My family and I were driving home from one of Tennessee's largest cities - The Gaylord Opryland Hotel. In case you haven't been, it's big. Like Texas big, only its not in Texas. Unfortunately I was not able to catch a performance by the Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhoppers or the Gully Jumpers.
We were there for a big-time Oireachtas. An Oireachtas is an event where thousands of screaming and stomping Irish Dance competitors, and their moderately intoxicated parents, gather to compete, yell, scream, and squeal. But mostly it's screaming and squealing.
Anyway, about half-way home, we got a hankerin' (that's southern speak for finding something intensely desirable) for a Dairy Queen stop. One of the great things about life as a Celiac is that Dairy Queen ice cream is gluten free. And healthy. OK, maybe just gluten free.
I decided to get a Blizzard with vanilla ice cream and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. Mmm. Those of you who have read Celiac Bites before know how skeptical I am about eating in restaurants - not that one would normally refer to Dairy Queen as a restaurant. So you won't really be surprised by my next request of the Dairy Queen dude. I asked him (very politely) if he would mind cleaning the Blizzard machine before making mine as I have a food allergy. Yeah, I know, celiac isn't an allergy, but it's much easier to explain that way. He said sure, no problem, and went about his Blizzard making business.
About half way through the process, the Dairy Queen dude got a puzzled look on his face and loped back up to the counter to ask me a question.
"Are you lying to me about the allergy thing just to get me to clean the machine?"
