A New York Gluten Free Minute

First, I just want to thank the "celiac chicks" who have helped me find all the wonderful gluten-free restaurants in New York that I look forward to visiting when I'm there. This past weekend I was fortunate to actually find and try some gluten free potstickers!!! It was the first time in over eleven years I was able to order them in a restaurant. Lilli and Loo's (on Lexington) have a gluten-free menu with a wide assortment of choices. I drank Thai Iced Tea, gobbled up the potstickers and a finished with a crispy fried shrimp dish. Quite good and really a treat.

On a sunny and warm Sunday afternoon we headed to the Broadway show "Wicked." I wish I had pictures to show you, but they don't allow picture-taking in the Gershwin Theater (a good idea because you wouldn't want to miss a moment of the action on stage while messing with your camera.) What an amazing show. I was mesmerized from the opening number until the standing ovation. This is a picture of the stage right before the magic began:


Here's my favorite daughter, Jess, with her adorable boyfriend, Vitaley, in Bobby Flay's restaurant "Bar Americain," where we dined after the show (my favorite son was home watching the pups). I loved being in New York and I loved being with Jess & Vitaley for 3 whole days. I love so much about New York that I had to ask my husband if he was getting irritated at me constantly saying, "You know what else I love about New York?" He kindly replied that I wasn't irritating him at all. Hmm...I don't know about that...


The big letdown was on Monday when we all decided to meet at "Risotteria," the Italian GF restaurant I always try to visit when I'm there. This time I was going to try their GF panini. But we arrived to find it was closed for the day. Yep, a bit of a bummer, but we found another nice place nearby and then spent the afternoon doing a little shopping. How can you go to New York and not spend some time shopping? I splurged on a really-cool-sweater-wrap-kind-of-thing so am looking forward to fall so I can start wearing it everywhere. It's one of those pieces of clothing you can throw over your jeans & t-shirt and look like you are dressed far better than you really are. I need more of these. Lots more.

Autumn

It's been a beautiful fall day here in Georgia. Sunny and slightly cool with a pleasant breeze blowing the first of the leaves off the trees. It's getting dark outside earlier now, as well, which I'm always ready for. It's a true toss up between fall and spring, but I think this just may be my favorite time of year. What a perfect day to try out Karina's Black Bean & Sweet Potato Enchiladas! I would have never imagined combining sweet potatoes with black beans, so it's a good thing we have people like Karina around whose creativity knows no bounds.




When I first saw this recipe posted on her blog, "Gluten Free Goddess," it looked a little complicated. But it isn't. Once you get all the ingredients together, it's actually very simple...and quite tasty! Next time I will make a bit more of the sauce, though, and add a touch more goat cheese to each enchilada. As Karina suggested, I served this alongside a green salad with some mandarin oranges, and threw some dried cranberries and nuts on the top. This is a great meal for my vegetarian daughter. Can't wait to try it out on her when she's in town. :)

Recently I've been working on a filigree pendant while taking a break from all the pounding on metal involved with Repousse. You truly need to take time off every now and then or your neck/shoulder muscles will begin to scream. Here's a sterling silver pendant with a blue Kyanite stone and a cultured freshwater pearl I just finished. Because it is so small (about the size of a quarter), I've decided to use a purchased chain (oh, such guilt!) instead of trying to make a chain that would be small enough to look right. I truly don't think anyone will mind! :)