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Dear Friends,
 
        This year my husband and I chose Alberta, Canada for our summer
vacation and we invited another couple to join us.   I ordered a
fruit plate for the Air Canada plane trip and took along a GF Ener-G
scone to supplement the meal.  We packed a cooler with baggies of
breakfast Corn Pops to later alternate with omelets.  Since our
itinerary took us to the great outdoors of Banff, Lake Louise, and
Jasper, we decided to use the cooler to store fixin's for picnics.
We shopped every 2 or 3 days for juice, sodas, prepacked ham slices,
brick mozzarella cheese, baby carrots, and plain potato chips, as
needed.  We found a particular brand of cold cuts surprisingly
labeled "gluten-free". I did not bother with taking bread from home
for dinners or lunch because of the crumbly nature of GF bread. ( I
personally rely on vegetables, fruit, popcorn, and baked potato or
rice to supply my fiber and starch.)
I had pretty good experiences in trying to get gluten-free dinners.
We amazingly successfully tried a couple of buffets (which I usually
avoid); the chefs were at the buffet serving and could answer all my
ingredient/preparation questions.  One chef brought out some plain
turkey, without gravy or dressing, just for me. The other man in our
party was lactose intolerance (but not a celiac), and he also was
pleased at the attention of the service personnel in readily
answering food questions.
 
        We planned our vacation to include trails as well as city activities,
 to suit the ladies as well as the guys.  At the huge West Edmonton
Mall (ladies choice!) we found a wonderful restaurant called Kokomo's
in the "Bourbon Street" restaurant section.  I chose the "Georgia
Chicken," which was a chicken breast stuffed with cream cheese and
salmon with a strawberry sauce (thickened with cornstarch).  This was
a very pleasant change from plain fare.
 
        I had communicated with a gal from Edmonton on this List before we
left.  Karen transmitted a couple of notes about restaurants in
Edmonton and Calgary.  The restaurants turned out not to be close to
our motel, but we did find satisfactory meals. Karen also sent a list
of health food stores in Edmonton, including the all-gluten free
store Kinnikinnick Foods (9857 76 Ave. Edmonton, AB, Canada, T6E 1K6;
telephone 403/433-4023; E-mail: [log in to unmask]).  We did
find the Kinnikinnick store where I purchased some pre-packaged mixes
and freshly-baked-on-the-premises cheese bread and cookies.  (Only
celiacs would understand that finding an all-GF store was a highlight
of my trip!)  The cookies, of course, barely made it back to Houston.
 I talked with one newly-diagnosed shopper who was so delighted to
have such a big selection of GF items; she said she came in each week
and tried something different.  I wish we had such a resource here in
Houston!
 
        We did miles of walking -- trails in the mountains, zoo, and museums
-- and enjoyed the cool weather.   On the return plane trip I tried
pre-ordering a gluten-free meal on Air Canada, which turned out to be
quite acceptable.  The breakfast was scrambled eggs, ham slice, fruit,
 and a rice cake. It was nice to get away, but it was nice to come
home -- even to 90+degree temperatures.
 
Have a nice summer!     Janet Rinehart, Houston