Meeting My Idol

Carolyn invited me to come to Paramus to attend her local Celiac Support Group Meeting because author Annalise Roberts was going to be the guest speaker. The weather forecast was bad for Tuesday so I drove there on Monday afternoon so I wouldn't miss it! I've met Annalise two other times when she gave baking demonstrations at the Flemington support group. I've been exclusively using her recipes for the past few years and haven't had to throw out any failed products!
Annalise spoke about her newest book, The Gluten-Free Good Health Cookbook. She's an excellent speaker and knows all about celiac disease. She and her son both have it. Even though the weather was bad, the conference room was completely filled. Reservations were required. The organizers are very nice and everyone was friendly. Several vendors gave out delicious free samples. This was Carolyn's first support group meeting because she's been so busy with school, work and family. It was the first time she'd been in a room with maybe 40 other celiacs! She was able to give advice to the newly diagnosed woman sitting next to her. The Northeast NJ group has over 350 members (celiacs and their families).
Above we pose with Annalise and her two latest books: Gluten-Free Baking Classics, 2nd Edition; and The Gluten-Free Good Health Cookbook. I've made many, many of her recipes with great success even though I have to make them non-dairy. She's given me some great hints and advice via e-mail, too. Her new book is about eating healthy and balancing your diet for optimum health. Her Manhattan clam chowder was a big success with my guys. Roasting veggies is now our new favorite way to prepare them. Some of our (me, Mom, and Carolyn) favorites from Baking Classics are orange juice bread, angel food cake, sponge cake, gingerbread cake, English muffins, cinnamon buns, bagels, pie crust, foccacia, corn bread, dinner rolls, sub sandwich bread, challah, Irish soda bread, babka, biscuits, and quite a few more!
Oh, and it was wonderful to visit with family :-)