What foods to choose?

We've returned home to Indonesia from our home country, Canada, and have been settling in our new home for the last 2 1/2 weeks.  Just before we left we had packed up our old house, crammed our boxes and few pieces of furniture into one of the rooms of our new place (which was still being occupied by a friend of ours), and hoped that 6 weeks of storage in a hot, locked room wouldn't cause any damage.  Thankfully, everything was just fine when my husband removed and unpacked all the boxes, while waiting for us to return a week later.  While he was doing that, I was busy shopping and packing up our suitcases and totes with as many purchases and gluten-free foods as I could find in Canada.  The big decision now that we're back is which box or bag of cookies or snacks to open, because once it's opened it needs to be eaten in the next while before it goes stale from humidity.  What a delicious dilemma!

In all actuality, I didn't bring nearly as many gluten-free foods back with me as I'd thought.  It was quite overwhelming to think ahead for a full year and try to decide what was important (note to self:  Potato starch...buy lots!  It's in almost all of the baking recipes I've tried since returning) and what was going to just be a suitcase-hog.  I ended up bringing mostly just bags of flour, a few boxes of cookies (oh, yum, I love my Glutino lemon wafer cookies...next year, it's 3 boxes for sure!), a few GF starches and some cooking utensils that I've reserved just for my own cooking.  Since I've returned I've had the great idea of writing down all the things I'd like to bring back next year, and include how many bags of each I think I'd use in a year.  For example, a bag of xanthan gum will last me a year, I think, if I use it in conjunction with the guar gum that people have found for me.  This way, I won't almost start crying next time I walk into a food store that carries rows upon rows of GF foods, like I did the first time.

One thing I've noticed since I've returned is that I have much more stamina than before.  Maybe my body has healed itself (finally!), maybe it has something to do with the weight I've gained, or maybe I've just returned rested.  I don't know the main reason, but I do know that I enjoy it!  Today I played tennis and before I realized it, we'd played past our hour mark.  That's HUGE for me, especially since I kept on going and haven't even thought of a nap yet today.  I think this is going to be a great year...