A significant portion of this blog will be dedicated to my passion for cooking and baking.

In late 2022 I was diagnosed with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition where ingesting gluten (contained in wheat, rye, and barley) leads to severe small intestine damage. It was an absolute shock and required a significant lifestyle adjustment. I had to change from someone who eats anything, to someone who can eat very little outside the home due to the risk of cross-contamination. It probably sounds odd to characterize it as a mandatory personality change, but I am telling you it was. Food was social for me, part of traveling an experiencing other cultures, and a love language.

The specifics of my disease made it so I pretty much have to eat at home or 100% gluten free facilities. I also have to avoid most baked goods because I’m sensitive to the gums that are added to approximate the texture of gluten.

Home baking became a pain because solidly 50% of gluten free baking recipes are not good, particularly with the avoidance of gums. So I lost my sparkle for food and focused on health.

Last Fall, my husband pointed out that I didn’t bake anymore and I used to get a lot of joy out of it. I told him that gluten free baking (without gums) was so tricky it really beat me down. But his observation inspired me to try again. I leaned towards naturally gluten free recipes to start, and moved on to dabbling with some new and more intricate recipes, and then took the plunge to try converting family recipes.

My progress accelerated this winter during a planned medical leave for surgery, followed by a 6 week sabbatical that I had earned for working at Genentech for 6 years.

I kept a journal during my experiments, and now I’ve decided with the start of this blog to share what I’m learning.