Tag Archives: santa barbara

Whole Foods Event on March 8th

28 Feb

Have you ever wanted to eat out more often but were nervous about asking the right questions to ensure that you get served a gluten-free meal? Well in just over a week, yours truly will be at our local Santa Barbara Whole Foods to give tips on setting yourself up for a successful meal out! Leading the gluten-free support group session will be the wonderful Tia Yox, a local Holistic Health Counselor specializing in nutrition and lifestyle guidance. So come on out for this free event to learn something, to ask something or just to be among others who have embraced a gluten-free lifestyle!

When:

Thursday, March 08, 2012 from 5:30 PM – 6:30 PM

Where:

Whole Foods Santa Barbara

3761 State Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93105

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Eagle Paragliding

25 Feb

Two days ago, I had the opportunity to go paragliding with Eagle Paragliding based here in Santa Barbara. I know this has nothing to do with eating gluten-free (other than the fact that I packed a GF sandwich for our lunch break compliments of Whole Foods), but this is definitely an experience worth trying out. Not only did I feel safe and in control the entire time I was airborne, but the sensation of flying was a feeling I won’t soon forget. For video footage of one of my flights, visit my Twitvid.

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Cielito Taqueria

22 Feb

It is an unbelievably gorgeous day in Santa Barbara today, so we decided to go to a lunch spot where we could dine al fresco. We ended up trying Cielito Taqueria, the newest spot in La Arcada. I got two tacos, the crispy chicken taco and the shrimp taco. They were able to tell me that the corn tortilla for the chicken taco was fried in oil that was not contaminated by anything else.

I thought both of these were really good. Everything tasted really fresh. We also got a side of chips and salsa. My only complaint was that the salsa was served in little to go containers which made it hard to scoop out of. I also hope that the boxes and taco holders are compostable or recycled because it seemed like there was a whole lot of packaging used. We sat outside right by the fountain which was full of turtles that entertained us by playing their version of king of the hill. We will definitely return next time we are craving some Mexican food downtown!

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Petit Valentien

19 Feb

One of my favorite nooks of downtown Santa Barbara is La Arcada. I have been meaning to try Petit Valentien for quite some time since it is in such a charming walkthrough, so we went last night. Our waitress knew right off the bat what I could and could not have. I started with a salad with greens, roasted beets and really good goat cheese. For my main dish, I had lamb served with mashed potatoes and ratatouille. It was quite good. Then came the desserts. As our waitress ran down the list, there were 3 that she told me were GF! Now I am not a big dessert person, but if someone tells me that 3 desserts are GF, I think that it is my responsibility to try all of them. The three were a flourless chocolate cake, a GF cheesecake (cheesecake!) and a vanilla creme brulee.

The creme brulee had a great vanilla taste, making it my favorite of the three. The cheesecake came in a close second. It was just so exciting to be able to eat cheesecake since they typically have crusts. The flourless chocolate cake was good, but I found it to be a bit dry. From start to finish, the meal at Petit Valentien exceeded my expectations!

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El Bajio

18 Feb

I wanted a quick and easy lunch, so I decided to try El Bajio this afternoon. I have a friend that always says how good their veggie taco is so I tried one of those and one of their spicy chicken tacos. The veggie taco has grilled zucchini, carrots, onions, bell peppers and cheese. It was a nice departure from the usual fillings of a veggie taco. The other taco consisted of spicy chicken, bell peppers, cheese, lettuce and sour cream. I liked the veggie taco better. Both were held together by corn tortillas that were good, but not quite as good as Super Rica in my opinion.

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Hungry Cat Happy Hour

17 Feb

Does that look refreshing or what? I had some good friends in town for the day which gave us a reason to celebrate. Where else to do that but at Hungry Cat, the most wonderful location for a happy hour. At half-off prices, you can enjoy a few of these without much damage to your wallet. The waiter we had was great, ensuring that a potato vodka was substituted into their Luke’s Lemonade for me. I wasn’t dining there tonight, but their raw bar items are wonderful and gluten-free!

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Tydes at the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club

9 Feb

Here’s the catch…. in order to eat at Tydes, you must either be a member of the Coral Casino Beach and Cabana Club OR you need to be a registered guest at the Four Seasons Biltmore. So what are you waiting for?! Go get a room for the night! Reason #1 you should book a room: You get gluten-free bread when those that eat gluten get their bread. My warm bread was served with a fantastic olive oil. Reason #2: The Butternut Squash Soup.

This was unbelievably tasty. One of the many perks of having GF bread is that you can soak up every last drop of this amazing soup. Reason #3: The Caesar Salad.

I got this without the croutons and without the anchovies on top. Do you see how much grated cheese is on top?! This is the caesar salad I dream about….It had a slightly garlicky dressing that was great with all of that cheese. Reasons #4: The incredibly fresh Branzino. For my main dish, I had the Branzino which was served with chickpeas, capers and olives.

This piece of fish was prepared perfectly and went really well with the saltiness of the capers and olives. We decided to get a couple of sides with our main dishes…which brings me to Reason #5: HERB FRIES WITH PARMESAN AND TRUFFLE OIL.

Imagine my excitement when I found out that these are made in a dedicated fryer. To be honest, it is worth staying a night at the Four Seasons just to have these fries. They were beyond wonderful. As for our other side dish? Reason #6: Broccolini with parmesan. These didn’t photograph as well because it was dark, so you will just have to take my word for it when I say that they were cooked just right. Overall our meal here was perfect. In addition to all of the dishes, our server was warm and attentive. And now comes the hint dropping for my husband… doesn’t a night at the Four Seasons sound great?

 

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Ahi Sushi

8 Feb

To celebrate my half-birthday (yes, I count that as something worth celebrating), we decided to try Ahi Sushi on upper State Street. I had my San-J travel soy sauce packets on the table when I started to explain to our waitress what I was allergic to, and she said the magic word, “gluten“. She brought me out their gluten-free soy sauce to use. She then was absolutely fantastic in confirming what I could and could not have. I started with the MaMa Mia roll which consists of yellowtail, salmon, cucumber, avocado, jalapeno, jalapeno masago and garlic.

It typically includes two sauces but to be safe, we omitted them. I then had the Sgt. Pepper Roll which has crab meat (not artificial), cucumber, avocado, mango, albacore, jalapeno and masago.

I also had this roll without the sauces. The last roll I had was a basic yellowtail roll. They were small, compact pieces which I love because they are easy to eat. Overall, we had a really great experience at Ahi Sushi, mainly because of our waitress, Masami.

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Lunch at Sojourner Cafe

6 Feb

If you are like me, you sometimes look at restaurant websites to see what their specials are for the day. That is what I was doing this morning when I saw “hearty vegetable soup” on Sojourner Cafe’s menu and knew that that was what I must consume for lunch. I started with a cup of this GF hearty soup which was perfect on an overcast day like today. Then I had the garlicky caesar salad without croutons.

I wasn’t planning on getting dessert, but then our waitress informed me that they had a gluten-free brownie bite. Of course I had to get it so that you could see a picture of it.

This was the perfect amount of richness. What a perfect lunch for a rare day off from work!

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The Taste of Victory

5 Feb

What is the best way to celebrate the NY Giants Victory? For me, it was to bake one of the vegetable pot pies in my freezer made by Simply Pies. I will be honest… I was really nervous about preparing it correctly. Even though it only had three steps, I tend to screw things up in the kitchen. However, 45 minutes later, I had a delicious pot pie that I happily consumed. I will definitely be buying these again.

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