The Professor and I have been very fortunate to have opportunities to travel quite a bit the past few years; it’s fun, it’s exciting, it’s challenging and it has stretched both of us in ways we’ve never expected. It’s probably been more of a growing experience for me than it has been for The Professor – primarily because I’m more of a control freak than he is – and anyone who has traveled knows that sometimes you just have to roll with things and let them happen . . . not necesarily my strong suit . . . but I’m learning.

While on a trip in April 2012 I began to suspect I had celiac; my youngest sister had nearly died more than 4 years prior and a biopsy came back positive for celiac – a genetic disorder – so we knew the gene was part of our family history. My mother was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease more than 40 years ago and I have cousins and aunts from that side of the family who all experienced similar symptoms; once I quit eating gluten, the stomach/bowel isues as well as nagging joint pain, bloating and other lovely side-effects disappeared.

I didn’t spend a lot of time baking pre-celiac but paying nearly $8 for a loaf of bread pushed me into the kitchen, out of my comfort zone and, as Ariel sings, into ‘a whole new world.’ But for anyone with celiac or a gluten-intolerance, eating out is like walking a landmine. I’ve had my fair share of cross-contamination and initally, experienced the familiar flu-like symptoms for about 48-72 hours: headache, body aches, etc. I even went so far as to say, ‘Eating gluten will make me sick but it won’t send me to the hospital.’ But recently I had a severe reaction to eating a small amount gluten and, had I been alone, I could have died; as  you can guess, I’m now hyper-vigilant in the world of restaurants and eating out.

The Professor found a very helpful app for your iPhone, iPad and/or iPod – Find Me Gluten Free; it’s a free download and on a recent trip to St. Louis, it came in very handy in finding a lovely little cafe – New Day Gluten Free – a completely gluten-free cafe where every. single. item. on the menu is gluten-free. And there’s a note posted on the door asking people not to bring outside food into the cafe as they don’t want their customers to be exposed to cross-contamination. Everything we tried was excellent and if you’re there for lunch, order the New Day Sub. Cookies, cinnamon rolls, decorated special occasion cakes as well as bread and a plethora of carry-out items are all available. We’ll be heading back to St. Louis to do a full story on them soon. (I love this sign behind their service counter.)

And you know what? Find Me Gluten Free lists 2 gluten-free restaurants in Rome – which is a good thing because our bags are packed again as we head out to Italy! We’ll be shooting video for the wonderful folks at Jovial Foods and capturing the Culinary Getaways they offer; Shauna, Danny and Lu of Gluten-Free Girl will be teaching gluten-free baking classes for part of our visit and Jenny from Nourished Kitchen is leading classes the second week we’re there. Jovial is also home to our favorite gluten-free pasta, sauces and cookies – but they also produce gluten flour from the ancient, organic Einkorn wheat – the only wheat in the world that has not been hybridized and is grown in the Tuscany region of Italy. We’ll be posting more about our experience here on Smith Bites as well as twitter, instagram and on facebook so we hope you’ll follow along. The photos I’ve used in this post are from their website – we cannot wait to arrive and see this space in real life!

The Professor and I plan to travel whenever possible, say ‘yes’ to opportunities that stretch us; we want to meet new people and visit other countries to experience as much of this world as we possibly can – always telling stories along the way.

And I’ll tuck a few gluten-free snacks into my bag for those ‘just in case’ moments when the lay of the land looks a little dicey.

Ciao!

© 2013, Debra. All rights reserved.

A few weeks ago, The Professor and I were basking in the incredibly photogenic hills of Murietta, California where Maggy, Pam and Erika threw one heck of a party; we were there to shoot video and capture the essence of the Big Potluck experience as well as lend a hand to help wherever we were needed.

I’d attended the very first Big Summer Potluck nearly four years ago when Smith Bites was only 8 months old; I didn’t know anyone, was still getting the hang of social media and hadn’t traveled to an event like this without The Professor. There were about 40 of us that hot and sticky August day; white folding chairs were set in rows; husbands, moms and boyfriends were recruited to be the extra hands and feet of hospitality. Attendees did indeed, bring food: cookies, muffins, salads were shared as well as a big dose of kumbaya as we gathered in that sunlit space with warm wood floors, tall glass windows and wrap-around decking. I’ve attended other conferences since then – and I’ve enjoyed each one for various reasons but my heart will always fondly remember that first BSP.

Taking The Big Potluck on the road this year was a first for the trio and it didn’t disappoint; each speaker brought nuggets of inspiration to the table and I saw many heads nodding, fingers scribbling furiously to capture words and phrases that resonnated – and as always, cameras snapped away and pictures were posted to instagram. But I will also tell you that one of the highlights for me was hearing Jeannine Harvey of ONE-moms and Barrett Ward of livefashionABLE share about the women and children their organizations work to support. Believe me when I say, it was not only a highlight of the weekend, but meeting both Jeannine and Barrett has been life-changing – I cannot stop thinking about these women, who live on another continent and whom I’ve never met – The Professor and I hope to have the opportunity to work with Jeannine and Barret in the future as we both believe in using our voice to speak for those who can’t.

I’m being honest when I say that Big Summer Potluck set me on a journey I never dreamed I’d experience – the people I’ve had the opportunity to meet, the traveling The Professor and I have been able to do and the kind of work we are deeply passionate about – telling stories. Smith Bites has never been about a ‘recipe’ – and while we certainly post recipes, our mission has always been about telling stories – yours, mine and ours. We write, we photograph and we shoot video in an effort to tell those stories as best we can in a way that will make you laugh, cry, inspire and maybe even encourage someone else to go out and change the world.

I read this post last week that has set itself squarely in my heart and I cannot shake it; the ultmate question was, ‘Friend, what are you wasting your life on?’ The upshot of the post is that a reader wrote and said she was ready to quit ‘wasting her life’ on her family, her husband and her children – she wanted to follow her dream of being a photographer and wanted to enroll in one of their classes. I highly recommend you take a few moments to read the full post and then answer that question for yourself.

My own short answer is this: all of the above. You who come here to read our words, you who look at our photographs, you who watch our videos, you who reach out on twitter and/or facebook, you who allow us the privilege of telling your stories – you. The Professor and I are ‘NOT wasting our lives’ on you, on living each day as present as possible, connected to you.

The Big Potluck is many things: friendship, love, connectedness, food, laughter, tears, sharing, giving and much, much more. I hope The Professor and I can ‘waste our lives’ on many more – and we thank each of you for being a part of this big, big family.

I hope you’ll take a couple of minutes to watch the video piece above – and be sure to watch all the way to the end, including the credits – we’ve added a couple of fun surprises!

© 2013, Debra. All rights reserved.

We’re in that ‘between’ season which is the end-of-semester-regular-school-year and the start of summer-session teaching for The Professor; I think it may be one of my favorite weeks of the year because Spring has definitely arrived, the gardens are finally awake for another season and the morning light is bright and quite lovely. We sleep a little longer in the mornings and stay up a little longer in the evenings – a nice change of pace from the usual 5am wake-up calls which happen from September to May the rest of the year.

This time of year also means we are outside, digging in the dirt, planting our vegetable garden – which generally relies heavily on herbs, a few root vegetables and plenty of tomatoes. A few years ago, it was a race between me and a persistent groundhog as to see who could get to the tomatoes first; for the record, he won most of those races – even after I moved some of my tomato pots to our upper deck. But he was not deterred and there was many a morning I’d find piles of half-eaten tomatoes splayed over the planks, taunting me to try and catch him – which I never did. He must have moved on to better territory as he wasn’t around last year – knock on wood.

We try to eat seasonally but occasionally, I’ll see a recipe that has my mouth-watering, ala Pavlov’s dog – this Heirloom Tomato Tart from Greg Henry’s book, Savory Pies is one of those recipes. It’s about three months too early for local, seasonal heirloom tomatoes here in the Midewest but I spied some of my favorites at the grocery – baked into a buttery gluten-free crust, add a simply dressed salad of greens add and your favorite glass of crisp, white wine, voila – dinner; simply dressed greens, toast and coffee? Breakfast or brunch; with perfectly brewed iced tea and you have lunch.

If you’re into all things pie (and I am), you’ll be in pie heaven with Greg’s book; fresh spins on standard favorites like Mushroom Tarte Tatin, Bite-Size Beef Wellingtons, Corn Pudding Pies with Chilies and Chicken, Artichoke Clafouti, Chickpea Samosas with Spicy Mint Sauce and Apple-Bacon-Onion Southern-Style Fried Pies can make a girl weak in the knees. All are equally accepteable for family gatherings, dinner parties or intimate dinners for two; the ingredients are easily procured with easy-to-follow directions and many of the recipes include wine pairings.

Greg is a personal friend and one of my most favorite people in the world; he’s a force of nature in the kitchen, a gifted portrait photographer to Hollywood movie stars, witty, genuine, and at times, a self-described curmudgeon – but he still makes me laugh. And if you haven’t listened to The Table Set podcast, you’re missing out; teamed with fellow entertaining extrordinaires Andy and Nathan, these three guys know a thing or two about throwing a party.

One last note – the color of the beauty isn’t off; blending the cheese with the tomatoes gives this stunner a lovely orange-ish hue so don’t be alarmed – I promise every bite will taste like summer!

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of Savory Pies free of charge; however, all reviews and opinions are strictly my own.

© 2013, Debra. All rights reserved.