SO I was thinking, I have been checking out a lot of other blogs the last few days, and I decided something. I like my anonymity. But I also think that some of you might want to know where my opinions come from.
SO this is the about me page, so that the little “about me” window can be smaller.
I am not, nor was I ever a foodie
I am not a Gourmet
I am not a goddess
I am not a princess
I am not vegan,
I don't have to have organic.
I just want to eat good food.
I’m in my late 20s. I was raised in the Seattle area. I went away for college, to Washington state university; 6 hour drive from home.
When I was 18, having been sick for a long time, my doctor had given up and we as a last resort had gone to the Bastyer Naturopathic clinic. It took them three months to diagnose me with what they told me was “gluten intolerant celiac disease”. Changed my life.
I had already been diagnosed with a half dozen learning disabilities. “Experts” did not think I could graduate high school. But I got a Bachelors of Science in Psychology, Pre nursing, and a Helping skills certificate. My focus was on the interaction between Health and Psychology. It is fascinating stuff. After graduation I sent out over 60 résumés to hospitals all over the west coast, but the jobs kept going to people with master’s degrees. And I felt that is was not worth it to go back to school for two more years just to get a job that only pays $30,000. So I got a job in the office of a biotechnology company. My science degree and medical terminology was valuable in communication with the scientists and in equipment/supply purchasing. I got married in 2008, And after a while it became obvious that the nine hour days plus commute was not working out for me and my young family. So I spent 8 months being "under-employed" working part time for see’s candy.
Socioeconomically. My mother was raised middle class, white color. My dad was born on a farm and is a first generation high school graduate and college graduate. So I was raised just above the poverty line, but with middle class and old school values. My mother worked part time to help make ends meet, and they always did; Much to her credit. She was able to be that because of serious frugality. And that did sometimes involve the local Co-Op. It also involved local and seasonal fruit and vegetables. I had eaten artichokes, asparagus, eggplant, and rutabagas as a child because they were a good price, not because they were fancy. We almost never ate out, and we never had preprocessed packaged foods. She taught me how to shop carefully, and how to make things from scratch. My first vegetarian chili was when our family could not afford meat. My mother mixed tofu into casseroles because it was cheaper. My mother cooked. And I learned to cook. (I was like 10 when I realized you could get jam or applesauce at the store, I thought everyone made it, like we did) My parents also taught me hard work and good financial planning, including living within our means. That was what allowed me to switch to part time those 8 months for the benefit of my family. I had already paid off my car and all of my student loan, and we know how to live carefully enough to be alright.
However, it is hard to live carefully Gluten free. Everything is so much more expensive.
But there is a fine line when cost comes up against convenience.
I remember about 3 months into being GF I asked my mother what a double boiler was. With a face she pulled two sauce pans from the cupboard. “see how this one is slightly smaller, and it had a little ridge around it’s middle? Well you put water in the other one, and this one on top…” I think we both silently acknowledged that I have never seen her double boiler used as such. So with my mother’s help I attempted a toasted carob bar recipe that night and I don’t think I have double boiler-ed since.
If it takes more than a mixing bowl and a baking pan I probably will not try it.
Every once and a while I will give a complex recipe a shot. But not often. Usually things go horrible wrong somewhere along the way. (I took organic chemistry. I got a B+ in homework and exams, but got a D- in the labs. )
I’m not got a following multiple steps, or precision measuring.
There is a GF Gourmet recipe for a VERY good carrot cake. It has a lot of steps, and multiple appliances. It’s good, but I have to feel up to the endeavor of baking it. SO I try to tell myself that the extra effort burns more calories, so I can have more cake :)
So I’m all about the pre-made. I’m usually willing to pay a little extra for the help.
I would rather pay $10 for a bread mix, that turns out, than pay $5 for the scratch ingredients, then spend hours making it, only to end up with a lump of burnt dough.
My time is valuable too. How do I decide if it’s worth the money?
Minimum wage in the county is about Eight dollars an hour.
I compare the price of GF food to how many hours of minimum wage labor it would take to ern that amount of money.
For example: if a muffin is $8, then as I eat it I ask myself, “Would I wash dishes in a hot kitchen for an hour to earn this muffin?” Or "Would I stock shelves for an hour to get this muffin?"
If then muffin is "worth" that hour of hard work, then I might get that muffin again.
