An Anniversary Bike Ride

Two years ago, my dad and I made a plan to go on a bike ride. The fact that he was in Minneapolis and I was in Boston did not stop us - nope, he was just going to throw his road bike in the back of our old clunker of a mini-van and drive it half-way across the country, and what's so hard about that? I should say that this was not just any bike ride, but a big group ride - the Boston Hub on Wheels, the annual 50 mile group ride that attracts an average of 5000 riders - and if there is one thing my father likes, it is group bike rides. Seriously, I don't remember the last time I saw him in a T-shirt that wasn't from a big group bike ride - the Saint Paul Classic, the Watermelon ride, the Tour of Saints, the Mankato River Ramble, various Iron Mans - if it's a group ride in Minnesota, I guarantee my dad has done it, and has the t-shirt to prove it!

We never got to ride the Hub on Wheels that year. A month beforehand, I came down with a mysterious illness that had me confined to home and bed, and as the ride approached, I only seemed to get sicker. A week beforehand, my dad called, sounding sad. He couldn't risk missing two weeks of work on a bike ride that I was probably too sick to attend - it would have to wait until next year. We couldn't get a refund on our registration, but at least we got to keep our matching T-shirts.

A week later, almost two years ago to this day, I received a note from my doctor: "Kara, your tests are actually POSITIVE for celiacs disease." The mystery illness turned out to be an incurable autoimmune disease, and what's worse, one that would forever forbid the consumption of cake! And oh boy do I love cake! Suffice to say, the last couple of years have been a mighty challenge - nine months of leave from school, living with my parents, numerous dietary overhauls, more doctors that I can count, and generally feeling pretty awful - but, on the two year anniversary of that fateful e-mail, I have a little something to celebrate:

My dad an I went on a bike ride!

Yep, two years later it finally happened. My dad toted his van and his bike 1400 miles across the country, and on September 23rd we gathered in city hall plaza with thousands of other bikers to, literally, take over the streets of Boston.

Car-free Storrow drive during the Hub on Wheels - Mwahahaha.

We made it a total of 45 miles, and at the end of the ride, my dad bought not one but TWO t-shirts for himself. Plus one for me, so we could match.

I have learned, if you can't celebrate a bittersweet anniversary with cake, a good bike ride will always do the trick.

My dad and I at the first rest stop

Addendum: Mexican-style black beans and rice if you have a little more than a hotel microwave

In my previous post I gave a recipe for a black beans and rice dish that you can make using only a hotel microwave, made possible due to the glory of canned foods. But if you have a little more time and few more appliances, it's very easy (and even tastier, and much cheaper!) to make the black beans and rice yourself. Here is the recipe I use. Add your choice of fresh mozzarella, avocado, mango, or salsa, and you will have a meal fit for kings!

Ingredients:

• 1 can organic black beans
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1/2 sweet pepper (whichever color you like), chopped
• 1/4-1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon chipotle pepper flakes (chili powder works too)
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
• salt (to taste)
• 1 cup brown rice

Instructions:
Cook the brown rice using whatever method you prefer (rice maker or stovetop), adding the amount of water indicated on the package. Saute the onions, garlic, and peppers over medium-low heat until soft/just beginning to brown. Add the black beans, cumin, pepper flakes, cilantro, and salt, and continue to cook, stirring frequently, for about 10-15 minutes. Serve the black beans over rice and add whatever extras you like. Yay!

How to make a tasty gluten-free meal using only a hotel microwave

Last weekend my dad and I drove an hour and a half down to Rochester, MN to visit the Celiac Center at the Mayo Clinic. Being my first "vacation" (if you can call it that) since starting a strict gluten-free diet in February, I was a little apprehensive about what I would eat. I still won't dare set foot in a restaurant, no matter how gluten-conscious it claims to be, and the thought of three straight days of peanut butter sandwiches on that dry crumbly gluten-free bread made me quite sad (and a little nauseated).

But with a little culinary creativity, I came up with a solution to this cooking conundrum:

Mexican-style black beans and rice with mozzarella and fresh tomatoes

Cooked in five minutes using only a hotel microwave and refrigerator (though you could easily make due without the refrigerator). This is also makes a good "OMG I just got home from work/school and I have to eat something NOW!" recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 can Eden Organic Black Beans and Rice (Caribbean or Mexican style). A statement on their gluten status can be found here.Want to make your own black beans and rice? Here's my favorite recipe.
• Grated Mozzarella cheese* (if you don't have access to a fridge I bet string cheese could also work!).
• 1/2 Tomato, diced
• ~1/4 teaspoon Cumin
• Salt to taste

*If lactose intolerant, avocado would also make a nice addition to this recipe.

You will also want to bring a can opener, plates/knives/spoons, and of course your gluten-free toaster.

Ok, ok, a gluten-free toaster isn't really required for this recipe, but really, no Celiac patient should ever leave the house without one!

Instructions:
Empty about 1/2 to 2/3 of the rice and beans can onto a plate. Stir in the salt and cumin. Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and microwave for 2-3 minutes. Add tomatoes on top and enjoy!

BONUS: What to do with that gluten-free toaster you dragged all the way out here!

Open-faced tomato and cheese on toast

Ingredients:

• Gluten-free bread of your choice
• Good quality hard cheese (I used my most recent obsession, Gran Queso from Whole Foods)
• The other half of that tomato
• One clove of garlic (optional)
• Olive oil (optional)

Instructions:
Toast the bread. Cut the garlic clove in half and rub a small amount into the toast. Add a bit of olive oil to the bread and assemble. Yay!

Medical Leave and Doing Nothing

After my last post I received a couple messages from friends asking about my health. For those that don't know, I have been on medical leave from MIT since the end of March, primarily due to unexplained exhaustion. While fatigue is common among grad students (in the words of one of my doctors: "You're tired? You're a grad student. I need more.), it is not common for a 25 year old to be bedridden after a four block walk to the grocery store. The good news is the doctors have been unable to find anything wrong with me, other than Celiac disease. The bad news is, the doctors have been unable to find anything wrong with me, other than the Celiac disease. And, after a month and a half of rest and three months on an ultra-strict gluten-free diet, I am still not feeling much better.

 "I know this must be hard for you," my advisor said, when I told him of my decision to take a leave, "you don't get to MIT by being the type of person who takes off for a few months to do nothing."

And it's very true.

Before leaving for home I had already started making lists of all the ways I could make this medical leave as productive as possible: Organize all my computer files. Read that large backlog of research papers.Catch up on all fifty thousand e-mails. Oh, and write the next Great American Novel.

But, as we all know, life has a way of hijacking even the most earnest of to-do lists. Some days are okay (suck it hard drive! Your ass is backed up three ways to Sunday!), but on others the simple acts of taking a shower and eating breakfast are enough to send me back to bed. One of the blessings (and curses) of being sick is that it limits your choices (which isn't always a bad thing). You can no longer feel guilty about not doing all the things you think you should be doing because you really can't. Not without making things worse. So while the insidious voice of Mr. To-do hisses away in my ear, I try and turn my mind to more important things: re-learning the art of doing nothing.

I used to be excellent at the activity of nothing. I once could spend hours just looking at rocks (it's true! I had a rock collection that filled up half my bedroom!). But due to the pressures of adulthood or the pervasiveness of technology, I have forgotten this skill. I guess I should try to get it back again. I mean, I have nothing better to do.

Yep, I am midway through knitting a scarf. I really don't need another scarf. Scarves are something I berate myself for buying when going over my monthly budgets. One by one they accumulate in my apartment, puddling on the floor and tangling in the wheels of my office chair. I keep buying them cause I like the colors. And now, I am knitting one. It keeps my hands busy and, well, I like the colors.

My mom and I have unofficially begun a project of identifying the birdsongs we hear in the morning. "It's deeeeeee - deeeeeeee - de-dee-de de-d, ee-de de-dee-de," my mom sings to my grandma, "do you know what it is?", while I page through soundbites on the internet. My favorites are the white-throated sparrows, which have been camping in our back yard pine tree on their way to their summer homes up in Canada.

And, no period of hard core sloth would be complete without a cat to share it with. I've been hanging out with my grandma's old cat, one of three strays that wandered onto their property when they moved in over ten years ago. My grandparents, with the naming creativity of physicists, called them Goldy, Whitey, and Spotty. Can you guess which one this guy is?

He is a sickly old man whose shoulder blades cut through your fingers when you run your hands down his back and whose face and ears are shredded with scars from his young tomcat days. But he spends his time basking in the spring sun and purring like a tractor at the sight of a petting hand. Cats sure are smart when it comes to doing nothing.

Gluten-free dreaming, Part I: The Cracker

I had a dream last night about crackers.

While walking back to lab through the infinite, I looked down at the piece of cheese I was munching on and discovered a half-eaten cracker beneath it.

"Aw man! I'm eating a cracker!" I thought, and spit out the crumbs into a nearby trashcan.

Five minutes later, I found something crunchy in my mouth again.

"God dammit!" I thought, "I just ate another cracker!!"

A Bread-less Boston Thanksgiving

It is evening before Thanksgiving, and I am gearing up for my first turkey-day with friends rather than family and, also, without bread. That's right, no more bread for me! At least, not of the wheat-containing variety (ie, the good kind). A couple months ago, during a none-so-pleasant stomach flu that was persisting into it's third week, I received a positive blood test for Celiac disease, an autoimmune disease in which eating gluten destroys the lining of the small intestine, resulting in malnutrition and stomach pain. It requires a genetic predisposition ("Hey baby, I'm genetically predisposed to you . . .") but can manifest itself anytime during one's life, and is often triggered by stress (uuhhhh, as a fourth year phd student I have no idea where I'd get that from).

There is no cure. The only treatment: a lifetime ban on gluten. (Good job MIT. In addition to taking away my pride and my sanity, you have now also succeeded in taking away my ability to eat BREAD!)

I was actually incredibly relieved to have the diagnosis. I have been struggling for months with unexplained fatigue (I asked my doctor for a mono test at the beginning of the summer. She said it was allergies and handed me some Zyrtec. And a pregnancy test - because at MIT medical, all ailments are a result of pregnancy. Seriously, dudes, I dare you to go to the clinic complaining of nausea and fatigue - someone will ask you when your last period was) and it was nice to finally know the cause.

And, somehow, maybe not by accident, I have just never really liked bread that much. Rolls? Nah, I'll stick with mashed potatoes. Donuts? Rather have a Twizzler (Ooops, they are also made of wheat. Uh, I'll take some chocolate then). Pasta? I'll go with the tacos instead.

Finally, one more reason not to feel too sorry for me (though, some pity is always appreciated): I live in Cambridge, MA. There are two Whole Foods, two health food co-ops, and one Trader Joes within walking distance of my house. A pizza place that makes it's entire menu using gluten-free dough (i.e., with rice and sorghum flour rather than wheat). A bakery/cafe with freakin' gluten-free take-out dinner options. Not to mention, tacos - with corn tortillas - are always gluten-free (and lord knows how easily I could live on nothing but tacos).

Anyhow, this Thanksgiving I'll have to skip the rolls and pass on the mac and cheese, but I'm cooking a wild rice side dish, mashed potatoes, and some gravy with corn starch rather than flour - and lord knows as long as there are mashed potatoes and gravy, something is going right in the world.

For those who are curious, and to clear up some misconceptions:

Gluten-y foods: Anything containing wheat, rye, and barley. This includes bread, cereal, pasta, baked goods, and beer (nooooooo!), plus just about every processed food made in America (beware of "vegetable thickener"!) and also just about every restaurant item made in America (as I've discovered from a couple highly disappointing "gluten-free" dining experiences)

Gluten-free foods: All kinds of rice, beans, quinoa, potatoes, corn, sorghum wheat, and buckwheat.

Cheers!