It’s been a bad week.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ve seen my rantings about a proposed cell phone tower being erected between our house and our beloved mountain view. The cement had already been poured and it seemed likely that I’d spend my next thirty years staring at this iron monstrosity as I cooked dinner.

So I delayed blogging because this is supposed to be an upbeat blog about coping with food issues. I did not feel upbeat.

Being an allergic foodie, one of the things I do when I’m upset is eat. I just happened to receive not one but two packages with gluten-free and allergy-friendly foods in the mail.

Don’t think that’s the chilling part; keep reading.

The first one was from Tasterie.  Started by a pediatrician and mother of an allergic child, Tasterie is a mail order food company for those of us with CD or food allergies.

You can order a TasterieBox, like the one pictured above, tailored to your specific needs.  I ordered the Top 8 Box, which included a few brands I hadn’t found on my grocery store shelves yet, like dairy-free mozzarella, pie crust mix (perfect for the holidays), and pancake mix for when my GF college boy is home for his Thanksgiving break.

Then yesterday, the FedEx guy interrupted my angry tweets by delivering a large cardboard box from Udi’s Gluten Free.  Inside were lots of fixings for gluten-free/dairy-free/soy-free Thanksgiving dishes.  If you’re cooking this holiday, you must check out  Let’s Feast!  Udi’s Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Menu!  The idea is to use these recipes and host a “Friendsgiving.” How fun is that!

Photo from Stuck with Pins at http://blog.stuckwithpins.com/2012/11/friendsgiving.html

I loved getting all this yummy food especially during this stressful week, but I also felt kind of guilty. There are so many other people who are unemployed or housebound who could use this food.

I began blogging about my idea to cook some of Udi’s Friendsgiving dishes  along with Tasterie‘s pumpkin pie crust and share them with someone less fortunate who has celiac disease . . . but I didn’t know how to find such a person.

This is the chilling part.

My phone rang.  My friend Judy wanted my advice for a meal she was preparing for a woman with celiac disease. The woman has serious multiple sclerosis, has been bedridden for a long time, and has a 12-year-old son. I couldn’t believe it.

Chills, right?

So Judy and Ky are coming over on Saturday to help George and me prepare a Friendsgiving for this woman and her son using the Udi’s and Tasterie foods I received this week.

I’m feeling a lot less angry. I don’t have an answer regarding the cell tower, but something tells me the phone will ring with good news soon.

A Thanksgiving Story That Will Give You Chills first appeared in Adventures of an Allergic Foodie

Lots of people are blogging about  a GF Thanksgiving!

• A Gluten-Free Thanksgiving Treat (simplystated.realsimple.com)
• A Gluten-Free Thanksgiving (goodbye2gluten.wordpress.com)
• Thankful for celiac disease (fitfabulousandglutenfree.com)
• October Tasterie Boxes (savorlifesflavors.com)
• Allergy-Friendly Thanksgiving Recipes Round-Up (organicauthority.com)
• Gobble Gobble! An Allergen Free Thanksgiving (savorlifesflavors.com)