A new friend asked me why on earth I would start a gluten-free bakery. You can skip my answer - it’s pretty long - but I’d thought I’d add it to the archives.
As usual; Friday, 10-2
As usual; Saturday, CLOSED
As usual; Sunday, 10-2
Here’s what’s different:
CLOSING EARLY,
MONDAY, MAY 26, 10-2 !!!
(Also no online orders will be shipped Monday.)
Thank you and happy holidays!!
Sunday, May 18th, 2-5pm
City of Manhattan Beach
on the 13 th Street & Metlox Plazas
2nd Fields of Green Free Community Event!
Fun for the whole family, including performances by the SqueeGees children’s musical group, children’s activities, food samplings, professional athlete appearances, exhibitors (like us!) and educational speakers all inspiring healthy eating, healthy living, and the awakened athlete.
You can order any of The Sensitive Baker’s products to pick up at the event, and a portion of the proceeds will go to benefit GrowingGreat, a nonprofit organization dedicated to inspiring children and adults to adopt healthy eating habits. GrowingGreat provides comprehensive nutrition education and school garden programs to 1,000’s of elementary school students in Southern California.
To place an order please call The Sensitive Baker 310-815-1800.
For more information about the event,
call the GrowingGreat office 310-939-9216.
Hope to see you there!
Meet Clifford, the big red chef. (He’s all hunched here but he’s gotta be 6 feet tall. In my world, that’s a big dude!)
Eugenie has gone and left a hole in our hearts, but life must go on, soups and tuna salad have to be made, and Cliff is filling that void. He’s a friend of Dylan’s from The Art Institute of California culinary school, and this is a rare photo of the two together: actually, Dylan and Cliff “share” the cooking position and when one is here the other is usually not.
Kind of like Clark Kent and Superman, only in my book, both these young men are Superman! Welcome to the team, Cliff, good to have you on the bus. Thanks for bringing your tunes!
P.S. We have to get another photo of Cliff after work, when he takes off his hat and lets loose his dreds! Muy impressive!
***
And, ta da, here he is!
(How long do you think it takes to GROW hair like that? Cliff reminds me of Samson, only blonder.) (Much sweeter, too.)
We DEFINITELY need to update this entry with the new schedule - in an effort to better serve you (lunch), Dylan & Cliff now work together most mornings. It’s a win-win for everyone!
Triumph Gluten Free! is a new blog produced by the team behind Triumph Dining, the people who publish The Essential Gluten Free Restaurant Guide, The Essential Gluten Free Grocery Guide, and (my personal favorite,) Triumph Dining Gluten Free Dining Cards.
[Little tidbit about the cards: Some of our team members speak English only as a second language, and as much as we try to train new hires about gluten and the dangers of bringing your lunch from home, sometimes I’m just not sure I’m getting through. When our Triumph Dining Cards arrived, I photocopied & enlarged the one for Mexican food, in Spanish, and hung it on the “bulletin board” / refrigerator.
And then I stepped back and secretly watched as EVERY Spanish-speaking person in the establishment - even ones who speak perfect English and I was sure “got” the gluten issue - all read the sheet with great interest and with looks of growing comprehension and even enlightenment on their faces as they began to feel like they “owned” the gluten issue.
That’s what handing people the information in their own language, referencing items from their own experience, can do.
Of course, it helps that the information is crystal-clear and distilled so that even in English it has that effect on me. They say it takes a busy chef less than a minute to read one of these and understand it.
The cards - not to sound like a commercial, but I really like them, they’re well made and like I said, effective - anyway there are TEN of them, for ten different languages and cuisines, and that means they open up TEN different worlds for the gluten-sensitive. That’s less than, like, $2 a world.]
Anyway, this post is supposed to be about the new blog, which has tips for dining out, new product reviews, and other gf-news, but I’ve bored you long enough. I listed it in the blogroll - you’ll have much more fun if you go there yourself and check it out!
The Jewish Journal did a story on gluten, celiac disease, my father-in-law and even a little bit about us! Just in time for the CDF Conference this weekend, too! [Which, BTW, you can still register for if you call the office directly at (818) 990-2354.]
It’s really a great piece and big, big thanks to writer Adam Wills for spreading the word about celiac disease. I just need to say one teeny thing. (And then I promise, I’ll shut up about the oats, I’m sure everyone is sick of the whole oats issue.)
It’s not that “the Hier family is confidently sticking with oats.” That’s not for us to decide. The RCC tells us oats require the blessing HaMotzi, with washing before and a full Grace after Meals following.
‘Nuff said.
And thanks once again to the lovely Keren Greenberg for the photo!
Understanding and Implementing Special Diets to Aid in the Treatment of Autism and Related Developmental Disorders, by Lisa Lewis, Ph.D.
(c) 1998; Future Horizons Inc.; Arlington, Texas.
[Order here.]
I can see why this is still touted as THE place to start researching the connection between autism and diet, even 10 years after it was published. This is a remarkably thorough book, well-researched and relatively easy to understand.
Dr. Lewis starts by telling the story of her son, Sam, from his birth, through his diagnosis of autism, through his thank God successful recovery largely due to the GF-CF diet in conjunction with other therapies. She explains the physiological basis of autism a whole lot better than I get it, tells you how to test your child for gluten-sensitivity (and other sensitivities - I’m learning with that autism you rarely get just one!), how to start the diet, how to explain the diet (to extended family, or caregivers), and provides countless recipes for, like, normal food that kids actually want to eat.
She ends with pages and pages of resources, but remember the book was published in 1998, so they’re not current. It’s so cute, she actually has a section at the end where she explains how to buy a modem so you can “surf the web.” She recommends getting Compuserve. Does anyone else remember Compuserve? Am I totally dating myself when I say I’ve even heard of Compuserve?
I guess that’s why people get Special Diets for Special Kids, Two, but my understanding is that most of the second edition is new recipes, and the explanatory part, which is what I really wanted, didn’t get repeated. I like this one. I once read (I can’t quote the source exactly) that when you’re looking for books you should try to find the one that saves you from reading ten others. When it comes to the connection between diet and PDD, Special Diets for Special Kids is that book.
And to quote a review from a fan who agrees, “Special Diets For Special Kids made me feel like I actually had someone there holding my hand the whole way.“
The only recipe we tried at the bakery was the yeast-free bread, but it didn’t work for us. (I think that was our YF#67, the “spongy-pudding.” I’m sure it’s our fault, we have no luck with yeast-free breads.) Anyway, now that I’ve brought the book home, I’m gonna try more, including the one for matza balls. Wish me luck!
Rambam, Rashi, and other Rishonim on Shibbolet Shu’al
Whenever you google “matzo,” or “the five grains,” you’ll read this comment. [They start by naming the grains; wheat, spelt, barley, rye, and then you get;] “oats (according to Rashi) or, two-rowed barley (according to Rambam’s interpretation of Mishnah Kilayim 1:1; Yerushalmi Challah 1:1). שיבולת שועל”
What are they talking about? I asked my husband to show me Kilayim 1:1, and the Rambam there. [’Cause you know: Any actual Torah in these posts comes from my husband, Rabbi Aron Hier. The mistakes, sadly, are all mine.]
Are oats even related to wheat? Or; What were the rabbis thinking?
Some people question what the name shibbolet shu’al actually refers to. No-one translates the term into modern language, until Rashi called it avena (oats in Old French) a thousand years ago and 500 years after the writing of the Talmud. Could he have been mistaken?
Remember the song from Sesame Street?
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just doesn’t belong,
Can you tell which thing is not like the others
By the time I finish my song?
(Hint: Don’t look at the drawings, or the colors, just look at the plants.)
***
I hope to get back to this (another “series” perhaps), and do Gluten & Jewish Law: the Sabbath issue…. the Challah issue…. the Kiddush issue….. [We’ll see how long I can eke this out for.] In the meantime, suffice it to say that if you’re not into esoteric Jewish blah, you should skip this whole series.
If you’re into Jewish blah, Passover is an appropriate place to dive in since this is where we first define the five “special grains.”
