It’s been one of those days with every minute filled!
Luckily the ending minutes included good wine & good company : )
Look at the bakery!! We have walls
And cool ducts
And an office
And a doorway
And the makings of a bathroom. Today’s executive decision was to veto a urinal in the co-ed bathroom. They smell! Eww!
Matt and I bike-raced over to the bakery and back (which was sweatier than it was supposed to be in jeans and a buttondown shirt!) and then raced to our car to head up to Warrenton.
Snack was grabbed in the process. I am still experiencing a killer appetite! I wonder if this still from that Body Pump class and I have some kind of super after burn!? I can’t remember the last time I was this hungry!
Pear + maple vanilla almonds by Hail Merry – these are awesome!!
We made it to Warrenton with only one wrong turn and a bit of a delay
But there were Honey Bunnies there ready to greet us!
Plus Pablo, Lynda and their girls. Such a fun bunch! After some learning, we all walked down to Iron Bridge Wine Company for dinner.
What a GEM in downtown, quaint Warrenton! A fabulous menu and very cool establishment
We were expecting to meet another pair of GH owners, but they ended up stuck at the bakery, but the 6 of us still got an awesome private room.
I enjoyed a glass of Zin
Matt had a flight [at least one of us got to fly today!]
Matt and I shared an arugula salad to start
And Abigail shared her melted brie with the table!
For dinner I had the wild salmon with garam masala, garlicky kale and carrot puree. All were delicious, and I cleaned my plate!
Abigail’s featured Meatloaf Burger on a Great Harvest Warrenton brioche bun!
And her Crème Brulee, which featured a chocolate ganache bottom. I was offered a taste – and it was like a creamy, frothy vanilla pudding with an upside-down thick chocolate frosting!
We talked and talked. So much information to discuss!! But Matt and I finally got on our way.
THANK YOU MATT for driving both ways!!! xoxo
Tomorrow is about to begin – and it’s another cram-packed day!
Night!!
{ 64 comments… read them below or add one }
Yay for progress in the bakery. I bet you’re getting excited!
I blogged a day full of road trip eats. It wasn’t pretty, and it would probably make you cringe. But I’m proud I managed to snap a pic of all my meals.
The bakery is coming along nicely!! Are you starting to envision where everything is going to go?
Ah! So exciting to see walls, etc! That creme brulee sounds fabulous!
YAY for walls! Congrats on your bakery construction progress.
So exciting to see your future office and potties, LOL.
Love the bunny bread, and your dinner looks delicious!
I always order arugula salad at restaurants – it’s currently my favorite leafy green!
Hi Kath,
I have a question for you. What are your thoughts on people who go into GH to get a sample and don’t buy anything? I am guilty of doing this. In fact, I used to do it a lot, but now don’t get over to the stores as much, so I usually am there specifically to buy something. As I read your blog about becoming GH owners and am reminded that the franchisees are small businesspeople, I feel vaguely guilty.
Have the corporate people discussed how much this typically affects your profits? I’m curious if they’ve studied it.
My thought is that the increase in traffic and sales is worth having to eat the cost of mooching. While I do go to GH just for a sample sometimes, I also buy most of my bread there (when I went in for samples every week, I bought all my bread and muffins there). I can virtually guarantee you that if there were no samples, I would never go in the store and never buy bread there – since it’s so much more expensive than what you get at the grocery store. It’s similar to why I spend a lot more money on See’s Candies than Godiva (See’s has a sample every time and Godiva only has one once a month).
What are your thoughts?
Great Harvest is based on generosity, they encourage us to give and give – slices included! In fact, we learned during our time in Montana not to say “would you like a sample” but instead “would you like to taste our breads” because sample has a “you only get one freebie” implication.
So the answer is, we’re just happy you like the bread!
What a great attitude…wish I could buy some and support it!
I can’t wait for the unveil of bakery
oh boy, the bakery is starting to come together. thats awesome.
i love the food you ate, that is incredible.
That bread bunny is super cute! Looks like a day full of good eats! Going to bed after a jam-packed day is such a great feeling, self-satisfaction about how much you’ve managed to accomplish!
That bunny is adorable.. crazy how a person can make that out of bread!
love seeing the progress on the place!!!
the progress on the bakery is so exciting! my parents live in Philadelphia, so one day I may have to take a road trip and visit with some of my bread-loving friends (and that means all of them
)
Hi! It’s really great how you show your progress in the bakery!
Please tell me more about the melted brie appetizer!
it was served on top of a sauce of some kind? It looked simply divine 
I love when the framing goes up because you can actually start to envision the space. Pretty soon, you’ll have walls and then you can really start to envision the decorating. It’s looking great Kath!
I don’t usually love creme brulee… but chocolate ganache on the bottom? Sounds amazing!!
Hi, Kath! How exciting that the walls of the bakery are going up.
Can I ask you an oatmeal question? I usually make mine with milk, banana, dried blueberries, nuts, and ground flaxseed, which I stir in at the end. But I’ve decided to take a break from the flax, and the oatmeal without it is SO gross. Not-so-great texture, which I expected, but also terrible flavor. It’s hard to describe, but it’s almost as if the flavors aren’t melded at all…and each one by itself just tastes bad, for some reason.
I’m wondering if you have any thoughts or suggestions. I’m guessing chia seeds would fix the texture, but would they make my oatmeal taste good again, too? Seems like a silly question…but I’d really love to get a good answer.
Thanks so much!
Sounds like you really like the taste of flax! Why did you ever take it out? Chia don’t have much flavor, but you could experiment. I can’t really predict if you’ll like the taste or not though.
I am so excited to see walls up in the bakery! You have to be jumping out of your skin right now (well last night anyway)! I hope you got some rest and are ready for your busy day today!
Hoooray for walls and bunny bread! My husband and I will be making a trip up once it is open!!
I love seeing the process of the bakery coming together unfold! When you can really start visualizing it is when it actually feels REAL! So exciting!
What a lovely restaurant. Food looks fabulous as well!
Good idea about veto’ing that urinal. While it might be nice for the guys, no lady wants to walk into a co-ed bathroom and see one!!!
How exciting to see the walls going up at the bakery!!!
Thankfully Jason always drives us when we go somewhere — I hate driving!
I actually kind of enjoy busy days! I like the feeling of accomplishment when you get all your tasks done! Looks like some great progress is being made on the bakery! Congrats!
Love seeing the progress of the bakery – I can’t wait for when y’all unveil the final product! You guys must be super excited!
How exciting to see the progress! Now it looks a lot more “real”, doesn’t it?
I had no idea downtown Warrenton had such a nice restaurant hidden there! I’ll definitely have to try it next time I’m up there. I <3 Warrenton.
Are you sure you aren’t expecting???????
Do you realize how incredibly rude that kind of comment is?
NO I am not expecting.
SORRY!! Just thought with all the increased hunger and you mentioning you might have a baby within the next year or so…….. I crossed the line. I truly apologize for offending you!
Thanks for apologizing. I told you guys I would tell you when we start trying – which won’t be until at LEAST the fall!
This is so exciting to see the bakery coming together!
wow, what a great meal and how exciting to see the bakery coming together!
That creme brulee sounds heavenly!!!
That salmon sounds amazing!!!! LOVE the photo of the honey bunny – so cute!
Super exciting!!! Glad you had a safe drive through all the bad weather we had last night!
I totally agree about body pump, and all weight lifting in general. I am starving for DAYS after wards and if I don’t refuel properly I end up eating all junk because I just need calories. It’s actually made me want to stay away from lifting because I often feel like I lose control of my food choices because I am so super hungry. I’ve quit going to body pump and now if I lift I do my own smaller sets only about once/week. I wonder if as women it affects us differently because we need a little more fat on our bodies?!?!?! Also, so much information out there about food and weightlifting has to do with super “clean eating” because of weight lifting competition prep. For so long I thought I should only refuel with a grilled chicken breast, veggies, and brown rice, but that will NOT leave me satisfied in the long run and the next day I will devour everything in sight;) I forget that the more I exercise the more I need to eat and sometimes I just wish I could eat “normal”!
Just eat real food!!!!
I swear that is easier said than done sometimes!!!! But, you are so right:)
The honey bunny loaf is too cute! I love the Iron Bridge that’s here in MD, one of my fave places to eat and drink wine!
That bunny bread is ADORABLE! My friend’s mom always makes a teddy bear-shaped bread around the holidays, it’s so cute I almost don’t want to eat it.
So exciting that your store has walls!! It’s coming together nicely! I love the bunny bread! It’s so cute!!! I want a loaf that looks like that!
Oh and that creme brulee looks very tasty!
You are one busy girl, and your appetite is probably from that! 6 mile runs, classes, bike rides, and so forth burn a ton of calories! I switched to evening training for my half-marathon, and I’m starving the following day. Good luck on the bakery. Oh, and I’m addicted to the GH maple almond butter, divine!
Yeeee SO EXCITING! It’s awesome watching your bakery unfold.
That bunny bread is TOO cute. I love it
Mmm, that salad inspires me to make the same and awesome that I have all the ingredients on hand with the arugula, goat cheese, green apples, and walnuts. Think I’m going to toast the walnuts. Mouth watering…
I love seeing updates of the bakery! I used to put some cooked carrot in with mashed potatoes when I made them but never thought to puree them alone and like a carrot mash! Your dinner inspired me to try this.
omg that meatloaf burger looks amazing!!!!!
Love the new walls! So exciting!
Any day that ends with good wine and good company is a great day by me!
I love Iron Bridge Wine Company up here in Columbia, MD! That’s our date night place to go. The bakery is looking awesome- you must be so excited to see it finally coming together! The bread bunnies are super cute- we had one last year from GH on Easter and nobody wanted to eat it because it was so cute.
Sounds like a great busy day to me. Glad the bakery is coming along nicely
I love watching the bakery come together. I have to say I was the same way when we built our office. We would watch everyday as something new was put up. It was a great feeling to watch something that will be with you forever progress.
made overnight oats for the first time – they were delicious!! :]
sounds like a great day! I could really get down with those flights right about now. Oh wait, it’s not yet noon…
Take too many pictures of the bakery progress – you will never regret it. Did a major, year long renovation on our house and didn’t take any – my friend snapped a few and I’m so glad she did. Fun to display them at the bakery when the work is completed and is *filled with customers* !
The walls are very exciting! It is starting to look like a bakery!
I stopped by the GH in Warrenton last night. I didn’t see you, but I am glad that you had a nice time.
Sorry I missed you!
Okay that dinner looks fabulous!! Nice choices
That ceiling looks so cool! The bunnies were cute
So exciting!
I’d prefer a urinal when I visit.
You’ll just have to hold it til you get back home to your powder bath!
Melted brie! Swoon!
Great progress on the bakery! So cool to see it come together! The Honey Bunny looks amazing and almost too cute to eat! (but I totally would spread that nut butter on his ear and take a bite in .2 seconds, ha)
My husband and I went on our first date to the Iron Bridge Wine Company location in Columbia, MD – I didn’t know they had a Warrenton location, too! It looks just as yummy as I remember the Columbia one being. We’ll have to check it out!