UPDATE ON BAGEL SANDWICH...and then some Thai food!

Oh man...this is not good, not good at all. I have been in a constant state of pain for the last...hm...5 hours. It was the bagel; I'm pretty sure it was the bagel. I remember this pain. When I was in New York three weeks ago I felt this constantly and I was on a horrible diet of pizza and bagels almost every day then (whoops). Stomach crampings, achings, just bad, really bad. Tonight it caused me to skip out on any beer for the evening (I've already learned my lesson with that), and I just couldn't fully enjoy the rest of my night at all, much less the tasty Thai food I had for dinner. Ugh. I'm still in pain as I write this. I just had some kefir milk (which I was just introduced to two weeks ago) and am drinking a hot ginger tea, for digestion, and because it's nice.

Ugh. That bagel absolutely KILLED me. I found myself spacing out a lot during drinks and dinner just to try to zen out on the pain. Poo.

Okay. So I've done some research and now I'm a little paranoid I may have celiac disease. I don't tend to just think I have a disease...really. I just read this article though and it freaked me out (thanks internet!). Ack! But I really might have something like this. I've always been super sensitive to food, and growing up I've really just seen stomach pains as a daily part of life. I used to think everyone else maybe felt pain, too, and I hated to feel whiny about it. Yeah, it's a bit effed up. I went on a detox the year after I graduated college and it was the first time in my life I didn't have pain. It was amazing. It's actually quite interesting to think of how different my life would be if I had figured out my food sensitivities at an early age (I'm also suspicious that I'm lactose intolerant). Totally different. It's very possible that I am unable to digest wheat...whoa.

So I learned from that article I linked to above that about 1 in 133 Americans are said to have celiac disease, but only 1 in 2000 knows it. Crazy, but believable. I'm sure a lot of people have all kinds of issues that go undiagnosed. And something that causes such a range of stomach pains seems like something super easy to ignore and/or just excuse away. I've been doing that as long as I can remember, and the pain can be pretty debilitating at times. So that cranky cashier or neighbor or whoever? Maybe they just have celiac disease and are in horrible pain alllll the time. I'm not excusing anyone here, just wondering how much happier of a world we'd have if people felt better physically. If we were more aware of our food peculiarities and sensitivities. Hm (trying to resist making a joke about food for thought...).

But...I'll probably still eat wheat until I know for sure. Heh. Just not bagels for now. Err..that's so hard to write. This will be an experiment (yay!). No more bagels. I just can't take it. I'm still in pain six hours later. I don't remember being this sensitive to bagels. I used to eat them every day during college, but I guess my immune system was pretty different then. Who knows what's happened in the meantime with my body chemistry. Or maybe I'm just more aware of my body (or just care more) since meditating and doing detoxes every now and then. Who knows. I just know my tummy hurts. Really, really bad.

And Now For Thai Food!


Alright, so for dinner we went to a fancy-pants Thai restaurant in the Mission District, Osha. I was pretty excited, mostly because I was starving, but the menu is motivating, and fun to read regardless.

We got quite a spread. For appetizers: Tom Yum soup (From the menu: Hot & sour soup, lemon grass, galanga, kaffir lime leaf, mushrooms, tomatoes), and a mussels dish that I can't actually find in the online menu. Both of these dishes were A-MAZING. Wow. Even with a horrible stomach-ache, I was distracted enough by the deliciousness that I could once again be social. The Tom Yum soup (usually I go for the Tom Kha, which comes with coconut soup..mmm) was crazy good. It had a ton of lime juice and a perfect amount of green onions. Perfect amount of spicyness. Perfect. The mussels were equally satisfying, with a thick (super) gingery sauce I couldn't get enough of. I was incredibly excited about the sauce. Out of this world.



Unfortunately, with such an intense appetizer experience, my expectations were pretty high for the entrees, which didn't pull through quite so much. They were good, definitely. But having lived in Portland, my Thai standards can be pretty high. This place was expensive, too, with dinners ranging from $11 to $16 and more. Some of the best Thai in Portland can be found easily in the $7 and up range (my favorite in this range is Baan-Thai), and my faaavorite place by a bit more (Khun Pic's Bahn Thai - Go there), is an experience in and of itself, and in a similar price range as Osha. Osha unfortunately couldn't hold a candle to Khun Pic's, but not many places could. I was spoiled in Portland, and now I guess I'm a bit of a Thai food snob as a result. Everyone else loved our entrees, if also agreeing it was a bit over-priced. I was underwhelmed and left the restaurant still dreaming of our starters.



We ordered the Volcanic Beef, a Pumpkin Curry, Pad Khee Mao, and a ginger rice and brown rice on the side. The ginger rice was tasty and subtle. Both rices were a really good texture. I guess of the entrees the Volcanic Beef took the cake. Aside from being well displayed, it had a yummy sauce, tender meat and onion rings! Onion rings! The rest was okay.



So my stomach pains are dulling away and I'm getting sleepy now. I think the ginger tea helped? Or the kefir?

Goodnight now.