Two weeks ago, I attended the 2012 Romance Writers of America (RWA) national
Abigail Sharpe at her first signing!
conference in Anaheim, CA. It was amazing. Despite being my fourth conference, there were plenty of firsts for me.
I was a workshop moderator for the first time. I met my new agent in person for the first time. Four friends, including our own Abigail Sharpe, had debut book signings.
But since this is a food page, I’m going to tell you about another first that truly made my conference. RWA arranged for the hotel to serve Gluten-Free meals.
Okay, not completely gluten-free. At both luncheons there were breadbaskets on the table with notes in them that read, “Bread Contains Gluten.” Still, the hotel went pretty far to accommodate the gluten-free needs of the attendants.
Fresh salad, grilled chicken, freshly mashed potatoes and grilled veggies were on the menu. But my favorite part was the dessert menu. Flan the first day, crustless raspberry cheesecake on the second day. Best of all, the desserts didn’t stop there.
The awards ceremony offered an array of desserts from chocolate cake to mousse. All of it was gluten-free and YUMMY!
I didn’t ask for recipes. I was too busy eating to ask, but that means I can spend the next few months trying to figure out how to recreate the recipes. 
In the meantime, I’ll be back next week with a twist on chocolate chip cookies–making them gluten-free.
Look! It’s me with my CDs! Yay!
and OMG that raspberry cheesecake! It was too rich even for ME and I’m usually a chocolate and raspberry kind of girl! Whooooo boy!
And yet, I ate two helpings of that dessert.
Well, you were hungry.
You also had two salads.
Very true! I was a wee bit hungry.
I’m SO jealous!
Thankfully they served more than the same chicken at every dinner/luncheon and it was something you both enjoyed and was gluten-free!
Oh, it was still chicken. But a much better caterer this year.
Can’t wait to see what Atlanta’s going to do for us!
I thought they did a great job in 2006. We can only hope!
Yay! So much to look forward to!