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Phenomenal Bread!

After a few hours of working on bakery stuff indoors during what felt like a hurricane, Matt and I finally decided to borrow umbrellas from the concierge and walk downtown. The wind was so bad (I hear 40+ mph!) that my umbrella flipped inside out! We eventually did something hilarious together: we got manicures! My nails were in horrible shape and Matt decided to go for a hand massage himself.

Rainyday

On our walk home, we stumbled upon an old timey candy store!! The kind of bins and bins of candy selections – a Willy Wonka dream.

Seeing as I am reminiscing all-things-childhood these days, I had to stop in and bought a few nibbles of my favorite childhood candies: sour patch kids, gummi bears, toasted marshmallow Jelly Belly and raspberries! The Reese’s was Matt’s! It has been years since I’ve had a fun mixed bag of candy like this – and it tasted even better than I remember! My palate is so weird these days!

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We dressed up for dinner and went to the hotel bar to enjoy a cocktail before the evening:

Manhattan for Matt, Grey Goose for Karen and a Lemon Drop for me!

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Lemon Drop meaning a lemonade mixture (lemon juice and simple syrup) in a martini glass. Tastes just as good as the alcoholic version!

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Dinner and the awards ceremony tonight was held in the famous Crown Ballroom – check out the crown lights!

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We had a seated dinner of salads

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Rolls

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Table poured wine (I had a few sips, but I had to tell the server to stop filling the glass at my seat or Matt would end up too tipsy!)

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I often request the vegetarian dish at big catered events like this for meat quality purposes and because there are often more veggies involved in the veg dish (often, not always!) Tonight’s was roasted cauliflower over mashed potatoes. Is “Protein-free” a new diet!? I kid. But some beans would have been nice.

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It tasted great, but Matt’s beef was actually really good, so we traded 1/3 for 1/3.

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Dessert was FAB!! A rich chocolate column with raspberry and whipped cream!

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And I’m 3 for 3 on decaf coffee with meals today! Fancy.

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The evening concluded with the exciting awards event. Stores across the country are recognized for sales volume, sales growth and the coveted Phenomenal Bread Awards. And one special store wins the honor of Strong & Exciting Bakery of the year.

First year stores send in a loaf each month that gets blindly taste-tested with all the others among the GH staff (who are about as sophisticated in bread quality tasting as it gets!)

Since we decided to open a bakery 3 years ago and signed our franchise agreement, Matt told a few of the staff that he was shooting high for the Phenomenal Bread Award his first year, which has never been done.

But Matt has a very special talent for baking, and we became the first first-year store to ever win the Young Bakery Phenomenal Bread Award!!

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It was his dream come true ; )

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But like the sign says, the crew deserves most of the credit! A huge congrats to Sponge + Dough guys Nathan and Alex, Baker John and the outstanding Kneading Crew for their great work making these phenomenal loaves!!!

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Comments

  3. Congratulations to Matt, you, and the store staff for quite the award! Makes for an awesome SD trip despite the cool and windy (I swear, last week we had 80 degree weather). Like the polish you got on the manicure, too!

    Yay! Kudos. So happy for you guys.

    Reply

  4. Given all the bread Matt kneads, I am sure that massage was well deserved! And alcoholic or not, drinking out of a margarita glasses is always more fun! Congrats to you all for the award- it’s nice to see hard work being recognised!

    Reply

  6. Congrats on your award!

    “Is “Protein-free” a new diet!?” — I was thinking the same thing. you just NEVER know what you’re going to get when you say “vegetarian dinner entree” in certain settings. It usually means fettuccine al fredo or some kind of noodles & cheese sauce, in my experience. Or the always lovely, iceberg lettuce salad 🙂

    The weather today was HORRIBLE. I was running this morning, thinking…poor Kath came all this way, to feel like she’s in…a hurricane! Stay WARM!

    Reply

  20. What an honor… congrats! I have tried to get Brandon to get a manicure a few times but he refuses. I keep telling him it will just make your nail shape/cuticles look nicer… nothing girly of course! He still refuses…. 🙂

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  26. congratulations!!

    i have that no-protein issue a lot sometimes. when i traveled for work last year, to an incredible hotel in orlando, they had no idea how to feed me (as a vegetarian). it was only-vegetables sometimes, and a little bit of starch other times. i ended up getting really sick from the no-food/no-sleep combo.

    this year, it was much better. the wyndham made really delicious foods for me, like vegetable lasagne. …and i slept.

    Reply

  30. Oh, congratulations!!! That’s so exciting for you & Matt. The bit about the manicures had me giggling too… (first-time commenter; I’ve been reading for quite awhile and really enjoy your blog – the way you create such healthy, delicious-looking meals, even with all the craziness of pregnancy, is totally inspiring)

    Reply

  35. AH! CONGRATS!!! That’s so exciting!!

    I think I just grew more fond of Matt from this post – a man that’s willing to get manicures AND can bake great bread?! You’ve got a keeper there for sure!

    And I TOTALLY got sucked into.that same candy store while I was there! Haha – that’s too funny. Great minds think alike I guess! 😉

    Reply

    • “MAN”icure shouldn’t this be for MEN only anyways? LOL
      I like men who do “feminine” stuff and show it off to the entire world! They’re REAL men who aren’t afraid of what people think.
      Manicures/massages are not only for women, Matt makes a good point: Men who work with their hands, like a baker or a cleaner should get pampered once in a while! They deserve it!
      Congratulations and I hope that award gets put in a glass case in the baker lobby so everyone can see what dedicated and exceptional bakers you have there!

      Reply

  38. love old-time candy shops. they always remind me of my great grandpa who used to take my sister and I to an orchard to pick fruit, then to an amish candy store. great memories 🙂

    congrats on the well-deserved award as well.

    Reply

  42. Congrats on the award! And I’m surprised about their vegetarian option… Although I did know someone who for her wedding offered entrees of fish, chicken, or steak, and then thought having potatoes would be enough for the vegetarians… Haha good thing I eat meat.

    Reply

  43. congrats, that is fab 🙂
    (and I was wondering about the protein-diet, too… sometimes it really suprises me what I get served as a vegan. Makes me want to go into the kitchen and show them how to do it right ;))

    Reply

  44. Oooh, I’ve been on a huge lemon drop kick lately. I add fresh strawberry puree to them, and it’s like summertime in a martini glass!

    Congrats on the award!

    Reply

  52. Yippee Matt, Kath and staff of GH! Congrats on your phenomenal bread – my Bob was the guy requesting sourdough all the time. Did you say what kind of loaf won the award, and I hope you will be selling it this week 🙂 ps I hate to say, but yesterday it almost hit 70 and sunny, go figure!

    Reply

  53. I echo the congrats on the award! What an accomplishment! And I echo your lament on the weather–we’re expecting a foot of snow today 🙁 PS, what’s the name of the nail color you got? I’m totally loving it!

    Reply

  54. Congrats! How exciting! I think we have two GH locations in my city, but the one closest to me is no way near as cool as the one you guys are running. You guys seem to offer way more products.

    I’m so jealous of your coffee consumption, even if it’s decaf! I tried switching over to decaf, but I’m finding the smell of coffee to be one of my “aversions,” which is such a bummer. Hopefully that clears up in time for iced coffee season!

    Reply

  55. Congratulations on the award! I’m a bread fanatic and have a plethora of bakeries from which to choose here in NYC. However, I am always drooling over your GH loaves/goodies and wish I had a location near me. When yare you going to start selling them (in addition to the granola) on OpenSky 🙂 ?

    Reply

  60. Congratulations to Matt and staff. Way to go!
    You guys should think about the CA Raisin Bread Contest. The applications are out now.
    If you can’t find the form on line, let me know and I’ll send you the application package.

    Reply

  67. YAY!!! Congratulations, Matt, Kath, & Cville GH Staff 🙂 That is an amazing accomplishment to win something like that your first year–you can tell that Matt is really excited by the smile on his face in the picture of you and him! Whoever kneads the best and most bread wins 🙂 Celebrate your achievement! Cheers!

    http://faithfulsolutions.blogspot.com/

    Reply

  69. Congrats to the Cville staff! Do all Great Harvests follow the same recipes? I’ve never been to one or heard of it before I found your blog, but I know food at other chain restaurants usually tastes the same at all locations. I’m guessing if there is a contest,it must be different at Great Harvest!

    Reply

  71. Congrats to all of you! How exciting! Wish we had your kind of bakery by us! Must tell you I have done english smocking for many years and love it. I noticed it on you and your sister’s dresses a few postings back. I live in Calif. and it is fairly unknown back here. I’m thinking… your little one will have some darling outfits! Enjoy the rest of your trip and your great reward! You must have a great team.

    Reply

  72. Kath, my husband is a vegetarian and we consistently scratch our heads at some place’s attempts to create vegetarian dishes. Seriously, where is the protein?!

    So happy for you, Matt and your store’s award! This year is looking pretty spectacular for you guys 😀

    Reply

  75. “First year stores send in a loaf each month…”
    “…shooting high for the Phenomenal Bread Award his first year, which has never been done”.
    “…the first first-year store to ever win the Young Bakery Phenomenal Bread Award!!”

    Sorry, Kath, but I am really confused what the award is… is the award for first year stores or can any store win it?

    Reply

    • Sorry it’s complicated!

      First year stores and other young stores (I think under 2-3 years) all send it bread. Usually an older store has the highest score, but we got it being 8 months old. (But we also tied with an older store)

      Reply

  77. Kath, that is so awesome! Congratulations! What a huge honor!! You’ll definitely have to display that award, maybe even make a neat poster about it!

    Reply

  80. Congratulations guys!! Just the other day I found myself reading and wondering if there would be awards at this meeting because I knew, IF there were awards, YOU guys would win! I’ve never tasted your bread, but I just knew…you guys are the award-winning type:-) Congrats again!

    Reply

  81. Congrats! I also think it is classy that you acknowledged your employees by name in this post. It sounds like you guys are doing a good job and have a great team! Just wish I could order some Popeye bread and Savannah bars online! 🙂

    Reply

  84. I’m not surprised at you winning the award! Just LOOKING at your baked goods makes me want to move to Cville,just to eat at the bakery everyday. Congrats to ‘Matt’s’ baby!
    Looks like your nail polish matches your Toms 😀 Love it

    Reply

  92. Wow, congrats to Matt for his bread award! He is such a hard worker! You are looking so pregnant these days! My hips and thighs got big too at first! how exciting for both of you! congrats! yay!

    Reply

      • Hehe- that made me laugh Kath. You are doing great and nothing so trivial will matter when you’re little one arrives, you are taking care of yourself for them 🙂 They are a gift beyond gifts!

        Reply

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