Remember the half-term holidays? I know, only last week, but already it seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it… Did you enjoy it?

We drove south, and spent a few days visiting relatives – which was lovely – but then had a hideous journey home. All motorways were blocked. Eventually, we headed cross-country only to find that our last remaining route was also blocked, so we decided to take a break and hope that the roads would be clearer in a couple of hours.

So, not expecting much, we pulled off the country roads at Bicester, and trekked into the Bicester Retail Village. This was due to close for the night in a couple of hours, so we really weren’t optimistic, and there wasn’t a lot of choice.

A typical distress purchase, in fact.

However – and you knew this was going to end up well, didn’t you? – we walked into Carluccio’s. We’ve not been there before, though we know of it, of course: it’s an Italian foodshop with a cafe attached, isn’t it?

Turns out to be rather more than that.

Could they feed us? Yes. Even though one of us was a coeliac? Yes – tell your waitress.

So we sat, and did the usual picking out of items that might possibly be acceptable, only to discover a note that said they had a dedicated gluten free menu. Could we see that?

Oh the joy.

3 starters; 4 salads; 6 different pasta dishes (yes – pasta!); 2 meat-based dishes; and 6 side dishes.

Such a delight to go somewhere where my daughter has a choice – and more than a choice of salad, salmon or baked potato. And the staff were delightful: helpful when we needed it, and sincerely apologetic when the children’s choice of dessert wasn’t available.

We loved it. All five of us chose a different pasta dish; my coeliac daughter chose a simple tomato and basil one – gluten free. Perhaps next time she’ll choose something more adventurous now they’ve earned her trust.

Because we’ll be back. Not only as part of our north-south travels – because Bicester is ideally placed halfway – but also to Carluccio’s other branches. There’s one in the Trafford Centre…

The only thing I’d suggest for improvement is that they develop a gluten free dessert menu as well, as the current dessert menu isn’t clearly marked up for GF or not.

If you’d like to know more, to download the gluten free menu, or to find out if there’s a Carluccio’s near you, visit the Carluccio’s website.

I’m a little confused about how, exactly, you’d get barley into chocolate and nuts, but nevertheless, we’ve received an alert from the FSA to warn us that the Asda Extra Special Chocolate Coated Nut Selection contains barley gluten that is not declared on the label.

This alert refers to:

ASDA Extra Special Chocolate Coated Nut Selection 215g bag
Best before date: End April 2010
Batch codes: BBE April 2010

Action taken by the company:

Asda Stores Ltd have withdrawn the affected batch from sale and are displaying notices in food stores to let people know. If you’ve bought this product, don’t eat it. I’d suggest returning it to Asda to find out whether they’ll refund the price (I’m sure they would).

You can find out more at www.food.gov.uk

Have you seen this yet?

Linda Simon over at Kitchen Therapy is teaching people how to cook different gluten free recipes by video. This is an excellent idea, because it often helps to be shown how to do something something, rather than flapping about incompetently (speaking personally here, obviously!) – and she’s very knowledgeable, so provides a lot of interesting information as she cooks and talks.

How does she do that, incidentally? She’s cooking, being filmed, and maintaining an intelligent and coherent discourse throughout – and she doesn’t make a mess… Not like that in my kitchen, I can tell you! Anyway, her style is very reassuring, as you’d expect since Linda is both a dietician and a personal chef.

There are many other recipes and ideas, and a whole lot of information on her blog that is freely available (I am loving the idea of Foamy Black Bug Juice for Halloween), but there is a charge for these training videos. Each Kitchen Therapy gluten free cooking video series is a bargain at just $14.95. And you can watch them again and again. There’s an After School Snacks series up at the moment, which has got 5 gluten free dairy free recipe videos in, and the next will be about a gluten free Thanksgiving. (Quick sum in head: that’s only $3 per video, and you can watch them over and over.)

I’ve been watching the After School Snacks series, which includes making your own hummous (my daughter loves hummous, though I’ve never tried making it myself – and now I know how easy it is) and Cocoa Beans Brownies (now you just know that’s going to go down well). Fab stuff – and, helpfully, she provides the recipes in a downloadable form, together with additional information and links that she’s mentioned during the video.

I’m hoping that she’ll do a series of videos on the basics of gluten free cooking as well: pastry making, and bread making, perhaps.

Do go over and have a look: there are some good things going on over there at Kitchen Therapy.

Competition for the best gluten free fresh bread is hotting up!

Just when you’ve got used to seeing fresh gluten free bread on the shelves at Tesco, there’s a competitor coming along… This is all good news for people who have to live gluten free. It improves choice, provides healthy competition and publicises the issue. Hurrah!

Dietary Specials are announcing their new gluten- and wheat-free fresh breads, available in ASDA. Each is 400g, and is either a soft white loaf, suitable for sandwiches, or a multi-seeded bread using linseed, sunflower and pumpkin seeds. I love a seeded loaf myself, though I know my daughter would probably prefer a plain white. I don’t know of another seeded fresh gluten free bread, do you?

Being fresh bread, this doesn’t need toasting or refreshing – another bonus. And I’m really pleased that these fresh breads are becoming available in supermarkets, which makes it much easier for people to cater for my daughter.

And apparently, these loaves will be available at £1.50 until the end of October (so act fast!). I’m looking forward to testing this bread, though we haven’t an ASDA near us, so I’ll have to look out for one over half-term – do let us know what you think of the bread if you find it first…

After I commented on hate-email last week, I received a lovely email from Lorraine at AllergyCooks to cheer me up. Thanks Lorraine!

Lorraine has written a book of recipes for cooking wheat-free. egg-free and dairy-free – which, judging by the pictures, ought to be excellent – and posts a Recipe of the Month feature. This month her recipe is gluten free dumplings: very appropriate given the sudden slide in temperature outside, and I might just give these a try at the weekend.

You should take a look at her Media page; she’s clearly working hard to publicise allergy issues. We should all be doing more of that…