New Coordinator

Hello Celiacs!

Sorry for not posting in forever, but I have been way over my head with school work, etc. Fortunately, a great new girl who has more time than me is interested in running the dinner club, so she will be taking over! Please warmly welcome Heidi as the new dinner club coordinator. She will hopefully organize dinners more often than I did!!

Thanks for all of your support!

Carolyn

A Tasty Menu

Hey all! Just wanted to let you know that there is a new gluten free restaurant in Calgary, so if you're ever down south, you should check it out!

It is called "A Tasty Menu: Gluten Free Cuisine", and I hear it has some seriously delicious goodies! The owner, Barb, is a Celiac, and it would be awesome if we could all support her effort! By letting people know that there is a market for gluten free restaurants, we increase our chances of getting even more places willing to cater to us!

The address for a Tasty Menu is:

105-4202 17th Ave SE
Calgary, AB

If you get a chance to check it out, please post your comments here!

BAKE SALE

In support of Celiac Awareness month, the Nutrition & Food Science student association in holding a gluten free bakesale! If you are on or near campus, please stop by and check out all the yummy goodies!

Date: Wednesday October 24
Time: 10:00am-3:00pm
Where: Main Floor AgFor "Cookie Lounge" on U of A Campus
What: Cookies, muffins, cupcakes, etc.!

Hope to see you there!

October is Celiac Awareness Month (repost)

Celiac Awareness Month is the perfect opportunity to 'get the word out' about Celiac disease. By informing the community as a whole about Celiac disease, we make it easier for ourselves as Celiacs (or friends of Celiacs) to purchase products that are ok for us to eat (by convincing companies to have complete ingredient lists including all sources of possible gluten) and to go out to restaurants by making sure that they are aware of what contains gluten and how to avoid cross contamination. It is also important to 'get the word out' to others who may be suffering but are not yet diagnosed.

It is important for all of us to help 'get the word' out about Celiac disease, and here are several ways in which you can help!
Prepare a gluten free meal to share with your friends and family so they can taste how good gluten free can be!
Talk with the manager of your local grocery store, explaining the importance of the availability of gluten-free options.
Talk to the manager at your favourite restaurant about what foods are safe for you to eat and how to avoid cross contamination in the kitchen. Find out what menu items are safe for Celiacs and which ones can be modified for you (then share them with all your friends at the Gluten Free Dinner Club).
Contact a food manufacturer. Write, e-mail or phone food manufacturers thanking them for voluntarily providing consumers with adequate ingredient and processing information on labels or providing them with a "celiac friendly" label idea, or reminding them of the benefits to you and your family of full disclosure of ingredient sources on food labels.
Join the Canadian Celiac Association to help fund the national office and your local chapter. Membership fees go to research, chapter newsletters, national newsletters, and new member packages. The benefits are enormous! The association is your best source for any questions you may have about Celiac Disease.

The Creperie

The dinner club finally made it to the Creperie for a totally fantabulistic 3 course meal! The Creperie is absolutely wonderful for Celiacs, and they are very aware about gluten, cross contamination and the whole shabang. They also do 95% of their menu gluten free (Jenny was very impressed that the gluten free menu actually said 'in a gluten free crepe'). I had the opportunity to speak with the head chef, Knut, personally, and I was very impressed.

A total of 7 of us went for dinner on September 14. We started the evening out with homemade gluten free bread, made fresh everyday by the creperie chefs! They even shared the recipe with us! We then all enjoyed an appetizer of either soup or salad. I personally upgraded to the baked french onion soup...yum! We then endulged in a main course crepe. The most popular at the table seemed to be the corden bleu, but I really enjoyed my Crepes pacifico (filled with salmon, baby shrimp, asparagus, & dill). These crepes were seriously to-die-for delicious, and there was a lot of sharing going on around the table. For dessert, we had crepes filled with icecream and topped with whipped cream, almonds, and raspberry or chocolate sauce. I don't think that the dessert sat on the table for more than 5 minutes. We couldn't stop eating!

The food at the creperie is definitely a 10/10! The service was lacking, and I would probably give it only 3/10. I suppose that part of the reason it was so slow was due to the fact that gluten-free is a custom order, but we were there for nearly 4 hours, which had a few heads nodding by the time dessert rolled around.

Check out the awesome time we had, and some photos of our delish food!

Why 18-35?

I've been getting a lot of flak from people due to the fact that I have limited the Dinner Club for people age 18-35. I do realize that people of all ages have Celiac disease, but it's my club, so I can do what I want to. If you would like a dinner club for someone your age, please feel free to start one up. I would be glad to help.
I have made my dinner club age restricted for several reasons, and will explain them here:
1) The first time I went to a Celiac event I was 18. There was no one else over the age of 12 or under the age of 60 that was present that had celiac disease (some mom's of the little kids were there, but none diagnosed). This made me feel very alone. It is hardly peer support when everyone is 1/2 your age, or old enough to be your grandma. This club is peer support for younger adults.
2) Most of the people in the club are still young enough that we go out to bars, are not married, and do not have kids (although there are a couple of exceptions). We might talk about things like dating, sex, drinking, etc. that are not necessarily appropriate for 'adults', and we do not want to feel uncomfortable at our social events.
3) You may notice that there are not many people in this age range that go to other Celiac events. That is because we can not always afford $40 a ticket and we are not usually that interested in going to meetings. It is also almost always people over 40 at these events, and it makes us feel isolated again.
4) It is important to get young Celiacs involved in Celiac awareness & support.

I'm really sorry if you wanted to join, but do not fit the age limit. This is, however, a support group for people age 18-35 more than it is a dinner club. Dinner is just a great way for us to remember that gluten free is not always bad, and a terrific atmosphere for socializing.

Cycling for Celiacs BBQ

The cyclists did a great job again this year! The weather kept a lot of people away from the BBQ (catered by Outback Steakhouse), but that just meant more for those of us who showed up! I'm proud to announce that 6 dinner club members actually made it this year, and I think everyone had a good time. Natalie even won a prize (again...how does she do it). Check out what an awesome time Jenny, Jason, & Chelsea had.

Muffin Police

A little belatedly, I am posting about the success of this years pancake breakfast. Jenny & I acted as the muffin police, but we weren't really that strict. You just had to walk by again, and we'd pretend we didn't recognize you from 2 minutes ago. The food was totally delicious, and there were so many leftovers because not too many people made it. More pancakes & sausage for me & Jenny I guess! Check out the good times that were had, and be sure to come next year!