Know anyone with a food allergy? Watcha doing on September 20? How about joining Team Sure Foods Living on the Walk for Food Allergy in San Francisco? September is usually a beautiful time of year in San Francisco, so come on out to Golden Gate Park and show your support for food allergy research. You don’t have to have food allergies to participate and there is no fee to walk (but hopefully you will donate too!). If you can’t walk, please donate on behalf of my team.

Living with food allergies is an every-day challenge. There is currently no cure for food allergies, but The Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network (FAAN) is working to change that. Their national fundraising event, Walk for Food Allergy: Moving Toward A Cure^™ . consists of walks in many different cities from August to December to raise awareness about food allergies and sponsor education and research. I for one do believe that a treatment can be found for people with food allergies, and I have hope that it will be in my daughter’s lifetime.

I hope to walk with you on September 20! To join my team, click here.

Walk details:

When: Saturday, September 20, 2008
Time: Check-in begins at 8:30 a.m.; Walk begins at 10:00 a.m.
Location: Golden Gate Park, 501 Stanyan Street, San Francisco, CA 94117
Distance: 3 miles

Thank you!
Alison

Filed under: Events, Food Allergies | 2 Comments »

This is so cool…

The chef at a Chicago restaurant, himself a father of children with food allergies, has created four special nights in 2008 for diners with food allergies.

Restaurant information:

• Restaurant: Bistro 110
• Chef: Dominique Tougne
• Cuisine: French American oven cuisine
• Address: 110 East Pearson St., Chicago, Illinois
• Phone: 312-266-3110

Allergy-Free Dinner Schedule:

• March 24 — nut-free menu (featuring nut-free sole fillet “almandine” and faux peanut butter and mousse parfait)
• May 12 — gluten-free menu (featuring dough-less “quiche lorraine” and gluten-free tagliatelle with ragout of mussel, clam, shrimp and tarragon)
• September 29 — dairy-free menu (featuring cream-free “cream of lentil” soup and roasted chicken breast with corn flan)
• November 17 — shellfish-free menu (featuring shellfish-free seafood soup and an uncannily lobster-esque monkfish ragout)

If you live in Chicago - enjoy! If not, this is a start — suggest the idea to a restaurant near you!

Filed under: Events, Restaurants/Bakeries/Stores | 1 Comment »

I have put recipes and cooking tips on this website, but I know that people want more! So I am asking you, beginning and advanced cooks alike, do you have an original allergen-free recipe (free of gluten and/or other top allergens) that you would like to share on this website? Whether simple or complex, do you whip up something that others with celiac disease, food allergies or intolerance could enjoy?

If so, please participate in this little thing I am calling the “Who needs Martha allergen-free recipe exchange“!

Email the recipe to me by midnight March 2 and I will post it along with your name and (if you wish to send) a picture of either the food you created or you or your family.

If you write your own blog, this a blog event! Post your recipe on your blog by midnight on March 2nd. Please mention this event and also include a link back to this post. Then, email me at alison@surefoodsliving.com and include your name, blog name and permanent link to your post. I will do a roundup of all the recipes posted.

If you share my disappointment with Martha, let’s make something good out of this and help each other out in the kitchen!

Filed under: Food Ideas, Events, Recipes and Cooking Tips | No Comments »

Last night I attended a great fund-raising event called the Gluten Free Cooking Spree in San Francisco. 5 teams, each made up of a chef, a doctor, and dietitians, competed to see who could make the tastiest gluten-free meal using pasta as a main ingredient (or polenta or risotto). Appetizers, the main courses, desserts and drinks were all gluten-free and delicious.

I was most impressed by the homemade spaetzle (a German pasta) made by chef Paul Ruegner of Charlotte’s Bakery — this was the first time I had eaten fresh, handmade gluten-free pasta, not a packaged version. It was really fun to eat and drink at an event without worrying about the ingredients — it is a freedom that only people with celiac disease or other food allergies can understand!

If you can’t eat gluten, look out for more Gluten Free Cooking Sprees around the nation to raise money for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for celiac disease.

Think you or someone you know might have celiac disease? Take a look at the NFCA’s Symptoms Checklist, or read my Symptoms page.

Filed under: Events, Celiac Disease, Gluten Intolerance | 3 Comments »

If you are not familiar with Shauna James Ahern, aka “gluten-free girl”, then you haven’t been gluten-free for long… or maybe you’ve been gluten-free for too long! Either way, it’s time you checked her out.

In her gluten-free food blog, Shauna not only shares her love of food, but also her passion for life. Devoted fans got to ride (or read) along as Shauna found and married the man of her dreams — a chef! The blog has become so popular that she published a book called Gluten-Free Girl: How I Found the Food That Loves Me Back…And How You Can Too.

If you are a devoted fan, and would like to meet Shauna (and the Chef!), have her sign your book, or just mingle with gluten-free groupies, she will be making a stop in the Bay Area as part of the book tour.

Here is the Bay Area book tour schedule according to her website:

Thursday, Nov 8, 7:30pm - 9:30pm
Crave Bakery Party — Wine, Dessert and Book Reading - RSVP only (call or email Crave Bakery)
417 Central Street #2
“Crave makes amazing desserts! Cameo and her team will be making treats for everyone. Have a glass of wine. It’s a party!”

Friday, Nov 9, 2:00pm - 3:30pm
Book Passage in the Ferry Terminal — book signing
San Francisco
“The Chef and I will be hanging out in the cafe, ready to talk and laugh, and sign some books. (Formal signings/readings were booked months before Book Passage started this process, but they have been gracious enough to let us use the space.) Come on by for a meet and greet. Or a cup of coffee!”

Saturday, Nov 10, 1pm - 4pm
Mariposa Bakery — reading and signing
5427 Telegraph Ave, Unit D3 Oakland, Ca 94609
“Have you had a Mariposa biscotti? If not? Oh my goodness, you are in for a treat. We’ll be there, dipping biscotti in coffee and signing books. Come on by.”

Sunday, Nov 11
a cooking class - to be announced (I will update this post when I have the information)

Monday, Nov 12, 7pm - 9pm
CAV Wine Bar – book launch party
1666 Market Street (between Franklin and Gough)
“When I told our friend Tea that we were having a party at Cav, she was impressed. “That place is swanky!” she said. We can’t wait to have a fabulous, sophisticated cocktail party. Did you ever imagine a gluten-free life like this? Come on out and party. It will be our last night in San Francisco. We’d love to see you!”

I haven’t decided which event to attend, but I plan to go to at least one of them. So, if any of you are going, look for me!

Filed under: Events | 2 Comments »