Gluten Free? Not Me! And why I love French baguettes as much as Rice

I know its all the rage now.  Just like so many things are with each passing decade and generation.  Gluten Free.  I totally realize the merits of not eating too many carbohydrates and particularly bread.  But if you do not suffer from an allergy or disease that prohibits the partaking of gluten then why is it necessary?  Everything in moderation as is said.

When it comes to this new bandwagon I would say probably half of the people on it have absolutely no need to abandon their whole grain and whole rye sandwiches.  Certainly white nutritionless gummy bread that does not contribute to a healthy diet could be left behind.  But all bread?  REALLY?  What happened to all the good things about bread?  All the B vitamins, complex carbohydrates, fiber, etc etc.  Really think about that.

Now if you were a baker you would say that the most important part of a beautiful loaf of bread is in fact the gluten!  Without gluten the bread cannot rise to perfection. I am sure by this point I have already taken issue with a touchy subject.  Ok let's be fair.  If you truly feel better without gluten then who am I to say?  I myself first heard about vegetarian diets when I was 18 years old.  I jumped very quickly on to that bandwagon.  Well let's just say I researched it fairly well first and then jumped aboard.  I was a little smug in my beliefs as well.  So really let's not get too self righteous here.  I'm only saying these things because well... I love bread!  Good old fashioned steaming hot or just slathered in butter (or whatever suits your fancy.... balsamic vinegar? olive oil? sardine juice? (just kidding) Anyway how do you have red wine without a baguette?  How does that work?

Summer is still here! Enjoy it and have a look at these wildflowers I photographed

Summertime and the livin' is Easy.  Fish are jumpin' now and the cotton is high.

When summer begins we often think that it will never end. At least it's like that when you're a kid. But sometimes when you are all grown up too. There are so many things that set summer apart from all the other seasons. Naturally we can do so many more things outdoors than we can during other times of year. At least in relative comfort depending on where you spend your summers. Enjoying a glass of cold lemonade on a porch or reading a good book on the beach or in a hammock. Watching the sun set and feeling the warmth of the ocean or lake breezes.

As a kid growing up in Van Nuys it meant driving over the mountains to the beach almost every weekend. To escape the heat and smog of the valley of course.  We would pack up the old red Coleman cooler which was made of metal not plastic and grab the Coppertone or Baby Oil. Those were considered essentials for the beach. My parents would sit and protect their fair European complexions under a big beach umbrella and read the paper while we body surfed the day away on the beaches of Santa Monica. This is why I still love the smell of Coppertone and why I believe that our olfactory senses are probably the greatest for inspiring memories of childhood. It is simply because the olfactory bulb is part of the brain's limbic system an area so closely associated with memory that it is often referred to as the emotional brain. 

I also think of summer as a time to rest the mind.  During the year we are so focused on working and getting from one day to the next and one week to the next that we lose sight of the here and now. Summer is not like that. We can dream. We can daydream. We can feel the future and forget the past. Or the other way around. We can fish, swim, pick berries, read, watch the flowers grow. Take advantage before it slips away.

This summer we had a chance to drive up to the Alpine Meadows in Manning Park BC and I would like to share with you some of the photos I took.