Carol replied to Sheldon:

>> Unless they're purchased in NYC they ain't bagels, I'm serious... I've
>> tried bagels in about all 48 and NONE are even close to a real bagel...
>> NOT EVEN CLOSE... they are just nondescript rolls with a hole. And
>> even a perfect NYC bagel once it's been out of the oven more than 60
>> minutes it's no longer a bagel... it's just a stale hunk of dough. And
>> there is no such thing as a frozen bagel (Lenders ain't any kind of
>> bagel), a NYC pigeon has to be starving to peck one, and even then
>> won't let it's neighbors see its pecker pecking. And so, unless yoose
>> come to NYC you can't have a bagel... and Staten Island doesn't count,
>> that's part of Noo Joisey anyways.
>
> Well, we Midwesterners don't mind slumming in the bagel department,
> because we don't know any better. I like whatever it is that is being
> presented as a bagel here. I like the plain ones, spread with cream
> cheese and sprinkled with Penzey's Sunny Paris. I'm not sure I'm
> qualified to use the word, "schmear." Heck, I don't even know if I can
> spell it!

Over on the West Coast, we have our own versions of bagels. I've had the
crisp-doughy NYC tori that Sheldon seems to favor, and I prefer the bagels
here. (I lived in NYC in 1983-84. Maybe those were just bad years for NYC
bagels.)

Gimme a toasted onion-sourdough bagel with avocado and alder-smoked salmon,
please... or a carrot-sesame bagel with hummus and a sprinkling of lemon
zest... or a pear-walnut bagel with some Humboldt Fog...

Mmmmm....adrift in bagel-space....

Bob