Gluten Free Breeze (formerly Brendygirl) Blog

Enjoyed a cool techno teacher conference in Palm Springs this weekend. Yes, I was hungry and annoyed after eating a bunless burger and NONE of the divinely greasy and thick onion rings my compadres ordered at lunch. (red meat still isn't a treat for me, it's merely tolerable.) At night I Dined on the lovely, warm patio in a Tex-Mex restaurant. Palm Springs has a large gay community, so it was noticeable that all of the waiters we had all weekend seemed very effeminate (sp?). Well, when I asked if this place had a designated fryer for their corn tortilla chips, the waiter just said, just don't eat it.

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Well, I just wanted to know, because I hadn't eaten much during the day and I wanted to get full. Well, he got "huffy". So, then my colleague and I looked at each other and were like, maybe we should just leave, since we haven't ordered yet. Just then, the waiter glides over, feigning niceness, and spouting recommendations like showtunes for gluten-free dining (which included mesquite mahi mahi, marinated items, etc....totally inappropriate, of course. But, my fears of him sprinkling flour on my food from his huffy mood earlier were alleviated).

So, we decided to stay and I chose fajitas with unmarinated meat that come with corn tortillas. The food came out with the tortillas wrapped in paper on TOP of the food, but I could see brown spots on them through the paper. The waiter got huffy, so my friend opened them and tasted one and said it was a flour tortilla. Well, the waiter traded them for corn tortillas, but I KNEW that the celiacs on this message board would NOT have eaten that plate. But, I would. Perhaps it was the warm desert breeze, or the electromagnetic exposure all day at the conference, but I did eat it. And I did get sick. Should've had the ** chips if I was gonna get sick anyway!!! Grrrr.

At least we went to see George Carlin,the comedian, afterward and that was a great distraction! (You may recall my belief in distraction being the best medicine, next to stomach med, for recovering from being glutened.) But, I was tired and feeling achy all weekend. At my softball game Sunday, a lady said that I was mentally "gone" when I didn't remember meeting two teammates I'd met 2 weeks prior. I didn't try to explain brain fog, of course, but it kinda hurts to be considered that way when it's not the real me. That others notice the effects, but don't get the cause, and don't know that they should be compassionate to my circumstance is hard to stomach.

ANyway, next time I feel like leaving a restaurant, I'm going to run right outta there!