Monday, October 14, 2013

Weekend Fun and New Gluten-Free Snack

Hubby had a “big” birthday, and we decided to celebrate it with “Andy’s Oktoberfest.”
Since hubby writes about the beer scene in the South Bay, we also briefly checked out the Oktoberfest at San Pedro Square Market in downtown San Jose in the morning.


Andy’s Oktoberfest was a good time to bring out all his beer steins, which are usually banned to sitting in a box in the garage. And he got to show off his new 2 liter beer boot. Not very practical, but he has been wanting one forever. Plus, people had actually fun with it.


Lots of food to go with the beer. I tried to keep it somewhat traditional but also lighten it up a bit. Certainly too much food to eat “one of each.” I had a plan beforehand as to what I was going to eat (salad, sauerkraut, and one bratwurst). Most of my time was spent catching up with old friends.


I didn’t have any beer, not even a sip. Since January when I discovered my gluten sensitivity after doing the Conscious Cleanse, I have had a sip of beer here and there. But I always had some discomfort and even pain afterwards. So last weekend, after I had maybe four sips of beer at yet another Oktoberfest and felt miserable all afternoon and evening, I decided I had finally learned my lesson and will from now on stay away from it completely.

Gluten-Free Rice Crisps 

A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Golden Emblem to see if I wanted to review their baked rice crisps. I don’t eat a lot of packaged snack foods, but once in a while it’s nice to have something around that I can just grab and eat.

So I said yes and was sent one package of their barbeque flavored crisps and one package of their sea salt flavored crisps.

It was easy to get some taste test volunteers. Smile We tasted the sea salt flavored crisps first and liked them. Immediately after, we ate the barbeque crisps, and they ended up being the winner. The sea salt crisps are very mild in flavor and the barbeque ones have a nice bbq flavor. The kid commented that they are just a tiny bit spicy, just perfect in his words. I can see putting them in lunches or bringing them along for a snack. They come in convenient resealable bags, so they are easy to take along.


Golden Emblem Rice Crisps are sold at CVS.

[Disclaimer: I received two bags of Golden Emblem Rice Crisps for free. All opinions are my own.]

Questions: What was the highlight of your weekend? Do you have any favorite gluten-free snacks or breads? I have yet to try gluten-free bread, and I have only tried a few gluten-free snacks. While I don’t want to eat gluten-free breads and snacks a lot and only have them occasionally, it would be nice to have some options once in a while.

Be well,
Andrea