Our personal Tsunami rolled in when Gus was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes a little after 10:00 a.m. on October 20, 1996. Three days later he was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. Surf?!! First we had to learn to “swim.”

Credit to Rebecca Reilly who hadn’t yet written her cookbook, but was practicing a GF diet and developing recipes, and Pamela’s Baking Co. who was already producing one of the most delicious, user friendly, baking mixes available. Rebecca stopped by the house the day after Gus’s endoscopy to offer words of advice and support, and give a hug. Pamela’s Baking Mix was a staple in the larder whilst we developed the skills to manage Diabetes. With it we could make pancakes, waffles, crepes, and muffins that anyone in the family liked enough to eat “seconds”!

Driven by the desire to offer GF versions of favorite treats, we developed the confidence and bandwidth to create our own GF recipes. “Surfing” came in the way of our GF Chocolate Chip Cookies, inspired by the “conventional” ones Mrs. Field baked to sell at her market cart on University Avenue in Palo Alto in the 1970’s.

Life continues to present “waves” of varying sizes. There have been some remedial “swimming lessons”. Having proved we can learn to “surf” provides the determination to embrace the water.

Gus training for Peaks to Portland