Wafflemaker!!!

My parents are the sweetest people. Ever.
If you know me, you know I love soft chewy things like bread, pastries, brownies, cake, crepes, pancakes, etc. You also know that when I found out I was allergic to wheat, I was quite devastated, because that pretty much makes it impossible to eat all the goodies listed above. Of course, that was a year ago. Since then, I've discovered a whole alternative world of grains that aren't wheat: Spelt, Kamut, Buckwheat, Oat, Amaranth, Barley… All of these can be used to make other types of bready-type things, but Spelt, Oat and Kamut are the best in that they're most similar to wheat. Of course, this discovery took time…
To find the good bread substitutes, you first go through the crumbly, non bready stuff in the "healthy" section of the supermarket, trying out one brand after another of "bread" that won't hold itself together, isn't chewable, won't stay a sandwich… stuff made of rice flour, or potato flour. Now, don't get me wrong, I love rice, and I love potatoes, but they're not meant to be ground into flour and turned into bread. They don't have the right texture or consistency. Trust me on this... A few weeks ago when we were in Montreal, M took us to a place called Cocktail Hawaii that makes juices, crepes and waffles and covers them with fruit, chocolate, whipped cream, the works… I was good in that I ordered the juice, but I still "cheated" - had a little bit of the waffle, and it was heavenly. I've been making my own spelt, buckwheat, and kamut crepes for a few months, but I'd never thought of making waffles, and now I offhandedly mentioned that I should get a wafflemaker and make my own "wheat free" waffles.
So now, last night, my parents surprise me with a wafflemaker!!!! They just walked in to my room with a huge gift bag and said "Mabrook" (which translates to "Congratulations" in Arabic, but is really what you say when someone is getting something new, or when you're congratulating them on a some sort of achievement…)
A wafflemaker!!! For someone who's constantly tempted to get a soft, chewy slice of cake or nice fluffy sandwich, and then suffer through the day of stomach aches that follows, this is the nicest gift ever…. Now excuse me, I must go search for modifiable waffle recipes ;)


My new wafflemaker