Double Life

So I've recently been living a double life, it's only been going on for about a week now but I can tell it's going to either be a great adventure or could end horribly, and I have a feeling the choice is in my hands.  I recently got a job as a waiter at a Korean restaurant.  I decided to take on a second job for a couple reason; mostly because my current job sucks terribly to put it lightly, secondly because I would like to get involved in the food industry and waiting tables is a start, lastly to just have some fun, make new friends, make some cash and stay away from drinking too many four lokos.

So I'll basically introduce you to my day.  I wake up at 8 am for my morning job, still feeling a little tipsy from the bottle of red wine that I drank the night before and somehow proceed to work at my "day job" from 9-5. This always seems to be a struggle just getting out of bed for the simple fact that I don't like my current "day job."  It also doesn't help that I was out at a party till 2 am the night before.  So 6 hours of drunken sleep later, I start my 16 hour day.  I actually look forward to going to my second job as a waiter, the people are super fun, I get to walk around and interact with people all day, then drink and eat for free when my shift ends.  My shift typically starts at 5:30 pm and can end as early as 10 pm or as late as 1 am.  This can lead to being taxing on my body and I've only been doing this for a week now.  The other night I didn't get home till 4 am, aka only four hours of drunken sleep.

I have a feeling that something in my lifestyle will need to settle down in order for this situation to work out well for all parties involved.  Although I'm not really sure how to approach the situation, hopefully at the end of 4 months of doing this I'll have realized that this is or isn't what I want to do with my life.  On one side the comfort of having a standard salary, full benefits, 401 K and all that jazz makes sense and it's great to have a steady 9-5 job.  On the other hand having to deal with some of the people I work with drives me crazy.  I'm also not a fan of the structured schedule here, it doesn't feel natural to me.  I also feel weighted down here, the vibe in my building is quite depressing and overbearing.  Working in a restaurant has been a great experience so far, and I say so far because like everything new at first it's great and then it becomes not so great.  So I'm excited to see how working in a restaurant pans out.

Future steps in my double life will be trying to learn as much I can at the restaurant, minimizing my lifestyle, find my life mission, refocusing on family and friends, and having as much fun as possible.

Lactose Pills and the Califon Pancake Breakfast

So for the longest time, I've been against the use of lactose pills, which essentially are designed so people who are lactose intolerant can digest lactose.  I don't know exactly why I've been against them I guess I just did not like the concept of eating something that my body did not like digesting.  So I've just been avoiding dairy as best I can, definitely a huge learning curve here.  I've been finding out that there is dairy in just about everything you eat.  I haven't had pizza, chocolate, pancakes or ice cream in six months.  Until this past weekend.

I came home to New Jersey to take a class at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), called the flavors of Asia with my mom.  This was a total blast, we learned how to make sushi, homemade wontons/dumplings, a light/clean general Tso's chicken, Thai soups, Korean noodles, Chinese stir-fry and Indian desserts.  This class was part of the reason for coming home, the real reason was the Califon Firehouse Pancake Breakfast.  The mecca for all Califon residents seeking quite possibly the best breakfast in the United States.  One catch, it's only served the first Sunday of each month from October to March.  It's hard to put into words this experience but I've been going here since I was born so I will attempt.  To start off it is served in the "ballroom" of the volunteer Califon firehouse.  I guess it's hard to put that sentence into words alone because Califon, NJ is such a unique experience within itself.  It is only one square mile and yet we have a fire department, K-8 school, two liquor stores, three pizza parlors, two dry cleaners, a CVS, a Shop-rite, a general store that is 100 years old, and one Chinese restaurant.   When you first enter the pancake breakfast you are greeted with a line of Califon locals, girl scout cookies to your left and about 100 different types of shoe laces for sale on your right.  You were then greeted by the now deceased "Big Dick" who was the gate keeper of the pancake breakfast.  If he wasn't a fan or if you didn't buy his shoelaces, you might not be getting into this culinary treasure trove.  Once you pay the now 8 dollars cover charge (all you can eat), used to be 4 dollars, you then start to peer around the room and try to avoid as many familiar faces as possible.  This might be the worst part of the pancake breakfast, running into old classmates, teachers, bully's, students, ex-girlfriends, etc, it's definitely inevitable.  In order to have the full experience, before you leave the pancake breakfast you have to have at least one awkward encounter with someone, normally starts with the classic line of "how do I know you?" or "I haven't scene you in 10 years!"  After your awkward encounter you finally have some time to glance around and really take in the full experience that the pancake breakfast is, it's bright, delicious, energetic, and totally low-brow.  The hostess or volunteer fireman seats you at your table which is set up cafeteria style so just big picnic tables all lined up together.  Glance down and you see the menu with four items: eggs (three different ways), toast (only white), pancakes and sausage.  You put a check mark or X next to each item you would like,  I opt for my standards of four sausages and four pancakes (two X's by sausage, two X's by pancakes).  This is a total classic, the sausage is made on sight, ground and formed there.  The key to their sausage, which i might say is the best I've ever had,  is they super finely grind it and they just add salt and pepper.  Total perfection of keep it simple stupid.  The pancakes are moist, thin and delicious.  It all comes to you stacked high on a white diner plate and served to you by a eight year old girl scout.  Time to dig in except one miner hitch that I didn't worry about two years ago,  I am now lactose intolerant.  So I opt for a couple chew-able pills that I take during my first bite.  I already know that it will ruin my first bite since they are flavored vanilla ice cream, really you can't make them plain.  I know I really like the taste of vanilla ice cream while I dig into sausage and pancakes.  Ok back to the story, for me all the pancakes require are butter, no syrup.  I add a little bit of ketchup on the side of my plate for the sausage. Your first bit you get the savoriness of the sausage and a little sweetness from the pancake, the texture of the sausage is smooth, the pancakes are light and fluffy.  It all combines in your mouth for a unique experience that you can only find in Califon, NJ.  After you take your first bite you cannot believe that this whole experience is put together by firefighters who have been cracking open Budweisers since 6 in the morning.  I end up eating my whole plate and ordering another plate knowing that this experience is going to be short lived and I might now be back for a couple years.  I honestly hope that the fireman in Califon never stop serving breakfast because one day I will come back with my kids, whether I'm living in China or Califon, NJ, this will always be the ultimate experience and ultimate breakfast.

My Dietary Rules and Guidelines

So over the past six months I've been exploring what I'm able and what I'm not able to eat/drink.  It's definitely a learning process as I'm sure you know.  You'd be astonished to learn what things have lactose in them.  I'll start with the basics, any milk product from a cow has lactose in it.  The one cow product that I am able to have it yogurt.  Apparently yogurt contains lactase which is the opposite of lactose in that it helps digest lactose.  Milk or cheese from goats, sheep and buffalo are fine since they do not contain lactose in them.  Most processed foods will contain some amount of milk in them and especially avoid desserts because they tend to be high in lactose products.  I've found that my stomach can handle butter, as well which apparently contains very little loctase.  I've also been able to handle some cheeses just honestly depends, like some swiss chesses are ok and some are not it really just depends on the brand or place or restaurant.  So that's what I really want to explore here and help you out with.

This blog is generally going to be a Lactose Intolerant Guide to Dining, Eating and Drinking in Washington, DC and hoping to expand to other cities but I'll start small.  It is estimated that 75% of adults worldwide show some decrease in lactase activity during adulthood.  I want to help out those that are scared to eat out because of lactose intolerance.  I want people that go through what I do to have no fear in eating out and start seeing all the positive benefits are removing lactose from your diet.

My History

Since this is my first blog post ever, although I have made appearances in other blogs (http://thepartydolphin.blogspot.com/), I wanted to lay out the framework as to what I will be talking about.  Firstly I'll give you a brief dive into my history.

Since I was a little kid my mom has always thought I was lactose intolerant due to my distaste of milk and cheese.  I absolutely refused to drink milk the smell alone would make me sick.  I was good at avoiding milk but I would still eat ice cream and pizza with not to many problems.  Fast forward about 20 years and I'm 22 years old and in Costa Rica, still not a fan of milk, maybe I'd use it in a protein shake (standard) but generally avoided it until I started drinking coffee on my trip.  I still remember my madre would bring out the coffee with a cup of milk and that's when my addiction to milk with coffee started.  Things at first started off well, I remember having stomach issues but since I was a little kid I've always had stomach issues so I didn't think twice of it.  I honestly never really knew what it was like to have a "normal" stomach, but I had always thought that this was not normal and there is no way that other people are dealing with what I am.  So for the next two years I was really getting into cheeses and milk, and my stomach problems were getting worse.  I even started dating a girl who was actually lactose intolerant and she would tell me to stop eating dairy but I never thought it was the culprit.  I stopped drinking coffee, thought it might have been wheat but nothing worked.  Until one day (the day before my birthday actually June 11, 2010) when I was visiting my ex-girlfriend in Miami and had pizza for lunch.  The instant I ate that pizza I had an upset stomach and from that exact moment I knew I was lactose intolerant, and then I started to think back to when I had really bad stomach issues and they all revolved around my intake of dairy.  Now that I had this figured out you would think it would be all down hill from here.  Couldn't be farther from the truth, I'm about 6 months in and I'm still learning about what has dairy in it.  You'd be absolutely astonished to learn what things having milk as party of their ingredients.  To start having a girlfriend that was already lactose intolerant was a HUGE help, she really helped me out.  Teaching me that it's ok to have yogurt and some cheese (goat, sheep, buffalo) but you have to be the one to test your limits.  Take her for example she can have a small amount of dairy with no effect (pancakes).  I on the other hand can't have any dairy at all, like none what so ever.  A chocolate chip from a chocolate chip cookie will upset my stomach.  So you'll quickly learn that there are different degrees to being lactose intolerant.

So how does that get me here well I wanted to express my feelings on how extremely difficult it can be to not be able to have diary and I wanted to let people know how uncomfortable it really can be when you do mistakenly take in lactose.  The set-up of this blog will be my take on various restaurants/food trucks/ food carts and their adaptability to people being lactose intolerant.  I will also be doing different recipes and cooking ideas for people who are lactose intolerant.  I happen to be a total foodie and this was one of the most devastating things ever to learn that I'll never get to eat pizza ever again!  I'm from New Jersey for pete's sake!  So I want to dive head first into the world of being lactose intolerant, maybe trying being a vegan, maybe subsatuting soy milk for milk in recipes, maybe trying those lactose pills.  Who knows where this adventure will take me, I only hope to learn and grow.