Gluten-free, Dairy-free

My poor little sister.

I've grown up eating rather strange food. I remember being  10 years old and mistaking my dad's home-grown (RAW!) komboucha for apple juice. Just a little terrifying due to the fact that my dad referred to his growing komboucha as an "animal." Now our fridge is packed with GT's bottled komboucha. Still raw, but much easier to take now that it's paired with guava, citrus, and gingerberry. You'll find soy in at least 11 different forms, herbs my dad claims are edible, items literally crawling due to the amount of fiber they contain, bottles upon bottles of Naked juices, and every dairy item you can imagine sitting opposite their soy or rice counterpart. 

My dad has been a vegetarian for the past 11 years, and spent at least 3 of them being completely vegan. My mother and I are the only "dairy-eaters" of the family. Joelle and Laura are lactose intolerant (there's our Jewish/Middle Eastern heritage for you) and my dad eats very limited amounts of dairy due to his allotted daily fat intake (there's his chronic pancreatitis for you). Thus, our fridge carries a multiplicity of items. I did not think our fridge could hold stranger, more variable items. Until now . . . 

My poor little sister. For the past two years, Laura has complained of "not feeling well" at random times. She eliminated dairy from her diet, which alleviated some of the problems. She began eating a dairy-free AND gluten-free diet two and a half weeks ago, and is now symptom free. Poor Laura. She has been living off of bananas, chicken, juice, and craisins. Until now. We are now headed full force into providing little Laura with various gluten-free options. Tapioca loaf, brown rice bread, corn cereals. The list goes on. I made soy and corn nachos for her before she left for work, and from the empty plate left in the kitchen, I think they were a hit. I'm in the process of making chocolate (gluten-free!), peanut butter, oatmeal cookies for her, without milk or butter. They'll be good . . . . I just know it.

Laura is feeling much, much better and now our fridge could be the poster-child for Marlene's, Whole Foods, MacGregor's, Tacoma Boys, and the Tacoma Farmer's Market. The only downside: I now finally have another competitive fruit eater in the house. I'm going to have to start hiding my nectarines.

Note of the Day: Walking to the 72nd street Starbucks is not the same as walking to Cafe Fiore by Kerry Park on QA.