Hiatus Explanation

Hey there!

It's been too long. I've been baking during my blogging hiatus- I even have a few more "Great British Baking Show" bakes under my belt and photographed, just waiting to blog about.

Short of making excuses, there has been an update in my personal life that's made taking the time to blog seemingly impossible. My son, Finn, the same one with all those anaphylactic food allergies has a new diagnosis. It's a rare auto immune disease called Eosinophilic Esophagitis, commonly referred to as "EoE".  It's a complicated diagnosis, requiring a scope and biopsies.  Even more complicated is finding out what the trigger is. 

Essentially EoE is a reaction in your gut. It's a collection of a specific kind of white blood cell that gathers in your esophagus and can cause all sorts of issues. It was the cause of Finn's chronic cough, it can lead to choking/vomiting and eventually scarring and or narrowing of your esophagus. Finn's case is seemingly on the more mild end, and we are lucky to have a diagnosis so early in his life. It can be caused by food allergens, airborne allergens and acid reflux. We've already ruled out acid reflux, and given his existing allergies are inclined to believe his is at least partially caused by something he had been eating.

So now comes the fun part. Full blown elimination diet. Since the start of 2018, Finn has not been eating Dairy, Soy, Wheat, Legumes, Tree Nuts (anaphylactic reaction anyway), Fish & Shellfish. Two weeks into this new diet and his chronic cough and occasional choking/vomiting have completely stopped. It's a great sign that we are on the right track, but we still need to confirm with a repeat scope at the end of March.

Fingers crossed we get the all clear at the end of the month and then we can start the guessing game of reintroducing foods into his diet, one at a time. 

To say I've been overwhelmed is both obvious and an understatement. Do you guys know what classifies a legume? ALL beans. PEAS. My whole food, plant based diet love has been temporarily shelved. It's been lots of meat and potatoes and thank goodness for wheat free pasta alternatives.

I've had an outpouring of love and support from my friends and family. Friends near and far came out of the woodwork with recipe ideas and support. We've found our new groove and I'm hopeful we can narrow things down in the near future and find our new more permanent normal. For now, Finn continues to be the trooper he is and shelf his love of pizza.

Personal issues aside, I went head first into this endeavor and I have hit a few logistical snags along the way. Like; how do I sync my mail chimp to my subscribe button? How do I schedule postings? How do I archive? Posting/Navigation issues. These showstopper challenges from the GBBO are costly and massive, should I eliminate them from this, my personal challenge? 

Few things I have figured out...

 I am going to edit out the showstopper bakes from the show as part of my overall challenge. Whenever possible I will incorporate them, but removing that as a "must" from my plate has made this seem more achievable for me. So, moving forward I will pick up where I left off and begin writing about the signature and technical bakes I accomplish. I have also decided to throw in the occasional "off script" just for my own fun bake. Spoiler-I made my own play dough y'all!

So, stay tuned! More baking to come-I promise. And hopefully I will continue to learn more about blogging and keep this site organized. 

Thanks for the love and patience. 

xoxo

A few pics of the boys playing in the nicer summer weather.