Wheat bomb

Today, after I picked Riley up from Redmont, we had plans to lunch with Robbie. Alas, Robbie remembered that he had a hair appointment, so that needed to happen first. Once the hair cut was done Riley and I were both so starved we were about to begin eating our own arms, so Robbie took us to a fabulous kabob place to eat. I told the waiter that I needed to avoid wheat and that I needed help choosing an item I could safely eat. By the time our food arrived I was so freaking hungry that I just dove right in, and it wasn't till I'd had about five bites of the delicious seasoned rice with almonds that I noticed that there were other little things in the rice. It wasn't clear what it was at first, but suddenly it hit me--those little tan things are crushed pasta. It's homemade rice-a-roni! I dropped my fork like it was burning hot and pushed my plate away. Serious disappointment. I found myself sitting in the booth staring at my nearly full plate while looking ahead, two months from now, when I'll still be trying to heal the eczema and blisters on my skin. 

I know that I can not trust people at restaurants to be as careful about my food as I am, but it's not usually so obvious an error. I can eat very few things out, and even when I'm fairly certain about the ingredients that have been used, there's always the element of mystery when someone else is doing the cooking. Did they thicken this soup with wheat flour? Does this marinade contain wheat based soy sauce?* Those unknown things are land mines which leave me itching maniacally and wondering what in the world it was that got me. Wheat pasta cooked into the rice though, that really got me. That was a bomb. 

*And what in the world is with so-called soy sauce which has wheat as the primary ingredient? Here at home we use tamari, which is a soy based soy sauce, but most of the stuff used at Asian restaurants and found in the grocery stores is wheat based.  

Speaking of tamari, if you feel like having a delicious, healthful treat, try getting a big ol' bag of plain almonds from your favorite store and put them in a bowl. Coat them with tamari and then spread them on a cookie sheet and roast them on low heat till the tamari is dried. It's a fabulous, addictive snack!