Social distancing on an escalator

I've been documenting a number of aspects of the coronavirus pandemic here and on my social media. One of my areas of interest is the variety of warnings, instructions and directional signage there is around social distancing, so I loved seeing this photo Emily took of the social distancing measures in place on an escalator in M&S!

Kind of like chevrons on the motorway

Surely the 2 metre apart distance stickers should be on the moving walkway as well, rather than the static sides of the escalator? I wonder how many people are adhering to the rule and waiting for the person ahead of them to reach the first marker?

Check out my Instagram account and the various highlights for snaps of the social distancing, coronavirus and Covid-19 signs I've seen on my (limited) travels this year.

Social Distancing World Champion! I don't think anyone is winning this year

Social distancing floor signs at the Burlington pub in Chesterfield

What's wrong with this picture?

My sister-in-law Jo sent me this snap from a shopping trip to Waitrose. Can you see what's out of place?

Milk at Waitrose

Made Without Wheat Mini Pork Pies from M&S

New Made Without Wheat Mini Pork Pies from M&S.

On our recent travels we'd spotted some empty shelves in M&S with a price tag for 'New Made Without Wheat Mini Pork Pies' and while in Clacton-on-Sea on Saturday we managed to actually find some. And very good they were too.

The mini pork pies were a nice addition to the picnic we had in the sunken rose garden in Clacton

Related blog posts:

- Gluten free

- Coeliac
- M&S
- Clacton-on-Sea

Links:
- Marks & Spencer website
- Marks & Spencer Made Without Wheat page

Gluten Free Week at M&S

It's great to see M&S celebrating 'Gluten Free Week' in the Luton Mall branch.

M&S's Gluten Free Week is running parallel to Coeliac Awareness Week - 11th to 17th May 2015

As I purchased so much of the gluten free 'Made Without Wheat' range (the gluten free beer was on offer and a chocolate loaf was reduced) the man serving me asked "What's the occasion?", so I told him about Coeliac Disease (albeit not ALL the gory details) and Coeliac Awareness Week.

Much of this gluten free beer, and one of those cakes, is now residing in my fridge and cupboard

Check out the Coeliac UK website for more information on Coeliac Disease. For Coeliac Awareness Week 2015 Coeliac UK is running a diagnosis campaign called 'Is it Coeliac Disease?'.

I'm a big fan of M&S and the gluten free food and drink they stock - not only in the Made Without Wheat section but across many of the other lines in store. More often than not I'll find something new they are doing that is gluten free, which makes shopping a treat not a chore.

The links below have more info on other Coeliac/Celiac days, weeks, and months - there are quite a few special days in May!

Related blog posts:

- Gluten free

- Coeliac
- M&S
- New Gluten Free Beer and Cakes at M&S
- Special May Days

Links:
- Marks & Spencer website
- Marks & Spencer Made Without Wheat page
- Link to a product list of M&S products that DO NOT contain GLUTEN
- Coeliac UK website
- Is it Coeliac Disease? online assessment from Coeliac UK
- The Mall Luton website

M&S gluten free Rice Porridge

Trying the new Made Without Wheat Rice Porridge from Marks and Spencer.

While Spring and Summer may not be the seasons for warming breakfasts, after spotting a new gluten and wheat free product in the York city centre branch of M&S I had to give it a try.

The boxes contain eight sachets of the gluten free porridge (made of brown rice flakes and ground maize porridge)

I had a bowl, made using milk, for breakfast and it tasted great. It filled me up until lunchtime too. This is a glowing endorsement as I have never been one for breakfasts (although this is probably something to do with 27 years of undiagnosed Coeliac Disease and feeling immediately ill after eating breakfast).

I like the fact the box contains individual sachets of porridge. And even though it contains no oats at all, it tastes like porridge. I'll be buying it again.

Links:
- Marks & Spencer website
- Marks & Spencer Made Without Wheat page
- Link to a product list of M&S products that DO NOT contain GLUTEN
- Coeliac UK website

Related blog posts:

- Gluten free

- Coeliac
- M&S
- Cereal
- Breakfast

Gluten free Lebkuchen Christmas Biscuits

Baking some treats from the Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by Samantha Stein.

One of the Christmas food items I've missed most since being diagnosed with Coeliac Disease is Lebkuchen. They are a tasty glazed - and sometimes chocolate-coated - gingerbread biscuit from Germany.

With my German-heritage I remember receiving hampers from relations in Germany and my favourite item was always Lebkuchen.

As there are no commercially available gluten free Lebkuchen in the shops I haven't eaten any since Christmas 2007.

I heard via twitter that fellow coeliac Samantha Stein (aka The Happy Coeliac) had included a recipe for gluten free Lebkuchen in her 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book! As an early Christmas present I bought the book and it was delivered in time to get baking before the big day.

The Gluten-free Baking at Christmas book by 'The Happy Coeliac' Samantha Stein. The book contains 20 festive recipes

Emily is a great cook and budding baker and looked forward to cooking the Lebkuchen. As recommended in the recipe the dough mix was prepared 24-hours in advance an left overnight in the fridge so that the flavour could intensify.

We had to hunt for some Christmas-shaped cake cutters, but managed to track down a set in M&S so we could make the Lebkuchen festive.

The end result was a batch of very nice Lebkuchen and a very happy coeliac. As well as the glaze we topped some of them with melted dark chocolate. They really tasted of Christmas.

Gluten free Lebkuchen biscuits

You can buy the 'Gluten-free Baking at Christmas' book by Samantha Stein on The Happy Coeliac website. Check out the gluten free Lebkuchen recipe on the site too.

If you sign-up for free updates from The Happy Coeliac you will also receive a free 40-page eBook 'Gluten Free For Beginners'.

Related blog posts:
- Coeliac
- Gluten Free

Links:
- The Happy Coeliac website
- The Happy Coeliac on Twitter
- The Happy Coeliac on Facebook
- The Happy Coeliac on YouTube

Nacho nacho man

Five new gluten free tortilla chip flavours available at Marks & Spencer.

There are Jalapeno, Fire Roasted Chilli and Nacho Cheese flavour Tortillas, as well as the Lime Salsa Chickpea & Cumin Tortilla Scoops.

After a great early-Christmas meal at the nearby Brasserie Blanc in St Albans our group of Coeliacs headed to M&S as three of the party don't live near a store and were desperate to get some of the gluten & wheat free Scotch Eggs. I was very pleased to see the new range of gluten free Tortilla chips in stock - as were some other shoppers as they were flying off the shelves!

I've had the lime salsa scoops before and they were very tasty. But nacho cheese tortilla chips are a flavour I've missed over the years as you can't always find gluten free packs available.

There is also a lightly salted flavour in the range. I didn't bother getting a packet of those as I've never been a big fan of less-flavoured tortillas.

In the St Albans M&S you can find the gluten free tortillas in amongst the other 'normal' crisps and snacks, whereas in the Ipswich branch the lime salsa tortillas are in the Made Without Wheat section.

Well, that's my week's budget for Nacho Chips blown in one go

While on a lunchbreak last week I popped along to the M&S in Angel, London and was pleased to see two new products in the Made Without Wheat range - a Quiche Lorraine and a Cheese & Onion Quiche.

Hopefully the Luton branch begins stocking more gluten free products (Made Without Wheat Scotch Eggs hint hint).

Links:
- Marks & Spencer website
- Marks & Spencer Made Without Wheat page
- Coeliac UK website

Related blog posts:
- New gluten free products at Marks & Spencer
- New Gluten Free Beer and Cakes at M&S
- Gluten Free blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files
- Gluten Free Finds in London (and beyond) - October 2010

New gluten free products at Marks & Spencer

More new gluten free products in the M&S 'Made Without Wheat' range.

While shopping in Ipswich and Felixstowe we noticed that Marks and Spencer has introduced some new products to the Made Without Wheat range of gluten free items.

We're looking forward to trying them all out!

M&S sell gluten free Pork Cocktail Sausages that are very tasty. They've now introduced them in packs of ten, rather than the large tubs of 30 (and more)

Chicken Chunks and Chicken Breast Fillets are now part of the Made Without Wheat Range at Marks and Spencer

There are now Salmon Fillet Fishcakes and Cod Fillet Fishcakes in the Made Without Wheat Range at M&S

A lot of the Party Food at M&S is marked as gluten free too - as fans of Pork Cracklings and Scratchings we really liked the look and sound of the Crunchy Crackling Straws!

Check out the M&S website for details of the Made Without Wheat range and the other Gluten Free items they offer.

Links:
- Marks & Spencer website
- Marks & Spencer Made Without Wheat page
- Coeliac UK website

Related blog posts:
- New Gluten Free Beer and Cakes at M&S
- Gluten Free blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files
- Gluten Free Finds in London (and beyond) - October 2010

New Gluten Free Beer and Cakes at M&S

New gluten free products - including beer and cakes - in the Made Without Range by Marks & Spencer.

Emily and I are big fans of Marks & Spencer as in the last few years they have added more and more products to the 'Made Without Wheat' range.

In addition to the special Made Without Wheat gluten free branded line, M&S has been making a lot of other items gluten free - such as the new BBQ and Grill range - which include our particular favourites of pulled pork and the cheese & chilli 'posh dogs'.

While having a browse in the Luton branch today I spotted there are now two new gluten free beers available!

The new Marks & Spencer beers - the Belgian Golden Ale on the left and the Belgian Premium Pilsner on the right.

I'm a big fan of beer, ale and lager and after my diagnosis with Coeliac Disease in 2008 following years of illness I received the additional hammer blow of being told that I wouldn't be able to have a pint of beer again.

Since then I have found that there are a number of gluten free tipples available and details of those beers I've found and drunk are available on my compilation blog post about Gluten Free Ales, Beers and Lagers.

The Belgian Golden Ale and Belgian Premium Pilsner are brewed by Brouwerij De Brabandere in West Flanders, Belgium and have been specially brewed for Marks & Spencer.

The new M&S Ale and Pilsner both contain Barley and in the information on the bottle it says "Barley gluten is removed during the brewing process to leave a great tasting gluten free beer."

I bought a bottle of each beer. I haven't tried them yet, but I'm sure they'll get drunk over the weekend.

M&S have also recently started selling four new cakes. I spotted three of these in the Luton branch, while the Party Cake was spotted in the Ipswich store.

The Made Without Wheat Extremely Chocolatey Celebration Cake by M&S. I bought one of these for our recent wedding anniversary.

The Made Without Wheat Extremely Chocolatey Celebration Cake was nice, I liked it more than Emily, but we both agreed the base of the cake was a little too dry. Not a bad amount of chocolate cake for the £10 price tag. I'd buy it again, and at least this time I'd have it all to myself.

The M&S Made Without Wheat Carrot & Walnut Cake and Coffee and Walnut Cake. I haven't tried these. Yet.

The M&S Made Without Wheat 'Party Cake'. I hope I get one of these on my next birthday.

Check out the M&S website for details of the Made Without Wheat range and the other Gluten Free items they offer. I spotted some different cakes available there too!

Links:
- Marks & Spencer website
- Marks & Spencer Made Without Wheat page
- Brouwerij De Brabandere
- Coeliac UK website

Related blog posts:
- Gluten Free blog posts on The Ham & Egger Files
- Gluten Free Ales, Beers and Lagers
- A blogger's gluten free sandwich
- Gluten Free Finds in London (and beyond) - October 2010

A blogger's gluten free sandwich

Using Green's Gluten Free Dark Ale Mustard.

While at the 2014 Allergy and Free From Show I visited the Green's gluten free beers stand and as well as sampling a couple of the their beers I hadn't had in a while I was also given a special jar of Green's Dark Ale Mustard!

Green's gluten free Dark Ale Mustard

I asked for some suggestions on Twitter and Green's came back with ideas for Marks & Spencer gluten free sausages (a good idea as I like the M&S gluten free range), a scotch egg (another great idea, perhaps one from Hotch Potch Eggs who I met at the show), or any salad & ham (less of the salad, more of the ham!).

Fellow gluten free blogger Gemma at Coeliac and Me suggested said she'd be making some honey & mustard salad dressing. Sounds nice.

Emily cooks up some cracking gluten free food, a specialty of which is a great dish of honey and mustard crusted pork, which we'll use the Dark Ale Mustard for the next time.

In the interim and feeling hungry after a busy day I used the Green's mustard in a beef sandwich. Very tasty it was too.

A late lunch of a beef and ale mustard sandwich (made with Genius Gluten Free bread) and the obligatory Pom-Bear snacks on the side (these are the newish Zoo Friends variety and are 'really cheesy')

The mustard is made by Cumberland Mustard using Green's Dark Ale.

Check out the Green's Gluten Free Beers website for details of the full range, stockists and how to order online.

Related blog posts:
- The Allergy and Free From Show 2014 at Olympia
- Gluten Free Ales, Beers and Lagers

Link:
- Green's Gluten Free Beers

Gluten Free Finds in London (and beyond) - October 2010

On our recent trip to London we found a few new Gluten Free places to eat at/buy GF products from, these included:

Starbucks - Now do Gluten and Wheat Free sandwiches, salads and cakes :-) The service from the very knowledgeable staff at the O2 was very pleasing. When ordering the cakes ask for them to be wrapped if you have Special Dietary Requirements, as they will bring you a sealed one that is not cross-contaminated. I had a Cheese and Coleslaw Sandwich and a Chocolate Brownie. Very tasty indeed. The Sangers are made with Genius Bread.

Las Iguanas - We've previously eaten at the London Eye and Manchester Trafford Centre branches and had no problems (Las Igauanas does some great food), but we had very poor service and a nightmare experience at the restaurant at the O2. Despite me stating I was a Coeliac and what I must avoid, my starter (Gambas) was served with bread and my main (Ensopado De Carne - the first time I've eaten Goat!) was served with flour-coated deep fried Plantain!?

Marks & Spencer - M&S now have a good range of Gluten and Wheat Free products, including Bread and Cakes. I picked up a Lemon Sponge Cake and some of the Brownies and Pecan and Chocolate Cakes. Looking at their website there is also a range of GF products to order online.

The Chicago Rib Shack - They have Gluten Free options (spelled 'Gluton') on the menu. Our server was very knowledgeable about Special Dietary requirements. I had a huge T-Bone Steak, along with some enoyable Cocktails, including a Mohito and an Old Fashioned (if anyone knows the recipe do let me know?).

Whole Foods Market - Had a selection of Gluten Free products. They were not that easy to find as they don't have a dedicated GF Section, instead products are mixed in with 'normal' food. I did however pick up some bottles of a different 'Coeliac-friendly' Beer - from St Peter's Brewery - which was nice :-)

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