which are made in a dedicated fryer) for the gluten-free crowd.  GF pizzas are baked in a dedicated oven and are made with a soy-free dough.  All 14 pizza varieties are available gluten-free (here’s to freedom of choice!), and what amazing variety it is!  With cocktails and wine served, dairy-free cheese options and a vegan-friendly menu as well, Pala is a very good choice for groups of fussy people with a host of annoying food allergies, intolerances or pickiness.  (In other words, any group of people that includes me.)

Stop #2: L’asso

We continue our crawl further uptown in Nolita, just around the corner from the crowd of tourists lined up outside one of NYC’s most venerable pizza attractions, Lombardi’s (which claims to be the birthplace of NYC pizza).  Although Lombardi’s has nothing to offer people like us, L’asso certainly does: a dedicated gluten-free prep station and section of their brick oven used to prepare uber-fresh, gorgeous, crispy-bottomed-but-chewy-crusted gluten free pizza (and a few tempting GF pasta options as well.)  On the day I visited, Margherita was the only GF pie option, but a friend who frequents the place reports that sometimes there are other options as well.  No matter, though.  The single 12″ pie I received (pictured above) was elegant in its simplicity and so flavorful; it allegedly feeds one, but I was stuffed after finishing just half of it…along with a side order of broccoli rabe, of course.  The non-GF pizza menu is outrageously tempting, and should help you lure your wheat-eating friends out of the Lombardi’s queue to join you at this decidedly hipper joint.  And if that doesn’t work, tell them that L’asso also serves Stumptown coffee (yum) and gelato from my favorite NYC gelato joint, L’arte de Gelato (double yum).

Stop #3: Kesté Pizza & Vino

GF pies at Keste (photo credit: Hannah Whitaker/New York Magazine)

If it’s a Monday or Tuesday, walk westward and slightly north until you hit the West Village, home to Kesté Pizza & Vino on Bleecker Street.  Kesté is renowned for its incredibly authentic Neapolitan-style pizza–arguably among NYC’s best version of this genre, which has inspired an almost cult-like following.  On Mondays and Tuesdays only, the wood-burning, bell-shaped brick oven turns out three stunning varieties of gluten-free pizza–2 vegetarian (Margherita and Marinara) and one porcine (Mast’ Nicola, with lardo).  Given the Italian owner’s puritanical focus on authenticity, you are most certainly not going to be disappointed.  One caveat: the gluten-free pizza dough contains soy flour, so those of you who are allergic or intolerant may want to skip this stop on the crawl.

Stop #4: Mozzarelli’s

Heading north to Madison Square Park is a quick stop on our crawl: a typical NYC pizzeria where you can pop in for a slice to take out or eat quickly at the counter.  What’s different about this place, though, is its selection of gluten-free pizzas (typically 3-4 choices), sold by the square slice.  There’s always at least one option loaded with veggies, and your slice will be heated on a piece of foil in the pizza oven to prevent cross-contamination with the restaurant’s other non-GF options.  The crust is on the thinner side and respectably crispy, and when you sprinkle on the red pepper flakes and garlic powder, it scratches that basic NYC pizza itch you’ve been contending with for all these years.  The best part?  When you pay for your GF slice at the register, they gift you a little pouch with 2 GF cookies of the Italian-bakery style you remember from childhood.  If you like them, a whole wall display is stocked with boxes of them to take home.  Of course, if you’re continuing onward with me on this crawl, you’d better not fill up on them…

Stop #5: Nizza

As we make our way into midtown and the theater district, cut west to 9th Avenue for Nizza, a gem of a restaurant among some generally mediocre dining options.  The restaurant, whose menu is inspired by the cuisines of the French and Italian rivieras, has a full gluten-free menu in addition to its beautiful regular menu… and even treats its celiac guests to gluten-free breadsticks while they wait.  Last time I was there, I was tempted by the many socca options– a chickpea flour-based pizza-esque delicacy that originated in Nice,

Socca & Eggs from Nizza

France and is cooked in a brick oven.  I wound up ordering the Socca & Eggs (with yet another side of broccoli rabe), which was an incredibly indulgent and rich dish… great for brunch, but probably not the best choice for your 5th stop on our pizza crawl.  Don’t worry, they have plenty of lighter options, too.

Stop #6: Slice

Can you make room for one more slice?  Let’s walk for a bit to the Upper East Side where Slice is serving up allergy-friendly, organic pizza options alongside local, NY State wines to health-conscious locavores like us.  Slice’s very appealing marketing angle is that you can build your own slice, build your own pie (in personal or family-style sizes) or choose from one of their set pie options.  They’ve got gluten-free, dairy-free, soy-free and nut-free options, so you can take even your most food allergic nephew here for a true NYC pizza experience.  If you don’t feel like schlepping all the way uptown, they’ve just opened up a second location in the West Village, so you can visit that location instead of Kesté if you do the pizza crawl on a Wednesday through Sunday.

***

New places are opening right and left, and this virtual tour of NYC’s gluten-free pizzerias is only a small slice (ha!) of the multitude of pizza options we have available across the city.  But the next time you pass by a pizza joint, catch of whiff of that baking pizza dough and garlic, and start to feel sorry for yourself, get thee to the nearest spot on this virtual crawl and remind yourself how lucky you are to be intestinally-challenged in the greatest, gluten-free-friendliest, pizza city in the world!

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This year, Valentine’s Day coincides with the Chinese New Year, providing a welcome distraction to those who would rather avoid a world that seems to have vomited up roses and expensive prix-fixe dinners at every corner.  On February 14, celebrate the beginning of the Chinese Year of the Tiger!

In its favor, Chinese cuisine hosts some of the most nutritious, calcium-rich veggies one can eat: Chinese mustard greens (aka Gai Choy: one cup chopped has the same amount of bioavailable calcium as a cup of milk!), bok choy and Chinese broccoli (aka Gai Lan) are among the highlights.  Alas, Chinese can also be among the trickiest cuisines to navigate for those of us who must avoid wheat and gluten.  Wontons and dumplings are wrapped in lovely little wheat-flour dough pockets… Lo mein noodles are made from wheat… fried dishes are battered in flour-based coatings…and the savory sauces and condiments used to prepare most every dish almost always contain wheat or a derivative thereof.

But do not despair.  As Confucius didn’t say but surely meant to: where there’s a will to partake in Chinese food, there’s a way to partake in Chinese food.  As such, I offer you my personal guide to Chinese food for those with rebellious intestines:

Gluten-Free Chinese Food: Eating in

It won’t come as a surprise to hear that cooking at home is the best chance you have at enjoying Chinese food without worry of wheat.

Build your gluten-free condiment pantry

A large (and growing) number of the staple condiments in Chinese cooking are available in GF versions.  After years of label-reading and searching, I am pleased to offer the following list of gluten-free condiments, many of which I stock in my own pantry for when the Chinese cravings hit.  Many of them are available for purchase online, and all of them are MSG-free.

• Soy sauce: Look for (reduced-sodium) wheat-free Tamari sauce by San-J, Eden Foods or Premier Japan.  La Choy soy sauce is gluten-free, too, but I don’t think it tastes very good.
• Dark soy sauce: There is no commercially-available GF version I’m aware of.  You can jerry-rig a passable version by mixing equal parts GF soy sauce (or wheat free Tamari) with molasses, and simmering over low heat until the molasses is dissolved.
• Oyster sauce: Lee Kum Kee Panda Brand Green Label Oyster-Flavored Sauce  (note: only the “green label” product is wheat-free and MSG-free.  The red label product contains both wheat and MSG); Ka Me Oyster Sauce
• Hot Bean Sauce: Lan Chi Black Bean Sauce with Chili
• Chili Garlic Sauce: Most brands will be gluten-free, but check labels to be sure.  Some sure bets: Lan Chi Chili Paste with Garlic, and Lee Kum Kee Chili Garlic
• Hoisin sauce: Premier Japan’s Wheat-free Hoisin sauce (its also organic, which means no GMO soybeans were used in its production); Y&Y brand Hoisin sauce; Ka Me Hoisin sauce
• Plum Sauce: Lee Kum Kee Gold Label Plum Sauce, Y&Y brand Plum Sauce

All brands of sherry, cooking wine, rice vinegar, chili sauce, sesame oil, chili oil should be naturally gluten-free.

Also, most home-recipes call for naturally-GF cornstarch to thicken soups and sauces, so you should be good to go on that front, too.

Plan a menu

• Our go-to Chinese cookbook is Dorothy Huang’s Chinese Cuisine Made Simple.My husband had the good fortune to take a class with Dorothy at a Whole Foods in NYC last year, and he claims she made the best Chinese Food he’s ever tasted in his life. Her

  

  If you can't find Chinese broccoli (pictured), substitute broccoli raab/rapini or broccolini

  recipes are authentic, simple, incredibly flavorful and way more healthful than anything you’d get at a restaurant.  If you’ve stocked your pantry with the GF staples above, you’ll be able to make a surprising number of her recipes gluten-free.  The cookbook has chapters dedicated to vegetables, tofu dishes and seafood for those of you who aren’t big into meat-eating, but her book, like Chinese cuisine, is chock full of meat dishes as well.
  

• Don’t forget the greens!  In this respect, Martha is a good place to start.  Chinese she is not.  But when it comes to recipes for healthful, Chinese vegetable side dishes, she delivers.  Try her recipes for Broccoli with Oyster Sauce, fiery Stir-Fried Green Beans, or Lily’s Baby Bok Choy with Dipping Sauce. (You’ll need those GF condiments for some of these if you’re making the gluten-free version…).  Beyond Martha, Epicurious offers this simple recipe for sauteed Chinese Broccoli.

• Eat like a local!  Fish dishes are traditional on Chinese New Year, like this recipe for Whole Black Bass with Ginger and Scallions.  (Worry not: wild, U.S. black bass is currently listed as a “good alternative” by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch from a sustainability standpoint.)  The vegetarian dish called Buddha’s Delight is also a common New Year’s offering.  Mandarin oranges are a healthy way to finish off the meal (in season now!).

Make your own Potstickers!

Feeling ambitious?  Glutenfreeda.com offers an online won ton tutorial where you can learn how to make your very own GF Pot Stickers from scratch.  The trick, of course, is that you need a pasta machine to do so (not exactly a staple in GF homes, and even if you do have one, there’s a risk of cross-contamination if it’s been used for wheat-based pasta previously.)  But if you’ve managed to overcome those two obstacles and have an afternoon to spare, I think this would be a worthwhile and terribly fun way to celebrate the Chinese New Year!  If you get really good at it, consider selling them to potsticker-less, lazy folks like me who would pay a pretty penny to partake of an authentic potsticker again someday…

**2011 update: Feel Good Foods markets a frozen Asian Dumpling available in Chicken, Shrimp, Pork and Vegetable varieties.  Click here to find a store near you that sells them.**

Gluten-free Chinese Food: Eating Out

If you’re going to brave the restaurant scene, it’s best to be prepared.  Here are some options:

• In NYC, visit Lilli and Loo or Lili’s 57, two Chinese restaurants with  gluten-free menus.  Nationally, P.F. Chang’s offers a gluten-free menu, as does Pei Wei Asian Diner, though I refuse to vouch for the healthfulness of their offerings or appropriateness of their portion sizes.  P.F. Chang’s also offers gluten-free soy sauce for your table on request.  To find a Chinese restaurant near you that has GF offerings, you can scour one of the various national restaurant registries at this link.

• BYOS.  That’s Bring-Your-Own-Soy sauce.  Mini packets of GF soy sauce are available from a company called Kari Out (you can order them online from glutenfree.com) and from San-J, available at amazon by clicking here.

• Download the free “Gluten Free Restaurant Cards” app onto your iPhone. It explains your dietary restrictions and in both Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese dialects (and close to 40 other languages), which you can show to your server in hopes that they will help you navigate the menu appropriately.  Still, be very skeptical of saucy and savory stir-fried dishes, because it may not be apparent from the menu card’s translation that even soy sauce is going to be off-limits for you.
  

• If you’re willing to spend a few bucks ($19), Triumph Dining cards offers wallet-sized, cuisine-specific lists of off-limit foods that contain hidden gluten so you can more effectively interrogate your server.  The cards are written in Chinese and can be handed to the server and chef to help ensure your needs are clear.

• For a $7 investment, you can arm yourself with the Chinese Gluten-Free Passport to take with you on your next trip to a Chinese restaurant.  According to the marketer, it identifies the safest soup options, entree choices (chicken, vegetable and seafood) and dessert selections, as well as a list of questions to ask your waiter to determine whether a food is safe for you to eat.

• If good communication is not an option, stick to some of these ordering guidelines to help avoid the most common sources of Chinese restaurant gluten:
  • Among soups, there’s a good chance that Egg Drop soup will be safe (but try to double-check that it’s thickened with cornstarch, not flour.  It should be).  Ditto for Chicken and Corn soup.
  • Steamed seafood and vegetable dishes are usually your safest bet.  (Not terribly exciting, but who needs the kind of excitement than an accidental gluten ingestion entails, really?)
  • White sauce is the most likely to be safe, but again, double-check that they use cornstarch to thicken it rather than wheat flour (they probably will).  Other sauces (e.g., brown, black bean) are not going to be gluten-free.
  • Mei Fun and Chow Fun are rice-noodle pastas, which makes them safe if they’re not cooked with any gluten-containing condiments such as soy sauce.  Fried rice dishes can easily be made safe if you ask the kitchen to prepare them without soy sauce or oyster sauce.  (You can season them yourself with the little GF soy sauce packets you brought along…)
  • Avoid imitation (“vegetarian”) meat and seafood ingredients (including imitation crab or surimi).  These are always made with gluten.
  • Avoid anything deep fried (the batter and the cross-contamination in the fryer are a double-whammy).

Happy Year of the Tiger to you!

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I will be taking the next 2 weeks off from blogging to take a long-overdue honeymoon.  Destination: the south of France.

Since France isn’t exactly the most celiac-friendly of destinations, in anticipation of my trip, I’ve done a little bit of research to help me eat my way safely through this bastion of regional culinary delights.  If ever you find yourself planning a similar trip, perhaps it will be of use to you, too:

• I downloaded the Gluten Free Passport: a nifty list of French phrases to help me communicate my “blé-free” dietary needs at a restaurant
• I discovered that local health food stores (“magasin bio”) are my best bet to find gluten-free baguettes (!) and crackers to serve as delivery vehicles for the region’s famous cheeses, honeys and confitures.  In fact, a google search for “magasin bio aix en provence”  turned up the names and addresses of multiple health food stores near the place we’ll be staying.
• Rather than dwell on all of the delicacies I’ll be missing out on, I compiled a list of gluten-free regional specialties that I plan to seek out.  These include:
  • Socca, a chickpea flatbread traditionally topped with savory deliciousness like anchovies and onions.  (Eat it along with me by trying out Mark Bittman’s recipe for it here)
  • Summer soups, like Soupe au pistou (vegetable soup with garlic/basil/olive oil) or bouillabaisse (seafood soup in a saffron broth that features locally-caught fish like red mullet (rouget), sea bass (loup), eels and all manner of shellfish … but I’ll have to pass on the toast that it’s traditionally served with)
  • Salads!  The Salade Niçoise originated in Nice, which was in the south of France last time I checked.  (But you certainly don’t need to visit France to enjoy one; here’s a classic recipe for the dish popularized by Julia Child herself.)
  • Calissons, a glazed, flourless-cake-like almond confection flavored with melon or orange that originated in Aix-en-Provence
  • And of course, the fish are locally caught, the lamb is locally-raised and grass-fed, the fruits and vegetables are all locally-grown and the herbs that flavor everything are literally grown in each restaurant’s backyard.  It’s long trip to make in order to be able to truly experience local cuisine, but I can’t wait…

I promise to take lots of food pictures and share some recipes upon my return.  But meanwhile, feel free to peruse the archives to visit some of my favorite posts until I’m back on the blogging circuit the week of 7/20:

• On a summer smoothie kick?  Learn about why adding some ground flaxseed into the mix is so beneficial.
• Check out this tasty recipe for Shakshouka, a light, healthy and vegetably Moroccan brunch dish
• If you’re eating more salads now that it’s summer, try topping yours with my grandma’s Salmon Croquette recipe for some extra protein and omega-3′s
• Have you moved your gym workout outdoors?  If so, try replacing the electrolytes you’re sweating away with Coconut Water, nature’s so-called sports drink

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