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Showing posts from August, 2013

Disturbing at Von's Pharmacy

I had a disturbing encounter at my local Von's Pharmacy in San Diego.  I thought it was important that those of us with gluten issues and anyone with allergies be aware of yet another source of contamination. I do not get sick very often and therefore do not take medicine very often.  Our dog needed some medication that needed to be ordered.  The vet said instead of driving back to her office she could call it in to our pharmacy which was closer. I went to pick up the medication.  At the counter I was told it was not ready but would only take a minute. Right behind the glass at the front counter right on top of the pill counter and bottles of medicine the Pharmacist was eating lunch.  An open bottle of soda, bag of chips, bottle of ketchup and a sandwich.  He put the sandwich down and backhanded the food to give him some room.  Picked up a large bottle and dumped it into the pill counter and then started counting pills. No gloves. No hand-washing. I questioned him.  Tol

Gluten Free Poke

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I went fishing off the coast of San Diego this summer.  We caught some nice Dorado and Yellowtail.  Sashimi does not get any fresher than this.  So what do you do with all of this fish - eat it. We had sashimi, we cooked it many ways and I made some Hawaiian style poke.  I had played around with it but this seemed to be a perfect dish. Here is a Dorado, otherwise know as mahi-mahi (yes, caught on a fly for you fisherman). For the Poke Marinade combine in a bowl and place in fridge: 1/4 of thinly sliced yellow onion 2 finely chopped scallions 1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger 1 tsp salt 1/2 Cup GF Tamari 1 tsp toasted sesame oil [optional] 1 tsp chili sauce (I used Linghams) pinch of crushed red pepper flakes Make sure you have fresh fish.  If not freshly caught check with you local fish monger. Rinse and dry your fish.  Cut your fresh fish into cubes and place in fridge.  I used a combo of fresh mahi-mahi and yellowtail. When you are ready to eat combine the fish and

Celiac Awareness with the San Diego Padres Saturday August 24

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Chandie Probst of  Gluten Free Calendar  was nice enough to offer up 24 free tickets to the pre-game party at Petco Park Saturday August 24th. The event will run from 2:00 to 5:00 in the tailgating lot at Petco Park.  For the kids there will be face painting and cookie decorating.  Authors Danna Korn and Nina Cucina will be there.  The first 200 people will receive a gift bag with pasta and a magazine. This really sounds like a great event. The first 24 people that email me at unglutenguy@gmail.com or reply in the comment section below will win.  I will forward your names to Gluten Free Calendar and the tickets will be available at will call.  They need the names by Friday at noon so don't procrastinate. Here is the link to the info page from Gluten Free Calendar -  Padres Celiac Awareness Night . Ready, Set, Go.

Cohn Restaurants and their Gluten Free Menus

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In San Diego the Cohn Family has a ton of restaurants.  They cover a wide area on the map and an even larger diversity of flavors. We made it to Comic-Con.  We had never had the experience of attending and wanted to go.  After a day of visiting booths, seeing panel discussions and playing video games we were all hungry. We stopped at  Island Prime  on Harbor Island on our way home.  We have eaten there before and they have a pretty decent Gluten Free Menu.  As always I questioned some things and the waitress told me some managers were debating that they can just overheat things to kill the gluten.  As far as I know most sources say to clean throughly with soap and water to clean a cooking surface.  Other sites talk about heating things like grills for 30 minutes at 500 - 600 degrees.  I have no scientific evidence to support it but I asked that it be cooked in a clean pan to prevent the risk of cross contamination. I had the ahi stack.  My dish was served with cucumbers instead o

Sea & Smoke

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It finally opened.  I have been looking forward to the opening of Sea & Smoke .  This is yet another restuarant of Chef Matt Gordon.  I have been a fan of Urban Solace in North Park and Solace in Encinitas.  Both have very good food that is fresh, mostly local, freshly made with tons of gluten free options. Sea & Smoke is located in Del Mar at the Flower Hill Mall right off Interstate 5 near the Del Mar Race Track.  It is a bit closer to me than his other restaurants, so I was really looking forward to their newest establishment. We went in the other night for dinner, sans kids.  The makeover from the previous restaurant (Paradise Grill) was a pleasant surprise.  The upstairs is very open, modern and comfortable.  The downstairs bar is clean and refined but cozy.  Outside is awesome, the new deck floor, overhead lighting and simple tables make it a cool place to hang out and eat. They do not have a GF menu yet but are working on it.  Our waitress was very helpful and w