The Anti Dairy Fairy

This credit crunch is a nightmare, my son was made redundant before Christmas and Ella graduated from the Royal College of Art last August having gained her Masters and since then she has only been able to get bits of freelance work and is supplementing this by working for minimum wage in a bar.  Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with working in a bar but when you have worked so hard to gain qualifications and knowledge it is very galling not to be able to use it.    

As for Recruitment Agencies, it would be nice if they actually read the CVs they were sent rather than send inane emails in response to a job application along the lines of “you do not meet the criteria” or some such twaddle or, even worse, tell you, you are not even being considered because you haven’t worked for the last two years!   No of course she hasn’t worked for the last two years (although she has done some freelance work whilst studying) because she has been gaining her Masters – can you see the smoke coming out of my ears.    

Anyway, I digress, Sam has managed to get another job thank goodness but Ella is now thinking trying to do her other dream job …. she wants to open a shop selling dairy free cakes etc.    This would be lovely if it wasn’t for the crunch, how is she ever going to fund this.    Through necessity she has cultivated her baking skills and now makes the best chocolate brownies (all diary free of course) I have ever tasted.   

So if anyone out there has a job for either a textile print/graphic designer or wants to buy some cakes, just let me know.

ADF

PS:     In reference to my email to the Daily Mail Editor regarding the crass comments about ‘Dairy Free Chocolates for Faddy Eaters’ I never did get a reply….bad form I say.

Today I watched last night’s episode of The One Show, I normally watch this in the evening but yesterday happened to be out when it was on.   I was informed by my son that I should watch it on I Player and did so this morning….  I have to say I am, as usual, disappointed with the BBC because it was such a one sided look at intolerances and allergies and I also felt there was a distinct lack of understanding of how people with a genuine allergy have to cope.   It is so easy if you are lucky enough to be able to eat and drink anything and everything that it is difficult to comprehend just how difficult life can be for anyone with an allergy, be it nuts, dairy, wheat etc.    

I am not going to bang on about these difficulties as anyone who is the least bit interested only has to read previous posts on this blog to get the drift, but I do think the BBC should present a programme explaining the difficulties of living with an allergy thereby giving all those people who sat and watched the programme last night and were tearing their hair out in frustration at the way it was presented, a chance to put their side of the story.   I would also like the presenters to try living the life, for one week, of someone who has an allergy and see for themselves that it is not easy and not to be sneered at.

It will never happen though, will it?

ADF

PS:   I did register my disgust on The One Show’s blog!

This recipe has been adapted from one I read yesterday in a Morrisons Magazine :-

125g pure or other dairy free spread

100g clear honey

1/2 tsp ground ginger

150g dairy free chocolate (grated)

50 g mix of seeds

75g no-soak dried apricots finely chopped

25g glace ginger pieces

75g cornflakes

50g rice crispies

Place the Pure, honey and ground ginger in a pan and heat together gently until dissolved.

Remove from heat and stir in grated chocolate, seed mix, apricots, ginger, cornflakes and rice crispies and mix together.   

Press into a 20cm x 30cm cake tin lined with baking paper.

Allow to cool and chill for 1 hour.

Cut into 12 bars and devour.

ADF.

I have been very lapse in updating this blog and this weekend was reminded of how a random comment/description in a publication can fuel the perception that allergies/intolerances are just people being ‘picky foodies’.   A comment of this nature was published in the You Magazine over the weekend and I saw red, so I fired off an email expressing my disgust.

I could not find the Editor’s email so instead sent it via Sarah Stacey who writes a Health Notes column, one which I find extremely useful.   Well, Sarah got straight back to me and has been very helpful, so my thanks go to her for replying straight away, being understanding about my email and giving me the nudge to update this blog.    Sarah’s column has some great tips so is a ‘must read’ for anyone with allergies etc.  

She asked me for some tips on foods that Ella can eat and so I requested the same from Ella and this is what she sent me :-

- Wensledale sheeps cheese – available from Waitrose
- Roquefort
- Buffalo mozzerella
PLEASE NOTE : I can tolerate a very, very small amount of sheep’s cheese or buffalo mozzarella occasionally, like once every couple of months but this is also becoming a problem.
- Dietary Specials chocolate cake mix from Sainsburys 
- Dairy free chocolate buttons/bars from Sainsbury’s Free From range.
- Sweet William dairy free chocolate spread – Sainsburys.
- Alpro and Provomel products.
- Choc chip cookies from Sainsburys in the rectangular box (which are 
  from the free from section).
- Starbucks now do a dairy free brownie and orange (or lemon i can’t  remember) cake in selected stores
- Golden Korma Safe to Eat dairy free/gluten free/nut free/wheat free/additive free & egg free curry sauce – Sainsburys free from section.
- Lolyd Grossman’s Thai Green curry sauce
- Sainsbury’s  Thai yellow sauce in the black plastic sachet.
- Napolina Pizza bases – 2 in a box
- Grano Vita Soja cream
- Alpro soya cream – they do a small size which is ideal.
- Pure margarine
- McVites light digestives
- Farm Foods fruity/curranty biscuits (usually on offer of 5pks for £1 – bargain).
- Sainsbury’s puff pastry coz that was yum!
- Doves farm organic biscuits – Sainsburys/Waitrose
- Some of ‘Mrs Crimbles’ biscuits – supermarkets and some other stores
- Swedish Glace icecream in various flavours i.e. chocolate, vanilla, raspberry, blueberry.
- Pasta & Curry sauces, hand made at Blueberry House, Pastures Farm, NN7 1HL available at Farmers’ markets in and around Bedfordshire.
-  Meringue cases (to stave off cravings for puddings).

Favourite restaurants: - 

Wagamama – they do sorbets and fruit lollies which means I can actually have a pudding.   They also do two different types of noodle, rice and wheat so are ideal for coeliacs too.

Smiths of Smithfield (Faringdon, London) – the staff are absolutely great and make sure all dietary requirements are met without any fuss and offer suggestions to help out, as well as being top nosh.

The above were just the foods that Ella could roll off without thinking as they form her staple diet, hope they help.
 
I also asked Sarah to request that the person who penned  ’ideal for picky eaters’, who I assume  is lucky enough not to have any allergies/intolerances, should try to imagine what it is like on Christmas Day not being able to eat normal everyday shop bought mince pies, Christmas pud, Christmas cake, chocolate fancies off the tree, CHOCOLATES which are everywhere etc., etc.   Maybe then it will be easier to understand how hard it is sitting there and watching everyone else tuck in!

It is that time of year again when everywhere is inundated with chocolate so if, on my travels, I find some dairy free goodies I will be posting details on this site.    If you have a good Health Shop in your area they normally stock dairy free chocolates but be warned they are expensive or just google dairy free chocolates and you can take your pick.   I did have a lovely lady from America who gave details of dairy free chocolate, unfortunately she didn’t realise I was in England and on the site she recommended it did warn that the chocolate may melt in transit – such a shame as the chocolates sound lovely!    

Bye for now

ADF

I have just read my blog and cannot believe I haven’ written anything since April 2007, very remiss of me.

In my defence I will say that I did do what I said in my last post, I have learned how to make stained glass panels, have learned how to fuse glass (which I love doing) and have also read a book or two so time has not been wasted.

Anyway, just wanted to pass on this link to anyone who has an allergy or a child with allergies, it is for www.AllergyMoms.com who are based in America but they have a really helpful blog and offer a support system for all those with allergy problems.   Hope it helps.

ADF

Well it’s coming round to that time of year again and so the shops are full of chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate – BUT NOT DAIRY FREE CHOCOLATE.   I was shopping on Saturday and visited Marks & Spencer St. Albans, which is obviously stocked exactly the same as every other M & S in the country.   I purposely scrutinised their section of Easter goodies to see if they had catered for those among us with a dairy/lactose intolerance and was totally unimpressed that they had not, unimpressed but not surprised.    I have written to various M & S stores and have also written a personal letter to Mr. Stuart Rose.    I have only ever had one reply – not from Mr. Rose I hasten to add – and that was from M & S Milton Keynes who sent me a list of their dairy free foods e.g. fresh fruit, tinned fruit, vegetables, do they think I am completely stupid.   They had completely missed the point of my letter which was that none of their patisserie, sandwiches, cheeses, ice creams and, at that time, milk was dairy free.   I note that they now stock goat’s milk and soya milk but hey, it’s not rocket science how about a sandwich that is completely dairy free or a packet of crisps.    Anyway I must have been in a grump on Saturday because I once again donned my antidairyfairy hat and accosted Customer Services to put my point of view.   The young lady was very sympathetic and tried to be helpful in telling me that they did have gluten and nut free products.    This was like a red rag to a bull, as I told her, because if they can cater for two types of allergies why can’t they get their act together and stock dairy free too.    Anyway to her credit she said she would tell her Manager of my concerns/queries/views, call it what you will and hopefully he would then pass them on…..   I am not holding my breath.    I did leave my name and address and details of this blog so one never knows.

There is so much ignorance/apathy in shops and restaurants with regard to allergies.   The same weekend we had a family gathering at a local restaurant and as usual had to go through the usual pallaver of querying everything on the menu to see if it contained dairy.    I asked the waitress if one of the dishes contained dairy and she said she didn’t think it would be suitable as it contained eggs – now we have been here before, since when have eggs been dairy – she seemed amazed when we told her that eggs were not from cows, give me strength.

Wouldn’t it be nice if shops like Thorntons or Hotel Chocolat stocked dairy free chocolate – maybe that’s my next stop.

ADF

My daughter has spent most of the Summer in Berlin and has found that she is able to purchase soya/lactose free products much more easily than she can at home and also that they are much cheaper than here in the UK.   Why is it that if you book a flight from Europe it is much cheaper than booking from the UK and if you have to buy gluten/dairy/lactose free products they are cheaper and much more readily available.   In Berlin she was able to purchase various sheep’s cheese, lactose free Quark (which we do not seem to be able to source here, it all contains lactose) and chocolate that she can use for cooking, all from the local supermarket.   I know some supermarkets here are beginning to realise the potential market in ‘free from’ goods but if you do not live near one of these then it is near on impossible to buy these foods and also they have such restricted ranges.    It has taken my local Sainsbury store about 5 years to actually realise that Swedish Glace Dairy Free Ice Cream actually comes in flavours other than vanilla.    When I asked why they didn’t stock the other flavours I was told that ‘there wasn’t a market for it ’, well of course there isn’t a market if you don’t stock it.    Obviously the penny dropped because they are now daring enough to actually stock chocolate and strawberry! Ella has had no formal cookery training other than watching me cook at home but I am glad to say that she is now a very good cook and has no trouble adapting recipes.   She is adept at making scrumptious cakes – especially chocolate sponge.    She makes a mean cheesecake too, they never last long.   So if anyone out there knows where we can get lactose free Quark, please leave a comment and let me know.

Well we have had the allotment for about 3 months now and it is great as we have had a huge crop of courgettes, have loads of squash and pumpkins coming, carrots, beetroot and winter cabbage.  It is just so nice to be able to eat fresh food knowing where it has come from.   I’m sure, from the comments, our friends think we are nerds for doing this but secretly they are jealous and wish they had one too.   We have done the hard work and are now reaping the rewards, rock on.

ADF

When I first started writing this blog, many months ago, one of my posts was entitled ‘thieves are scum’ and once again my family have been affected.    Yesterday my husband went down to his Rugby Club to help out with some painting and redecorating – helping out voluntarily and doing his bit.   He changed into his painting gear and left his jeans in the changing room for at the most 20 mins, during which time some b**stard went through his pockets and stole his wallet + £90, his watch, his blackberry and his car keys.   They then went out into the car park and stole our mini.     My husband is gutted, not only at the fact that he has lost the above items but the fact that it happened at the Rugby Club and at the loss of his watch and his wallet, not because of the monetary value but because of the fact that both were presents and had sentimental value. What should have been a happy family day for us yesterday turned into a nightmare of frustration, giving statements to the Police, cancelling credit cards and phones etc., etc.  It makes me sick that somebody has just walked in and helped themselves to property that has been bought and paid for with hard work on our part.     These scum just do not care, they take the view that people have ‘insurance’.   Yes we have insurance, we are lucky in that respect but we will pay again for it in the long run when our premiums go up yet again.    It is the unfairness of it all and the fact that even if they catch this person they will probably only get a slap on the wrist.    The first car we had stolen – oh yes it has happened before – was taken by a man who 2 hours earlier that day had been given a slap on the wrist for TWOC (taking without the owner’s consent).  He obviously stuck two fingers up at the Court because he then went out and perpetrated the same crime 2 hours later but this time not only did he steal my car but he wrecked someone’s life by smashing into them and injuring them quite badly.   The Police would not let me into the cell he was being held in – I wonder why – but they were totally disillusioned with our justice system and said that he should have been given a  harsher sentence the first time.   With prisons being full to capacity we stand no chance of justice and once again the criminals in this country will win again. So once again I am back in that place of frustration and despair at our Criminal Justice System – or lack of it should I say – and am fed up.
ADF