Bagels

Bagels

and

Cream Cheese

and

Pickles

and

Kimchi Bloody Mary's

Sometimes only a bagel will do. Here are a few ideas for a late Sunday breakfast; let's call it brunch.

"Brunching is munching" and here we see the latest assemblage: Fresh hot bagels sold to us by a real Jew (Does anybody know what a real Jewish bagel is any more?), home made cream cheese spread loaded with what have you, and Bloody Mary's spiked with Kimchi juice. Pickles, please.

As far as bagels are concerned, we're not talking about those huge fluffy things that people from the suburbs "think" of as bagels. Case in point, a globe trotting friend Mr. Michael Weinstein by name thinks H&H Bagels once on the Upper West Side of Manhattan defines Bagels. PLEEZE! 

When we talk bagels we're talking smallish crisp shiny crust bagels bursting with moist, yeasty chewy sweetness. 

Crust to crumb ratio is a big item in the bagel connoisseur world, and unless you know what we are talking about, just go and enjoy your afternoon in the suburbs. (The Suburbs: where the only thing you have to worry about is the sun bleaching your outdoor wicker furniture.) You would probably prefer a Kaiser roll anyway. Birds of a feather ... White Bread/White Bread.

Now nothing is better than a fresh baked bagel just plain right from the oven. In college me and the boys used to send someone for a bagel run and then eat hot bagels buttered at a local pub washed down with pitchers of beer. 

Second best, is a bagel with cream cheese. With what they call a schmeer, or for the money. The latter just a whole lot more than a schmeer, hence the "for the money". For you suburbanites, let me amplify: you get so much cream cheese you gotta pay for it. OK?

But, we happen to have a bounty of green freshness situation from the garden these days so into the cream cheese we mixed in some delicious additions: fresh thyme, dill, chives, scallion, red onion, grated carrot, finely chopped arugula, capers, tomato.

Now, if it's bagels and lox or bagels and cream cheese, (or, in our book, any way) you got to have some pickles. Here we see a spread ready to be sent to the table. Those ruby red things next to the radishes are pickled young turnips colored with beet root. And, Mama's style home made dill pickles.

To drink, Bloody Mary's, but this time with a good dose of Kimchi juice. Not a bad drink, but not our everyday go-to Bloody Mary. But, watch out when the Korean friends come over. Those cats like their Kimchi. 

Here is a really good article on the subject of the REAL bagel.