#NerdsUnite: With love from Lillian & her food allergies

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Lillian. She and I met at SXSW this year where she gave me this EPIC STRAW COWBOY HAT!!! I swear, I heart it so much it hurts. Either way, Lillian is a big food nerd with oodles and oodles of food allergies. She's here to talk about her life, love, and all things through her two sometimes four eyes. I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT LILLIAN!!!  </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @lilstestkitchen

When I go to the doctor one of the first questions I ask about an issue, is always:

“So, is this normal?”

I know what I’m really asking. I’m asking whether or not whatever is going on is healthy. I know that. But that’s not what I ask. I ask if it’s normal. As if it’s the same thing. But it’s not and I know this.

The way I eat is definitely not “normal” (grain-free/gluten-free, dairy-free, cane sugar-free, and soy-free) but it sure is healthy (for me). I’m much healthier than I was when I was eating a more “normal” diet. That is been obvious. And so this concept of “normal not being necessarily healthy” should be pretty clear to me. And yet, I guess it’s not, because when I go to the doctor, I don’t ask if something is healthy. I ask if it’s normal.

When I ask if something is normal, I’m asking whether or not it is common. And how common it is has absolutely nothing to do with health.

So what’s going one here? What’s with the importance of normalcy? Why do I care so much whether or not “it’s normal” to have reactions to cane sugar? Why would thinking “everyone can eat soy but me.” and “But it’s supposed to be this magical health food!” stop me from taking my own reactions to it seriously? Why is this such a quagmire?

One of the clearest places that I see this conflation between what’s “normal” and what’s “healthy” is with farts. I have gotten into quite a few arguments about this: whether or not farting a lot is a sign of digestive distress or if it’s not a sign of anything at all. I’ve had (at this point) this conversation so often that I did some research on it. And this is what I have found:

The average and therefore normal amount to fart is around 14 times a day. To be clear, farting in and of itself isn’t necessarily unhealthy according to wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatulence), or Dr. Oz:

But according to Dr. Ben Kim over at http://chetday.com/digestiongas.htm super smelly farts can be a sign that you aren’t digesting your food properly (which would be unhealthy). And that there is a “toxin formation occurring inside your gut from rotting of incompletely digested food, and some of these toxins are entering your blood stream and contributing to the development of long term disease.”

So, depending on what kind of farts you’re pushing out into the world, your very normal 14 daily farts might be a sign of digestive distress and possible sickness, and therefore are not healthy at all.

Now, I know that this may be a fine line to be climbing all over, but the point is: just because everyone else has the same problem, or that it’s a common problem, that doesn’t mean that it’s not a problem.

#nerdsunite

click here to follow Lillian on the twittah!

and check out her blog over yonder!

#FoodForThought: The Adventures of Fanny and Olive (gettin' figgy with it)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Fanny. No really - that is her actual name. She is a massive massive massive foodie, and would like to share with you all the adventures on all of the things she puts in her mouth. Wait, no - not like that ... I mean ... well, you know what I mean. Aw shucks, just hit it already Fanny ... </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's Fanny Slater

as you may have all heard by now, my time in los angeles is about to come to an end.  in just two short weeks from tomorrow, olive and i are packing up our pots, pans, coffee mugs, and coors light and headed for the east coast.  prepare yourself, i'm about to hit you with a cliche.  you know that quote you generally find inside a fortune cookie or written on a homeless person's sign: "it's not about the destination, it's about the journey."  well, i've found that to be very true in my life recently.  i was once someone who was terrified of change.  i mean ANY kind of change.  i literally dropped to my knees at the side of my parents' red volvo at eight years old when they sold our beloved car.  when i was seven, i had a red flannel shirt (what?! you?!) that i wore for about three years straight until all the buttons had fallen off and the sleeves were so tattered and ripped that they barely went past my elbows.  

in short--i usually like to stick with what's in my comfort zone.  moving out to los angeles was doing exactly the opposite of that.  i wasn't doing it as a permanent location change, it was just something i had always wanted to do.  so i did.  i believe you should do something until it doesn't make sense anymore.  that time came for me a few months ago when i realized that i was prepared to move onto something new.  the foodie in me is ready to move to a smaller town and be in a place where i can continue to grow as a person and expand my passion for cooking and writing.  when i moved to the west coast, i got a lot of feedback from people telling me that it was courageous of me to actually pick up and follow my dreams.  i'm now doing the same thing back in the other direction, and i can only hope that this will inspire all of you.  if you're sitting on some kind of dream--no matter what it is or where it will take you--know that all you have to do is stand up, walk out the front door, and make it happen.  

along the same lines of doing things out of your comfort zone, today i'd like to give you a recipe that's probably something you thought you would never make.  it sounds a little fancy, and it certainly seems daunting to make it yourself--but it's as easy as this:

homemade fig jam

making your own jam does not mean that you have to wear a ruffly apron and start collecting mason jars.  it's simply a quick, easy, fresh way to turn fruit into spreadable form.  i know that there are thousands of store-bought jams and jellies that come without preservatives, but creating something like this from scratch offers you the opportunity of knowing everything that went into it.  since we're talking about conquering fears and a go-big-or-go-home attitude, let's just go straight for the fanciest of them all.  fig jam.  mine was a balsamic-fig jam, but you can opt for plain if you like.  this was fabulous on frozen yogurt or mixed into oatmeal, but in my opinion--it doesn't get much better than goat cheese and fig jam crostini.

for the crostini:

-slice a baguette into rounds, brush or spray lightly with butter and toast at 350 until golden.

-top with room temperature goat cheese.

for the balsamic-fig jam (if you can find fresh figs, congratulations.  if not, regular dried black mission figs are fantastic for this):

1. slice ends off of figs (a 1 lb bag will make about two cups of jam) and chop into smaller pieces.

2. simmer figs with 1 cup sugar, 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar, 1/2 cup water, 1 tsp vanilla, pinch of cinnamon over medium heat.

3. once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and let it sit for another twenty minutes while the liquid evaporates (make sure to stir it every few minutes).

4. you want the texture to remain chunky, but you can use a potato masher to break some of the bigger pieces of fig down and give it more of a jam-like consistency.

5. take it off the heat and stir in 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice.

-top crostini with cooled fig jam and lemon zest for color.

-optional: if you're feeling REALLY fancy, top crostini with reduced balsamic drizzle.

see, that wasn't so scary was it?  you just made your own jam!  FIG jam nonetheless.  congratulations, you're officially fancy.  just keep in mind that when the word gets out, you might have hungry fans demanding more homemade jam at all hours of the morning.

#nerdsunite

click here to check out more from Fanny! (heheheeheh her name is Fanny)

and follow her on twitter over yonder!