And how do I prep for my jaunt across the sea?

To lands of rolling hills, lochs, trains, tours, classes, cuisine, dancing, friends, and who knows what else...?

I cook a dinner of which is indigenous to Florence, of course! Gnocchi. Yes, ladies and gents, I had gluten free gnocchi, and shoot-dang it was good.

Did you really expect me to do a blog without writing about my culinary adventures as well as all the other stuff? Would this be possible for me? Ha! Not at all! I will taste every thing that my diet allows me to taste. Every sweet treat, savory gravy, crisp cider, every ripe vegetable. Italy is apparently on the front line of celiac's disease awareness because they test every child for it. Rumor has it, the little wheat symbol with an X over it is common place there to annotate the presence of gluten. The cheese/dairy thing might be my biggest problem while there. 

Speaking of dairy. There is a little cupcake place here in Fort Collins, called the ButterCream CupCakery, which has a gluten free cupcake option every week. Sometimes its vegan too! (Aka no dairy!) Alas, I was no so lucky as to arrive on that day but I did come on the Red Velvet day, and I decided to go for it- cream cheese frosting and all. I have to admit it was good, but honestly I don't know what the hype about A- Red Velvet Cake and B- Cupcakes are. I mean,  its cake, and  its frosting... Of course its gonna be good, but is it really worth the hype? This flavor, not so much.
BUT in reaction to the milk, I'm not seeing too much of an issue. It's now been 2 days and my energy and coordination have been good and as far as I can tell my brain function is good too, no more problems with my memory than are normal. So this could be really, really, really good news for France. If I can tolerate a small amount of dairy products everyday it would be so much easier for me to travel without worrying so much.

Okay, so back to the gnocchi. I bought it frozen but made my own sauce. This sauce is SO good. I'm going to have to try it with some other pastas. It's super simple and low cost (especially now when tomatoes and basil are in season!) Its based off a recipe I found at BigOven.com.

Ingredients

• 2 cans diced tomatoes (the original recipe called for 10 fresh roma tomatoes, diced and let stand so the juices are released)
• Splash of Olive oil
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped
• 1 spring fresh rosemary
• 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 2 TBSP  Good quality Balsamic Vinegar
• 3/4 of a Red Onion, chopped
• handful fresh spinach
• Salt, pepper

Saute the garlic in the olive oil over med heat until golden brown, about 5 mins. Add the Balsamic vinegar and 

cook another 2 mins or so (until it begins to reduce). Add in the tomatoes, stir. Add basil, onion, rosemary, dried tomatoes and salt and pepper to taste. Let cook and reduce for about 10 mins to let the flavors blend.
Right before serving add the spinach and let wilt.

This was a little runny for my taste so I'm wishing I had drained one of the cans. Also- the sauce was even better the day after.



Okay so enough about food!
Today was a day of planning for my travels- I worked out my money situation and booked my hostel for the night I arrive in London. I'm starting to pack and yesterday I got my new pump in the mail! (And an extra traveler's pump. Just in cases. ;) I HAVE to do some reading for my Tropical Ecology Tutorial so that I can write my essay for the first time I meet Clive Hambler, my Don. I'm going to go do that now...