BAGELS

Last night somebody asked me what my three top favorite foods were. My first reaction was that I didn't have any favorite foods and it was impossible to pick out the lucky three that I would choose over the rest. I mean, there are so many choices, varieties, textures, flavors of food. It's one of those instances where you think that everything is so different and wonderful that there's no way to narrow it down.

But then.......the lightbulb turned on. What's my favorite food? Why, bagels of course. Of course.

Bagels........there just aren't enough words. First of all, I didn't really discover bagels until around the end of high school. My parents weren't Jews and they never were really into them, so I didn't grow up eating them. I guess it's not a big southern/Belgian thing. We had Einstein's Bagels and Bros. (AMAZING bagel chain - who else do you know that makes chocolate chip bagels?) down the street from us, but for some reason I didn't really make it over there until I could drive myself. I didn't even like plain cream cheese until my senior year. Or any sort of savory bagel for that matter.

My attitude towards bagels changed once I moved to New York two years ago. Bagels (usually everything toasted with cream cheese) became a main staple as breakfast, a snack, part of a meal from the dining hall, even late night drunchies. They're ridiculously accessible in New York City; every deli, bodega, coffee shop, and corner store is automatically expected to have a wide variety of bagels with various options of spreads. They're cheap too and they'll fill you up for a few hours. Bagel with a glob of cream cheese and a coffee and you're set for the day.

So my sick obssession with bagels didn't really begin until I started working at The Bean. We get delicious and fresh bagels every morning, we have a toaster that works some serious bagel magic, and melty butter and huge tubs of whipped cream cheese. I supposed it was only a few months ago that a fellow co-worker introduced the best and worst thing that has happened to me....bagel-wise. A bagel (usually garlic, onion, or everything) toasted with butter AND cream cheese. That's right....butter AND cream cheese. People look at me like I'm a fat crazy bagel whore when I tell them that that's my favorite way to eat bagels. And honestly, I thought it was pretty crazy and fatty when I first heard of this yummy treat, but once I put that crispy, buttery, creamy, doughy goodness in my mouth, it was all over. I was a prisoner to bagels slathered in butter and cream cheese. Thinking about it now makes my mouth water.

So for the past few days that I've worked at the coffee shop, I've ended up eating two bagels a day. Not necessarily with the heart-stopping double topping, but two bagels nonetheless. Not that thats bad........oh, who the fuck am I kidding. It's horrible. I'm just glad that it isn't showing around the love handle/ass area. But regardless, it's not very healthy and I should cut back on the huge amounts of butter and carbs that I eat when I work at the coffee shop. So today I came into work to begin my shift and proclaimed to my co-worker that I wasn't going to eat any carb-y baked goods today. I felt empowered after the first few hours of resisting my temptations, but after a while, I reeeally started to crave them. I would be making a bagel for a customer and start fantasizing about taking a huge bit out of a warm and toasty bagel, only to snap out of it when I remembered the promise I made to myself. I have enough will power to not eat a bagel for 9 hours. I mean, come on. I'm not a complete glutton. So finally, after my nine hour shift, I gave into my carb-nal (you know, like carnal....I'm corny) desires and ate a chocolate cookie that had just come right out of the oven. Delish. Then....I decided to take a bagel home with me. Bad bad choices. I ended up getting high and making myself a bagel with butter and cream cheese for my afternoon snack. It was amazing and well worth it, regardless of the promise I made to not eat one. Hey, I lasted nine hours.

I'm telling you, I have a sick, sick addiction to bagels.