A Salute to the Bagel

I'm happy to have pushed off into the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge. I'm really enjoying finding places that work for the different letters and taking pictures. Most of the places I feature won't be what would be considered fancy or upscale. I especially like the unique corners that are local and down-to-earth. There's nothing like a beautiful restaurant with fine china for a special dinner, but that can be my monthly entertainment budget and then some. Most days I find my treats closer to home, much more economical and among the simple pleasures that are the daily joys of life. Today we are saluting one of these pleasures, the bagel.

I thought of a number of ideas for "B," beginning with bakery and progressing to bread. But there is no food that seems to be more of a New York food than the bagel. The bagel was developed in Poland in the sixteenth century and was brought to North America during the massive immigration of the nineteenth century. The business of bagel making took off in New York City and bagel carts and bagel stores are found in all corners of the city.

This is one of my local bagel stores and their bagels are excellent. While many people prefer cream cheese on their bagels, also known as "a shmear," I am a fan of just a little butter, and my bagel of choice is right out of the oven with sesame seeds.

The big smiles on the pizza, fries and their friends made me smile, too. 

Happily for those that don't live in New York City the bagel can be found just about anywhere in the world, even much to my surprise in a hotel cafe in Malaysia, and it can be found frozen in supermarkets everywhere. But my heart is still with the just out of the oven New York bagel. 

I was up and out on errands this morning and yes, my snack of choice was a warm whole wheat bagel with just a little butter and a big cup of coffee. What's your favorite treat? 

As ever, thanks for stopping by.  Take good care and come back and visit often!