ANNIE KNOWS ANTIOXIDENTS!

Galloway’s owner Annie Muljiani is a lover of health and an appreciator of great nutrition. So she developed her own blend of richly good-for-you antioxidants: Annie-Oxidants. 

Download an information card here.

RECIPE OF THE MONTH: MARZIPAN COOKIES!

Make some gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan marzipan cookies this holiday – they are a surefire hit that even the pickiest eaters will enjoy!

Download the recipe here. And enjoy!

FABULOUS FIRST PLACE FRUITCAKE!

Congratulations to Michelle Blumenfield! Michelle won our annual Fruitcake Contest. There was stiff (and tasty) competition this year. Our esteemed panel of judges tasted 26 fruitcakes – all made with care, love, and a lot of brandy and rum (hiccup!).

Here is Michelle’s story:

“My Mom used to make this fruitcake every year. I would crawl up on a bench to watch her make it. Years later, she started entering them in local fairs and winning first prize.

Mom is gone now but I wanted to make one and enter it in her name. I know she was watching the whole time. I’m thrilled and will be donating the $100 prize to Christmas Bureau in her memory.”

Download a recipe card of her now-famous cake here.

Richmond Renovation Celebration Winners

Many thankful customers in the store today, especially the ones who won our hourly door prizes.

Congratulations to:

Uli Owen – Oughtred’s Coffee & Tea

Patricia Fleming – Cloud 9 Specialty Bakery gluten-free basket

C. Anderson – Omega Nutrition Basket (Pumpkin Seed Oil, Pumpkin Seed Protein Powder, Flax Oil)

Chris & family – Tree of Life basket

Annie Serves Lentil Fritters…

Annie Muljiani, Galloway’s owner and president, is in the Richmond store today celebrating the renovation. (Which means we are staying in this location for at least five years!) Annie’s Red Lentil Fritters are hit with everyone, including customers like Alessandra (above). Serve them with tamarind chutney (make your own or do as we do – buy Ally’s found in our cooler).

Richmond Celebrates Renovation Today – Oct 6th

We’ve worked hard over the past few months to update the Richmond store – paint, carpet/lino removed and floor painted, new cashier tills and more.

To celebrate this, we are serving Annie’s Flourless Filbert Cake, her famous Lentil Fritters (about noon), and we have a draw every hour for a door prize.

Until noon, Michael Oughtred of Oughtred’s Coffee is serving a dark roast and a light roast coffee. Ask him about coffee!

We also have our Thanksgiving Specials and we are selling squash from the Sharing Farm. Lots going on… Join us!

Not Crazy After All – A Gluten-Free Tale

I recognize the familiar cramping in my stomach and lower back. Waves of intense pain warn me that I have a few minutes to find a washroom. A few hours later depression overtakes me and I sink into a dark mood. I believe that my life is falling apart, that I am destined for failure, that there is no point in living. My stomach bloats and hardens; I feel nine months pregnant. I cannot keep my eyes open. I fall into bed. Exhaustion overwhelms me. I look at the clock – 3 pm. I fall asleep, longing for relief. I want to sleep til morning, but my children wake me, hungry for dinner. I struggle to make soup, clean the kitchen, help with homework, tuck my daughters into bed.

The next morning I awake before the alarm clock. The morning sun peaks through the slats of the blind and I smile, head clear, anticipating a beautiful day. I run my hand over my flat stomach. As I make coffee I look back at my diet over the past thirty-six hour to determine what caused this attack. I knew the chicken salad was safe. So was the rice bread and peanut butter. What about the red licorice Nibs? I ate a few of those with my daughter while we watched a movie. I pull the bag from the pantry and read the label. The third ingredient is flour. One of my enemies.

This attack lasted less than twelve hours. For more than three years I suffered these symptoms daily. My life had become unmanageable. Simple tasks such as emptying the dishwasher felt like climbing Mt. Everest. I was sick of being sick.

I visited the doctor every few months, complaining about chronic diarrhea, depression, fatigue. He prescribed iron for anemia and Zoloft for depression. My problems worsened. Words such as hypo-thyroidism, irritable bowel syndrome, anemia, and depression swirled around me for years.

I struggled to survive. I forgot what life was like without exhaustion and diarrhea. As a food writer, I interviewed my cousin, Lawrence, who had just opened a gluten-free bakery. I thought the story might interest my readers. “Thirteen years ago, I was a skeleton,” he told me. “I was technically dying from malnutrition and no one, note even the top specialists at Vancouver General Hospital, knew what was wrong.” He listed his symptoms – fatigue, depression, fog, bloating, rapid weight loss, rash of white dots on his knees, and diarrhea. As I wrote each word down, I realized that my list of symptoms was similar. Very similar.