Ahhh, there I am!

Sorry I've been gone, I've been very busy reading for my classes, writing essays and trying to find an internet connection strong enough to support updating my blog requires a fairly good hike to the nearest wifi point. I'm going to take advantage of the fact that I have the sturdy connection of the library right now and post some pictures.

My control (bloodsugar) has been a bit wobbly in the past few days because I've been sick. I have a terrible chesty cough which has persisted since the first day I've arrived and I have already gone through a bottle of cough syrup. I might try for something a bit stronger as it's developed into a sore throat. If it gets much worse I might just go to a dr. although I don't know how much that will actually do for me as I feel like this is just a virus and there isn't really anything more a dr could do for me other than give me a stronger cough medicine. Oh well, it actually seems to get better the days after I run.
I've been diligently wearing my CGM and believe that its been helping me a lot with leveling out my sugars in regards to my being sick. I'm using the bolus wizard (which calculates how much insulin to take when I put in my BG and carb counts) and that seems to be very helpful. I'm actually enjoying its help (okay Dr. Chase, you can say "I told you so now." ) I also think that I'm getting the hang of inserting the CGM device at the right angle because it doesn't bleed like a river anymore when I put it in. I have noticed that the first day or 2 of the sensor's life is sort of an approximation of my blood sugar and it takes it a while before it will sync up quite nicely with my actual numbers. But, overall, I'm happy that I rushed getting the new pump and sensor. I'm enjoying it.

As for the food, I've been plesantly surprised by the amount of gluten free food here and dinners have been lovely, I'm going to post some pictures of stuff I've found. My next post I'll put some general oxfordian pictures up too but if you would like, here is the link to my Facebook album.

The dining hall in Balliol College where we eat breakfast and dinner. The Harry Potter hall was based off this room!

This is one of my dinners- they consist of an appetizer type dish (usually a salad of some kind for me), a variety of main dishes and then dessert (generally fruit for me).

This was a gluten free pasta, with roasted tomatoes on top of a bed of arugula (called Rocket, here) with a basil and coriander oil over top. It was delicious!

That day everyone else had this tomato torte.

Dinner was sauted spinach and bok choy (top) with Curried prawns (had green peppers and beans too), steamed veggie medley and pork chops. I was a very happy camper that night.

My dessert was a nectarine cooked in a sugar, cinnamon sauce. It was sweet and spicy from the cinnamon and very good, but very sweet. Everyone else got a chocolate mousse pie, I believe.

As for grocery shopping, most stores have a "FreeFrom" section with plenty of options for gluten/dairy free choices. The bread was good, but kind of crumbley. It molded after about a week and a half, but I guess you could argue that's good cause its made from fresh ingredients. There is also a local company which supplies baked goods to various sandwich shops around town. I got a gluten free sandwich as a place called Heroes (picture) and they had this sign on the door.