Gluten Snuffed Him

Yesterday we had our Christmas party for my place of work. For the second time we had a local pub within walking (or stumbling) distance host our lunchtime celebration. The Old Guys provided the ham and turkey and the bar provided the fixins. We had green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls, gravy and cranberry sauce in addition to the meat. I passed on the gluten ladened dinner rolls, but I did get some of the gravy. Most gravies have flour in them as a thickener.

Funny aside story: My Father In-Law was making some gravy and was using cornstarch as a thickener. If you’ve never used cornstarch, not only will it soothe a baby’s bottom from diaper rash, but when used as a thickener, you don’t need a whole lot. So, he puts some in, stirs and stirs, still liquid, puts some more in, stirs and stirs, puts some more in… by the time that he was done, you could ask for a slice of gravy with your potatoes.

In the past, after the lunch, we have a gift exchange and a dessert feast where everyone brings in a dessert from home. However, this year, we were doing a chocolate fondue for the dessert. Fancy huh? Here in East Tennessee we pronounce the “t” in Gourmet! So, we signed up for items for dippage. I chose the fat free, gluten free, casein free Marshmallow as the item I would bring.

So we were in the conference room dipping and eating and more dipping and one of the items on the table was chocolate brownies. Not the normal made from the box chocolate brownies. These were homemade from one of the respected bakers in our workgroup. The looked so moist and packed with chocolate. I sat there and fantasized about eating one of those brownies… but NO, they had gluten in them. Sure, I was eating a bunch of casein in the milk and white chocolate fondues, but I had been pretty good about the gluten (from the gravy).

But then, some how a brownie ended up on my plate. In front of Congress, I would have to say “I do not recall picking up the brownie.” THat’s my story… hell, it has worked before. So, I had the brownie with some chocolate and oh my, it was so moist and delicious. It was SO worth eating. I mean, if you are going to break the rules, it should be worth it. And since I had ONE brownie in one flavor of chocolate, I had to eat ANOTHER one, right?

So, I had maybe 4 brownies all in all. I had a normal afternoon and evening. Even the morning was shaping up nicely, took The Elder to school and then it hit me. BAMM! The Gluten Effect started in… as I was driving into work, I was feeling my eyes get heavy… very heavy. I made it in to work and sitting in my chair things began to dim. I’m not exactly sure how long I was out, but it must have been a while. I was dead to the world.

Once I was back in reality, things were fine and I didn’t feel tired or exhausted or bad at all. And so now, we’ll be in SC and there will be plenty of Gluten temptations around… I just know.

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