Pamela Sinclair: travel

Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts

Surprise Date Night!

Mike and I went on a surprise date night last night to the Natural History Museum of Utah. It was a hopping place! Mike was more interested in dinosaur bones (they do have some cool new discoveries), but I was fascinated by textiles and fossilized plants. Of course. They even had displays on how yarn is spun, baskets are woven, shoes are made, and how blankets are woven.

It was a beautifully laid out museum with tons of interactive exhibits for kids (and kids at heart), and we'll definitely be headed back there soon.

After dinner, we went to Vinto for our "usual" dinner of the V Salad and the Tuttabella pizza. Delicious (and gluten-free) as ever!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Venice, Part Three

Let's be real. The best part about Italy was the food. It seemed like we started the day with a big spread at our hotel (where there was always hot cappuccino, and gluten-free options for me), and then we spent the rest of the day figuring out what our next culinary indulgence would be. In between, we checked out some famous - and amazing - historical sites, museums, and churches, but it was really all about the food. In this series, I'll share the amazing meals we had, just in case you're planning a trip to Italy anytime soon ;)

Our last day in Venice was spectacular. We finally found the gluten-free grocery store, called Mea Tutti Libre. We stocked up on gluten-free bread, pasta, and cookies to take home with us, and the guy made some restaurant recommendations - complete with good directions for finding them in the crazy streets and alleys that is Venice!

At lunchtime, we finally found Risto Bar - which is actually a generic name for a type of Italian restuarant. Here's how unassuming it is - not even a sign on the awning:

Our dishes were probably reheated frozen meals, but they were delicious. I had cannelloni beita e ricotta (cannelloni with chard and cheese), and it was delicious. I don't know about you, but it's been ages since I've had cannelloni since it's so hard to find large gluten-free pasta. The dish even made me re-think my stance on chard. The chard was chopped so fine, the texture was manageable for me - usually I think it's too chewy and give up.

Mike enjoyed another gluten-free rarity - tortellini panna e prosciutto (tortellini with cream and ham). The photo's not great, but it tasted amazing.

Best of all was the dessert - a gluten-free tiramisu, which I had been craving the entire trip. This one was definitely frozen and then thawed, but it was still delicious.

After lunch, we took a gondola ride. Mike negotiated for a much better price - forty euros instead of eighty - though it didn't hurt that we went during "off" hours. The gondolier pointed out the palazzos of people like Marco Polo and Casanova, which are now occupied by banks and insurance companies. It was chilly, and even though it was definitely all it's cracked up to be, we were glad to get off the water when it was over.

For dinner, we went to Ala Vecia Cavana. They gave us a grapefruit juice cocktail and a delicious sampler plate of gluten-free bread with wonderfully crunchy breadsticks.

Our first course was mussels and clams in a light tomato broth, and our second course was pasta carbonara. Both were absolutely perfect. For dessert, I had another tiramisu, which was exactly the same as the one at Ristobar, but with a lovely presentation.

If you ever make it to Venice, I definitely recommend stopping by Mea Libera Tutti, Ristobar, and Ala Vecia Cavana.

That's it for our Italian Restaurants! To see all of the places we dined while in Italy, just click here.

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Venice, Part Two

On our second day in Venice, we visited the island of Murano, where the famous Murano glass is made. After our visit, Mike was hungry for lunch, but I wasn't so we went to a dive bar where he had pasta that was definitely microwaved. Eeek!

For a dinner appetizer, we stopped at what looked like a chain - Rosso Pomodoro, where we had some wine and a meat and cheese appetizer.

But it was at a restaurant called Muro Venezia San Stae where we learned a new trick for ordering gluten-free food at Italian restaurants. Previously, we had always asked if the restaurant could do gluten-free, and heard either "no" or only "pizza and pasta." There was even one restaurant where the owner wouldn't feed me a salad because it wasn't pizza or pasta! This time, we decided what we wanted to eat - fish, since we were in Venice, after all - and asked the waitress which dishes could be made gluten-free. We wound up with the most delicious salmon drenched in a creamy white wine sauce with herbs. What a win!

Next week: Our last day in Venice, two delicious meals, and a gluten-free grocery store!

Gluten-Free Tucson

Impossible cacti, blazing heat, mountains ... and great gluten-free food. Mike and I hopped down to Tucson for a weekend to celebrate a friend's wedding. After stepping off the plane, we headed over to Piezano's for a gluten-free pizza. We were the only ones in the restaurant, so the guy running the show was more than happy to make us a half "big and meaty" and half Hawaiian pizza. We inhaled it, and didn't regret it one bit.

Then it was time for the rehearsal, and rehearsal dinner at the Old Pueblo Grille, where we had a lovely cocktail hour and sat down to dinner. I had the Avocado Chicken, which they made specially gluten-free for me, and it was mighty tasty.

When we booked our hotel, the Hacienda del Sol, I knew it would be nice, not just because of the price tag, but because they made a note that I'm gluten-free for their in-house restaurants, "just in case" I decided to dine with them. I did - while Mike was out with the groom before the wedding, I ordered myself room service - my very first room service ever.

It was a salmon salad, and the hostess made sure to check with the chef before even placing the order, just to make sure it was totally gluten-free. It was, and I was so glad. The salmon was delicous - grilled to a crisp on the outside, but still moist and tender on the inside. The dressing was good too - light and creamy and just right. At first, I thought the corn was raw, it was so sweet and crisp, but it was actually charred a bit on the grill, then chilled. Yum!

Finally it was time for the main event, which was absolutely beautiful. After the ceremony, we headed back to the hotel, where the reception was, for a wonderful party. We checked with the servers, who checked and assured us that all the menu items for the evening were gluten-free! We had steak and salmon, and both were amazing.

The next morning, we trudged over to the airport to go home. I didn't expect to find much, so I was pleasantly surprised to find Cibo Express Market at the Tucson airport. They had a range of gluten-free snacks, and some were even nut-free. My favorites were these gluten-free cookies that tasted just like Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies. They even had healthier options, like red pepper-artichoke spread, and cut fruit.

I'm sure we'll be heading back to Tucson soon. Have you eaten gluten-free there?

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Venice, Part One

If you're planning on going to Venice, plan on getting lost! There are some real gems of restaurants, and some are easier to find than others.

On our first day in Venice, lost and after having a seafood lunch (pasta, sea bass, tomato, scallion, and wilted arugula) that made us both a little queasy, Mike and I were not in the mood for more pizza and pasta. We were looking for "Bar Risto" which was incredibly difficult to find - and not in the plaza where it was supposed to be. Grr. We finally settled on a restaurant called Pane Vine e San Daniele, a name that made me nervous since pane means "bread," but it turned out to be a good choice.

The restaurant had gluten-free crackers, which turned out to be tasty, and we munched on them while we split a divine plate of cheese - mozzarella, burrata, smoked ricotta, and another soft, creamy cheese. We also split a plate of the house ham, which was a type of prosciutto. It came out with a pickled onion and pickled shallot - both of which were delicious.

While our meal was not exactly a "normal" dinner, it was a combination of some of my favorite foods - cured meat, cheese, and red wine. Happy with our choice to stray from the ordinary, Mike and I meandered back to our hotel.

Next week: Another mediocre lunch, but a discovery about how to order something other than gluten-free pizza and pasta!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part Four

The Club House might have had our favorite pizza ever, but Giannino in San Lorenzo had the most and best to offer for a gluten-free eater. It was so good, we went there twice.

Both times, we split this amazing caprese salad. It came out on a bed of raddichio and frisee, and had the freshest tomatoes and tastiest mozzarella. Mike's usually not a tomato eater, but these tomatoes were so good I had to fight to get some on my plate.

On our first visit, I had tortellini in a tomato sauce that was to die for. The tortellini was amazing too - it's been ages since I've had tortellini, since it's so hard to find gluten-free tortellini. Mike had ribollita (not gluten-free), and said it was awesome.

Our waiter even brought us gluten-free bread - a roll about the size of a hot dog bun, split lengthwise and darkly toasted. It, too, was very good.

On our second visit, we split a gluten-free prosciutto pizza. It wasn't as good as the pizza at the Club House, but it was still very tasty.

Hats off to Giannino in San Lorenzo for two delicious gluten-free meals!

Next week: Venice!

Gluten-Free In Moab, Utah

On a recent trip to Moab, Utah, Mike and I decided to check out Pasta Jay's. We've been to other restaurants in Moab, and were impressed with the level of understanding of how to feed gluten-free diners. Pasta Jay's has a card that explains what can be made gluten-free and what can't. Basically, they have a gluten-free pizza crust and keep gluten-free penne in stock.

Mike got the Alfredo d'Madeline - pasta in alfredo sauce with chicken and broccoli. Normally, I'm not much into alfredo sauces, but this one was amazing, and I couldn't keep my fork away from his plate.

I got the Josephina pizza - topped with crumbled sausage and roasted bell peppers. It was pretty tasty, too.

We both stuffed ourselves and still had enough leftovers to feed us both for dinner later that night. We're adding another tried and true spot to our list of great places to eat gluten-free in Moab!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part Three

After climbing the bell tower of the Florence Cathedral (and being in it when the clock struck noon - you could feel your whole body shaking with the tower), Mike and I headed to The Club House, a restaurant recommended by the owner of our hotel.

It seemed like a touristy spot, but we headed in anyways. We ordered a spicy sausage gluten-free pizza and nothing else, but it was by far the best gluten-free pizza either of us has ever had.

The crust was amazing - thin and crispy on the outside, but chewy on the inside. It was so good, I had to check with the waiter just to confirm it was gluten-free. It was!

Somehow, we ate the entire pizza before I could think to take a picture of it. And, best of all, I felt great afterwards.

Next week: One last stop in Florence for the best caprese salad ever!

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Florence, Part One

We stepped off the train in Florence ready to dive into the sights, but famished, too. We set off in search of some good gluten-free food and happened across this sign for Ristorante il Paiolo. Pinned to the sign: We speak English! Pasta no glutine. We thought, why not give it a try?

Well, they didn't speak much English, and in my broken Italian I had difficulty ordering. They didn't want to feed me anything other than gluten-free pasta, not even a salad! They had two sauces, and we chose the tomato. Since we were splitting a portion, this is what my plate looked like before I dove in. The pasta was a bit undercooked for my taste. I'm not sure if that's the way Italians like it, or if they just have a hard time cooking gluten-free pasta. Unfortunately, the sauce didn't have much going for it either - it tasted like it came out of a can. Womp, womp.

After lunch, we went to the Uffizzi Gallery, where we saw just about every single work of art I ever learned about in Art History class. It was fun and overwhelming at the same time. Looking at all that art worked up an appetite, so we set off in search of a better meal than our first one. We found it at a restaurant called The Chimera. They didn't advertise it on the menu, but they said they could do any pasta gluten-free.

Mike and I split the house red, and finally caught on that it's cheaper to order a liter of wine in a pitcher or carafe than to buy a bottle of wine at a restaurant. You can see how disappointed I was about having to drink all that wine:

We split an arugula salad that we dressed at the table with salt, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. I had this pasta with clams, a light butter-herb sauce, and lots of pepper:

This time the pasta was perfectly cooked (hey! maybe Italians do know how to cook gluten-free pasta!), and absolutely delicious. Mike had torellini stuffed with ricotta and dressed with oil, tomatoes, and zucchini (not gluten-free, but he said it was pretty tasty).

The next time we're in Florence, we'd love to stop by Chimera.

Next week: Our whirlwind day trip around Tuscany, complete with a stop at an organic farm for a wine tasting and gluten-free lunch!

Gluten-Free in Grand Junction, Colorado?

Last weekend Mike and I went to Grand Junction, Colorado. It's turning in to one of our favorite spots, since there are lots of wineries in nearby Palisades, and there are dog-friendly parks and trails galore.

The first time we visited, I packed all our meals in advance. This time, we planned to go to a nice restaurant, 626 on Rood, for my belated birthday dinner. We called in advance to make sure the restaurant could handle gluten-free, and they assured us they could make almost any dish gluten-free. We confirmed this with the waitress as we sat down, and she told us the same thing.

To start, we ordered the smoked duck salad, which normally comes with couscous (ie not gluten-free). I asked the waitress if they could make it without the couscous, and again emphasized that I needed to be gluten-free. We also ordered our dinner entrees, with the appropriate gluten-free substitutions. We never got to see them because....

Our salad came out sprinkled with farro. It looked delicious. It smelled amazing. I wish I had taken a picture, because it was covered in wheat! It took us several minutes to flag down the waitress to ask her exactly what that was all over the salad, but as soon as she confirmed my suspicions, I informed her that it was "straight up wheat." She apologized, told us that she had told the chef "no grains," and whisked it away.

Mike and I sat there for a minute, dumbfounded, glad that I did not dive into the salad the way I wanted to. I realized that if my order came out sprinkled with little balls of gluten when I had already emphasized the need to be gluten-free, that I simply did not feel safe dining in this restaurant.

We told the hostess at the bar the situation, and that we were leaving, and barely turned around to go when the manager came out to try to convince us to stay. She said she understood how serious this was, and offered to "make it right." In the moment, I couldn't see a way to make it right. Gluten-free dining is all about trust. We decided to trust this restaurant with my health, and they lost it in one fell swoop. Short of me supervising the proceedings in the kitchen (which would have defeated the purpose of dining out), nothing could make me trust this restaurant again.

I don't think the manager got it. She kept going on and on about how her best friend is celiac, and how they keep all the right gluten-free ingredients on hand so gluten-free diners can still eat all the foods they love, and how she hoped I'd give them a second chance. I've given second chances before - to restaurants, to bad boyfriends, to toxic friends. When it's as big of a mistake as this one was, the mistake usually repeats itself.

When we walked out of the restaurant, I was shaking. Happy that I'd stood up for myself, but exhausted by the experience and still starving. We went to another restaurant that had good gluten-free reviews on findmeglutenfree, but the wait was an hour. We tried another - it was closing. We ended up at the grocery store, trying to rustle up dinner. Standing in front of the freezer aisle, looking at food that I don't like eating on a good day, and thinking of that beautiful salad I couldn't eat, I burst into tears. I know. I was that freak crying in the freezer aisle. All over a salad.

We'll definitely be going back to Grand Junction. But I don't think I'll be returning to 626 on Rood.

If you're gluten-free and considering this restaurant, I'd strongly recommend against it. There are lots of other places that get stellar gluten-free reviews in Grand Junction. Your health is simply not worth the risk.

Our Italian Restaurant(s): Rome, Part Two

Lest you think all of Rome was a bust when it came to gluten-free food, I want to share the culinary bright spot of our trip to Rome: Mama! Eat. This place was so good, we went here twice: on our second night in Italy, and our last.

This restaurant has a whole menu of gluten-free food. (They also have a regular menu.) You can get just about anything gluten-free, from fried chicken to pasta to pizza.

That's the gluten-free menu up there - so many options it was almost overwhelming! On our first trip, we split a liter of wine, an appetizer of prosciutto and mozzarella, spaghetti with half a lobster and tomato sauce, and panna cotta with chocolate sauce. All were delicious, and definitely gluten-free!

Our second trip to Mama! Eat was a late lunch/early dinner on our last day in Rome. We split a Besaola con rucola e scaglie di parmigiano (above - arugula salad with big slices of cured meat and parmesan), which could have been a meal all by itself.

But we didn't stop there. We ordered the gluten-free bread, which was tasty, and a pizza topped with ham and thin shavings of zucchini, which was also quite tasty. And then, because it was our last night in Italy, and because we weren't already stuffed after all that food, we split a panna cotta, this time drenched in caramel sauce.

Next week: Florence!

Our Italian Restaurant(s) - Rome, Part One

We stepped of the plane, and my first thought was COFFEE! Unfortunately, we arrived at the hotel just after they stopped serving breakfast, so our very first mission in Rome was to find coffee. We landed on this spot, the Caffe' delle Arance (Orange Cafe) in the Santa Maria Trastevere Square. An itty bitty cup of coffee was €4,50, but it had caffeine, and we had a lovely view of the square.

After going back to the hotel and showering, it was time for lunch. We wandered around looking for restaurants with gluten-free options, and ended up here, at the Ristorante Carlo Menta.

They had one gluten-free pasta dish - penne in a creamy tomato sauce, with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. The pasta was a little on the al dente side for me, but it was my first hot meal since our wedding reception. Here's how I felt about it, and the jet lag:

After lunch, Mike proceeded to drag me around Rome - to the Colosseum, to the Roman Forum, to the Trevi Fountain, to the Pantheon. (All gorgeous. And all a blur, between the amount of time we spent at each - not much - and the jet lag.)

Somewhere in there it was time for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Il Miraggio, which is near the Trevi Fountain. There we had gluten-free pizza and a fantastic bottle of wine, but I somehow failed to take a picture of either.

When it was time to head back to the hotel, we got lost. One wrong turn and everything looked like we were almost at our hotel, but we were walking in circles. And then, I started to feel icky. Like I had been glutened, but I'm not sure if it was something I ate or the jet lag. Yikes!

Anyways, I don't think I'd go back to either of these restaurants. The food wasn't great, and I'm not sure whether they kept the food truly gluten-free.

Stay tuned for next week's installment, where Rome redeems itself with good truly-gluten-free food!

In Love with a Mediterranean Climate: Souvenir and Wrap-Up

When we went to Italy, the first thing I noticed was plants. They were everywhere! Spilling from balconies, planted in public parks, growing out of walls, on restaurant patios. Everywhere I looked,there were plants. Each week, I’m sharing a different aspect of the plants I saw in Italy. Last week it was flowers. This week, I’m wrapping up and sharing my favorite souvenir from our honeymoon!

Thanks to all who followed my botanical side tour of Italy! Even though I'm out of photos to share with you here, I'm still living the vacation at home with some fresh flowers in my favorite souvenir - this little Tuscan pitcher!

This was a premixed bouquet at Whole Foods...not too expensive given how long it's lasted and how bright and cheery it is!

P.S. If you've missed any of the posts in this series, you can see them all by clicking on the tag "Italian flora" below!

In Love with a Mediterranean Climate: Flowers

When we went to Italy, the first thing I noticed was plants. They were everywhere! Spilling from balconies, planted in public parks, growing out of walls, on restaurant patios. Everywhere I looked,there were plants. Each week, I’m sharing a different aspect of the plants I saw in Italy. Last week it was fruit. This week, I’m sharing flowers - perfect for brightening up a gray winter day!

I'm a total sucker for flowers. When we first got to Italy, and I started taking pictures of flowers, Mike looked at me like I was a little nuts. Maybe I am. But I love having some bright, happy flowers to look at when it's cold and snowy outside, so here we go.

Cyclamen were everywhere - in front of a restaurant menu, tucked into succulent gardens...