Casein?

This summer I found out I was allergic to casein, a protein found in all dairy products (anything from a cow), essentially this means I’m allergic to dairy. Only 3% of the population is allergic to it and I had no idea until my new doctor gave me a very comprehensive blood-test . It’s actually not a huge surprise as dairy had made me feel a weird for a while, but the most telling part is that a side effect is also contact dermatitis because casein is sometimes an ingredient in things like detergent or lotion. Remember when I had a fabric softener rash?

So, for the most part I’ve cut dairy out of my diet and feel a lot better. Unfortunately, casein is also in butter (butter comes from a cow), which is super hard in restaurants, so I’ve been a little more lax with that, I mean no more of my chocolate chip cookies EVER? I don’t think so, but I try to keep it to a minimum… One nice thing is that the casein in goat’s milk has a different chemical structure (I learned all about it from this lady), so I’m not as sensitive to that.

In general dairy isn’t a good thing to load up on for anyone, we are not baby cows, so we don’t need cow milk to survive and it’s pretty fatty and cholesteroley too.  Fortunately, food producers are starting to come out with loads of dairy substitutes, so clearly consumers are intersted too (otherwise why would they bother making these products).

Here are some of the non-dairy products I’ve discovered, some you can’t even taste the difference, some you can, so if you’re allergic to dairy or just want to feel a little healthier. Enjoy my reviews!

Silk Soymilk: There a LOT of soymilks on the market and studies are coming out all the time about whether soy is good or bad, however I’ve concluded out of all the milk substitutes out there (soy, rice, hemp, cashew nut etc) it tastes the best to me. My favorite brand is Silk, and the soybeans they use are non GMO. In a nutshell (or soyshell), non GMO soybeans are pesticide free and are not genetically modified by Monsanto to be resistant to everything. In other words they are REAL and from nature. If you want to know more about soybeans watch Food Inc. My favorite variety of Silk is Vanilla Light, the vanilla flavor is good in coffee, and light is basically the equivalent of skim milk. If you check out nutrition facts on lots of soymilks they are actually fatty and don’t contain many vitamins, while Silk is fortified with all the vitamins you’d get from regular milk. In general, when buying “fake” milk, make sure it’s fortified and check out the nutritional content. Also, soy protein is lower in cholesterol and fat than protein in dairy.

Earth Balance: This margarine is the one all gluten/casein/anything allergics love, and I’ve decided I love it too. Again, it is soy based, non GMO, and not as fatty as butter. There are lots of butter substitutes out there and most contain lots of dyes and chemicals to simulate that butter taste. Earth Balance is natural, organic and tasty too. You can also bake with it, but I have yet to experiment with using it in cookies, more on that in another post!

Silk Yogurt: Back to Silk. The thing I miss the most is yogurt, I ate it every day and soy yogurt really isn’t as good. I dabbled with coconut milk yogurt, but it has a lot of fat and after trying several brands of soy I decided Silk tastes the most like real yogurt, especially when you add some granola. Their flavors are good too, whereas some other brands flavors just taste kinda weird, fruit and soy don’t totally mix.

Laura’s Wholesome Junkfood: I discovered these little guys thanks to Melissa G. Laura, a doctor, makes sweet treats in the form of “bitelettes.” The majority are vegan and most are gluten-free. My favorite are the Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, but she also has some named “Charlotte’s Chocolate Chip,” SUCH a good name. They all taste great and are a perfect sweet treat! I’ve only seen them at Whole Foods so far, hopefully bigger stores will start stocking them!

Tofutti: I haven’t had much luck finding a good cheese substitute. Most fake cheeses actually contain casein since it’s a good protein and stabilizer, no good! The ladies at Skinny Bitch were pissed when they found that out. However, Tofutti cream cheese is awesome. You can’t even taste the difference. As a sneaky test I put it on my Dad’s bagel and he had no idea (I did tell him after). Now I can have bagels and cream cheese again, wahoo! They also make ice cream, sour cream and some fake mozerella cheese that I have yet to try!

Fake Parm: I came across this brand of vegan parmesan at Whole Foods and gave it a whirl. It’s a great substitute, and again, Dad had no idea! There’s no sneaky casein in it and their website has some good recipes. I mean you can’t have pasta without a little parm and this product solves my problem!

Laloo’s: Goat Milk ice cream? Really? That’s what I said when I first saw Laloos, a goat milk based ice cream, but after trying it (they were giving out samples at Whole Foods), I was converted. As I mentioned above goat milk is somewhat okay to eat and Laloo’s doesn’t make my stomach upset. It’s a little weird at first, but once you get used to the taste it’s great. The texture is a bit creamier, more like gelato. My favorite flavors are rumplemint (mint choco-chip) and caprachino, capra is goat in latin, clever guys.

I am sure this list could be a whole lot longer. I am still on the search for a good fake cheese for sandwiches. I’ve tried a few but they taste like barf. If you have anything else to add and/or want to suggest some vegan cheese please do so in the comments!

 

Palm Springs

Once a hangout for old Hollywood, mobsters, and Frank Sinatra (who is buried there), Palm Springs is an oasis in the middle of the desert. It’s full of gaybors (I’d argue they outnumber the straight ones), mid-century modern furniture and architecture, and all around relaxation. Marc and I decided to spend a weekend here while in CA. We left LA at 9am and were in PS by 10:30, no traffic at all, it’s about 120 miles from the city. To our surprise our room at the Colony Palms Hotel was almost ready, so we hung out by the pool and admired the mountains while we waited.

The hotel was on Conde Nast Traveler’s Hot List for 2009, so we obviously had to stay there, and prices were great for a holiday weekend! The property consisted of a bunch of small buildings housing rooms and villas with a huge pool in the center of it all. Allegedly built by a mobster in the 50’s the hotel re-opened in 2007. Our room was great, and the pool with the mountain views was stunning.

The sun was shining, so we hit the pool immediately and did not leave until the sun started sinking behind the mountains.

In the late afternoon we walked over to the main drag, Palm Canyon Drive, which was steps from the hotel and got our mid-century modern on. The street is filled with stores selling Barcelona Chairs, Eames everything, Saarnien tables and all those other guys that live in Marc’s apartment. It’s also full of restaurants and places selling requisite tourist crap.

During our walk we scouted out a place for dinner, we were in the mood for Mexican (maybe it was the dessert), so we made a reservation at Las Casuelas. The place was hopping when we walked by, so we figured it was good, and we were not disappointed! The margaritas were great, the carnitas were carnita-ey and the enchiladas suizas melted in your mouth, oh and the guacamole rivaled Rosa.

The next day we had brunch at Cheeky’s, it was absolutely amazing and worth the wait. If you’re in Palm Springs, you can’t miss it. They had delicious bloody mary’s and even more delicious blood orange mimosas, along with some uber dank pastries, omlets, bacon… I could go on. We spent most of the day at the pool, and then went for a hike in Tahquitz Canyon at the end of the day. It’s an easy hike to a small waterfall and a 5 minute drive from Palm Canyon Drive. The $16 admission fee is a bit steep, but it supports the local Tahquitz Indians and the Park itself.

That evening we went to Matchbox for dinner. When we were walking the main street we saw the place and wondered if it was the same as the one in DC, and it sure was (after checking the website)! So random, we asked our waiter why they have a location in the Nation’s Capital and Palm Springs, he didn’t know, but the pizza and beer was good.

The next morning we enjoyed a quick breakfast at Koffi, advice, get a seat as soon as you order, it gets busy! Then, on the way back to LA we stopped at the Desert Hills Premium Outlets, you can see them right from the highway. Probably the most high-end mix of stores at outlets I’ve seen, from Tod’s to Gucci and even AG Jeans, Rosie would have loved it, they had all the old styles. I bought a pair, obvs.

So, if you are ever looking for a great weekend get-away, whether you haild from the left-coast or right, to Palm Springs you must go!

 

El Lay: Canyons, Pools and Munchkins

This past weekend I hopped off the plane at LAX with a dream (to tan) and a cardigan. Marc and I decided to take advantage of the long weekend and the low airfare prices. After renting our car from Alamo (they did not assign us a car, but rather had us pick one from a row of “midsize” choices) we drove to our hotel, the Palomar in Westwood in 15 minutes flat, no traffic (but it was 9:30pm).

The hotel was in a great location, right near UCLA, on Wilshire Blvd, and near the entrance to the 405. The rooms were up to Marc’s trendy standards and somehow with our reservation we got coupons for cocktails from the bar each night.

Due to the time difference we woke up bright and early and met up with Marc’s brother to hike around Runyon Canyon, a spot where celebrities like to walk their dogs and where normal people like to hike. After some arguing and bushwhacking about which trail to do, we took a 45 minute hike around the canyon, did not see any rattlesnakes, did see Trevor Donovan from 90210 and looked to our right and saw the Hollywood sign.

It’s super easy to get to, as it’s right in Hollywood, and you can just park on the streets surrounding the park. It’s also pretty great exercise, my legs were sore the next day! After our hike we were famished, so we headed to Doughboys on West Third, about 10 minutes from the Canyon. It just re-opened after a year-long hiatus and the menu is massive, breakfast, sandwiches, meatloaf, they do it all and they do it well! The service was a bit slow, probably because we ordered so much, but it was worth the wait. The other tables around us got their food a lot faster. Their most popular dish “The After School Special” looked amazing, grilled cheese and creamy tomato soup, YUM! I opted for banana-caramel-nut pancakes, eggs, and homefries, also delish!

After lunch it was time for the pool, so we went back to the hotel and were dissapointed that the Palomar’s pool was designed in such a way that it didn’t get any afternoon sun. Idiots, who in LA builds a pool that doesn’t get sun? Fail Palomar, fail. So, we decided to check out the nearby W, if you order food or drinks you can enjoy the pool. However, once we arrived we saw the pool was covered, perhaps from some trendy event. Defeated we decided to drive to Santa Monica, and the smog was kinda hiding the sun anyways…

Peter has a secret parking garage in Santa Monica that’s free for 3 hours, however, most of LA already knew about it, but we managed to find the one empty spot. We started on the 3rd Street Promenade, a pedestrian street with shops, street performers, and a weird man who told me I had nice toes. Guess he liked my pedicure. Eventually we made our way to the water and Marc made me take a picture with the pier in the background, I don’t like carnival rides, so I thought this picture of the boys was better.

The highlight of the excursion was a stop at Fred Segal, a quirky LA based department store. They were having a 66% off sale, but all I bought was a smoothie. definitely check out their Santa Monica and Los Angeles locations, it’s super fun to browse around or go to their Cafe and buy healthy California fare.

For dinner that night we headed to Koi, one of those trendy sushi places like Nobu, developed by Chef Katsuya, behind the resturant of the same name. Their signature dish is crispy rice topped with ahi tuna. They sear the rice in butter and crisp it up, I could eat plate after plate, but the other dishes are good too! You can’t go wrong.

After dinner we decided to continue with the trendyness and headed to XIV for drinks. You may know it from the Hills, they filmed a lot of scenes there. Outside there was a lame looking red-carpet and some people posing for pictures, we didn’t recognize what was even being promoted. Once we actually found the door (it’s hard to find, look at it on the link, it blends into the building, maybe to keep normal people out?) we went the bar and staked out a table. It wasn’t to busy yet, but it started to fill up soon after we arrived.

The people watching was tremendous, after asking a few people we gathered that the red carpet outside belong to a movie premiere after-party of some weird horror film. There was a man wearing make-up, some weird rocker couple in leather, some lady’s who may or may not have been escorts, and most interestingly of all some little people. We didn’t recognize anyone and we definitely did not see LC or Lo.

At the end of the night as we were waiting for our car the red carpet area was empty, so we decided to pose for some shots… Some lady offered to take our picture and we told her we were extras, she believe us, got really excited, and gave us her card, she was a singer and said we should use her for events, hmmmm.

Immediately upon arrival at the hotel we searched IMBD for this movie and found Damer vs. Gacey was some weird indie horror flick about two serial killers who fight to the death. The little person we happened to see was the President of the Lollipop Guild from Wizard of Oz, and the rocker may or may not have been Steven Adler from Guns N’ Roses, who are both in said movie. Not your typical LA celebrities, but fun nonetheless!

After our red carpet extravaganza we were exausted and went to bed, dreaming of muchkins, crispy rice and canyons.

 

These Boots Were Made for Walking

Now that I’m back in Boston and it actually snows here I needed to get serious about some winter boots. My Uggs that were fine in DC won’t cut it in the slush, snow, ice and salt. I spent almost my whole break searching for the perfect boots. I ordered some heavy-duty Uggs, but unfortunately the zippers in the back gave me blisters, back to Zappos.com they went.

During my three-week break I mined the web, spent time with the Nordstrom shoe department, hung out at the Tannery in Harvard Square, and looked at REI, L.L. Bean, and Bloomingdales. I wanted some warm boots that also were somewhat fashionable, harder to find than you’d expect. Finally after much deliberation and some gift certificates to Amazon care of Santa I settled on two boots from endless.com, they are owned and operated by Amazon.

First, for heavy-duty winter I went with Sorel. I wore Sorel boots in elementary school, they were awesome and came in lovely neon colors. One year Melinda got turquoise and purple and I got hot pink and purple (Rugged Bear was out of turquoise), I was mildly jealous of hers all season. It seems like Sorel has tried to re-invent their brand, with trendy (and still hard-core) winter boots for men and women, while still of course making their kids ones too. One pair was $450, yikes. I went with a less expensive style. Cute, but functional for shoveling the driveway and tromping in the snow.

Next, I’ve wanted Hunter boots for a long time. Perfect for rain, but also slush and snow when it’s not too cold. My good friend who used to ride wore the boots to muck stalls, and the British always wear them on their Hunts, hence the name. As much as I wish I used them long ago, I bought into the trend. I went with the short length in Aubergine, Brit speak for Eggplant.

I’d already tried the Hunter’s on at Nordstrom, so I knew my size. However, for the Sorel’s they do not make half sizes and I hadn’t tried them on, so I went with a 7, a half-size up from my 6.5. I figured that would be good for thicker socks.

Thanks to Amazon’s amazing lean supply chain (my Operations Professor’s words, not mine) my boots from Endless shipped via next day air for free, from Kentucky, probably the closest Amazon fulfillment center to me. Though headquartered in Seattle, Amazon has fulfillment centers around the country, all located very close to airports so they can fill the orders and ship them out fast, but I had yet to see how fast they could be…

I got the boots two days later (ordered on a Sunday night, received on a Tuesday) and unfortunately the Sorel’s were WAY to big. Endless doesn’t offer exchanges, it’s easier for them to have you return the ones you don’t want (for free) and just re-order the one’s you’d like instead. Less processing for them, more “lean-ness” and cost saving as well!

So, I ordered another pair Tuesday night and was amazed when the UPS man brought them to my door at 5pm on Wednesday. Now that’s what I call fast! The boots fit and I’m wearing them as I blog.

Winter Boot Saga = Solved

 

Real World D-Lame

Real World DC premiered last night. I was excited to see all the DC sites in the background. I lived right near the house and even saw them filming before I moved out of the district. I usually don’t give negative commentary on my blog, but Real World stunk.

Maybe I am too old, but they are kids, Andrew is an idiot, and the rest are vanilla, even Ty (no pun intended). Honestly, I’d rather have to spend the rest of my life with the Jersey Shore cast than watch these lame-o’s.  The Sexist at DC City Paper gave a good recap, if you even care to hear what happened and Washingtonian Magazine is also on my side. Consensus, deleted the DVR season pass.

 

I’m on a Plane

Nope, not on a boat with T-Pain, but rather on a plane from Boston to Baltimore, with my final destination being the District of Columbia. Airtran offered me free wi-fi so I took it! Why not. Luckily I don’t have to do any work on the plane, just browsing facebook and blogging. However, I have mixed feelings about this new wi-fi up in the air thing. When I was traveling at my old job it was nice to be cut off from the world for a few, now not everyone will be! Also, it’s hard to blog when there is turbulence, makes one a bit queasy…

xoxo from 32,000 feet,

LottieB

 

Suede Cleaning

Today is the first day of winter, which means every girl from east to west is breaking out her Uggs, unless she is one of those who wears them year-round (please no). If Santa isn’t bringing you new ones, your sheepskin boots are probably stained from salt, slush and general winter residue, well fret not! I came across a little snippet in Lucky Magazine about suede cleaning, here is their wisdom:

1) Revive balding or matted spots by rubbing the area with a strip of fine sandpaper (talk to Kristen and Aviva if you need help choosing the correct brand, they are experts). Then, using the same pressure you would to check a pulse, work in a vertical – not circular – motion.

2) To remove salt stains, brush the area with a suede brush (a firm toothbrush also works) doused in a 50/50 white vinegar and water solution. Let the spots dry overnight, then go over them lightly with a clean, dry brush.

While we’re on the subject, I actually don’t want sheepskin Ugg’s at all right now, but rather these awesome guys, kinda intense, but great for a New England winter!

 

Paula

While we’re on the subject of celebrity chefs, I had the pleasure of eating at Paula Deen’s restaurant in Savannah, GA last week, Lady & Son’s. The place has been open since 1989, but of course became wildly popular after Paula’s Food Network success. The menu is southern to the core, with a buffet of fried chicken, collards, mac and cheese, and other cholesterol heavy goodness, or a la carte offerings ranging from chicken pot pie to shrimp and grits (every southern place needs that on the menu). The atmosphere is very casual and the prices are decent, a lunch ran us $35, which included pecan pie.

Our hotel happened to be right near the restaurant, so per Paula’s instruction on her website, we walked over at 9:30 am and made a reservation with the hostess who stands outside from 9:30 to 4pm each day taking reservations, you can only make them in person. Before our meal we browsed Paula’s gift shop who has been shameless about putting her name on everything from chapstick to cookware. I succumbed and bought some coffee. Her signature Y’all is also written EVERYWHERE.

We then walked over to the restaurant side of the building and were sat immediately and greeted by a server who gave us hoecakes hot off the griddle and garlic cheddar biscuits (maybe the best biscuit I’ve ever had, sorry Paul). I ordered a pulled pork sandwich, the pork was cooked to perfection and melted in your mouth and the “french fries” were basically deep fired slices of potatoes. There were also pickled green tomatoes, I need to find myself some of those up north! MMMM.

Marc got a meatloaf sandwich on pumpernickel with the most amazing mushroom mayonnaise, I think it must have had butter in it, maybe cream too, who knows, but you haven’t had mayonnaise until you’ve tried this stuff!

We were so full that we had to take our pecan pie to go, but we couldn’t leave there without it! Despite the unhealthy-ness of her cuisine it is sure amazing, if you are ever in Savannah give it a try, we were stuffed y’all!

 

Bobby

As my readers know, I am a big fan of visiting places that have been on Throwdown with Bobby Flay. This weekend was the culmination of those experiences when I ate at the restaurant of the Chef himself. On Friday night Marc and I went to Bobby’s signature restaurant Bar Americain in NYC. We got a reservation with no problem (probably because nobody else wanted a big dinner the night after Thanksgiving). However, the place was bustling when we arrived. We were sat at a table on the second level of the restaurant, with a nice view of the floor below. Also, we are pretty sure Bobby films his Throwdown planning scenes up there!

We started the meal with some oysters, as the raw bar we saw on the way in looked quite enticing. We were happy with our decision, as October and November are prime oyster months (which you can learn all about in this post).

Though Bobby had some fun looking cocktails, we opted for a bottle of Prosecco, as his cocktails also came at a price ($14 each, typical NYC) and we figured the wine would get us a little more for our dollar. It was a hard decision for main courses, but I settled on mussels in green chili broth, mainly because they came with frites that looked amazing at the table next to us, and Marc opted for some smoked chicken with green chile spoon bread. Yes, green chili theme.

We were both quite pleased with our choices. The frites were just awesome and I wanted two more servings. The green chile broth was only slightly spicy and added a fresh unique flavor to the mussels that was a nice change from your average broth.

Marc’s smoked chicken with was also pretty delish. The chicken wasn’t too dry and the smoky flavor wasn’t overpowering, while the spoon bread (yes, it was new to me too), went well with the dish.

On the side we got some cauliflower and goat cheese gratin, so so so so yummy. The picture tells you what you need to know.

We wanted dessert and glanced at the menu, Bobby is famous for his sweet potato pie, but we opted out this time. However, I’m sure we’ll be back! Mainly because I twittered Bobby to come to our table, but he didn’t. Meeting him would be the ultimate Throwdown…

 

Black Friday Coupons

We all know Lottie loves to shop and loves shopping even more when she finds deals. Here are a select few Black Friday coupon codes…

Kiehl’s: Who doesn’t love them, did you know they are owned by L’Oreal and never advertise? Well, now you do. Get 20% off until December 1st with coupon code FAMILY. Free shipping on orders over $30 (not too hard with their stuff). I recommend the Grapefruit Liquid Hand Soap, worth the splurge!

J. Crew: There’s always some kind of coupon to use at J. Crew. Get an extra 20% off sale items, plus free shipping when you spend $150 or more, use code EXTRA20 at checkout. Good until November 29th.

Vineyard Vines: A must for the prepster, they also have great basic sweaters and tees, save 20% off your order of $150 or more through November 20th with code TURKEY at checkout!

SkinStore: My favorite spot on the web for products by Bliss, Korres and so much more! Use code HOL20 at checkout, they always have free shipping for orders over $50 and the best customer service around if anything happens to your fabulous foaming facewash en route! One time I didn’t get an order, so they re-shipped it, then the lost one came and they told me to keep the duplicate! Thanks guys.

Moosejaw: This outdoor store with arguable the quirkiest marketing strategy on the web is offering a $51 gift certificate with any North Face purchase of $149 or more, use code TNF51 at checkout until December 6th, in addition they want you to “Sell two hugs on eBay for $80 and then either give the $80 to charity or use it for your first round of botox.” Oh Moosejaw!

Happy shopping and Happy Thanksgiving!