Welcome to the Aviary

 Once upon a time I didn't know I couldn't eat Gluten. I spent my life thinking that I just didn't like bread, and that it was normal to hurt and feel like a bloated corpse on a hot day after eating. (Appetizing, I know). Turns out, this was not actually what you're supposed to feel like. Who knew!

Food is a huge social center of my family, and baked goods doubly so. I missed the cakes, the cookies, the pasta, the beer. So begun my journey to try to find foods that don't make me itch, hurt or taste like stale old pieces of partially hydrated cardboard.

In the years that have elapsed since I found out about my allergies, Gluten Free options have become more and more prevalent. Honestly, I have to thank the fad for a much more diverse and higher quality selection in the store. But the offerings are inconsistent. When I try new restaurants, I am always gambling with the ever present chance of becoming a swollen mass of pain. Even with this, I had become comfortable in the Northeast US with what was safe, where was the best selection, and what brands I could obtain. But everything changed when I moved to the Mid West US. 

Moving out to MN has been a challenge, and not just because of my choice to move in the summer of this, the year of 2020. Due to geography or COVID all of the brands I have come to trust and rely on are increasingly hard to find. Gluten Free/Sensitive restaurants seem more rare out here. My partner and his family had no idea how to handle a Gluten Allergy. And worst of all, there is only one Gluten Free bakery in the entire Twin Cities, and it had closed for cleaning due to COVID for the week of my Birthday. 

I have officially started my journey all over again.

All I want is a damn cake.