14 January: Good news again for Colorado celiacs. You can now order pizza! Beau Jo's is making pizza with gluten-free crusts. I've also updated the links page to include the new link for the celiac listserv, which moved this month.
25 February: Perhaps you've heard about the recent outcry centered around McDonald's french fries. Apparently the oil the fries are cooked in at some point contains both dairy and wheat. However, McDonald's claims that the oil is purified to remove the offending proteins. The latest word is that the fries are gluten-free, a statement verified by an independent food testing lab. It's very hard when problems like this crop up. However, any news containing the word "gluten" is good news, really, because it raises awareness.
As for whether the fries are really safe for celiacs, I don't know. With all the other health concerns involved in eating fast food, I'm inclined to not take the risk. While fries are easy to grab while traveling, the questions that revolve around saturated and trans- fats, GMOs (genetically modified organisms), and factory farms, I much prefer to carry a snack with me from home, one I know is safe and also healthy.
4 March: Well, I've been threatening to do it for a long time, and now I have. CeliacNet now uses CSS for most of its site styling, which means less maintenance for me, and (hopefully) more frequent updates for you. Makes a blog much more likely to happen, also. If you're interested in seeing one, let me know. I do realize there's virtually no color on the site, and no images. That will get sorted out as I improve my CSS skills. In the meantime, enjoy the drop in page download times.
7 March: Fixed broken links today, so hopefully there won't be any more of those on the site.
5 March: Did a bit more updating this morning, and several of the product lists have been updated, most notably with chocolate.
25 March: Updated the meats, cleaners, and personal care products lists today. Also added Google search to the site to make it easier for you to find the information you're looking for.
24 April: Say goodbye to searching. It was brought to my attention that the searches weren't finding anything but the front page. Not exactly efficient. So, when the site is better indexed by Google, it will return, but for now you'll have to browse the old-fashioned way.
19 April: Updated the condiments, candy, and personal care lists. My apologies for the lack of updates lately. I've discovered I have some food allergies/intolerances beyond gluten and have been doing food challenges, some of which have left me sick for a couple days at a time. But, coming soon will be a review of some barbecue sauce products from Daddy Sam's.
2 April: Updated the eating out information today, adding two new restaurants and one review. Also, for those who haven't seen it, gluten intolerance made the comics page last weekend, so awareness is definitely up. See the Rhymes With Orange strip.
21 June: Updated the list of restauarants again today, this time to include a Phoenix-area pizza shop. Definitely heading there next time I'm in Arizona.
17 June: The long-awaited review of Daddy Sam's barbecue sauce: it's good stuff. I like both varieties. Unfortunately, I haven't tried the salmon glaze yet, but that's because I found out I can't eat salmon and am looking for a different fish to put it on. I think I preferred the ginger-jalapeno variety, but the mild is very good, too.
I was recently in Portland, OR on a business trip and found some new restaurants there, those have been added to the restauarants page with reviews. I also updated the personal care list with info from a dental products company.
11 July: I'm working on splitting the restaurant list into state-by-state listings. It's not done yet, but I've uploaded what's ready so far. Hopefully this will make it a little easier for you to find what you're looking for.
21 August: Did more restaurant updating today, mostly in Arizona, but also a few national chains. I've also updated a few of the product lists.
4 September: Added several new states to the restaurant lists today as well as a page for Canada, which will eventually be broken into provinces. I'm very excited to be heading to Pizza Picazzo tonight in Tempe, AZ, and will be posting a review later this week.
7 September: Updated the restaurant lists for the US and New York tonight, as well as updated the medicine list and wrote a review of Pizza Picazzo. To sum up my visit there: excellent!
11 September: Chili's has put their gluten-free information up online, so I've added that to the restaurants pages, as well as another Outback-associated chain, Cheeseburger in Paradise. I've also done a bit more updating on local restaurants in Colorado, New York, and Pennsylvania.
18 September: Updated the Oregon restaurant list today with more restaurants in the Portland area in anticipation of my next trip there.
16 September: As promised, I'm finally getting to modifying the site's styling. I'm trying to keep it simple and clean. Feel free to let me know what you think of the new look.
In the updates department, I've also added a new restaurant in Portland, OR.
8 October: Added two new restaurant lists for Virginia and Nevada today. Visited Lingonberries Market in Vancouver, WA last week. It was a lot of fun, and the owner took the time to show me around and discuss his favorites of the products available. So far my favorite of what I tried is Outside the Breadbox's multi-grain crackers.
This morning I tried Laurel's corn bread mix. I thought it had great texture, but was too sweet for my taste.
8 November: Updated the Washington restaurant list today. I'm currently in New York for the XII International Celiac Disease Symposium, so expect lots of new information in a week or so.
25 November: Well, the promised update is late, but here. I've also added a new restaurant, for Michigan this time. The New York list has been updated with reviews from my visit, and the Pennsylvania list shortened. I tried to get a sandwich at Smallman Street Deli tonight and was informed that they no longer carry gluten-free bread. What a disappointment. Still, my trip to New York was very worthwhile, the speakers at the conference were very informative and the vendors were amazing. Did you know that there's gluten-free barley-based beer available in Finland? And it tastes great!
23 December: Added a restaurant to the California list today. I also updated the personal care, supplement, and candy lists. I believe my backlog of emails with product info is now cleared. One of them was the most exciting such email I've received to date, from Larenim Mineral Makeup, was a message from the company founder stating that not only are all their products gluten-free, but that she is a fellow celiac. So great to hear from someone who really understands my concern.