Once upon a time, I was supposed to blog every day in November, and then... (and an announcement)

Well, friends, I didn't tell you this up front. On Bridget's (hilarious and insightful) blog, I committed to post every day in November. Other people have a gibberish acronym for it, but really, I did it because she had an icon that involved Mr. T.

Apparently, he pities the foo' who don't blog every day.

So, send me your pity, because I didn't make it. Even my best efforts totally wore me out! Food blogging is a lot more intense than just type-blogging, because it involves great photos, time to explore new recipes, occasionally trying them several times before you get it just right, downloading said great photographic art, and describing in detail how to prepare a food correctly. Whew! I'm tired just explaining it!

We did discuss some great stuff in November though, including my inaugural trip to WinCo, some great warm fuzzies from our Thanksgiving meal, and the fact that we didn't get to have any local apple cider because I didn't pick up my co-op order. (Doh!)

A few of the recipe highlights included: eggplant fries (yes, I did eat them all myself), raw chocolate pudding (a huge hit here), focaccia bread, and two new muffin recipes: cinnamon apple, and sugared pumpkin.

November was a really busy month with my job, the boy's new job (which he started in November, and loves to pieces), his school (which is officially in crunch-time stage right now), cooking to actually feed ourselves, family activities (including a trip to the zoo with my adorable niece), some parties with friends, cleaning the house, organizing my book collection (which was in sad shape), and a few hours of Guitar Hero.

But there's also been a development in these parts, that has really shaped my month of November.

I am fairly convinced that I too have Celiac disease. Yes, me. Excited girlfriend who got to let out the cooking beast when the boy was diagnosed. It's been about a week for me that I have been very consciously tracking symptoms, feelings, and food. On Saturday, I screwed up. I carefully ordered at CPK with a friend of mine, who was feeling guilty on my behalf about the new news, and I think just buying food from a place with the word pizza in the title should have been a clue to me. I was not happy camper afterward.

I found myself eating comfort foods at home (chocolate chips) to sooth my aching stomach, and I realized that's likely been a pattern in the last few years of my life. Now, my body's hunger cue is completely different. The "I think I'm hungry" feeling in the belly, or what I had assigned as that, seems now to have been the ache of me eating food that wasn't nourishing me.

It also reminds of how the boy must have felt when he was the second one of us to get his appendix out - in the same weekend. A little like a copycat. And then relieved to find that the matching symptoms actually led to the authentic ailment. So, I'm on a new journey. I'll have my results back in a week or two.

But now, Gluten Free in SLC will be double trouble.