Gluten Free in Helen Georgia

Every-other year my family makes the short trip to Helen Georgia for their Oktoberfest celebration. It's always too short but we get plenty of good time in with each other. Obviously, one thing was different this year (I'm pregnant) so there would be no consumption of my favorite German beers. It would also be my first year in Helen eating gluten free.
Now, if you don't know anything about Helen or Oktoberfest, go here: http://www.helenga.org/oktoberfest. It's basically a mini germantown with great food & shopping. It's kitschy, definitely a mountain town & our family loves it! We stay at the Hampton Inn on the square and walk everywhere! The Hampton is also a necessity for me as it has a mini-kitchen in each room. There's a sink, cabinets as well as a mini-fridge & freezer.
Being the OCD planner that I am, I googled "gluten free in Helen Georgia" as many different ways as I could. Nothing good. Not a thing. I started to get worried. I mean sure... going to a town who prides themselves on sausage, beer, pretzels, etc would be hard but surely I'm not the first person to go and have to eat gluten free? Apparently I'm the only one who's blogged about it. I did find one person's blog who said

Naumi Hotel - Singapore

Since I'm staying in a hostel on campus for most of the Hong Kong trip, we decided to spend our few days in Singapore in style. The Naumi hotel is more than style, it's customer service, beauty, location & high class asian flavor all in one! This is a hotel that will (unforunately for my bank account) be a benchmark of value for future stays.

I booked through SLH.com which is the Small Luxury Hotels association. It's not the best place to get the lowest price but they have a rate match system and you can use their website of boutique collection hotels as your guide to looking elsewhere online. However, we did book

Guide to Gluten Free Singapore - day 1

Hello all! Just got back from our Singapore trip & I have lots to update you on! Since this blog is primarily about food I'll start with that & talk about our tourist adventures later! My apologies ahead of time for the subpar iPhone pictures... The good camera didn't make it everywhere!
First, a little about the food culture in Singapore...
S'pore is one of the most diverse places I've ever been. There are so many choices in food that it's really overwhelming at first. Their ideals of American food are interesting and definitely misguided at times. But who comes to S'pore for American food? I'm sure the expats who live there are happy for the Tony Roma's & Applebees in the mall but we didn't travel there to eat at places we can go to in Nashville.
When we got to the Hong Kong International airport we were starving. We were about to be on a flight for four hours & figured we should eat first. we were also flying an Asian "budget" airline, Tiger Airways, and they charge for any food & drink. We walked to our departure terminal and found a Precious Congee restaurant in the food court. My husband had the pork meatball congee:




& I had a BBQ pork rice roll:




You're probably saying... "what in the world are those?"
Congee is like a hot, steaming rice porridge. They put veggies & meatballs in it & it's completely gluten free!
My pork BBQ rice rolls were exactly as they sound... a soft sheet of rice filled with pork. I really loved it! Be sure to mention "no soy" because if

Flying internationally & keeping your sanity

This is my first international trip (other than cancun which I don't really consider international). So I was definitely anxious & didn't know what to expect. Everyone I talked to had different advice & different experiences. I also knew traveling with food allergies would be difficult and it definitely has been a challenge. It's made me thankful for the places I know & love in Nashville who don't flinch when I tell them about my gluten intolerance.
The journey started a few days before I left with endless lists of things to do & buy in order to make the trip comfortable. I thought at the time I was being excessive & stressing about things I'd laugh about later... But it turns out everything I did, I couldn't have lived without!
• International adapter
• Carry on baggage with a built-in laptop slot (it will single-handedly save your shoulders)
• Swiss army backpack
• The Passport & boarding pass wallet that you wear around your neck.
• My Merrell shoes- for running around the airport comfortably
• My giant ziploc bag of snacks- natural beef jerky, raw trail mix, natural fruit snacks, Pure & Organic Gf brownie bars & last but not least, Lara bars
• Nyquil - for sleeping on the plane
• Eyemask
• Inflatable travel pillow
• Earplugs
• Elastic Hair bands
• the iCall app- allows you to make international calls with wifi for only 1-2 cents per minute!

That's quite the list huh? Well I'm off traveling for three weeks & will have endured (I mean enjoyed ;) 6 different flights by the end of it all so everything on this list is saving my life.
I started with a flight from Nashville to Chicago which was less than stellar in a tiny jet which seemed