Suuuuuushi!

Oh sushi, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. Thou art beautiful, compact, delicious, varied, spicy, exciting, shiny, crunchy, pungent, fresh, sinus-clearing, and arranged with graphic perfection. You appeal to my Virgo sense of order, and are always satisfying without being overly filling. Even if I stuff myself, I never feel the same level of regret/discomfort as if I'd eaten a comparable amount of say, pizza or French fries.

While the Pioneer Valley is not at Vancouver levels of sushi perfection, we do have some high quality spots for satisfying that sushi jones. My friend Tracy and I have regular sushi nights. We like Arigato in Amherst, which for some reason seems to have a bad rep around town. I've always had great sushi there, and their cooked food is good too. In fact, the background image of this blog is sushi from Arigato. We still can't quite figure what the vaguely sweet sea foam green sauce is that comes on their Amherst roll, but we can live with that.

We also like House of Teriyaki in North Amherst, which has a great variety of sushi. They don't sell alcohol, but you can bring your own, which keeps costs down. 

As far as gluten free issues – as long as you stay away from anything tempura-battered or containing teriyaki, you'll be safe. Neither Arigato nor H.O.T. has gf soy sauce, so I always bring my own bottle.

Osaka, in Northampton, has my vote for best sushi in the Valley. Bonus points for also having gf soy sauce and enough gf non-sushi menu choices if for some reason you're not in a sushi mood. Dinner on their veranda when the weather is nice is a great way to unwind after work and makes for great people watching.

Zen in Northampton, is a close second for best sushi. Their staff is helpful answering questions about which menu items are gluten free and they have gf soy sauce and a pretty extensive Saki selection. (Their website is also really cool.) 

At a recent visit with Tracy (and our significant others) to Zen, the following food was consumed:

Grilled chicken satay with lemongrass peanut sauce.

Chicken dumplings. (Jim's saying, hurry up and take the damn picture so I can eat my dumplings!)

Caterpillar roll.

Special chicken roll wrapped in lettuce with three sauces. (This had some other more official name, but I forgot to write it down and it isn't on their regular menu).

Nigiri sushi dinner.

Zen special roll with bonus Nigiri tuna rolls. (Another non-regular item I neglected to write down.)

Bulgogi.

Sushi. Good.

Fear of Quinoa

Today was a big day. Today I overcame my fear of Quinoa. Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa), is a Peruvian grain from ancient times that's been sort of "rediscovered" and is starting to go upscale. It's one of those things that everyone says you should eat if you're gluten free (or even if you're not), because it's easy to digest and loaded with protein. I've avoided it because I have a vague memory of eating it years ago and not liking it. But last weekend I was at a potluck party and my friend Lauren brought this delicious grain salad, and when I found out it was quinoa, I had to ask for the recipe.

Quinoa is a quirky little grain – it behaves a little bit like couscous – but with a vaguely nutty flavor. Whole Foods says to rinse it well before cooking, use a 4 to 1 water to grain ratio, and cook for 20 minutes. I didn't do any of that because the recipe Lauren gave me said differently and it turned out fine.

Here's her recipe, with my adjustments. She said she found it by Googling, so I apologize for not being able to correctly give credit to its author.

Balsamic Quinoa Salad

½ cup balsamic vinegar (I used a little over ¼ cup)

¼ – ½ cup best quality extra virgin olive oil (I used ¼ cup)

2 T Dijon mustard (I didn't have Dijon so I used deli style)

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 shallots, minced (I used one)

Salt, pepper and cayenne pepper, to taste (oops, I didn't notice until just now it called for cayenne. Didn't use it.)

1 ½ cups quinoa

Bouillon cube (didn't use this since the recipe doesn't say what to do with it.)

5 Sun Dried Tomatoes (Not in oil.)

1 red pepper, chopped

4 oz blue cheese (I didn't have blue cheese so I used feta.)

1 can black beans

Make dressing by combining vinegar, mustard, garlic, shallots and olive oil. Season to taste.

Add quinoa to three cups of boiling water. Boil for 10 minutes.

Rinse with cool water and place in a fine mesh colander. Boil water and place quinoa and sun dried tomatoes in the colander over the water. Cover with a kitchen towel and lid. Steam for 10 minutes. (I misread this and steamed the quinoa and sundried tomatoes first. [Never make a recipe for the first time while you're talking on the phone.] I realized my mistake after the ten minutes were almost up and just dumped the quinoa and tomatoes into the boiling water for another ten minutes, then rinsed them under cold water. I thought rinsing after cooking would reduce it to mush, but quinoa has a weird sort of dryness to it – the water didn't get absorbed and the texture was fine.)

Allow to cool.

Cook red pepper in a small skillet until tender. (I used fresh red pepper and didn't sauté it at all. It added a really great crunch to the salad.)

Combine pepper and remaining ingredients with quinoa. Add dressing and toss. Enjoy!

This recipe is pretty much idiot proof. Even though I messed up the cooking process and used different ingredients, it was delicious. All four family members liked it, including my vegetarian teenage daughter who proclaimed it her "new favorite dish." That's high praise indeed.

I served it with potato leek soup and a green salad. Yum.

One of Those People

When I was told I had a gluten allergy, my first thought was, "Oh no! I don't want to be one of those people." You know, the people who you overhear in restaurants, grilling the wait staff about every last ingredient; those sad, deprived people who can't eat pasta or bread or croissants or cake? I had already given up coffee in the interests of my digestive health and even after five years that continued to be a daily struggle, so I could only imagine how wretched not eating my favorite baked goods would make me feel. But after spending my entire life assuming my digestive system just didn't work right, and after being (mis)diagnosed with ailments like an ulcer and pancreatitis, I figured I would give it two weeks and see how it went.

Imagine my surprise when, after only three days, I started to feel better. My stomach pains diminished, the gas, bloating, and cramping went away, and after two weeks I felt better than I had in years. Guess I was going gluten free. But what did that mean, exactly? I knew anything with wheat in it was off limits, but I was surprised to learn that oatmeal contains gluten (oatmeal! ) as does beer. (Nooooooo!)

Thus began the slow process of redesigning my diet. I'm lucky to live in an area with a Whole Foods and a Trader Joe's and a few awesome co-ops that all have a great selection of gluten free products. It's been two and a half years since my last scone (still searching for a good one – scones have become my gluten free holy grail) and I've learned enough that friends have started asking my advice. So even though there are scads of food blogs, including some excellent gluten free ones, I'm tossing my laptop into the ring and starting Gluten Free Pioneer Valley, specifically for people who live here in beautiful western Massachusetts to connect and share ideas.

I'll be writing about restaurants and recipes, places to shop, and how to survive as the lone gluten free member in your family. There's no need to feel deprived – there's a whole world of deliciousness beyond wheat, and it's easier than you think to make it work.