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Carol's Culinary Cues - June, 2010
(c) Carol Fenster,
Ph.D. - President, Savory
Palate, Inc.
8174 South Holly St., #404,
Centennial, CO
80122
800.741.5418
ISSN
14244
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IN THIS ISSUE:
-RANCHO LA PUERTA SPA
OFFERS GF COOKING CLASSES
-GLUTEN INTOLERANCE GROUP
ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 2010
-FOOD FOR THOUGHT
-WHAT IS CAROL READING?
-WHERE IS THE WORLD IS
CAROL?
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RANCHO LA
PUERTA SPA OFFERS GF COOKING CLASSES
I
have always loved a good massage, but never had time to go to a destination spa
where you stay for days, rather than just an hour. When I wrote two cookbooks
simultaneously (1,000 Gluten-Free Recipes and Gluten-Free Quick & Easy)
and needed internal motivation, I promised myself a spa visit for each book.
Except… life intervened and there never seemed to be a good time (or the right
spa) for those visits.
And, then
a professional colleague introduced
me to Rancho La Puerta in Baja California. Well-known as one of the premier
resorts in the world (and founded by the same woman who brought us the Golden
Door Spa in southern California), Rancho La Puerta is everything I like in a
destination spa. The food is excellent, the accommodations are a mix of Santa
Fe-Old Mexico, and the staff anticipates your every need warmly and graciously.
All set on 3,000 lovely acres, right on the U.S.-Mexico border, about an hour
from San Diego. We lovingly call it “The Ranch." |
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Rancho La Puerta Cooking School
La
Cocina Que Canta (the kitchen that sings) |
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The Ranch celebrates its 70th
anniversary this year and
continues to thrive. Despite
what you hear about Mexico,
this area is completely
safe; in fact, some guests
have visited for 40
successive years and
wouldn’t dream of giving up
their annual visit. Most
people fly in to San Diego
and either take the Ranch’s
free shuttle from the
airport or hire a taxi. Once
you drive in through the
Ranch’s lovely gates, you’re
enveloped in gracious warmth
and hospitality and the rest
of your world waits while
you enjoy yourself.
I have blissfully visited
the Ranch twice and truly
enjoyed the food, which is
very fresh, much of it from
the Ranch’s own 6-acre
organic garden. I enjoyed
the full menu with everyone
else, the staff easily and
seamlessly transforming my
dishes to be gluten-free.
But, while most of the
dishes we prepared in the
“hands” on cooking classes
were gluten-free, there were
a few dishes I couldn’t eat.
So, I was delighted to learn
that Rancho La Puerta will
offer gluten-free cooking
classes this Fall as part of
its celebrity line-up (e.g,
Rick Bayless, Joanna Weir,
Pam Anderson, to name just a
few). And, I will be the
first teacher to offer these
cooking classes. The
inaugural class will be held
during the week of September
18, 2010, in the Ranch’s
new, 4500 square foot,
hacienda-style cooking
school. The building is
absolutely gorgeous; in
fact, I want a house just
like it. You’ll learn all
about gluten-free cooking
and that includes breads and
other baked goods, the foods
we miss the most. We will
also use produce from their
garden, which is a
fascinating tour in itself.
We don’t have all the
logistics on the cooking
classes worked out yet, but
I wanted you to know in
advance so you can plan
ahead. Watch the website at
www.RanchoLaPuerta.com
for details. You can sign up
for notices about the
Ranch’s events, too, on the
home page. Hope to see you
there. |
GLUTEN INTOLERANCE GROUP
ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 2010
I spent 3 days at the
Gluten Intolerance Group
annual conference and was
overjoyed to hear speakers
talk about non-celiac gluten
intolerance or gluten
sensitivity. That is what I
have (I have neither of the
pre-requisite celiac genes)
and Dr. Alessio Fasano says
that folks like me may
outnumber the celiac
population by 6 or 7 times.
Many speakers emphasized the
increasing prevalence of
gluten intolerance. Dr.
Joseph Murray of the Mayo
Clinic called it “a public
health issue.” Tom O’Bryan
says gluten affects our
brain, calling it a “dimmer
switch” and discussed
gluten’s wide influence on
our entire bodies, not just
on the gut. Dr. Stephen
Wangen thinks about 10% of
the U.S. has gluten
intolerance. Dr. Rodney Ford
(our delightful banquet
speaker) from New Zealand
quoted a March, 2010
Lancet/Neurology article
saying “To improve diagnosis
rates, the perception of
physicians that gluten
sensitivity is solely a
disease of the gut must be
changed.” Dr. Daniel
Leffler of Harvard updated
us on the status of celiac
disease research. There were
many other great speakers as
well.
There were somewhere between
50 and 60 vendors at the
event, and I’m proud of our
two new GF bread companies,
Udi’s and Rudi’s, both
Colorado-based. There were
also other wonderful breads,
including Breads from Anna
and Whole Foods. My, our
breads have come a long
way!! And, check out the new
flour called Timtana from
the same folks who brought
us Montina. I am anxious to
try it in my bread baking.
Speaking of breads, I was a
speaker and demonstrated how
to make artisan-style French
baguettes. I served them as
Crostini (an Italian term
for toast) topped with
Nutella (a
chocolate-hazelnut spread
popular in Europe and now in
the U.S.). My technique
involves making the dough,
refrigerating it, and baking
as much as you need
throughout the week. See
page 99 in 1,000 Gluten-Free
Recipes for a recipe using
this method.
Next year’s conference is in
Orlando, FL so watch the web
site at
www.gluten.net for more
information. These
conferences are an excellent
way to stay abreast of new
findings. As the experts
say, if the information in
your file cabinet is older
than two years (some say one
year) then toss it because
the research is pouring in
and many of the “truisms’ we
once accepted are no longer
true.
Finally, special thanks to
Cynthia Kupper and her staff
and the volunteers who made
this a wonderful conference.
Chef Aaron Flores (who was
once the chef at DisneyLand)
coordinated the food so we
ate very well. |
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
"Communication
is a skill that you can
learn. It's like riding a
bicycle or typing. If you're
willing to work at it, you
can rapidly improve the
quality ofevery part of your
life."--Brian
Tracy,
Canadian self-help author
WHAT IS CAROL READING?
With all this plane travel,
I have lots of time to read
on those long flights. I
finished
A
Homemade Life:
Stories and
Recipes from My Kitchen
Table
by Molly Wizenburg,
the writer behind the blog,
Orangette and enjoyed it. It
it a series of stories about
her life and food, easy
reading. I also read Frances
Mayes newest memoirs of her
more recent experiences in
Italy called
Every Day in Tuscany.
Another easy read,
especially if you like Italy
and food. Also set in Italy
is Keeping the Feast by
Paula Butturini who writes
about how she nursed her
ailing husband back to
health with good food. Although there
isn't much discussion of
food, I
enjoyed Laura Fraser's
All Over the Map,
in which she travels all
over the world to find
herself, try to fall in love, and
get paid to write about it.
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS
CAROL?
Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 1
PM: Minneapolis, MN, GIG
Annual Conference,
Minneapolis Airport Marriott
Week of September 18, 2010:
Rancho La Puerta cooking
classes,
www.rancholalpuerta.com
for more information
Friday, October 15, 2010 at
2:00 PM at Natural Products
Expo East: book-signing of
100 Best Gluten-Free
Recipes at Nutri-Books
booth
Sunday, November 7-9,
Boston, MA
Please
Visit
http://www.savorypalate.com
for information on our
Gluten Free Cookbooks.
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