Gluten-Free Without Rice: Easy Cooking for Variety on a Gluten-Free Diet author: Nicolette, M Dumke asin: 1887624155 binding: Paperback list price: $9.95 USD amazon price: $9.95 USD

I'm learning how to cook gluten-free. It's rather annoying, since beer is ... wheat ... and the gluten-free beer tastes, for the most part like ... not-beer ... but since giving up wheat and dairy and ... *sigh* ... beer I haven't had my gut-wrenching stomachaches and indigestion and all other types of ailments that used to leave me crying in the corner from the pain. But I still refuse to be tested. I like beer too much. And I don't want to be one of those annoying people who believe in following trendy diseases. I just happen to hurt and get phlemmy after eating certain foods. That's all.

We used to get fresh organic vegetables delivered to our door. Then one day, it stopped. Not sure why. But Greenleaf Organics went the way of the dodo. I tried to get our lazy selves down to the Sunset Valley farmers market, or even Boggy Creek, once a week, but it's so much harder having to pick out the random vegetables for the week when there's a dog, and a sleepy boy who'd rather be spending his weekend morning drinking coffee and watching DVR'd episodes of CSI and Veronica Mars (and Ugly Betty -- let's see how long that stays in). I'd been thinking about trying Greenling, but wasn't sure if they were worth it (I'd seen their delivery trucks in Hyde Park when I was getting Greenleaf delivered via the family car).

I used to give AC cheese for valentine's day, along with a piece of pottery. Not flowers, not chocolate, not anything considered "normal" by romantic standards as declared by the valentines day beneficiary industries, but he liked it. He's a cheese boy. He'll even eat Wensleydale.

It can't be just any cheese, though. It has to be the Waterwheel Village bear cheese that, when he first gave me a bite during the "wooing" cycle (he made Lobster Thermador. Yum!), I wondered what horrid white evil thing made it into the salad. Despite this heresy, he still wanted to hook up, and I changed my view about "sharp" cheddar.

I always have a sense of weird nostalgia when we eat at Go Go Gourmet. It reminds me of a french bistro about to close for the day (usually because we're there for dinner, and not lunch), and the friendliness of the owners borders on overwhelming, but is so firmly entrenched in endearing to make me think that Austin is a much larger city than it really is, despite Go Go being a deli that we can (and do) visit by walking. The food is rich in flavor and delicious (truly gourmet food), and the cookies are sooooo much better than the ones we had at El Gringo.

We went to Fino last night and although I've been happy with their food before, last night was disappointing. I got bored eating the fish. There was only three ounces. How can you get bored eating only three ounces of fish? A's duck was good, but the salads were uninspired mounds of romaine topped with slabs (not slivers) of manchego and large anchovies. I like anchovies, but in one forkful (I wasn't paying attention) I got four slabs of cheese and an anchovy. Ick. (hehehe. Ick. That was a joke). So in a fit of weird depression about everything I got up at way too early and made sushi petit fours (little cakes covered with marzipan shrimp).