Radiantly Gluten-Free

Check out my new website, Radiantly Gluten Free! The site provides useful tips for those living with celiac sprue, especially those recently diagnosed. I was fortunate enough to be correctly diagnosed at the age of two, so I understand the many challenges (dietary, social, and otherwise) of the gluten-free diet. Challenging, yes, but I also know that the rewards far outweigh the limitations. If you have celiac sprue, a completely gluten free diet is the only way to get on the path to feeling completely healthy, strong, and vibrant. This site will also be helpful to those who may not celiac sprue, but who suffer gluten-sensitivities.

I am compiling all of the best resources and tips that I know. I will keep adding to this newborn website, so it should be an interesting journey! The site will draw not only from my own knowledge, but also from reliable print and online sources. Most importantly, "Radiantly Gluten Free" gleans heavily from the knowledge of my mother, who is the world's prettiest and most fabulous expert on the the subject - after all, she figured out how to successfully keep me on a totally gluten-free diet when I was still too young to fully understand it myself. Brava.

One in every approximately 133 people have celiac sprue,* yet for every person diagnosed correctly, eighty go undiagnosed** and consequently live with pain and malnutrition every day. So, here's to hoping that Radiantly Gluten Free adds another little ripple in the pool of understanding.



* "Celiac Disease" National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse (NDDIC). 27 January 2012.

** "Gluten Intolerance Facts." Gluten-Intolerance Group (GIG). The foremost authority on celiac sprue and gluten intolerance, GIG's presence in Washington State is the reason for my early diagnosis while living in that state.

A Dickensian Christmas

"His own heart laughed, and that was quite good enough for him."

This Christmas, I took inspiration from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, designed a Victorian themed decor accented by literary details throughout a merlot and rosé color scheme. Old books, vintage silver, fresh roses and poinsettias, and handmade papercraft embellished the decor.

For Christmas dinner, we had Devonshire Crab Soup (delicious!), Annapolis crab cakes, Chebe rolls, and a fresh salad with baby arugula, sliced strawberries, and homemade balsamic dressing.

Natural-colored tapers in a vintage silver 

candelabra paid homage to the Victorian theme.

Handmade place cards

Dimming the room's ceiling light made candlelight the

 main attraction. A photo frame quoting A Christmas 

Carol emphasized the Dickensian theme.

Lush, multi-layered decor.

"Old Marley was dead: to begin with." 

~ First line of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.

Merlot-colored lace overlays were the perfect 

Victorian touches on the side buffet and the dinner table.

Fresh red roses in a cranberry glass pitcher stood 

alongside the poinsettias.

Handmade collage wall art, featuring a photograph of 

my great-grandmother Doris Stillman Frazier at 

the age of eighteen. So glamorous.

More handmade collage wall art. I raided fashion, 

decorating, and bridal magazines for the flower photos,

and used scrapbooking papers and embellishments for

everything else. I had fun drawing the elaborate ink 

borders on the red card stock.

Count-Down

Christmas is only two weeks away! I love Yuletide. And I love having an excuse to use Dickensian words. Including "Dickensian."

I am cooking a Christmas Eve dinner with a Victorian theme, like Devonshire Crab Soup with brandy. Yum.

Thanksgiving Decor - Golden!

This year, I decorated the Thanksgiving table around an heirloom: the stunning gold-plated flatware that my father inherited this year from my great-grandmother Doris Stillman Frazier, rest in peace. She survived the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, World War II, and the deaths of her son and husband, the latter who was a veteran of the Pacific Theater. She gave my father some of his fondest memories of holidays, with her always welcoming, loving, and stable home. To honor her, I wanted to design a Thanksgiving table that highlighted these prized heirlooms.

To make the flatware's hue stand out, I chose a dark brown table cloth from Target and black napkins from Bed Bath and Beyond. I added gold chargers from Michaels under my mother's beautiful Johnson Brothers "Friendly Village" dinnerware. My favorite glasses, amber Helianthus goblets from Anthropologie, continued the gold theme.

Right before dinner, I lit taper, pillar, and floating candles on the sideboard and on the dining room table, which bathed the room in an amber glow.

So much fun - and so affordable to do, considering that most of the items were things I already owned. The beautiful goblet-style votive holders were my one splurge, and they came from Country Crafters in historic Ellicott City.

My mother made delicious pumpkin and acorn squash soup totally from scratch - and yep, that means baking the squash and scooping it all out, kudos to her! She also spoiled us with chicken breasts with traditional stuffing and, for dessert, pumpkin creme brulee. All of which, coincidentally, went perfectly with the golden hue of our Thanksgiving.

My family and I would like to incorporate this heirloom flatware in our holiday celebrations from now on, and since I am loving the idea of a Victorian / Dickensian Christmas, Grandma's gold flatware would be a gorgeous touch. Nothing like decor to transport you to whatever country or era you want. Or, in this case, to keep the spirit of someone we love near us.