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Sun Neen Figh Lok! - Happy New Year!

GeoffCJ

By GeoffCJ
in Coping with Celiac Disease

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GeoffCJ Enthusiast
GeoffCJ
Posted

I put this in the coping with section, because I've been having a tough time coping, and this weekend has been great.

It's Chinese New Year. My wife is ethnically Chinese, born in Vietnam, came to the US as a toddler. Raised in the San Gabriel valley (which has a huge Asian population, and is the kind of place where if you don't want to speak english, you could do everything you need, eating out, banking, etc. all in Chinese). Her family is pretty traditional, in the 5 years she and I have been together, every meal with her family is chinese food or Vietnamese food, and speak Chinese or Vietnamese at home.

We're down visiting for Chinese New Year, and Po-Po (wife's grandma) made us a feast yesterday night and for today! She was VERY careful, and made everything yesterday gluten-free (she even cooks with the gluten-free soy sauce we bought her when I'm around. )

I had this crazy chicken gibblet dip thing, eaten with Shrimp rice cakes. And stir fried vegetables over rice. And Turkey and potatoes in a curry sauce. She told me (with my wife translating, Po-po doesn't speak english. ) that she had checked every ingredient list, and was very careful! I ate everything, and feel fine! It was great to just have a meal that felt normal, laughing and talking and eating what everyone else ate!

Today, her family eats vegetarian, as part of their buddhist beliefs, and Po-po has cooked a bunch of fake-meat dishes, but also made a bunch of gluten-free vegetarian dishes, and made me some meat dishes just like the fake meat dishes she made. She said that it's OK for me to eat meat, because of my celiac disease, since I can't eat the other stuff.

=>

Geoff

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cyberprof Enthusiast
cyberprof
Posted
I put this in the coping with section, because I've been having a tough time coping, and this weekend has been great.

It's Chinese New Year. My wife is ethnically Chinese, born in Vietnam, came to the US as a toddler. Raised in the San Gabriel valley (which has a huge Asian population, and is the kind of place where if you don't want to speak english, you could do everything you need, eating out, banking, etc. all in Chinese). Her family is pretty traditional, in the 5 years she and I have been together, every meal with her family is chinese food or Vietnamese food, and speak Chinese or Vietnamese at home.

We're down visiting for Chinese New Year, and Po-Po (wife's grandma) made us a feast yesterday night and for today! She was VERY careful, and made everything yesterday gluten-free (she even cooks with the gluten-free soy sauce we bought her when I'm around. )

I had this crazy chicken gibblet dip thing, eaten with Shrimp rice cakes. And stir fried vegetables over rice. And Turkey and potatoes in a curry sauce. She told me (with my wife translating, Po-po doesn't speak english. ) that she had checked every ingredient list, and was very careful! I ate everything, and feel fine! It was great to just have a meal that felt normal, laughing and talking and eating what everyone else ate!

Today, her family eats vegetarian, as part of their buddhist beliefs, and Po-po has cooked a bunch of fake-meat dishes, but also made a bunch of gluten-free vegetarian dishes, and made me some meat dishes just like the fake meat dishes she made. She said that it's OK for me to eat meat, because of my celiac disease, since I can't eat the other stuff.

=>

Geoff

Happy New Year! I was just diagnosed last Monday and I work for a Chinese-American bank in Seattle. The President always brings in food and I was really stressed because I don't want to tell everyone and also don't want to insult. And I love Chinese food, so I was very tempted. All I could eat was the shrimp balls (shrimp in rice noodles). I was hoping that they weren't contaminated from being by the pork shu mai (which have wheat noodles, I think) but they were ok. I forgot my wheat-free soy sauce, which I am now going to keep at the office too.

So it worked out ok, and I didn't get sick.

Laura

GeoffCJ Enthusiast
GeoffCJ
Posted
  • Author
Happy New Year! I was just diagnosed last Monday and I work for a Chinese-American bank in Seattle. The President always brings in food and I was really stressed because I don't want to tell everyone and also don't want to insult. And I love Chinese food, so I was very tempted. All I could eat was the shrimp balls (shrimp in rice noodles). I was hoping that they weren't contaminated from being by the pork shu mai (which have wheat noodles, I think) but they were ok. I forgot my wheat-free soy sauce, which I am now going to keep at the office too.

So it worked out ok, and I didn't get sick.

Laura

Laura,

Glad it worked out. My Mother-in-Law also works at a Bank, it's a BofA, but in a very Chinese/American part of town, so when you go there, everything is in English and Chinese.

Chinese food is tough mostly because of the soy sauce, but watch out for other sauces too. Hoisin sauce also has gluten, as do lot's of teriyaki sauces.

If you like asian food, I've actually had better luck with Vietnamese food. Much of it is already Gluten free, as the main sauce they use (Fish Sauce) is normally gluten free.

Today was fun too! More good food, though my wife got confused and gave me the wrong sauce for dipping my rolls. When Po-Po noticed which bowl I was using, she just about knocked it out of my hands, and has been asking me how I'm doing every 30 minutes. I'm feeling a little bloated and gassy, but only had a bite, so it doesn't seem too bad yet.

Geoff

miles2go Contributor
miles2go
Posted

Hi Geoff, sounds like you're being taken really good care of and I agree that Vietnamese cuisine is very gluten-friendly. We have a Vietnamese lady that brings her wonderful food to our local farmer's market, which happens once a month even throughout the Maine winters. Fish sauce, while a bit of an acquired taste is positively addictive and I have a new-found appreciation for the rice papers for spring and summer rolls.

I've got more of a foodie report than a coping one, so I'll post it to the cooking forum.

Happy New Year!

Margaret

Aizlynn Rookie
Aizlynn
Posted

Just wondering what recipies everyone uses for their rice paper wrappers, I am still experimenting. Though I found that deep frying them like lumpia or egg rolls does not produce the same result, they are very greasy. but I still love the taste of the wrapper. any recipies?

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