London - 15th to 17th February, 2008

 

I'm putting a lot of my experiences of travel together in a book called "Travels with my Celia(c)". It's an awful pun I know.

The aim is to write something that is personal, light-hearted and hopefully gives a bit of information to coeliacs who might want to go somewhere different.

View the chapter on London!

El Piano

 

I had this e-mail from a restaurant called El Piano in York and Grandada.

Sounds interesting.

We have enjoyed your web-site in the context of Gluten-free-ness. Thanks for making it interesting and accessible.

Thought you would be pleased to hear that El Piano is 10 years old this year and we have celebrated by going from a more than 80% gluten-free menu to 100%, as well as nut-free (have always been) and totally free of animal products too!

Come and see us sometime, either in York or in Granada...the food is delicious...(well we would say that wouldn't we?)

Best,

EL PIANO
www.el-piano.com

York UK - Co. Reg. No. 03210744
15/17 Grape Lane
YO1 7HU
Tel: +44 1904 610676

Granada ES - NIE X2048335R
c/ Gran Capitan
18002 GRANADA
Tel: +34 646 018 110

Gluten Free Sausage Pie

 

Henry and some of his friends are coming down at the weekend, whilst I'm up in London.

Celia would have always cooked them something so I did the same this morning. Henry may have lost his mother, but he shouldn't lose the things she would do.

So I've cooked a variant of her sausage pie for everybody.

I took ten Musks gluten-free sausages and cooked them in the oven and then cut them into pieces which I put into the bottom of a large flat dish.

I also fried one onion and two peppers in a small amount of olive oil, which I then mixed with the sausages and a tin and a half of baked beans. Some gluten-free soy sauce was then added for flavour.


The whole thing was then covered by mashed potato.


Before heating it just add some grated cheese to the top.

I Thought it was Getting Better

 

I thought that hotels and restaurants were getting better in their treatment of those with allergies like me.

That is until I read this e-mail :-

We went to a wedding last weekend, and stayed at the Stirling Highland Hotel (where the wedding was held).

We told the chef that Lala was coeliac and asked if there was a gluten free menu option. No.
We asked the wedding organiser for a copy of the menu options and were sent a copy of the menu, and asked if we could have the beef and vegetables and we would bring our own gravy to be microwaved. No.
Chef said that he would provide the beef option as a coeliac option, including gravy. This didn't arrive - just a bit of beef and some veggies that had some sort of coating on them. Being 5 years old and faced with something she had never seen before, she wouldn't eat it, so we gave her some chips that we were assured were safe.

The starter was carrot and potato soup, but I think that the Chef used a wheat thickener, (either that or the chips weren't safe) because she was sick as anything over the following few days. When she got up on the Sunday, she was itching, and her face was an absolute mess.

We won't be eating there again.

I certainly won't be going to the Highland Hotel in Stirling.