I promise, I actually AM gluten free...

...It's just that this bread this morning...it looked so good...

SO, I bought it. I know, I know.  "But Sophie...I thought you were gluten free and allergic to it or something?"  Well, I'm not allergic, I just feel better without it.  Sometimes, I like to indulge.  And since  today is FARMER'S MARKET WEDNESDAY (WHEEEEE!), I splurged. So I went to the farmer's market my awesome friend Patrick (his blog is linked here...he is my culinary chef friend that I do all geeky cooking things with.) This is where I saw the aforementioned loaf of bread, which is not gluten free, obviously.  I asked the woman working at the bread stand if she had sourdough, and sadly, she didn't.  But she did have something called Pain de Campagne.  The description I got from Wikipedia (GASP) said this is "French Sourdough".  It is very similar in taste, but the inside is a lot fluffier and the outside is a lot crunchier.  So basically, it is a million times better.  I wish I had gotten some form of dip to go with it, but the delicious dip that was being sold was 8$ for a really small container. Oh well.

Anyway, I also got some beautiful, locally grown apples, radishes, red kale, and spring onions.  The radishes, kale, and spring onions were on Patrick's list.  Because he had class until an hour into the opening of the market, I bought them for him so they wouldn't be gone by the time he got there.  The apples I get are always good, they are huge and super juicy, but not grainy or uncrisp (I did just make up a word). I am SUPER excited because the lady who works at the stand told me they are picking all of their berries in the next few weeks.  This means I get strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, and not the yucky diner kind.  I am contemplating getting enough so I can crash Patrick's apartment and attempt to make a delicious gluten free berry pie...hmmmmmmm.

Additionally, I found out today that all of the vegetables that have a darker leaf (red kale, red lettuce, even red basil) all hold heat and cold better.  If you choose to cook these or chill them, they won't wilt as quickly. They stay a bit crisper and crunchier when put under temperature changes. The guy at that stand told me that!  (In case you couldn't tell, I like asking the people at the stands their life stories, and many, many questions.)

The last thing I found out is there is a gluten free stand at the market every time.  Unfortunately, she has little variety.  She does have a quiche I might try next week, but other than that it is standard cookies and brownies.  I am going to email the girl at ANOTHER pastry stand, though, because she said she makes gluten free cupcakes, but she doesn't bring them to sell because of the gluten free stand. Oh well. Today was a very productive shopping day, and I am thoroughly fulfilled, even though I do cheat at my gluten free-ness occasionally. I guess I'll never get to join the secret society. :D

Pho

Pho (Pronounced ph-oh!!!!, not ph-uh) is surprisingly amazing.  For those of you who don't know, pho is basically the Vietnamese version of chicken noodle soup.  They take a ball of rice noodles (gluten free!) and put your toppings of choice on top, and cover it with boiling broth.

Saturday night boyfriend took me to get pho at a place by my school called Pho D'lite. Boyfriend got the special, which is noodles with tripe, tendon, eye of round, fatty brisket, and flank meat (all cow meat if that was unclear).  It also had chives and spring onions with a boiling beef broth poured over.  I got the vegetarian pho, which was noodles with mushrooms, bok choy, and grilled tofu.  It comes with vegetable broth, but I wanted more flavor so I got chicken broth instead.  They brought bean sprouts, cilantro, jalapeños and lime on the side.  I squeezed some lime over the top of my soup and put a bunch of cilantro into the bowl.  It was the best soup I have ever eaten.  I'm sure if I go to different restaurants and try different versions of the same ingredients, I'll find something better, but for now this was excellent.

Also on the menu at this delicious place was shrimp pho, chicken pho, Thai dishes (Pad Thai, etc.) and some appetizers.  I attached the menu here! Sorry about the weird layout, I promise I didn't create it!

I hope I can go back to different pho restaurants soon, but for now, I am 100% satisfied with my choices in soups. :D