A Story Of Eating Gluten Free In & Around Dijon, France

The beautiful original painting above by one of my best friends and favorite artists; Rachel Kokko. She painted these as the favors for each guest at her wedding and put together they make a full painting of the beautiful Chateau she and her husband got engaged and were married at. She's amazing.

After the second worst transportation fiasco I've experienced during my travels (the first involved forgetting my passport), my husband and I managed to change our rental car reservations and navigate our way on to a train from Paris to Dijon. Keep in mind, this was all after spending 20 hours gallivanting around Iceland with only a 4 hour plane ride worth of rest in between the adventure and the subsequent chaos of having no access to our funds. After sleeping most of the way and almost leaving my purse with all our cards and passports on the train, we arrived in Dijon both mentally and physically exhausted. Instead of easily heading to the various gluten free friendly health food stores I had researched and mapped out - we would have to drag our 3 weeks of luggage around the cobbled streets to find the nearest grocery store to stock up on food I could eat.

Thanks to the incredible kindness of the Dijon visitor center employees - we were able to find our way around Dijon and made it to the Monoprix. Looking at the first floor filled with apparel, I was dubious of the gluten free options I might find inside. I ventured up the escalator and found myself in grocery shopping heaven. Rows of fresh produce, sheeps milk cheese and yogurt, and a huge selection of gluten free baked goods. Including the things my gluten free dreams are made of; soft bread, croissants, and delicious cookies. If you find yourself in Dijon - don't fear, plenty of gluten free options can be found at the Monoprix.

Exhausted and loaded down with far too many groceries in addition to our luggage, we splurged on a cab ridge to the historic chateau we would be staying at in the small village of Vougeot.

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Gluten Free In San Diego, California: New Finds & Old Favorites

It's almost hard to believe that my trip to San Diego in February was the last time I traveled out of state. While I was down there all of my future work travel was canceled (at least for the time being) so all I've got left are three short personal trips coming up later this month and in May. The time at home as been much needed - I don't recall the last time I can say I slept in my own bed for a consecutive month.

Either way, I'm glad my last trip was to San Diego. Since I lived there for 3 1/2 years it's an easy place to get around and when I went last year I discovered oodles of gluten free friendly eateries. While I generally make an effort to get out and try new places, I found myself returning to Casa Guadalajara a few times this trip. However I was able to pull myself away from their delicious Mexican food to try two new-to-me places that I now get to share with you!

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Gluten Free In Portland, Oregon: Sweet Treats

So far, Portland is my absolute favorite city to visit for amazing gluten free and vegan eats (no, I'm not vegan - but I have a preference for it, especially while on the road). There's just so many options and sometimes it feels like I'll never make it through my long list of places I still need to try there. Good thing I'm only 3 hours away, so a quick trip down to Portland is a realistic option.

Cinnamon

Find them around Portland or Online

(971) 258-2995

First I want to tell you all about a bakery started by one of the blog friends I met in real life at my first blogging conference last year. Geanna is funny and delightful in person and I'm always inspired by people who start their own businesses. A month or so ago, Geanna asked me if I'd be interested in reviewing her tasty treats from her bakery, Cinnamon, and I said of course. Generally, I don't do reviews but in the case of small businesses started by awesome blogging friends - I feel like an exception is appropriate.

Geanna sent me 3 varieties of her donuts; a plain one topped with cinnamon and sugar, a chocolate one, and two of the new seasonal lemon ones (my personal favorite). They were by far the best I've had since going gluten free and the fact that they're also free of the common allergens and vegan - total win. I love products that just ditch all the common allergens since that makes them friendlier for a greater number of people. Both my husband and I were truly impressed by the fluffy texture (none of that graininess that comes with a lot of gluten free treats) and how moist they were, especially after being shipped. These donuts were heads and shoulders above the other gluten free frozen ones I've found in grocery stores.

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Gluten Free In Barcelona, Spain

Oh Barcelona. I must admit that you are not my favorite city in the world and to be honest I was rather under whelmed. Park Guell was very interesting, albeit swamped with people, and seeing the ancient Roman walls was cool too. Perhaps because neither of us are super into art or architecture, the crowded nature of the city, or maybe we were just ready to head home - either way it just didn't end up being a favorite stop on our trip.

All that being said, eating out gluten free in Barcelona was a real treat. We were only there for about a day and half and on tight food budget, but we even found a restaurant where I could get dessert (for someone who can't do gluten, dairy or soy - that's a serious treat!).  

Heart Burger

Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 602, 08007 Barcelona, Spain

+34 933 02 10 30

First things first - no, the burgers are not made of hearts, just shaped like them (so are the gluten-full buns). Second thing, I'm not really a burger person but the Hawaiian burger was one of the best I've ever had - could because of the manchego cheese melted on top (I don't recall the last time I had cheese on a burger) and the gluten free bun. They also have vegetarian options including deliciously interesting salads and sides. Their staff were wonderful and great at helping me pick out a safe meal - I even got a trio of sorbets for dessert!

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Gluten Free In The San Francisco Bay Area, California: The Peninsula

The day after I got back to Seattle from my month long stay in Brooklyn, New York - my husband and I hopped in the car with our pup and headed down to the San Francisco Bay Area to spend a few days with half of our family for the holidays. While it was a quick trip and packed with family gatherings (full of gluten free food) - we still managed to try out a few gluten free friendly spots up and down the Peninsula. We'll start down south in Sunnyvale and get all the way north to San Francisco itself!

PF Changs China Bistro

390 W El Camino Real Sunnyvale, CA 94087

(408) 991-9078

If you've been reading my Gluten Free In posts for a while, you'll know that PF Changs is one of my favorites for a great (and safe) gluten free meal. One of the things I love about PF Changs is that it offers options for anyone. There are plenty of vegetarian dishes and if you're sensitive to soy like me - there are a few dishes you can get without it!

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