4 Days & A Weekend

Last week I took four days off work. I would have taken all five but Monday was the day to run payroll, and well, I wanted to get paid! I took the time and went and visited some of my Island people who I hadn't seen in a really long time. 

I imagine that for most people this would seem like a good time to chill out and an excuse to eat whatever they wanted. For me with my newly discovered food allergies, this was a bit daunting. What would I eat? Would they be insulted if I couldn't eat the dinner they cooked for me? Was I going to be really hungry for four days? After being so focused on what went into my body for the past six weeks, and actually feeling a lot better, I really didn't want to undo all my good work by going back to eating like a normal person. I must say, I was happily surprised! My friends were very understanding and gracious about cooking things that I would be able to eat. I even managed to go out to eat and had fantastic meals!

Eating in a restaurant has become a bit like running an obstacle course for me. Dodging ingredients that I know will cause me serious upset and skirting carefully by ones that could if I eat too much. It can be a huge pain in the ass when all I want is something delicious that I don't have to cook.  Here are two great restaurants that I ate at while on the Island, I recommend them both, with a full tummy and a huge smile.

The Mad Chef Cafe - Courtney, BC

This is a cute little cafe with amazing food! I had to order the "Mean Greens Bean Dip" because of the variety of wheat free crackers. I forgot how much I missed cracker snacks, delicious!

Cafe Bliss - Victoria, BC

This is almost enough to make me want to move back to Victoria. Wheat free, Dairy free, Gluten free, Animal free, locally produced (as much as possible), raw food! It was amazing to be looking at a whole menu that I could choose from. I had the "Pesto Bowl" and I shared some of their amazing chocolates for desert! Bliss indeed!