We just had the most amazing weekend. For those of you who made it to the Gluten and Allergen Free Expo, you know what we're talking about. For those of you that couldn't make it this year, mark your calendars for the Expo in Dallas or next year back in Chicago.
Here's a little recap of some of the highlights (though it's entirely possible we'll need a part two because our overwhelmed brains have missed some really fantastic bits) ...
On Friday afternoon, we went on a tour of the Enjoy Life factory and met their dedicated team. These folks are so attentive to the needs of food-allergic and food-intolerant snackers. Hearing them lay out their safety procedures made us loyal for life! (They gave us bags of goodies, too. So keep your eyes open for some rave reviews in the future.)
What made the tour even more ENJOYable was the group that we got to spend the afternoon with. We definitely made some new friends that day! Some of our friendly co-tourers included Jennifer Harris the gluten-free writer at the Examiner in Atlanta, who actually went on to introduce us for our cooking demo on Sunday; the beautiful and oh-so-nice Chelsey from cleaneatingchelsey.com; Lee Tobin (Whole Foods Gluten-free Bake House) with his lovely wife; chef-extraordinaire Joel Schaefer; raw foodie, Jennifer Pohlman; and Alicia Woodward, editor at the essential Living Without magazine.
The rest of the weekend we were full-on Expo-ing! We tasted amazing gluten-free and allergen-free products (which we will be telling you about and cooking with over the next several weeks). We had a great cooking demo of Comfort Breakfast Foods from our new book. We showed how to make biscuits, biscuit-based French toast, and blueberry syrup to an enthusiastic group. Best of all, though, by far was getting to know so many amazing people who have been working with energy and dedication to making life better for people living with restricted diets.
Lucky for us, we got to spend time with some of the most incredible group of women:
- Cybele Pascal (www.cybelepascal.com)
- Silvana Nardone (Silvana's Kitchen)
- Elena Amsterdam (Elena's Pantry)
- Amy Green (Simply Sugar and Gluten Free)
- Shirley Braden (Gluten Free Easily-GFE)
- Alisa Fleming (Alisa Cooks Dairy Free)
- Sueson Vess (Special Eats)
- Stephanie O'Dea (A Year of Slow Cooking)
- Pamela of Pamela's Products
... and a whole lot of other wonderful, interesting, and caring folks! We are so thrilled to have so many new supporters in the gluten-free community. They welcomed us into their world with open arms and we are so greatful! Looking forward to more fun times ahead with our new friends.
Thanks to Jen Cafferty and the Expo team for showing us such a good time!
Happy Cooking!
Kim and Megan
It was so awesome meeting both of you! And that picture of you two is too cute.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to go on that Enjoy Life tour, but in our whirlwind of activity at home, I forgot to sign up by the deadline. Darn it. Sounds like it was a fun one.
It was a lot of fun! Maybe next year you can check it out. We had a great time hanging out with you. Love all the good work you do over on your site.
ReplyDeleteHi Kim & Megan. Great to see you at Jen's Expo! I love your post today and can't wait to try the Strawberry Chocolate Chunk muffins -- happy to see healthier treats.
ReplyDeleteSueson,
ReplyDeleteWe loved seeing you and hearing all about your new venture. We can't wait til we can help tell the world about it!