Jet lag. It woke my up at 2am and overrode any idea that I was going to go back to sleep. That and the hotel room was hot. I could not sleep, so for those of you across the time zones who kept me company for five hours while my family slept, thank you.
I was going to do my best to not focus on food for this blog, but today was a food day. Food is my medicine. That's a good thing, but it also gets exhausting and frustrating at times. I'm still on a learning curve with mistakes and still finding unchartered territory for me. I'm still finding firsts I have to get through, but they are becoming less frequent.
I was told Europe has this GF thing down, but my experience has been they are more GF for "fad" diet purposes instead of celiac protocol. There is a bunch of GF found in many places, but too often it shares the same case and a few inches away from a gluten item. Cross contamination is crumbs. And that's what I was calculating risks for today. This morning our hotel offered a huge complimentary breakfast buffet, European style of course--breads, meats, cheese, plus eggs, bacon, and cereals.
They had a gluten free section with all kinds of GF bread and a dedicated toaster. This is a must. Shared toasters can make us sick. As I put the bread in the toaster, I thought about the possibility of someone using it not knowing it was for GF breads. It was all written in Swedish, but I used the toaster anyway. Processed meats we have to be careful of, too, so I skipped those. I ended up with toast that was possibly contaminated, two slices of watermelon, and a small bowl of GF granola without oats. That's what I could eat with all the current food restrictions to give my gut time to heal. The watermelon, however, tasted like onion, so they were sharing cutting boards in the kitchen. Besides that being a bad sign, I cannot eat onions or onion powder without getting ill. They won't kill me, but they will ruin my day. Within 30 minutes and on our way to the ship, I started feeling bad. I had to wait to see if it was gluten or onions. Thankfully, it was onions, but still, it was onions.
We boarded the ship and the first thing you do is go eat in a buffet. Buffets are not good for celiacs. One double-dipped spoon in a gluten source, and we are all sick. I hate asking for help. I hate even more putting my health in the hands of others. But I had to eat because breakfast was a failure. I found a chef and told him my situation. He showed me how to find the GF on the buffet and said if I didn't feel comfortable, ask anyone working to find him and he would make my plate in the back to prevent cross contamination.
It was all I could do to not cry. He brought out a plate of mashed potatoes with GF gravy and a slice of prime rib and assured me I was going to be safe. He said I could enjoy my food, and it was his job to keep me safe. This guy met me five minutes prior, and he was more concerned about my health and safety than some of my friends. I tried really hard not to cry. Again, the kindness of strangers.
Anyone who has ever taken a cruise knows there is food everywhere. As we toured the ship outside the dining room, there was very, very little food for me. That was fine. If I get good meals, I don't need food between, but food was't something I had noticed before on other cruises aside from there just being a lot of it.
Dinner blew my mind. I walked into the dining room, we were escorted to a table, and within three minutes the waiter's assistant showed up, looked me in the eye and said, "You are a celiac, yes? We will take good care of you. No gluten. No worries." And every person working our table stopped by to confirm and said pretty much the same thing.
The head waiter stopped by to chat with me about my food requirements. When I gave him the list--eggs, onions, and tomatoes along with all things gluten, he proposed dishes that he could put together and make work. He promised me again I was safe and I need not worry. I was given a salad, watermelon raspberry soup (cold), filet, baked potato, and roasted carrots. It was the best meal I've eaten in a long time, and it was free of worries.
I believe I exhaled for the first time since leaving my safe kitchen back in Georgia. He took my order for tomorrow, and one thing I'm most definitely looking forward to is banana rum soup! For the first time in days I felt full and had no fear wondering "what-if" from the many list of possibilities that haunts a celiac if we think too much.
There was, however, a woman two tables for two to the left of me who heard this conversation and told her husband that what I was really dealing with was glyphosate and not gluten. No. It's really gluten. These are the things that frustrate me. I need this to be taken seriously.
But the night ended on the balcony with a cold breeze blowing. Cold enough for a sweatshirt, long fluffy yoga pants, and thick fuzzy socks. It was that kind of weather. I watched the pilot boat run along the side of us as we worked our way out of Swedish waters and into the open sea. We were followed by two other ships that centered themselves in our wake. The sun was slowly setting for hours, and that alone slowed me down.
I sat on the balcony for over an hour taking pictures as we cruised among the many Swedish islands while having hot tea with honey and some dark chocolate. The lower the sun crawled, the colder it got, and I gave up before the sun disappeared in the white night.
Fearless food. It ended up a great day. Tomorrow it's Helsinki. Liisa is meeting us at the gate. Tomorrow will be about Helsinki and not about food.
P.S. I'm working off an iPad, and it won't let me edit the order of the photos, so you will be getting a pile of photos during this trip. :P And I have no idea why the font changes the way it does. I'm just over here typing. See you tomorrow.
2025-02-07