Bread, Day 2 and Todd's Birthday!

Today was our second day of breads. The first picture below is of our 80-quart Hobart mixer, the second is a great sticky-hands photo. This is one of the reasons I love making breads! Third is of my nicoise loaves on the peel getting ready to go in the oven. Fourth is my friend and classmate, Jennifer, with her loaf, shaping and proofing in the banneton (the basket). Last is my finished nicoise loaves (leavened breads with olives and rosemary)...






As soon as I got out of class, I was supposed to meet Todd at The Palm for an early dinner. It was sleeting like mad outside and probably the messiest weather I've seen in a long time. I had changed at the school into some new heels and a dressier shirt, but when I got downstairs I quickly saw I'd need my snow boots. So, I went back up to the school and changed, then tried to get a cab - no cabs, as everyone is taking a cab! I was late meeting Todd, but no one in NYC eats dinner before 8:00 anyway, so we had no problem with still getting our table. I had early reservations for dinner so we could get to some evening activities. We each had a nice steak and split a bottle of wine. After dinner, we caught a taxi to 25th Street to a spa to get a couple's massage. Aaaaaah. How nice! It was great! The spa also had a jacuzzi and steam room and sauna, so we hung around for a while after the massage for some more relaxing. Yay! We then hopped on the train, out of the weather, to the UES (Upper East Side from now on) to get dessert at Serendipity, a cafe known for its frozen hot chocolate. What a great day!