Saturday, June 30, 2007

Family Eats Brick-Like Gluten Free Cake and Insists that It's Good: Familial Love? Or was the cake actually edible?

Made my first chocolate gluten free cake yesterday. And it was, in my opinion, a total flop. But everybody in my family came back for seconds, so I must have done something right. But MAN, I could really taste those beany flours beneath the chocolate. And it fell, and I'm not really sure why.

I used a pyrex rectangular pan, and I think that's part of my problem. You're supposed to drop the oven temp down 25 degrees when you're cooking in a glass pan. But even though I added 5 minutes to the cooking time, the cake still fell, KERPLUNK, like you wouldn't believe. I was pretty psyched about it. It doubled in volume in the oven, and the tester came out clean. It just seemed a little dense to my touch. But it was my first one, so I figured... Meh? That's probably what it's supposed to feel like.

Then it sank like a stone before my eyes. I think I just need an aluminum pan for when I make rectangular cakes.

I can't believe my family ate it. I seem to be a chocolate snob. I did not like it.

In other celiac weirdness, Kaylee has been gluten free for the most part these last 2 weeks. Our house is now about 95% gluten free, with the exceptions being stuff that I'm using up and will soon replace with GF alternatives, and the turkey meatballs I feed Kaylee for lunch (when E's not here) until I get around to making her some GF ones. So, she mostly eats the foods that Eric can eat. Today I noticed that the rash that has been covering her back and sides has disappeared into creamy smooth baby skin. PLEASE tell me it's due to the hot weather and not the change in her diet. I really hope she doesn't have this as well.

Rich and I have blood tests ordered over at our doctor's offices, but we have not had a chance to go get our blood drawn yet. My guess would be that if one of us has it, it's him. But I really doubt that either of us has it.

But you never know...

Stay tuned for more exciting Celiac News on this Blog.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

The End of an Era

"That's not right." I looked at my cat Xander who had appeared out of nowhere. He was writhing and expelling drool on my back porch.

"What isn't?" Asked Rich.

"The Cat. Something is wrong there."

"Where? What cat."

"There! On the Porch." Oh.

He went out and knelt by his black and white face and petted him while his breath slowed and ceased in the space of less than a minute.

This was not a surprise. But I thought we'd have much more time with him. He got diagnosed with a thyroid condition a few months ago. I made the executive decision not to treat it. My sweet cat that allowed my one-year-old to pull his tail with zero retaliation, turns into the rabbit from Monty Python and the Holy Grail the minute he senses anything remotely medicalized is about to happen to him.

There was no way I could medicate this cat twice a day in perpetuity. So, we planned on humanely putting him to sleep when he started to fail. But there were not strong signs of this. He was still eating and using the litter box as recently as Friday. But he was sleeping a lot, even for a cat. Then he just lay down on the porch and politely died.

I think he's in kitty heaven, full of expensive sofas that the humans there put there for the sole purpose to use as scratching posts. There are piles of newspapers around sleeping humans for him to play with in the wee hours of the morning. And when he miaows, a door is always opened. It would have been ten years this October that I went crazy and decided that I HAD TO GET A CAT THAT DAY. I had no idea that I had obtained a certified furniture shredder, newspaper and book fwapper and determined lap sitter. He was a very good cat, and an annoying one. I will miss both aspects of his personality.

A lot.

Farewell Xander. Thanks for coming on the porch to pass into the land of endless tunafish and human laps. This way I know you'll be OK forever.

You will be missed. More than you could ever imagine.

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