The Bagel

   One of the things that C and I liked to do after a meeting of the Small Town Toastmasters club was to go to the local coffee and bagel shop to have a bite of breakfast and socialize with some of the members. Now that our meetings are held online, we have not gone to the bagel shop. (We would not have been able to go there anyway due to restaurant closures and stay at home orders.) While I like the fact that we are saving that money, I missed my weekly bagel.

   I was introduced to bagel in college by my freshman roommate. She was from the Twin Cities area and seemed very sophisticated to a small town gal like me. She showed me how to toast a bagel and then put cream cheese on it. I have always loved cream cheese so this was a chance for me to indulge in it. I found that I liked the texture and taste of a bagel and cream cheese. Later on I learned about flavoured cream cheese and different flavoured bagels. I tried all kinds of them from sweet to savory. My favourite is poppy seed. I like it because it is versatile. I can put any kind of cream cheese on it. It's also good with butter,jam or peanut butter.

  I also discovered that I really like bagel sandwiches. I don't know what it is about sandwich fillings on a bagel that make them taste so good. even a plain egg and cheese bagel sandwich is a feast.

  Bagels were something that regularly  showed up on my grocery list. I always wanted to keep them on hand for breakfast and for sandwiches. I prefer to buy them from a bagel shop, but in a pinch there is  a grocery store brand that I like. (Although I get multigrain as poppy seed is not an option.) When C and I were looking to cut expenses when I started working part time, bagels were the first thing to go. I decided that my once a week bagel at the coffee shop would have to be enough. Not only would we be saving the cost of the bagels, we would also be saving the cost of the cream cheese to as well. A small savings perhaps, but enough small savings lead to big savings. It was a sacrifice that I could make.

  Lately I've been missing having bagels. I thought about how nice it would be to have a bagel and cream cheese for breakfast. It wouldn't have to be a fancy bagel or flavoured cream cheese. I firmly reminded myself that this wasn't something I needed.

  C and I went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. As we walked past the refrigerated section I noticed something. My favourite grocery store bagels were on sale. They were on sale! I could get some. I picked up one bag of multigrain bagels and put them in our cart. I remarked to C that they were on sale and I would just get them this once. We already had cream cheese at home. I had bought it for a macaroni and cheese recipe that I had tried out. We left the store and I happily carried the bag of groceries including the bagels out to the car.

  This morning I opened the bag and took out a bagel. I split it and put it in the toaster. I remembered to set it to toast on medium. I wanted the bagel warm and chewy, not toasted and crunchy. While it toasted I got out the cream cheese and cut off a potion to use for the macaroni and cheese. I put my tea in the microwave to heat up. Soon the bagel was ready. I spread just the right amount of cream cheese on not too thick or thin.. I toyed with the idea of layering some strawberry jam over the cream cheese. I decided not to, the first bagel should be just the basics. 

  I put it on a plate, grabbed my teacup and sat down to enjoy it. I savoured the fist bite. It was perfect, warm and chewy. The cream cheese had melted just a little bit. It was delicious. I sat in my quiet kitchen. I had an article to read, a good cup of tea to drink and a wonderful bagel to enjoy. My day was off to a great start.

   One of the blessings of the current crisis, for me at least, is finding happiness in really small things: green grass in the yard, sunshine, warm temperatures, a text from a friend, writing a letter and mailing it, finding some things I didn't know I had, making progress on a a knitting technique I'm trying to learn. eating a bagel.

  I hope that you have been finding small joys recently too......