At 7.30am on Saturday I was already in the car, dodging the rain and thunder storms to make my way to Swindon. Peering through the darkness and heavy rain I began to wonder what on earth I was doing! However, with GFree radio podcasts playing on the stereo (a fabulous podcast radio show, updating me on all GF news), and the lure of sharing my blog with a few more people I kept driving…
When I arrived at the rather uninspiring Hilton Hotel my fears worstened! However, when I walked in I was greeted by two lovely smiling ladies, one of whom I had been in contact with via email…Rebecca Perks. Rebecca showed me around. There was a flurry of activity where the staff were all busy setting up tasters, preparing for the cookery demonstration and setting out the children’s activity corner. Rebecca then offered me a table to put my business cards on along with a slot on the agenda to tell everyone what I did! Although I hate public speaking I quickly took her up on her offer and then wondered what on earth I would say!!
Anyway, the morning session kicked off at 10am with lots of people arriving and tasting the delicious samples that Glutafin and DS had provided. The pizza was especially tasty, something I haven’t tried before because my lo is not a fan of pizza! I will, however, be getting a few to pop in the freezer for those evenings when I just can’t be bothered to cook and the kids are having fish fingers (yes, even the Fairy relies on them every now and again!). They were selling them at a fantastically cheap price but knowing that I had a two hour drive home I couldn’t easily buy some! Of course, I couldn’t walk past the chocolate fingers without ‘tasting’ a few…just to make sure they were as delicious as the last time I had them…which of course they were! I did manage to avoid the array of other biscuits on offer along with the lovely looking cakes that they had made with their flour mixes, although it was pretty hard to resist!
Whilst grown-ups were tasting the delights, kids were kept entertained in their own special corner…decorating cakes and biscuits…and eating rather a lot of sugar in the process!
At around 10.30am the dietician gave a talk about coeliac disease and included some very useful information about the specific nutritional needs of coeliacs. Following a short break, I was given my slot to tell people about the Free From Fairy! I have no idea what I said but I hope at least a few people will look at this as a consequence.
Following that, Michael McCamley, winner of Coeliac UK Chef of the Year in 2010, provided a cookery demonstration. He whipped up a french onion soup with croutons, some garlic bread, a raspberry bakewell tart (which inspired my foray into sweet pastry…with great success…keep your eyes peeled for my recipe coming up soon!) and a pumpkin pie…all made with Glutafin products of course! The tasters we got were devine and I believe the recipes are on the Glutafin website.
So, all in all, the Glutafin and DS World Gluten-Free Day was rather enjoyable. I got to meet loads of lovely people, all with coeliac disease, or with a friend or relative with coeliac disease. The atmosphere was friendly and relaxed and I got to talk about what I love most…healthy, delicious freefrom food that the whole family can enjoy…not just the coeliac!
If you came to the event, what did you think? Let me know your thoughts by leaving a comment below! I look forward to hearing from you…
7yearstodiagnosis says
Sounds like an amazing day – I wish I’d known about it as we’re not too far down the road from Swindon. How did you find out about the event?
The Free From Fairy says
I saw a tweet about it and then looked on their website. They do quite a lot of events so worth looking at their site for future dates!