Sorbitol
I hadn’t even heard of sorbitol until I got some comments about it in this post.
It would appear that it comes from two sources;wheat and corn. I do wonder whether I am affected in the same way as I am by maltodextrin. So I’ll cut out the tooth products with wheat sorbitol. This web site gives some more details and says that Colgate Palmolive don’t use wheat sorbitol in any products. I have changed to one of their mouthwashes.
Feeling Permanently Glutened
I’ve been glutened a few times and now I feel like that most of the time. I’m tired all the time, not very positive at times, my nails are very soft and I’ve had a lot of the runs. In some ways I feel a lot like I used to before I was diagnosed as a coeliac. Especially in hot weather, like we’ve had recently.
Could it be that recovering from a stroke uses up a lot of vitamin B12 and this causes the problems? I don’t know! But there are web sites that hint that B12 can aid stroke recovery. But they are sites that try to sell you all sorts of vitamins and supplements you don’t need or want.
I did find this and you can read it how you like.
In an article published by the Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society, a 2006 study concluded that increasing levels of B12 following a stroke would be appropriate, though there was no conclusive evidence that an increase in the vitamin following a stroke would aid in recovery, specifically in lowering homocysteine levels and decreasing the risk of dementia.
Anyway, I’m having an injection tomorrow and that might make a difference!
Roasted Duck Fillets with Marmalade and Chilli Glaze
This recipe is from Waitrose and it follows a pattern of meat with a sweet sauce, that are gluten-free.
The ingredients I used were :-
- 1 tsp Waitrose Cooks’ Ingredients A Dash of Sherry Vinegar – I used Aspall Cyder Vinegar
Pack of 2 Waitrose Skinless Free Range Duck Breast Fillets
1 orange
4 tbsp Waitrose Organic Seville Orange Marmalade – I used Tiptree
Pinch of dried red chilli flakes
These quantities make enough for two.
The method is as follows :-
- Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. I used the top of the bottom oven on the AGA, Cut the orange in half and squeeze the juice from one half into a small bowl. Cut the remainder into 4 wedges.
- To make the glaze, combine the marmalade, chilli flakes and sherry vinegar with the orange juice and season lightly.
- Place the duck fillets in a porcelain dish and score the flesh in a crisscross pattern, then spread the glaze liberally over the top of each one. Arrange the orange wedges around the duck and place in the oven for 30-35 minutes (or a little less time if you prefer the duck slightly rare). Baste the duck and orange wedges with the glaze a couple of times during the cooking time.
- Transfer the duck and orange wedges onto 2 plates, drizzle with the glaze and serve with lightly steamed kale or green vegetables.
It does suggest that if you have time,that you allow the duck to marinate for 10-15 minutes to help the flavours develop and that this recipe would also work well with chicken fillets.
But I would prefer duck.
Felixstowe Ferry
As a child, I spent a lot of time at Felixstowe Ferry. Yesterday, I was going to the dentist in the town, so before, we went to have lunch and a stroll there. We also had an excellent lunch in the Ferry Boat Inn.
Ferry Boat Inn, Felixstowe Ferry
The pub looks very similar to how I remember it as a child, but then it was a Tolly Cobbold pub, and now it serves mainly Adnams. But the lettering on the wall is still the same.
Inside is rather different, as the barrels of beer are no longer stacked behind the bar and there is a restaurant. But I have a feeling that the clock on the wall is the same, as I can remember sitting there with my father and Pete, who was an usher at my weeding to C in 1968.
Today, we had a glass of Aspalls each, with sea bass for me and proper fish and chips for my companion. Note that the sea bass was wild, not farmed, and apparently landed at Colchester
Lunch at The Ferry Boat Inn, Felixstowe Ferry
They knew their gluten rules too!
It does seem that this part of East Suffolk is doing its best to fight its way out of the recession, by doing things well.
A Coeliac-Friendly Pier
As I walked down Southwold Pier, I saw this notice.
A Coeliac-Friendly Pier
If you can’t read it, it says that on the first Saturday of evry month, gluten-free fish and chips are served in the restaurants. I went to investigate and found that they had Aspalls on draught, coeliac-friendly crisps and that they always have gluten-free cakes available.
If you check the Pier’s web site, they have a Coeliac-UK logo on the front smd here‘s details of their fish and chips.
Perhsps we’re not so silly here in Suffolk.
The Butley Oysterage
In life, evreything chnges, except at the Butley Oysterage in Orford.
The Butley Oysterage at Orford
The decor is still the same, the menu is just a development of what C and I probably had, when we first ate in the restaurant in the early 1970s. Even the staff are related to those who served in those far-off days.
One thing that has changed is that I am now a coeliac, but no problem as they can accomodate that! I had Dover Sole with new potatoes.
It was good to eat my first meal in a restaurant since the stroke and there was no better place.
Mo Farah
Mo Farah is another who delights me and brings a smile to my face.
Over the years, I’ve done business on telephone billing systems with quite a few immigrants of Somali origin. I’ve never had a problem and those that I dealt with were a pleasure with whom to do business. They all seemed to work hard to do the best for themselves and their families. We even put in a joint bid for the billing system for a Somali telephone service, based on redundant analogue mobile phone kit.
Mo was born in Somalia and by hard work, has become our best male middle-distance runner for several decades. Let’s hope he gets a medal in London 2012! I sometimes think, I could have been a good club runner, but I didn’t have the dedication and I was an undiagnosed coeliac.
So why is it, that the Somalis I’ve met and people like Mo are a credit to their homeland, but the country continues to be a total basket-case, with lots of death and piracy?
Lazy Day Foods
Just trying some of Lazy Day‘s ginger biscuits dipped in Belgian chocolate. Gluten-free of course! Obtainable from Waitrose.
Delicious! Extremely so!
It would seem that all their products are gluten-free, wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free and vegan.
Talk about one size to fit all to everybody’s advantage.
The World Cup Goes Cuckoo
Or should it be cuckoo clocks, with the Swiss beating the much-fancied Spain?
And then we have the ambush-marketing row over the Dutch and their orange mini-dresses! I have every sympathy for them, as Budweiser is crap American beer, that has no place in a sport, that is not mainstream in the United States. In truth no-one should be locked up for the way they dress. Budweiser is also not gluten-free. so I can’t drink it. I suppose if I were in South Africa I’d be drinking Diet-Coke or some excellent South African wine. I’d love to know what coeliac friendly alcoholic drinks are available in the stadia for the World Cup.
It will be interesting to see what happens the next time the Dutch play. I wouldn’t bet against enterprising street traders selling everything they can find in orange and we’ll see strapping Dutchmen in orange T-shirts with matching wigs.
Ethnic Cooking
With my problems over the Digestive biscuits and their codex gluten-free wheat starch, it is worth looking at ethnic or traditional cooking around the world.
Indian – Thickened with chick-pea flour.
Chinese – Rice-based and often unthickened. My local and very safe and goodChinese restaurant uses potato flour, but what do they use in China.
Provencal – Everything is thickened by reduction.
Italian – Take out the bread, pasta and pizza and most Italian cooking is about pure and fresh ingredients.
Fish – Traditionally cooked plain or smoked. Look at some Scottish, Greek, Spanish and Italian traditions.
Sausages and cooked meat – Proper ones are usually just meat in Europe.
English – My mother and her generation used corn-flour. Didn’t we always have meat and two veg. It could also be argued that traditional English food is what is in season in the garden or has been trapped or killed, like rabbit or chicken.
So if you take out bread, a lot of traditional food is gluten-free.
We were all and I don’t just mean coeliacs, a lot healthier.
The Anonymous Widower 