Please note: As of September 2014, I am no longer publishing new material on GF in the City and am now writing at Leaves of Kale. All content at GF in the City will remain. See this post for further details.

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Hello, my name is Britt.  Welcome to GF in the City.

This site was started back in May of 2009 after I discovered that gluten was responsible for a whole host of health issues I’d been experiencing for years.  It began as a place for me to work through this new way of living, a place where I could jot down my recipes, talk about the products that I’d found, and sort through my thoughts.  It’s still all of those things, but it’s become even more.

In writing this site, I’ve connected to my love of food and cooking in entirely new ways.  Being gluten-free has a lot to do with that.  It’s amazing how a restriction can open one’s eyes to possibilities—almost as though someone slid my culinary creative dimmer switch all the way up.  Bam.  Lights.  I now spend my days developing recipes, working with fresh, seasonal ingredients, and recording the results with my camera.

And sharing it all with you here.

This isn’t where I planned to be.  I moved to New York City (sight unseen!) from Wisconsin after graduating high school to attend college and study acting.  A couple years later, after meeting the man who is now my husband, my priorities shifted.  The life of an actor is one of late nights, early mornings, and working weekends.  I wanted to be home in the evenings to make dinner, to sleep in on Saturday mornings and fill the apartment with the smell of bacon…with that of cinnamon rolls on Sunday.

(Okay, so maybe it was pretty obvious that I’d end up here.)

A successful but spiritually draining stint at a hedge fund followed my departure from acting.  Somewhere in between expense reports and P&L statements, I went gluten-free, started this blog, and realized that this is where my time felt best spent.  So I left high finance, and here I am.

A few more things you should know:
1) I am a dog-mom to the cutest dog in the world (you will never dissuade me of this fact).  I love her more than it is reasonable to love something that you did not physically give birth to.  Cesar Milan would totally disapprove.
2) My wonderful husband, Chris, is endlessly supportive and works in software (not only is he handsome, but he’s a nerd smart!).  He deserves all the credit for the behind the scenes work that was done in order to bring my design for this site to life.  I cannot thank him enough for this and you should probably give him a high five if you ever meet him.
3) I sincerely love kale and I eat it every single day.  This is not an exaggeration.

If it feels as though I’ve left anything out, please don’t hesitate to ask.

It’s nice meeting you!

Where To Go

At the top of the page you will see the various “sections” of this site.  Here is a little about each one to help you get around:

In My Life – What’s going on with me.  This might include posts about travel, major life events, or the occasional divulgence of my thoughts on something that I think you may be interested in.  Or not.  That’s cool.

In the Kitchen – What’s cooking.  Here you’ll find recipes and kitchen tips.

In the Garden – I grow stuff.  But I live in New York City?  We’re fortunate enough to have a small balcony and I’ve monopolized it for horticultural purposes. We also have a Meyer lemon tree named George who lives inside because he can’t handle the balcony.  I’ve learned that you never stop learning in the garden—hopefully I can help you learn something too.  Plus, it’s fun to watch things grow.

Out to Eat – Restaurants I like.  There are a ton of great places to eat safely in this city, and I will occasionally tell you about the ones I like (I’m currently working on getting over the self-consciousness I feel about whipping out my camera at the table so that I can tell you about even more).  If we find any great spots when traveling, I try to report back on those as well.

In the Pantry – Gluten-free products.  I cook mostly from scratch, so this section of the site tends to be a bit sparse.  Let’s be real, though, we all need convenience foods from time to time—even if we’re just talking about gluten-free pasta.  This is where you can go to find my favorites.

Resources

GF in the City & Elsewhere – I’ve created a map so that you can easily find my favorite gluten-free restaurants in NYC and around the world (okay, really just the U.S. and Aruba), as well as those that may not specialize in but handle gluten-free dining well. Bon appétit!

GFitC’s Favorites on Amazon – Head on over to my Amazon shop to see the products, cookbooks, and tools that I keep in my kitchen and purchase them for your own.  We order many pantry staples, like gluten-free flours and pasta, in bulk on Amazon; GF products aren’t cheap and ordering them this way saves us money.  So whether you order through my shop or not, buying online in bulk is one of my favorite tips for more cost-effective gluten-free living.
Full disclosure: If you purchase something from Amazon through my shop or by clicking a link on my site, I receive a very small percentage of these purchases.