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Let’s Eat Out! Your Passport to Living Gluten and Allergy Free

by Kim Koeller and Robert La France

R & R Publishing (2006)

ISBN 0976484501

Reviewed by Irene Watson for Reader Views (11/06)

According to the authors this is the first book dedicated to eating around the corner and around the world while managing ten food allergies including: corn, dairy, eggs, fish, gluten, peanuts, shellfish, soy, tree nuts and wheat. And, I couldn’t agree more. This book is full of extremely important information geared toward the most common food sensitivities.

Those of us with food sensitivities know how difficult it can be to eat out in restaurants. The authors of “Let’s Eat Out!” simplify the process. For example, the first chapter gives a step-by-step approach to eating outside the home. The first step is education. Koeller and La France insist on education, research, and support groups. Another step is to identify the eating options and preferences with the restaurant. This includes type (family, fast food, carry out,) cuisine (new, familiar) and the most important being to decide to go somewhere new, gluten/allergy friendly, and/or feature allergy-free menus. The question that the authors encourage us to ask ourselves is “How much effort do I want to spend on deciding what to eat at this restaurant?” Being sensitive to specific foods and loving to eat out, personally, I will do what it takes to do the research.

“Let’s Eat Out!” is the most concise book that I have seen. Not only do the authors lay out the process of obtaining allergy-free foods in a restaurant, they outline seven international cuisines: American, Chinese, French, Indian, Italian, Mexican, and Thai. Each chapter gives an informative overview as well as traditional ingredients, gluten awareness, dining considerations, and a sample menu with ingredients and possible allergens.

But, there is more! The authors make it easy for us by giving sample questions to ask, reference guides, meal ideas, breakfast and beverage suggestions, multi-lingual phrases, global airlines meal options, product resources, as well as international organizations.

All this information is contained in one book, however, there is even more. Available by the same authors are small, compact booklets that can easily slip into a purse or pocket. Each booklet is a guide in itself that can be referenced while in a restaurant.

What can I say? I’m overwhelmed with all the information presented, and extremely grateful that I now have the most informative book in my procession. There is no more second guessing of what ingredients are in specific meals or questioning the wait staff that may or may not know the answers.

Koeller and La France have a real winner here. This is a book that will become dog eared in my custody. Needless to say this is the best reference book regarding allergy foods that I have ever seen. There really is no need for any other book.

A Tour Guide for Travelers Through Ancient and Modern Egypt

Dick and Mary Lutz are part of an International Expeditions Tour group, made up of twenty two members. An Egypt Air flight takes them from JFK Airport in New York to Cairo to begin the tour. Books on Egyptology are made up of conjecture, myth, and historical fact. Gifted travel writer Dick Lutz helps the reader understand the important rudiments of Egyptian history in “Exploring Egypt.”

Lutz writes in an informative and informal style which is warm and insightful. I enjoyed the insights from journal like entries which reflected his personal observations, preferences, and opinions. Much of Egyptology is mysterious, sometimes disputed, and often inconclusive. Dick recounts these various assumptions, speculations, and suppositions without bias, or criticism. His excitement in reporting whets the appetite of the reader, making them eager to glean more information from the extensive annotated bibliography included in the book.

This book is a user friendly guidebook for the traveler planning to visit Egypt. The book is divided in to three parts. Part one is an overview of an ancient civilization, part two gives a glimpse into the period between ancient and modern Egypt, and includes an exciting tour of museums, the pyramids, and the Sphinx at Giza. Part three takes the reader on visits to the cities of Memphis, Cairo, and Luxor.

The black and white photos provided by Mary Lutz add another dimension to Dick’s easy flowing narrative. There are also some spectacular color photos, credited to various photographers. These photos highlight the Temple of Hatshepsut, Luxor, and Pyramids at Giza, a Cairo Mosque, Kom Ombo, Tuankhamen’s Tomb, and Karnak.

The final section of the book provides the reader with an up to date look at modern Egypt. Lutz includes a synopsis of Egypt’s religions, politics, literature housing, military, foreign relations, business and economy.

Whether this is your first international trip or you are a seasoned traveler, this book will make your visit to Egypt more enjoyable. You should read the book prior to departure, keep it handy as a reference guide while on your visit, and as a reminder of pleasant memories when you return to share the excitement of your trip with your family and friends. This is another important book in the genre of travel and the study of an ancient civilization. “Exploring Egypt” is a great read and an important reference guide.

As reviewed for Midwest Book Review

A Pilgrimage for Peace, an Adventure a Quest and a Purpose

Brandon Wilson’s describes his own personal pilgrimage in his new book “Along the Templar Trail.” This is Brandon’s account of his own self-exploration on an important journey for the cause of peace. This is an incredible account of an exciting adventure and mission that took him from St. Jean de Losne, France to the city of Jerusalem, a distance of 2,620 walking miles.

Brandon’s imagery is so vivid and real I could almost feel the pain of blisters forming on my own feet as Brandon told of the miles he walked. My back ached along with E’mile’s under the weight of his twenty-seven pound backpack. I escaped the torture of Brandon’s swollen feet and painful exposed blisters, as I laid back in my recliner; loaded some Gregorian Chant CD’s in the player and lived vicariously the quest of two men traveling two continents on a pilgrimage for peace. With them, I entered the transcendent experience of the Baroque Chapel and the Benedictine Monastery at Beuron, Germany.

Brandon tells of quiet contemplation and reflection along his walk this way: “Isolated, I wore the solitude like a comfortable cloak…a primeval sanctuary, the most holy of cathedrals…allowing retrospection and quiet contemplation…”

Brandon and E’mile each faced their own personal quest. They had to individually confront their insecurities, the unknowns, the “what if” questions, the pains, limitations, and fears. Risk, danger, in-climate weather, and the challenge of physical endurance created an air of drama and suspense throughout the odyssey. As nerves became frazzled and patience wore thin the ongoing relationship between the two pilgrims was threatened.

I enjoyed the accounts of “angels” miraculously providing food, lodging, and encouragement at critical stages along the way. Engaging stories of generosity, and camaraderie, demonstrated the universal concern for peace among peoples of every ethnic group, culture, religion, and generation.
Brandon’s clever word pictures and picturesque phrases reveal a subtle humor, even as these same words demonstrate the reality of the drama of life. “The streets were patched together like an ugly, gray, communist quilt, rife with moth eaten holes. It had more bulges than a fat lady in Spandex. The corridor was strewn with trash, rotting animals, and those ever present plastic liter bottles.”

In the midst of all this poverty Brandon experienced another side of life on those rare occasions when at the end of the day he shared meals and the hospitality of emphatic hosts. I enjoyed Brandon’s ongoing culinary descriptions of ethnic cuisine and epicurean delights as well as his commentary of wine aficionados, and his connoisseur’s taste.

Opportunities opened for Brandon and E’mile to appear on TV through interviews reaching over 1,000,000 people demonstrate the power of one or two individuals to make a change when dedicated to a cause. These seed thoughts sown through the media coverage gave opportunity for prejudice to be challenged in hopes of producing needed change.

Photos depicting highlights of the journey, important monuments, buildings, and locales add a significant dimension to the book, especially for any who may want to consider their own pilgrimage along the Templar Trail. It is Brandon’s deep-seated hope that as a result of his 2600 mile walk the route will be established as a path of peace. The first step has been taken so others may follow the trail in a bond of fellowship that goes beyond nationality, faith, or culture.

“Along the Templar Trail” is a timely, important book. This is a first step to fostering peace and eliminating the root cause of war. This is a book for every peace loving American to read. Wilson’s writing is thought provoking, engaging and inspirational, highly entertaining and informational.

As Reviewed for Midwest Book Review

There will be chances in London that suits your requirements whatever kind of event you are running from party, live music, or seminar or get together. London has been famous for its hundreds of venues that support live music events. There are arenas such as Earls Court, Hyde Park, Wembley Arena, Brixton Academy, Hammersmith Apollo, to the hundreds of small clubs and pubs that host live music show London has some venues to suit any band.

Live Music in London has been greatest atmosphere in the world since some of the most popular and influential musicians and bands the world has ever seen. During 1970s-1980s, musicians like Cat Stevens, Ian Dury, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, the Police, Sade, iron Maiden, Madness, the Small Faces and Squeeze, bang the world by their music, vibrating their soundrenaline through London.

More recent artists to emerge from this British Capital music scene include the Spice Girls, Jamiroquai, Libertines, Coldplay and a lot of other famous bands from all over the world. London is also a center of urban music including UK garage, dubstep, drum and bass evolved in the city from the outsiders of reggae, metal, hip hop. In the early 80′s London was the city when the heavy metal wave flooding the music atmosphere. London hosts many music festivals including Hyde Park, O2 Wireless festival, and The Camden Crawl. Their combines’ state-of-the-art performance of rock, pop, dance and other genres are the most amusing events you could see in your holiday.

“Complicated Favors: A Turkish Affair” — A Cracking-Good Read

First-Time Travel Adventure-Writer Delivers

First-time author Jeanne Reeder’s heroine is a forensic psychologist (and part time CIA operative) named Charly. As her name suggests, Charly is a thoroughly modern Western woman — equipped mentally and physically to meet whatever life offers up, and then some. Raised in Alaska by a frontiersman-like father who taught survival as a matter of course, Charly learned to run, jump and shoot like a green beret at an early age. And it’s a good thing too, because climactic events of this novel demand every bit of her rough-and-ready background.

As the novel opens, Charly (now an attractive, full-blooded widow-of-a-certain-age) and her elderly female companion, Frances, are revisiting Turkey to relive old times, enjoy new ones — and incidentally, as at first seems, to deliver a package. Delivery of that package (with its secretly encoded map-coordinates between tracks of an ethnic-Kurdish music CD) ultimately involves Charly in intrigue and terrorism (and romance) — in a hell-bent-for-leather story that starts fast and never lets up.

Insofar as intrigue and terrorism are concerned, Ms. Reeder’s story rings true — seeming to jump off the pages of this week’s mainstream Turkish newspapers. For, at this level, Complicated Favors (CF) is a tale of Turkey’s continuing struggle against PKK terrorists — which leads our heroine inevitably and relentlessly from balmy autumn venues in Western Turkey to the snowy wilds of the Sat-Clio Mountains on Iran’s border in the Turkish far east.

Out there in the hinterlands, Charly’s physical and mental skills are tested to their limits — and she is even called upon, as an equal member of a multi-cultural anti-terrorist combat team, to kill PKK terrorists. But while the author never leaves the reader in doubt about the PKK’s vicious terrorist reality, she also lends a sympathetic ear to the tribulations of ordinary Kurdish-Turks — and to their understandable desire to celebrate their heritage.

CF is not all ‘blood and guts’ action, though. Ms. Reeder’s deft inclusion of Turkey’s naturally lusty Romantic Ambiance (as a third, intangible main character) is also notable. That inclusion makes CF a thoroughly sexy (though never prurient) novel too — as it follows the developing romance between Charly and Hakan, her Turkish counterpart and mission-buddy. And, when American flesh meets Turkish flesh, well, let’s just say that…

Click following to access the complete and fully illustrated HTML review of Complicated Favors:
A Turkish Affair.