Gent Fest (Gentse Feesten) - My Personal Thoughts

Now I have started this about 3x's over. Each time it just ends up being too much so I'm just going to break it down. Gent Fest is a music related fest with the customary food, drink and misc vendors at your whim so to speak.

From a gluten-free stand point, this is *NOT* something to go to simply because 90% of the 'drinks' are beer related (Belgium after all) and all the food located/sold within this event can not be considered safe for people who need to live gluten free. If you do attend, make sure you pack drinks and food because you will not find much otherwise. You will be able to find places that sell soda in bottles/cans but nothing 'special' that can be trusted.

Now, I had to work in the the middle of this. In the beginning I was really looking forward to it because it was a sure way to have lots of hours, over time pay, night pay and all of that but in the end the weather ended up being SO hot (90+ almost all week) that it made the whole experience just pure hell.

My reasons to *NOT* attend this again, working or not. Mind you this is the first time in the 12yrs that I've been living here that I've even seen it much less attended in any shape or form.

1. Gluten Free options - NONE with exception that you can find bottled/canned soda or water
2. The music, although stage by stage was not bad, was nothing special and if anything sometimes was awful because you can hear about 3 stages at once at any given time. So if you are standing any where except right smack in front of the 1 stage you want to be hearing, you get a jumble of different musics and sounds going on... most annoying. Not to mention it's REALLY friggin' loud! Lots of noise level, lots and lots of bass sounds ect.
3. The sad part of it - 16 is the legal drinking age here. This sadden me EACH and EVERY day I worked this fest. Every night I would walk home and find myself watching 'kid' after 'kid' walking (if they could) down the street so drunk by all the booze open to them to buy at this event and just feeling sad that they are even allowed to get that way much less that they are still KIDS! They are just harming themselves. They aren't old enough to know the difference between enjoying a drink and drinking because they think it's cool or great to get drunk... THAT drunk! *shs* I mean never mind the idiot adults that know better, I feel no sorrow for them at all, they know better... but who the hell is teaching the kids right from wrong?! Well that is the only place I feel sorry for the adults, they are suppose to show them that part.
4. GARBAGE! OMG, I have not seen so much trash in all of my life. It's almost as though the whole day this thing goes on and on, although there are TONS of places to throw trash actually out, no one seems to take note and there certainly are no attendants going around helping to keep the place clean. This all happens in the few hours in the early to late morning before the whole thing is to start again.
5. Transportation.... holy man! Buses and any kind of public transportation is totally re-routed. For me, getting to work was a very very bad problem. Firstly, hello... 2nd/rd shift the entire time so that alone made it a problem because I started well after the whole day of the fest has started (earliest was 5pm) and then on top of it we had REALLY hot weather here (90+f) most of the week. Now the bad thing is with the re-route with where I live I have to take the same amount of time to either wait/take and transfer buses/trams to get about a block from right where the fest starts and then walk for 15minis to get to my work or I can just screw it and take the same amount of time including the bus/tram ride to walk from my house. I couldn't even rent a bike for this thing because that too has been cut off from being allowed to be used! Yes that is right, it's SO packed and so hard to get through all the people that they made it so you can't even ride a bike. It was just a really bad problem to get to work. Not to mention at the time that *I* had to come home, there was again 2 choices... walk (not gonna happen after a full night shift, in hot weather and at 2-4 in the morning!) or walk back to where the buses/trams drop me off and pick up a taxi... which of course costs 11euro a ride (for me at least considering I don't live far from it). You do the math, a bus pass (30euro) plus 10nights of taxis (lets round it to 110euro).... that is a LOT of money to have to put out just to get to and from work for 10days.

Ok before I get too much off of the topic... music ok if you are RIGHT at the stage you want to be at, rest of it, don't bother.

I'm off my rant now... I'll return next week with some yummy recipes I hope but if not this coming week, I will be back after mid August when I've done the holiday weeks for my bosses.

General Talk - Be Careful Of On-Line 'Gluten Free' Shops!

Out of pure boredom tonight, I went searching to see if I could find anything nice and tempting to buy gluten free on the web. I came across a site that seemed almost too goo to be true. It was shop located in Aussie but also right under it's logo mentioned 'world wide shipping'. This sparked my interest right off the bat.

I started to look... first thing I went to was cake decorations. I have been DYING for some stuff like sprinkles and confetti to decorate cakes/cupcakes and what not with. I start to open pages to look at them more in depth as they also offered ingredient lists to the items. By now I'm totally and utterly excited because it's been so long since I had any of these to make things pretty, specially for Christmas and the last page I opened made my jaw drop... right smack in big bold print were the ingredients that even made FULL mention of glucose syrup from wheat! WTH?!

They say in their 'about us page' that they say and I quote (without names being mentioned of course as I'm not here to bash any one)....

'We take pride in providing the largest range of gluten free products in Australia. The majority of us here experience some allergies or food intolerances, which helps us considerably to understand what each of you, as customers,are looking for whilst shopping.'

Now this item might have only been a slip up but I can't see how it could possibly be a slip up when it comes to gluten free if a person actually has to type in the word 'WHEAT' when putting in the ingredient list. Come on.... 

So my heart sunk... another site I can not trust to be 100% gluten free. Even today I was out shopping at a local outdoor market with my mother for the last time for a few weeks due to some festivals that will be happening and wanted a bottle of water... I couldn't even do that because the only place to buy it was at a stand that sold hot dogs, sausages and burgers all with buns... then they would have to touch my bottle of water.... blah.

Ok so with that said, BE CAREFUL WHEN ORDERING ON THE WEB! If you see something that looks a bit off... DON'T CHANCE IT! I know there are a lot of people out there that are only living this life style because they think it's better for their bodies but for those of you that are following my blog because you HAVE to live this way such as I do, you can not ignore this instinct... if you think it's wrong, then most likely it is wrong.

I wrote a comment to this site and will see what their response is but I know for a fact that if people who have to live gluten free didn't have a problem with items such as sugars in items made from wheat then we also wouldn't need factory warnings on items that are only processed in places where gluten products are made... after all the same amount of wheat will be in the item with sugar from wheat as those made in a factory as far as I'm concerned... it all hurts our bodies and reverses the healing effects we've worked so hard to get to happen!

Now I might be overly sensitive to this subject so I looked up about if sugars made from wheat are 'safe' or not. The first report I found was at http://surefoodsliving.com/2008/09/is-glucose-syrup-gluten-free/ and says according to the FDA guidelines that it is 'safe' but sorry, I can tell them 100% that it isn't. But again, I'm only 1 person aren't I?? But I don't need medical testing to tell someone that I got into wheat some where... I don't need a test to tell me I have a tummy ache, bathroom problems, tiredness, anxiety and memory problems/fogginess due to getting into gluten some where. I believe personally the best way to avoid getting into gluten that could be doing your body harm is to just stay away from it. Simple as that. The only reason we have this issue going on is due to 'processed' foods any how and I do strive to stay away from these as much as I can and if I can't, I know I can simply avoid the few items that do contain stuff like this.

Ok rant done... storms have rolled in again for the 3rd night in a row and I'm gonna go enjoy them! I miss my old USA based thunder storms so I have to enjoy them while I can!

General Talk - So Called 'Recipes'

Hello all you wonderful food bloggers (and readers!) out there. I'm in the process of working a post about one of the wonderful soups I made toward the end of last year but in the mean time I have been wasting a bit of time (like I know we *all* do) by browsing through recipes on the net.

This is what brought up my post today, especially seeing as that this is a cooking gluten free blog where every thing comes down to cooking as good as you can with things naturally provided for you that are gluten free. At least that is what I strive for even if it's not always 100% unprocessed.

So tell me... have you ever gone on a recipe hunt for say a stew or a soup only to find so called 'recipe' after recipe that call for canned this, mix of that or a box of that?? I mean WTH?? If I wanted to throw something together that was completely and utterly pre-made, why would I waste my money on canned/boxed items that are being 'tossed together' when I can buy something much better already pre-made and cooked for me?!

I'm so tired of finding recipes that look soooo wonderful due to presentation on some blogs and get sickened by the actual ingredients that it's just not funny. For instance, the most recent one was a recipe for tator-tot casserole but instead of starting with fresh made potatoes, you can go buy a box of frozen rosti style potatoes. Then it calls for a can of cream soup, a package of dry soup, some dry herbs, pre-shredded cheese, canned corn/veggies and the only real 'cooking' to be seen or done is frying some ground meat and putting it all together in the oven for 30mins.

OMG?! It's sacrilege to cooking! Ok if you REALLY don't have a single cooking bone in your body, perhaps this is the only way you can get a decent meal into your system that isn't bought outside your home but come on people... think a bit. How much salt, preserves, empty calories, fat and so much more useless items are in these so called 'recipes'. Sure it takes longer, sure it takes more time to prepare other then frying some meat but if you think of all the health benefits to making it all from scratch vs these store bought preserve filled salt laden items, wouldn't it be more worth it to your health to do so?

I am now on a drive to produce a 100% from scratch version of tator tot casserole just to show how easy it can be to make it *without* all these pre-made/bought store items. It will only include real fresh potatoes, fresh or perhaps frozen corn (it's the season for ears of corn after all!), home-made cream soup and FRESH herbs! Ok I admit, dry herbs aren't bad but why in the middle of spring/summer especially would one want to use dry when the fresh grow and thrive so wonderfully? Only premade items I intent to use is some sour cream and a block of old fashioned mature cheddar cheese that I'll shred myself. Stay tuned for something perhaps not quite as simple but at least a LOT healthier for you!

Venting - Having Patience In A Restaurant

I'm writing this entry because this effects not only those of us who live with a gluten problem but every one else around us and the posting this time is a venting session... these do not happen often but if I do go on about something, it usually means to sit back and think a bit.

When you visit a restaurant, if you are gluten free or not, please for the sake of god or who ever else you might believe or not believe in, STOP BEING SO FRIGGIN' SELFISH AND IMPATIENT!

I have had one of the busiest weeks of the last 10 years. I have been put into a full time position this week due to the fact that some where in about a week worth of time the restaurant I work for has lost all but 1 other of their paid employees not including myself. I do not mind this in general except that also means I have closed every day since last Tuesday by myself when normally at least the ending days of the week there is 1 or 2 others to help with closing which means about 20 to 30 minutes after the store closes, we should be heading home with the store clean.

When a restaurant is under staffed and you want your order taken/served, please take into account different things before you go complaining to any one that your server was slow.

1. How many servers are there? *BIGGEST AND MOST IMPORTANT* If there is 1 server when there should be as many as 3, my god, have the MOST patience, come back another day or at another time or just go some where else that day/night! That poor server is doing or at least trying to do the service of that many people ON THEIR OWN!

2. How much is going on around the area? Are there fairs/markets happening, is it really nice weather, what day of the week is it, what time of the day is it, how many people are actually in the restaurant wanting to order?

3. Is the lobby closed or do you simply believe that the restaurant is just really quiet and your server doesn't know how to work fast enough to fill their lobby? Most restaurants close parts of their lobby some time before actual closing hours. It isn't empty because your server can't do her job, he or she would *NOT* be working there if that were the case. They close the lobby so when it is a bit quiet, they can go about getting it cleaned and ready for another day of business.

4. How many people are before you? How much are they ordering? Do you really expect to be served within 5 minutes if you are in a line of 10 other people that have large orders?

5. If you are visiting a fresh made to order restaurant like the one I work at, are all of the ingredients ready for your server to use or does he/she have to restock? I know that I have to restock if I'm busy, do you?? This means more time to run to where the stock is, get it and come back to fill it. THIS TAKES TIME!

6. Does your server have to do other things while making an order? Does he/she have to do extra things have to keep an eye on people who walk in and out just to use the bathroom which is *NOT* free to his/her business to use and should be paid for if the person is not a customer, does he/she have to do stuff like reset their computer because it crashes out in the middle of business and takes 2 or 3 minutes to reload, does he/she have to explain what sauces they have 100 times a day due to people not knowing what is what in their restaurant? This ALL TAKES TIME!

Ok people do I need to spell this out for you? Your server is *NOT* slow... you are IMPATIENT! You take into NO consideration of your server as to why he/she might be slower in serving you because all you want is to be waited on and have your food. You are selfish and just make yourself look like an idiot while making your server feel like a fool when you go complaining about 'slow service' to their boss. Can you tell the boss why your server was slow? Does it chalk up to any of the reasons above that I listed? Have you even thought about what all it takes to keep a line running smooth? Have you ever considered that your server might be on her 5th or 6th straight day of full time hours? You'd be bloody tired and a bit slower then normal too if you did the kind of job he/she does and after that many days straight.

Ok Thank you for reading this. Please, especially if you live a gluten free life, HAVE PATIENCE! If you need something special please remember those requirements mean your server has to make sure it can happen and in a way that is not going to be a problem to any one else. And please by all means, if you are requiring a service that you *THINK* should be free but the restaurant you are visiting says it is not, it is *NOT* your place to demand and abuse what *THEY* have for their rules. If you do not like the rules a place has set up, go some where else that has rules you prefer. I say that last one with all respect to every one but just because you are with a young child that you are trying to toilet train and insist that you use the bathroom for free, remember it takes money for the business (restaurant or other wise) to run that bathroom whether it be for an adult or a child. You are *NOT* special because you have a child or are elderly or any thing else. If you have no intentions of buying any thing from the business you need something other then what they offer from, at least be kind enough to buy a soda or pay the small fee they place on non-paying customers... a child costs just as much as an adult when they use a bathroom... a toilet doesn't just magically change it's tank size for a child, a child still uses toilet paper to wipe with, they still use water and paper towels to clean their hands and you both still use the same amount of electric to run the lights that are in that bathroom... and most likely even more so because you have to be slower due to the child then you would be on your own.

End of vent... please think about your server before you go complaining at all about slowness or other minor problems you *THINK* are a problem. It pains them :(