Over the River and Through the Woods to, "Our Daily Bread"

 

Yesterday, I took a trip, over the river (the Hudson River that is), and through the woods; the back hills of eastern New York with rolling hills of scenery for miles. I love an adventure and with 3 kiddos in activities, volunteering working, and holding down a household, one doesn’t have much room for spontaneous adventures outside of a trip to the grocery store because I forgot an important ingredient for dinner. 

Thanks to my friend,Christina (who also just so happens to be new to the gluten sensitive community), for inviting us to her daughter’s birthday party in Nassau, NY which is about half way to the gluten free joint that I’ve been trying to find a way and the time to get to for the past year! On my drive to the party I enlisted Google maps to get me there, and I was not too thrilled with his back ass route onto the thruway, only to tell me to get off the thruway to proceed on 90 east and realize that the ramp toward Boston was closed. The detour then took me to the same place I would have gotten in half the time if I had just trusted my instincts and taken 90, instead of listening to a computer, ugh!

Anyway, we arrived at the party just in time for my daughter to go into her shell and decide she wanted to hang on me and not talk to anyone, until of course they mentioned a piñata! Then, she was an excited bubbly little girl who was making friends with everyone. It must have been the Frozen theme, the Sven’s antler ears, Olaf’s snowballs and blue ambrosia she'd been munching on that got her warmed up as she played with the Elsa and Anna sequins scattered on the tables and took in the princess music playing in the background. 

Christina threw an awesome party, fit for a queen (her daughter), with lots of yummy gluten filled foods enjoyed by the majority of the party goers, and of course some gluten free foods for us, like broccoli salad, (my all-time favorite even before going GF), quinoa salad (a slight twist to my standard recipe), potato salad and of course chewy brownies for desert. Lauren indulged in the blue ice cookies and a big slice of Frozen themed chocolate cake, followed by a purple lolli pop from the piñata. 

The party was dying down with just enough time to get to the restaurant and check it out, so off I went with my daughter and my friend (this time), Google Maps. With my little one asking to go potty five minutes into the drive (even though I asked her to go before we left and she said she didn’t have to), I did my best to take in all that the back roads of Columbia County had to offer. 

Oh, how I wish I could have stopped and took some beautiful pictures of the scenic drive. But, I was in a race against time to get there. So, I took my little grand am up over the hills like a roller coaster, with just enough speed to give me a little rush, but apparently not fast enough for the black grand am who tail gated me for a couple miles, then decided to make his move and pass me only to meet up with me 2 minutes later at a stop sign. Oh, the little golden barn on my right, and the horse ranch with white intricate fences all around on my left and the mountains of the Berkshires all around me. And, the beautiful big old church at the stop sign in town, I could have stared at that for hours thinking about the good old days and how many people had walked in and out of those doors, gotten married there and went to "old fashioned," church services. These days, these drives and views are something my soul needs more of. 

All this time listening to Google, I wondered in the back of my mind if perhaps he was going to take me on another wild goose chase, or if we would arrive at our destination safe and sound. And, we did finally roll up to the little town of Chatham, settled as close to the Mass border as you can get without crossing the state line. A big enough town to have a traffic circle, and a brewery, but small enough that I would never want to live there. A little gem for sure, a quaint town that even offered an old movie theatre, and a train track that ran through.

The town reminded me a bit of Saugerties, where I visited recently, but about a quarter of the size. We walked into the restaraunt and I had to ignore all the tempting sights of goodies as we made our way straight to the back where the bathroom was. After we got that out of the way, we made it back to the front where some familiar goodies were displayed, the Ginger Cookies that I had purchased at the gluten free store in Saratoga and the flax seed bread that I heard about and the ginger almond biscotti that I had been dying to try. Of course, there will little chocolate gourmet cakes decorated with fruit, but I had to draw the line somewhere. 

The Red Door is the Restroom past all the goodies in the back

Also, keeping in the back of my mind that both my daughter and I were on a sugar high from the party that would surely leave us (at least me), in a sugar coma within the next hour.  Despite popular belief, and as much as I talk about gluten free baked goods, I do not consume a lot of sugar at all. Sidenote: Sugar I've learned isn't doing anything to promote my good gut bacteria and prevent inflammation two important factors in healing disease and preventing disease.  

I can go days without refined sugar or even any type of sweetener other than fruit. So, the little indulgence in the brownie and the bites of the ginger cookie and biscotti on the drive home would surely put me over my limit and drive me into the zombie mode before dinner time last night, complete with yawning and an urge to crash. I resisted the crash, and instead made up for my sugar with leftover salmon and veggies from the night before.

Anyway, the menu…. I was a little confused, so I had to admit to the young guy at the counter that I had never been there before so I would ask a few questions and even take some pictures for my blog. I had to ask about the quiche I saw. Was it gluten free? Because I do love me some quiche! Unfortunately, it was not and I was schooled on the layout of, "Our Daily Bread."

One of the "non-gluten free," cases

There were two cases dedicated to gluten free goods that were prepared in the strict gluten free facility down the road. Then, there was “regular,” bread; nice round loaves that resembled the ones I packaged at the Heidleberg Bakery in Herkimer, NY as one of my part time jobs in college. I thought, “If those loaves are gluten free, I might just be into making bread part of my regular diet again.” It’s probably a good thing that they weren’t because I’m getting along fine (I mean I’m actually thriving) without bread as a staple.

  

There were people coming in and out of the store and so I couldn’t get the guy’s ear for as long as I wanted to, nor did I think he could answer the questions I really wanted to ask like, “How long have you been here and did you ever consider a location in Albany, NY?” This place was awesome, and how I wish we had a little town to nestle this in close to Albany.... maybe Troy?   

Anyway, they offer a breakfast and lunch menu and any sandwich can be made on gluten free bread. There is a note saying that if you are gluten intolerant, you should notify the staff so they can be sure to take the most care in preparing your food, because they do share the kitchen area with gluten foods. I was planning my next trip in my mind, so my last question was, “Can the waffles be made gluten free?” He said that they could be and so I think we will have to visit again someday with the whole family and then, I'll have to give one of those fresh squeezed kale and beet juice drinks a try! But, for today, I'll be replenishing my body starting out with my fruit and kale smoothie and back to salad for lunch. I'm good on sweets for a while!