Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to Susan by a Thread and the first ever post on my first ever blog!  I hope you will bear with me through the learning curve.

My name is Susan, but you can call me Sue if you like.  I’m so glad you are here! I hope you will share what brings you here, but for now, how about I tell you how I found myself on this path?

I grew up in a family on the move. We started out in Michigan, moved to Colorado, and then back to Michigan where I met my husband.  His job moved us even more–back to Colorado, down to Texas, then north to Oklahoma.  Now we are settled permanently (probably) in Nebraska. In all that moving around, I grew to love travel and learning about new places and cultures!  That love of travel, combined with my love of cooking was the original inspiration for this blog.  But before I could get started, something happened that threatened to derail my blog plans.

Life sends a curveball!

In the spring of 2022, on a camping trip I was bitten by a tick.  I’ll write more about this later, but that tiny bug bite changed my plans.   Later that summer I was diagnosed with Alpha-gal syndrome, a tick-bite induced meat allergy.  Aside from all of the logistics of dealing with a new, sudden onset food allergy, how could I write about food if I couldn’t cook or eat meat?  I thought for a while that my dream of a food and travel blog wouldn’t work. But as I navigated this new allergy, and learned from others online, I realized, that I could, with some changes, move forward with my plan.  The first question people ask after their Alpha-gal Syndrome diagnosis is: “What CAN I eat?”   If that’s where you are, you are not alone! I hope that you find practical meal ideas and inspiration here.

This blog is for you if..

This blog is for you if you love to travel.  It’s for you if you love to cook (and eat).  And it’s for you if you are struggling to find inspiration and meal ideas that avoid red meat, whether it’s due to an allergy, or if you simply want the health benefits of avoiding red meat.  In this blog you will find articles, and information about three main topics.  Life, Cooking, and Travel.  I’ll write about navigating all of these things in the context of refusing to allow a food allergy to stop me from living my best life! 

I am so excited to have you along with me on this journey!  Let’s go!