This past weekend I took a trip home to visit my family. With my MBA starting soon I won't have another chance until probably Thanksgiving to simply hang out with them without the worry of a test or project looming. I flew in Thursday night and came home rather late last night. Our weekend was full of fun things, including boating out on Lake Erie.
I must start out by saying that my mom is fantastic. Almost everyday the week before I came she was chatting me with questions about food options, ingredients, recipes, etc...she wanted to make SURE I wouldn't go hungry :) I think in the process she also realized how expensive eating gluten-free can be! That being said, I didn't have to find too many restaurants and was able to eat a number of meals and snacks without going out.
Thursday:
So, on Thursday I was flying out around 5pm. I ate a normal lunch and had a snack before embarking on my trip. Flight out of Austin went great, and as any traveler knows, you always hit a road bump. This time it was a 2-hour delay in the Houston airport (IAH). I've flown through Houston a few times and knew that I couldn't wait until 12:30am to eat dinner so...the hunt was on for g-free food.
I went to customer service to see if I could have the easy way out (a flat out "yes, this or that place has gluten-free options") but no such luck. Therefore, I started walking. I found a Wendy's where I know I can have the frosty and chili, but other than that it was potato chips, candy or fruit from the airport store. Thinking that the search was pretty much pointless I decided to start drinking wine instead (good alternative right?) so I found the Fox News Sports Bar by my gate and went on in for a 9-ounce glass of Pinot Grigio. I thought I'd give the waiter a test run and was surprised to find that he did know what gluten-free was but the only option he could safely give me with chips and salsa...DONE! Dinner was served as I waited and waited for take-off.
Friday:
We had a fun day planned and breakfast was small but tasty. My mom had picked up gluten-free baked goods from the local farmer's market (wish I remembered the vendor!) so I had a shortcake with fruit on top, yum! Shopping was on the agenda, as well as lunch with grandma. We had been planning on this for awhile so we'd already decided on Rusty Bucket. They actually have a very impressive gluten-free menu as you can see, so I got the pasta with chicken and was nice and full for shopping. I made sure to thank the manager for having gluten-free menu options...and he said they get a TON of gluten-free diners in their location...I'm surprised he didn't know it's because it's basically the only place within 10 miles that is listed as gluten-free :)
Shopping went well and we found out that my brother was headed into town. After some hemming and hawing about dinner, we debated between Hunan by the Falls who could make me gluten-free dishes and some chain restaurants, but my brother got his way and we were back at Rusty Bucket again! Luckily the manager didn't see us or I would've been embarrassed, but you can't argue with a solid g-free menu. I got the quesadillas and was satisfied once again.
Saturday:
Boat bound! We have a boat on Catawba Island which is close to the awesome Lake Erie islands. We went up there early and got going over to Kelley's Island. Lunch was some chicken salad, fruit and g-free crackers that my mom had bought and was awesome! We went bike riding around the island and decided to stop at the Kelley's Island Winery where we had a snack of cheddar cheese - a nice hold over until dinner.
Dinner was cooked on the grill! The guys were able to find a grill by the marina so I was able to use the foccacia bread my mom got from the farmer's market, along with a Jennie-O turkey burger and Amy's g-free macaroni and cheese. Easy and very fulfilling day!
Sunday:
Time to get packed up to head home. But first a full day of eating. For breakfast my dad made eggs, bacon, sausage, etc. I stuck with the eggs and fruit which we made sure he cooked on the griddle first (after washing again) and didn't let anything else touch it! That was a nice chance for us to sit around and hang out.
Shortly after we headed to Put-in-Bay (Middle Bass Island). My mom had done some research on gluten-free on her last trip so we had an idea of where to go. This island is famous for bars and some heavy drinking so of course we had to visit the Mojito bar, longest bar in the world and the Roundhouse bar. By this time however I was famished so we decided to stop at the Crescent Tavern.
They were so helpful, bringing out every single vat of salad dressing so I could read the ingredients! I was able to have a chicken spinach salad and they were willing to cook me up a plate of baby baked potatoes as a substitute for french fries = much appreciated.
Finally, it was time to head home. Ate some leftover chicken salad mom made (simply chicken chunks, celery, onions and light Hellman's mayo) and that held me over the rest of the day. It was probably the least worrisome trip I've had, thanks mom and dad!!
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