paranoidangel
23-04-2006, 08:59 PM
I was going to just add this to the what are you doing thread but as it's 220 pages long I thought why not start a new thread?
I'm back from my week (and a bit) in the Lake District. I enjoyed it - there were lots of historical things to do and pretty scenery to view. It all looks a bit flat at home in comparison. I'm definitely not with it yet though because on the way home I got entirely confused about where home was when I was leaving Leamington on the replacement bus, wasn't sure where I was trying to get to from Oxford, then had to think where to tell the taxi driver to go to. It was nice not to do any walking though - I couldn't have lasted another day, I think my feet would have dropped off.
Anyway, the food. When I was in a branch of Ottakars I found a wheat, gluten, dairy and egg free cookbook, written by someone who was all of the above. I only read the introduction, but she talked about going on holiday and said how the only things you can eat are jacket potatoes with beans, and steak. Given that my breakfasts mostly consisted of beans, mushroom and tomatoes I am sick of beans. I found Italian restaurants to be good though, because you can at least get meat with sauce. It was nice to be home and eat some (Tescos free from) pasta.
The Rotaract Conference was another thing entirely. For it you paid in advance which included all your meals. I told them what I couldn't eat when I booked and when I checked in they recited it all to me, so they definitely knew.
Came to lunch and the girl serving told me the soup was 'Cream of Carrot and Coriander' but didn't have any milk in it. I pointed out that even if that was true, the only other things they had to eat were sandwiches. They told me I could eat the soup. I told them soup is not a meal. I'd paid to eat lunch, the same as everyone else, so I was determined to get a meal.
She went off, came back and said the soup was definitely milk free, but was cream of. And said the alternative to sandwiches was cheese salad. :headbang:
When I pointed out I couldn't eat that the chef came out to speak to me. He said the soup wasn't cream of and recited all the ingredients (not that there were many) and asked me what I wanted, although he wasn't happy about it.
As I was finishing my lunch he came out with the menu for every other meal, went through it and worked out how he could modify it so I could eat it. I even had sorbet for pudding! So the chef was really helpful, he told me he hadn't been told, which doesn't really surprise me.
I met someone else there who is gluten & wheat intolerant and has been for a couple of years. We managed to have a mix-up over whose ice cream was whose on the Sunday night. But she's one of the people organising next years Conference, so I shouldn't have any of these problems next year!
I'm back from my week (and a bit) in the Lake District. I enjoyed it - there were lots of historical things to do and pretty scenery to view. It all looks a bit flat at home in comparison. I'm definitely not with it yet though because on the way home I got entirely confused about where home was when I was leaving Leamington on the replacement bus, wasn't sure where I was trying to get to from Oxford, then had to think where to tell the taxi driver to go to. It was nice not to do any walking though - I couldn't have lasted another day, I think my feet would have dropped off.
Anyway, the food. When I was in a branch of Ottakars I found a wheat, gluten, dairy and egg free cookbook, written by someone who was all of the above. I only read the introduction, but she talked about going on holiday and said how the only things you can eat are jacket potatoes with beans, and steak. Given that my breakfasts mostly consisted of beans, mushroom and tomatoes I am sick of beans. I found Italian restaurants to be good though, because you can at least get meat with sauce. It was nice to be home and eat some (Tescos free from) pasta.
The Rotaract Conference was another thing entirely. For it you paid in advance which included all your meals. I told them what I couldn't eat when I booked and when I checked in they recited it all to me, so they definitely knew.
Came to lunch and the girl serving told me the soup was 'Cream of Carrot and Coriander' but didn't have any milk in it. I pointed out that even if that was true, the only other things they had to eat were sandwiches. They told me I could eat the soup. I told them soup is not a meal. I'd paid to eat lunch, the same as everyone else, so I was determined to get a meal.
She went off, came back and said the soup was definitely milk free, but was cream of. And said the alternative to sandwiches was cheese salad. :headbang:
When I pointed out I couldn't eat that the chef came out to speak to me. He said the soup wasn't cream of and recited all the ingredients (not that there were many) and asked me what I wanted, although he wasn't happy about it.
As I was finishing my lunch he came out with the menu for every other meal, went through it and worked out how he could modify it so I could eat it. I even had sorbet for pudding! So the chef was really helpful, he told me he hadn't been told, which doesn't really surprise me.
I met someone else there who is gluten & wheat intolerant and has been for a couple of years. We managed to have a mix-up over whose ice cream was whose on the Sunday night. But she's one of the people organising next years Conference, so I shouldn't have any of these problems next year!