The slice of heaven that is a properly prepared bagel

When we were kids, my mom would buy the good Lender's bagel for my sister and I. She would also buy the good Philly cream cheese, always in the block. She would also make fantastic onion dip with the cheese, but that's another show...

As my sister and I would prepare our bagels, she would undoubtedly complain about my gluttony. To be precise, she would complain about the amount of cream cheese I would trowel onto my bagel.

You see, we are bread people and she would argue the properness of a light coating, just enough to flavor the bread. That the spirit of the bread was best served with a modest application. And that if I didn't knock it off, there wouldn't be enough left to finish the bag of bagels. I gleefully ignored her and pasted by bagel with enough cream cheese to give me a milk mustache.

It is amazing how things like that shape you. Just know, I pulled two bagels from the frige behind my desk. I pulled out my tub of cream cheese and coated my bagels with the lucious lactose delight. I placed them in front of them and glared at them in culinary anticipation. Just as I was about to chomp my first bite, I had an uncontrollable compulsion to put on more cream cheese.

So I did.... who am I to fight 25 years of gluttony?