Eating dinner out with food intolerances

Continuing my series about eating with food intolerances. Last month I went out twice and had dinner out. The first time was for a social (where I met the publisher). I actually looked on the pub's website to see what they cooked for food intolerances. There was only a few things that were dairy free but I decided to try the skinny steak and chips. I didn't know what the chips were cooked in but I like steak and chips. Here is the photo of what I ate.

 

I only had slight side effects from it but nothing major like I  have had before when I've eaten a lot of chips. I didn't eat the greens in the bowl on the plate, as I can't eat those, but I did eat the cherry tomatoes.

Next was a SCBWI masterclass. We preordered from a set menu. I chose the handmade burger with chips, without a roll. I enjoyed the meal, when chips finally were served to me, but was disappointed with the service which I thought was slow esp when the burger was served without the chips, like it had been on previous classes. No side effects from that at all. I was meant to have bacon with the tomatoes below but that never came, which really was a good thing as it made the meal a bit healthier to eat.

 

So, there you have it. What I ate on two events, and how it effected me or not. I think it is a good idea that pub's have their menus on the web so people can decide what they can eat before they go there. So well done both pubs for this.

Graphic novels - an early memory

Continuing the theme of graphic novels. I am now going to talk about my early memories of reading them. When I say novels, I mean comics, as they are thin graphic novels. I remember reading Beano and Dandy at the same time as my older brother. I don't recall reading things such as Jackie and My Guy. I liked annuals, too. I do remember reading the small graphic stories by Jackie etc. I used to collect them. They were a bit like pocket novels. Does any one remember what they were called? There is one I remember well. It was about four girls who liked different things eg reading, sports and they all went to jobs they thought were suited to them. The girl who liked reading ended up reading books instead of working and went to another job.  There was only one time that I did buy My Guy, and that was when they reprinted the story with Tony Hadley in. I was a huge fan of Spandau Ballet at the time, and anything with them in I collected.

So, that is my early memory of graphic novels. What is yours? What did you like best? Let me know.

A writer networking - an interesting conversation with a publisher

Last Thursday evening I made my way by bus to Holborn to a pub where members of SCBWI-BI were having a social get together. I don't normally like pubs and going to social events, but when it comes to meeting up with other writers, I don't mind because I can talk away about what I do happily. Anyway, after a while there and having eaten a nice steak with chips and cherry tomatoes, another member whom I'd met before arrived. His name was John Anderson. When I last met him I didn't know that he was a director of a small publisher. Well, I got to talking about my book for 7-9s called 'Boring Billy and the Strange Socks' and he said to me 'Have you thought about getting it published as a graphic novel?' I replied, no, don't know how to do that. He said to just write it. When I told him all about my book, he said he was interested in it and to message him on Facebook. I'd never thought at all about getting it published as a graphic novel just as a normal mainstream series book, but all the way home on the bus, that's what I thought about, and I realised it had great merit. Thinking about my book, I could see that lots of it was visual and would be great in graphic. The more I thought about it, the more I came to realise it had good potential. So on Friday, I messaged John asking what to do. He replied Saturday to say send them the usual partial. So that is what I have done. Now I wait to see what he says about the partial. I can't wait. The partial is still with one agent and two other publishers. I am now excited about the series again, and want to get working on the next book about Charlie and his dyspraxia. I need to finish a short story first and send that out.

Watch this space...

Eating out on a day trip - then and now.

This is one of the posts I will write about food intolerances and travel. When I was able to eat certain foods and now that I can't. I shall start with day trips out to the seaside.

Years ago, my mum and I would go to Eastbourne for the day, a couple of times, during the summer. Way back then, I was able to eat dairy. So, during our day out, although we'd take our own lunch with us to eat, we would pop to the sea front and buy ourselves Magnum's. I used to love the caramel choc ones. So yummy. I'd enjoy sitting on a bench, looking towards the sea, and eating it with relish. One of the other foods I used love to buying and eating was fudge. It was one of my fave sweets. I loved the creaminess of it. It never used to last long when I got it home. But that was then, when I was able to eat dairy.

Now is a totally different story. The last time we went to Eastbourne was in 2005, when my mum passed out and broke her wrist. We've not been since as Mum hasn't done any long train journeys, and doesn't know how she'd cope with one. Anyway. in 2005, I knew I was dairy intolerant, so I couldn't eat what I used to. We still took our own lunches, but we'd take snacks with us, too. We'd have crisps and fruit bars to eat instead of buying ice creams and sweets. This is what we take when we go out for days now. How I miss those Magnums. But I know I wouldn't be able to eat them because they'd give me bad IBS, and I don't what that whilst I'm out.

So, do you have food intolerances? Do you have memories of what you could eat before you were diagnosed? And what are they? Let me know. I might do an article about this some day.

An Aspergirl helping and inspiring others with and about Asperger's Syndrome - another video

Welcome back to my Aspergirl series. Again, I am going to cross promote with being an Aspiepreneur and post about another video. When I first started making videos I didn't know what to talk about but then I had an idea - if affiliate marketing had helped me with my Asperger's (first video) then it could help others like me. So why not make videos to explain how it can help and why. So that it was I have done, and will keep doing as part of being an Aspiepreneur.

Here is my second Aspiepreneur video about why affiliate marketing is suitable for Aspies:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5txim7Sjl1c

Enjoy, and let me know what you think by commenting on here or on my YouTube channel. I do hope that it helps and inspires you.

Cross promotion - An Aspergirl being an Aspiepreneur and making videos

Today I am going to start cross promoting with my other blog, which is about affiliate marketing and how it can help people with Asperger's Syndrome, like me. I became an affiliate marketer in May when I joined Elite Marketing Pro. It wasn't until August, when they fully launched, that I made my first video. It is all abut how EMP has helped my communication skills. To watch it, you can find it here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YigW5HRClQk

It took a few attempts to get it right and on YouTube. I tried doing it on the software on my laptop, but it was useless. It kept breaking up so people couldn't understand what I was saying. I ended up doing it on my digital camera, which is how I am now doing all my videos.

Let me know what you think.

Coping with IBS at home and leisure

Back to my series about coping with IBS, or not. Today I am going to post about how I have coped, or not, with IBS at home and leisure time.

First, at home. I am talking about when I am at home and about to go out shopping. For quite a while, earlier this year, I would have breakfast, get ready, then go shopping with my mum to get the weekly food shopping. Mistake. As I've said in my previous post, it is a good idea to sit and rest for 20 mins or so after eating because your food won't digest properly. I know this now from experience. When I did this, and started walking round the store, half an hour in shopping I'd say to my mum that I had a stomach upset and needed to go somewhere. Feeling that I was spoiling the shopping trip, made me anxious and made my stomach feel worse. I hated this happening. Not only because it spoiled our experience shopping, but due to having Asperger's Syndrome I'd get anxious about not finding my mum when I came out. (That is another post about coping with AS). Thankfully, this hasn't happened for ages, and I intend it not to happen again. If it does, my mum and I have a strategy to meet up.

Secondly, leisure time. I am talking about when you are going out to meet friends. I often go out and meet writer friends for talks, or brunches and lunches. There was one occasion recently when the weather was v hot (in the 30s) and I was going to be meeting friends for brunch and had to sit outside. I got really anxious about this and ended up with a stomach upset from IBS. I didn't go in the end, with the excuse that sitting in the heat was bad for me and my heart (I have a hole in it, and was said that people with heart problems shouldn't stay in the heat), and wasn't well. I get nervous about going to talks in general, but try to stay calm and relaxed before hand. I think in that instance, it was a case of going into the unknown as well as going to a place I'd not been to before that set it off.

So, if you have IBS, how many times has it stopped you enjoying pleasant experiences such as shopping and meeting friends? With me, lots of times.