While going to Sprouts the other day in Round Rock I noticed a candy store in the same complex that I had to check out. I had been craving chocolate covered almonds from See’s Candies in California but unfortunately See’s isn’t in Texas. The place I found was Lammes Candies.
The store looked similar to a See’s Candies store and sure enough they had chocolate covered almonds. I purchased some for my wife and I and also sampled a toffee nut bar and left.
Half way through the toffee nut bar I thought “I wonder if this has gluten in it?”. I had not thought of it before eating because I was so excited about my discovery. I went back inside the store and asked the cashier and she said that they were working on a list of items that were gluten free but did not have it available yet.
When I got home I decided to check out their Facebook page that the cashier had also told me about. I posted on their page inquiring about gluten in their products. Here is the exchange:
Me: I just discovered your Round Rock store today! I was wondering if you guys had a list of which items are gluten free? I checked your website and did not find anything.
Them: Hi Dan, we’re glad you found us! All of our items are gluten-free except our chocolate-covered pretzels. Thanks for your interest!
Groovy! That means I can have good chocolate candies anytime I want.
I can’t wait until they have their chocolate covered strawberries when they have them!
After discussing it with my wife I have decided to postpone my next dose of chemo.
The reason for this is that the cumulative effects of the last 4 doses of chemo are really beginning to take their toll on me. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since my last dose yet I feel like I am at the 3-4th day since my last dose. I am nauseated more then I have ever been and I have neuropathy (numbness and sensitivity to cold) in my body, especially in my figer tips to where I freezing cold most of the time. Last night I had to sit on my hands for almost 45 minutes to get them to warm up.
The neuropathy is of concern because I am told that once it shows up that it does not go away for a long while.
There was already talk of reducing my dose of chemo that I was supposed to get tomorrow but after the week that I have had I cannot imagine taking another dose and making myself feel worse. My hope is that I can take the next 3 weeks off from chemo, get back on my feet, and then finish up my last two doses from there if appropriate. I don’t want to drag it out any longer but I really need to give my body a chance to catch up.
I would appreciate everyone’s happy thoughts and prayers over the next couple of weeks so my body can recover to the point that I can get this finished up.
God has answered my prayers and put in the hearts of Mama Fu’s to make a great gluten free Chinese food Menu.
I had not eaten at Mama Fu’s since before going on my gluten free diet. I was going to meet a friend near the Mama Fu’s in Georgetown and decided to see if they had anything I could eat. Boy did they! It seems that they have taken nearly their entire menu and made a gluten free version of it. I guess they do this stating with a gluten free soy sauce base which I think is great.
Here is a list of some of the thing that they have on their gluten free menu:
Appetizers
Edamame
Chicken Lettuce Wraps
Seared Ahi Tuna
Kid Selections
Scooby “Fu”
Ninja Noodles
Mei Mei’s
Rice Dishes
Sweet-n-Sour
Steam Bowl
Spicy General Fu
Teriyaki
Sesame
Thai Cashew Stir Fry
Fried Rice
Mongolian
Honey Glazed
Ginger Broccoli
Orange Peel
Noodle Bowls
Lo Mein
Pad Thai
Thai Basil
Singapore Noodles
Thai Fu Noodles
Seared Entrees
Seared Ahi Tuna Steak
Sides
Fried Rice
Thai Green Beans
Edamame
That is a great menu and I can tell you that food is fresh and tastes great. I just wish they would put one in Round Rock so it is closer to my house!
I was a Pei Wei junky before I went gluten free and would eat their chicken teriyaki a couple times a week. I was broken hearted when I found out that regular soy sauce (the base for teriyaki sauce) has gluten in it. Unfortunately Pei Wei does not offer a gluten free teriyaki bowl. They do have a gluten free menu though with some good things on it – specifically the Spicy Chicken.
Here is what is on their gluten free menu:
Edamame
Vietnamese Chicken Salad Rolls
Asian Chopped Chicken Salad
Pei Wei Spicy Salad
Chicken or Shrimp
Pei Wei Spicy
Chicken or Shrimp
Sweet & Sour
Chicken or Shrimp
It is not a huge list but the food is good.
Here is a link to their website where you can download their nutritional PDF that has their gluten free menu. – Pei Wei Nutrition Info.
Before I went gluten free I used to eat at Taco Bueno all the time. I alway saw them as a Taco Bell but with good, fresh food.
Liking them as much as I did I went to their website to see if they had a gluten free menu – they didn’t – so I emails them and they responded. Here is the email thread:
from: comments <comments@tacobueno.com>
to: **************************
date: Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 10:48 AM
subject: FW: Feedback from tacobueno.com
Hello,
Sorry at this time we cannot recommend our menu as gluten-free as the same fryer is used for both the corn and the flour. A menu item that can be recommended is the Ultimate Gourmet Bowl (offered in limited markets), and black beans and white rice.
I would like to know if you have any gluten free items on your menu.
Contact Type: Yes, by email
Name: Dan Masters
Phone Number: ************
from: comments <comments@tacobueno.com>to: **************************date: Mon, Oct 18, 2010 at 10:48 AMsubject: FW: Feedback from tacobueno.com
Hello,
Sorry at this time we cannot recommend our menu as gluten-free as the same fryer is used for both the corn and the flour. A menu item that can be recommended is the Ultimate Gourmet Bowl (offered in limited markets), and black beans and white rice.
—–Original Message—–From: TacoBueno.com Feedback [mailto:no-reply@tacobueno.com]Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 9:54 AMTo: Taco.Bueno@encirclemarketing.com;Subject: Feedback from tacobueno.com
Store Number:
Feedback Type: Other
Feedback Related To: Ingredients
Feedback:
I would like to know if you have any gluten free items on your menu.
Contact Type: Yes, by email
Name: Dan Masters
Phone Number: ************
So as you can see unfortunately they have a very limited selection of items that would be gluten free. It would be nice if they would get a separate frier in the future that would eliminate cross contamination. I appreciate their quick response though!
Air Hogs has come out with their new Hawk Eye video helicopter that allows you to take photos and video while flying. This is the perfect spy helicopter! It has built-in memory so you can take photos and videos and then use the included USB adapter to transfer them to your computer.
The Hawk Eye is basically a Havoc Heli but without the tail rotor and a larger midsection that houses the camera. It has built in stability software that gives it better flying characteristics then previous Havoc Heli’s.
The camera is activated via the controller an allows you to snap photos and/or start and stop the video camera.
The best thing about the Hawk Eye is the price – it only goes for about $70 which is much cheaper then other heli’s with built in cameras (I think the next cheapest goes for around$300). Amazon has the Hawk Eye available and you can get free 2 day shipping with their Amazon Prime Trial Membership.
The Syma S107 Mini Helicopter is the best micro helicopter available right now hands down. There are several reasons for this which include:
Materials – The frame is made of metal, not plastic
Stability – It has a gyro built into it
Control – It has 3 channels
Price – Average price is $30!
The S107 is the upgraded version of the Syma S105 which also had metal construction but did not include a gyro.
Metal Body
The significance of the metal body means that it has a better chance of surviving when you crash it. It also causes it to be more ridged which helps it be more stable thus enabling to be easier to control. All the other micro helicopter out there are plastic and foam construction and after a few emergency landings start to lose their shape.
Built in Gyro
To me this is one of the most significate features of the helicopter. I have used both the little Havoc Heli’s and the larger Blade CX and the biggest difference between the two is the gyro. The gyro adds precision and stability that you only find in the more expensive and larger helicopters.
3 Channel Control
The Air Hogs Havoc Heli took us all by storm a couple of years ago with their cool 2 channel controls that allowed for left/right and up/down control. It was pretty much stuck going forward at all times. With the addition of a 3rd channel you now have the ability to hover along with forward/back control. This is more true to what flying a real helicopter would be like.
Unbelievable Price
It is hard to believe the Syma S107 is price at around $30. The similar Blade mCX is almost 3 times the amount of money but is still plastic construction. I saw similar looking helicopter at Fry’s recently and the non-gyro models were around $30 while the gyro models were $60. Also, they were knock of brands, Syma has been around for a while and has a good name.
Amazon seems to have the best price and selection of Syma S107′s and you can also get free 2 day shipping if you sign up for their Amazon Prime program. You can check it out with the link to the right.
Videos
Here are some videos of the S107 in action just so you can see what you are in for.
A few days after I got the new Acer Aspire One all installed with my software I came upstairs and my MacBook’s screen was locked up. This is the first time in the history of having this computer that this has ever happened. Horrified I restarted the computer and a terrible clicking noise was came from it which could only mean one thing – a dead hard drive.
I was not too upset about this as this was not the original hard drive that came with the computer. This was an aftermarket Hitachi 200GB 7200rpm hard drive that was over 3 years old. In fact I used this hard drive in other MacBook I had for a year before I got this Macbook. The hard drive was older then the computer.
To remedy the situation I headed over to Fry’s and picked up a new Hitachi 500GB 7200RPM hard drive. 2 1/2 times the storage. Thank God I had a good Time Machine backup as I was able to get the computer back up and running in just a couple of hours.
So What Does This Have to do With the Acer Apsire One?
Well the first thing this has to do with it is that I got the Acer because my MacBook was running slow the last few weeks especially with Windows 7 in Parallels. After I put the new hard drive in it ran better then before it started to run slow. I could now run Windows 7 in Parallels without skipping a beat.
The second thing was that after loading everything on the Acer it ran slower then Windows on my MacBook so it kind of defeated the purpose. The biggest culprit for this was Dropbox which is a necessity for me. If I turned Dropbox off it ran pretty well, with it on it was a dog.
So having the Acer kind of defeated the purpose. I needed to check browser compatibility the quickest way possible and that was now with the MacBook.
The Acer was cool but it just didn’t quite fit the bill for what I needed.
Related posts to my journey of MacBooks and Acer Aspire One’s:
While going to Sprouts the other day in Round Rock I noticed a candy store in the same complex that I had to check out. I had been craving chocolate covered almonds from See’s Candies in California but unfortunately See’s isn’t in Texas. The place I found was Lammes Candies.
