Bagels

     Bagels!  There is nothing that says Sunday morning more than a bagel.  This was not my first time making bagels, and I’ve got to say not my favorite recipe.  I used the recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice; the bagels had a good chew, but they did make a very puffy bagel.  Also, I did not brush the bagels with egg white to adhere the toppings, since the directions did not advocate it.  The belief being that the toppings would adhere if applied to the bagel as soon as the bagels were pulled out of the water.  Once I moved the bagels to the cooling racks, the toppings began to fall off.  The bagels also did not brown as much as I would have liked.  (And yes, I baked them an additional 10 minutes.)  The bagels did have a good chew, a good flavor, and an acceptable crust.  They were good bagels, just not really good bagels.  My favorite homemade schmear is cream cheese, lots of roasted garlic, and black pepper.  It’s easy and very flavorful.
     Years ago I visited New York with my brother and his girlfriend.  I asked Wayne if he wanted anything from New York and he said, “Bring back some bagels.”  I brought him a dozen New York style bagels, and so began our bagel prejudice.  After having “real” bagels that had a wonderful crust, a chewy texture, and a wonderful variety of flavors and toppings, grocery store and frozen bagels would no longer do.  Our search for “real” bagels in the New Orleans area had begun.  We found “The Bagel Factory” in Metairie.  Great bagels, limited schmears, and okay coffee.  A few years later we found “The Bayou Bagelry” in Metairie.  Great bagels, great schmears (loved the roasted peppers), and great coffee.  Bagels will always be Sunday morning breakfast fare.  We would go to one of the bagel shops, drive to the Lakefront, and have our bagels as Wayne would read “News of the Weird” to me.  We did this for 15 years.  Then you know who washed us to Katy, TX for six months.  We did manage to find “The Bagel Café” in Katy and a small lake to sit by.  Before we moved to Pineville, we bought several dozen bagels in Katy.  I know that you are going to find this difficult to believe, but there are no bagel shops in the Pineville/Alexandria area.  We did find a bagel place in Baton Rouge (New York Bagels) to get real bagels.  We would always buy a few dozen when we would go there.
       Sunday morning bagels have always been our special time together.  It was a way of leaving the world behind.  It was a quiet time when no one else existed.  It was just the two of us and a very quiet lakefront.  We had no worries, no responsibilities, no phones - just us.  Two large coffees, two warm bagels, and each other.  I’ve told Wayne when I die, throw my ashes in Lake Pontchartrain, have a bagel, think of me, and smile.