Misadventures and Chili's

For the record, in the title, the misadventure and Chili's have nothing to do with each other. I just didn't remember to blog the misadventure until now..

Misadventure first.

To first backtrack, I used to work at the COC bookstore, and when life got a bit too busy, I offered up my hours to those who were staying there. (ie, I quit) But I told them to keep me on file for if they ever desperately needed help. Well, last Sunday I got the call. I start working there again tomorrow for this week and the week following. (yay for additional income! Originally, it would go straight to birthdays and Christmas, but right now, the paycheck will be going to all the new expensive flours and food things I have to get. x_x How exciting...not.) I AM excited for the next 2 weeks and the bit of income it'll provide. I'll be totally dead on my feet next week when I start interpreting as well, but that's just a small detail... Here's the problem that I had realized last Friday:  LUNCH.

What am I going to eat? My lunches at home have been leftovers and fresh things that take at least 30 minutes to make. But now I'm going to be in a high energy, constantly moving environment that also has tons of yummy drinks that have sugar in them, cookies, chips, and all the delectable delights THAT I CAN'T EAT ANYMORE!!!! For example, the chex mix they carry at the bookstore. Wheat. Corn. Not happening. The Vanilla Muscle Milk that I love there? Nope, it's dairy. No Pop Tarts. No sandwiches. No cookies. No happiness!

Then I had a thought, trail mix! I can have trail mix, right? Wrong! Most trail mixes either are raw nuts, (which would literally kill me), have M&M's, (which I dearly love and miss), have raw dried fruits, (that could kill me) and all sorts of wheat, corn and sugar things in them that I can't have. Dilemna. Solution: buy my own freeze dried fruits that I'm NOT allergic to, buy roasted nuts that I can eat, and make my own! So I go on my merry way to Trader Joe's. I call up my nutritionalist to find out the top 3 most nutritious nuts that I can eat. Almonds. Walnuts. Pecans. (in that order) I already have some roasted almonds at home, and I'm not that big a fan of pecans by themselves, so I just bought some walnuts and pine nuts. I bought some dried strawberries and blueberries, and decided to try out the mango while I'm at it.

...I'm driving home, and decide to test that mango. I've never had mango before. I open the bag, toss one in my mouth. Oh cool, it has a tingly flavor to it. ...wait, a tingly flavor? Oh, great, my throat is tingly too. Well, I won't be adding mango to the mix, I'm allergic to it! >_<

 I get home, mix up the nuts and other dried fruits. Pop some in my mouth, enjoying munching on it. I grab a walnut, toss it in and crunch away. ...and then notice the familiar tingling sensation. Now, I know I'm allergic to raw nuts. But I could've SWORN that I grabbed the bag of toasted walnuts! I check it. Nope, I grabbed the raw bag of walnuts. *facepalm* Soooo...That Bearded Guy has his very own container of trail mix. Congratulations to him. >_>

 Yesterday we went back to TJ's and bought more fruit for my own mix. Couldn't find any roasted walnuts, so we got roasted pecans after all. Added in some almonds and pine nuts. Yay! Trail mix I can take to work and snack on! And it's yummy! And it won't kill me! (these are all good things, yes?) ^_^

That little Christmas tin? That fits pretty well in my purse for a
traveling snack. Yay for cute tins that are functional that Mom has!

So those were my misadventures. Now on to Chili's.

TBG and I were pretty hungry driving home from church today, and we were discussing the sadness of not being able to eat out with all my restrictions. I mean, I can't even have french fries from anywhere! (why? because they use that same oil for chicken tenders and chicken fingers and things that are dipped in a batter that has wheat in it) But we were discussing this, and then he has the idea of going to Chili's to see if they have a gluten-free menu. If they have that much, we can then ask them to alter whatever we need from it. (ie, no dairy, no sugar, etc) I was skeptical. Very. But I said sure, I'm already not expecting anything, so it's not like I have any hope to crush.

We drove over to the "new" Chili's-off Golden Valley-and follow the stream of hungry peoples. I'm already prepping to leave, because I just have no hope, and he asks the gal at the counter if they have a menu. She says yes they do! I'm shocked. Astounded. We get seated. She has to go to the back to grab the menu for me, but that's alright, I'm still surprised they had a menu! Granted, the menu itself was rather small, just one sheet of foods that are gluten free, but they had some good choices. I was excited to see that they had salmon on the list, so I ordered some salmon, rice and veggies. I gave the waiter the list of things I can't have. Wheat, dairy, sugar, oats and corn. (now, I know the rice had butter in it, but I wanted to see what-if anything-they would do) He took our order, and left us to chat.

After not too long a wait, our food arrived! Strangely, my plate was absent of rice. The waiter was very apologetic, apparently their rice has butter in it, and would I like another side? So I got another side of veggies. The salmon and veggies were surprisingly good without butter or anything added to them. So now I know, that much to my delight, I can eat Chili's!

Delicious!

TBG's burger and fries

Of course he had to eat those amazing smelling fries in front of me. Thankfully, they weren't well done fries. If they had been, I may just have had to have some. As it was, it was rather difficult to ignore. I'll need to get some french fries made somehow here at home. That'll be another adventure for later. As it is, I'm thrilled to know I can eat at Chili's!