Madison, WI and the wonders of the Silly Yak Bakery

Madison, WI is home to a splendid farmer's market, the Silly Yak Bakery, and now, my sister and brother in law!

Over July 4 I traveled with Chris to his sister's wedding. The wedding itself was so fun, held in an old timey theater and relatives were there in abundance.

For my own selfish reasons, I was happy to return to Madison since Megan, Chris' sister, had introduced me to the delicious products of the Silly Yak Bakery.

On Saturday we made the great pilgrimage (pedestrian foot traffic is one way around the capitol - vary from this and you will be crushed by a stroller) around the capitol building and took in the many midwestern culinary sights. I was happy to find the Silly Yak tent, and bought a number of goodies for the return home.

Silly Yak is pretty cool. They shut down their whole bakery and clean it, and do GF only baking 2 days of the week. You can buy their products at the bakery, at the market, or they will ship them to you. I am by now a huge fan. Megan, busy bride though she was, had kindly left a bag of goodies (GF scones and cupcakes) in our hotel room.

What's especially good? Their rice bread, the GF cupcake, the cinnamon swirl bread are all delish. I haven't had the opportunity to sample much beyond this yet. For the bread, I like it toasted - just put it in a good quality nonstick pan on a low flame and turn often - looks and acts a whole lot like toast!!

I had heard that for the wedding itself that evening, there was to be a GF cupcake for me. I was stoked. Those things are good. Imagine my surprise when TWO PLATES OF GF BAKED GOODS made their way to me after the meal. One plate held yummy vanilla sheet cake, the other, no less than FOUR cupcakes. Here I am after having foisted some of the goodies off on other people:

Happy victim of a minimum order, I'm sure.

Silly Yak Bakery

California Eating

OK, this was my June vacation. But really it was about eating as well as possible while seeing friends, hanging out and enjoying some Left Coast time!


A recent short vacation to California was really an excuse to go and eat some good food. Pictured above is part of my first dinner there, an amazing grilled corn drizzled with crumbled queso and a spicy tomato sauce.

When in California, I am always driven to look for tamales. This trip was no exception. My hosts and I also got to sample the goodies at several local farmers' markets.

At one, in the Metrodome, a funny crescent shape layout, we found exotic mushrooms, organic veg, and a tamale lady very enthusiastic about her lard free tamales.

The tamales were from All Star Tamales


(The pork tamales were for my friends.)
A funny thing happened about the sweet corn tamales: we had this weird tamale multiplication going on. Every time we thought we had eaten them all, yet more were discovered in the pot! We finally realized that no, they were not cloning themselves in the fridge (much though we wished) but there were 2 per package.
Our verdict, the sweet corn tamales were the best ones.
Spinach and cheese depicted above.

Below, the ultimate breakfast of champions: sweet corn tamale with fresh, too-good-it-ought-to-be-outlawed local fruit.

One day, my host took me across from Oakland to SF on the ferry, which I'd never done - boy that is a fun way to approach the city. We spent some time at the Ferry Building market:
There, we ate amazing Raininer cherries, and varieties of Nectaries (Arctic Snow) and Peaches (don't remember!) that make you stop want to eat anything else, ever.

That night, we ate at Cesar in Oakland, where I had an interesting dish of spicy chickpeas, fried in their skins - I'd never had them served this way:
The next day, and yet more farmer's markets. This time it was one close by to where my hosts live in Oakland, which is held at a DMV. (I think that this is an effort to humanize the DMV and give it better karma.)

Temescal Farmers' Market

Well, it was here that were offered corn so sweet it could be eaten raw (yup!), and found our favorite savory tamales (of this trip anyway).

Donna's Tamales

Chile cheese pictured below. So delicious! And now, looking at the website, they are very aware of gluten allergies and THEY SHIP!!! I also ate, and adored, the goat cheese, sundried tomato, chard tamale.

Bottom line: if you're in the area, go find them. And eat a lot. And bring some home.

We picked up goodies for a potluck style party my host's friend was having that night.

This photo was too lovely not to post:
To cap it off, on the last night of my stay I went with my host to her friend's potluck birthday party in Berkeley. Perfect night, good company, loads of good GF food. Here is my plate (first helping I think!) which includes the amazing fresh sweet corn. (My beverage isn't beer but ginger beer!)

Gluten Free Travels: Madison, WI

I'm back from a family weekend in the land of the cheese curd. Although as any celiac knows, travel away from the comforts of home and your own GF friendly kitchen can have its perils. Not so on this particular trip!

My boyfriend's rellies in Madison hit the bonanza of gluten free items for the home pantry. In fact, his sister Megan made a veritable shrine to GF delights in a corner of her kitchen:


The Silly Yak Bakery of Madison was where she picked up the bread pictured above (a rice flour based loaf) and also a vanilla cupcake with chocolate frosting (eaten before depicted). I grilled the bread in a pan and ate it for breakfast with eggs. As GF bread goes, it was on the better end of what I've had, definitely. The bakery apparently dedicates itself to GF delights on Tuesdays and Saturdays. In getting home and looking at the website, seems like they will ship to you! Megan said there are many more items in the bakery, like cakes, doughs, pizza, and more. Good find if you are in that part of the country.

As to the cupcake, described but not depicted...it was enjoyed and eaten in short order. I haven't eaten that much of a sweet in I don't know how long! Need I say more??

Megan planned a fun family outing (and with 12 in our party, yes this was really a major culinary expedition) of a delicious dinner of middle eastern cuisine at LuLu's Deli & Restaurant. We feasted on stuffed grape leaves, seasoned feta and olives, hummus, baba ghanoush; I ate amazing tart lemony lentil soup:

and Fool, a vegetarian dish of tomatoes, fava beans, chickpeas and rice:

I also ate a bite of her eggplant moussaka, which was deeply seasoned and tender. Mmm. Delicious food and and many vegetarian and gluten-friendly options. The server was great about checking with the kitchen, but it appeared that the main source of gluten was the pita bread (which everyone else quite enjoyed). We feasted at LuLu's until we burst, seated at the "low table" which suited me fine but not Megan's 6'6" fiance...

So if you find yourself in the land of the cheese curd, do not fear there are many friendly GF options (including of course cheese curds themselves, which I did eat and enjoy. Squeaky!).