The Raleigh GFAF Event was this past weekend. This was my first time being a part of the Blogger Team - but I can definitely say it won't be my last! It's all been so much fun.
As promised, I will be posting my presentation from the event very soon, along with additional links, information, and other resources. But first I want to focus on some things from the rest of the event:
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| Almost ready to start! |
First off, yes, there was a lot of good food involved! But it wasn't just about the food - I also got to meet and talk with a lot of people, and heard some interesting presentations from other speakers. Overall, the whole thing has left me really inspired & energized!
As for the food: First was the blogger dinner at Primal, a completely GF restaurant here in Durham. Everything I've had there has been delicious, including this dinner, and I think all of us were stuffed by the end of the night.
Of course, the next morning at the event meant even more things to eat! Because I bake from scratch so much, I very rarely buy pre-made baked things or baking mixes. This means I kind of forget just how much is out there - particularly the local (NC-based) companies that weren't really on my radar until now. I don't generally eat a lot of packaged food, but even I have to admit that after nearly 8 years gluten-free, there's something pretty exciting about entering a huge room full of tables with all sorts of food and realizing I can eat anything in here!
Going around the room feels like trick-or-treating for grown-ups. Seriously. To add to the excitement, there was a blogger gift bag of items from some of the vendors & sponsors:
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| I wonder what's inside?? |
Stuffed as I was from munching on samples all day, after the event was all over I still felt really excited to go home and find out what was in the bag and sort through all the little samples I'd grabbed. (See? Just like trick-or-treating.)
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| Some of the samples from the tables. |
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| In the blogger bag - Thank you to all the vendors & sponsors! |
Some highlights from the bag:
Cookie mix from Ardenne Farm, one of the local companies. They had several different samples out at the event too...including some very good blueberry muffins and cinnamon crumb muffins. I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of the muffins! I guess it's because I was too busy eating the samples...seriously, they were really tasty.
A very nice gift box from Caly's Kitchen, another NC bakery, containing banana bread mix, granola, and assorted cookies.
A (delicious!!) cheesecake brownie from JP's Pastry in Raleigh.
(I might also mention more things in future posts, as I get a chance to try more of the mixes, samples, etc.)
Some other tasty things I found at the event:
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| More from JP's Pastry |
Also forgot to take a picture of the pizza from zpizza - again, got too distracted by eating it. I still wanted to mention it because theirs is one of my favorite restaurant pizza crusts - the crust is crisp and chewy, not at all cakey or eggy the way some commercial GF crusts are.
These were just a few of the things to see, do, and taste! There are still a few more events and expos coming up this year, so if you didn't make it to this one, see if there might be one near you - it's a lot of fun!
Coming up on the blog: Traditional techniques for baking with GF flours, new recipes, & more - stay tuned!
As always, all these opinions and statements are completely my own; as an event blogger I received the bag of items provided by vendors and sponsors, but I was not otherwise compensated and I was not obligated to write about or feature any specific product(s) or vendor(s).
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