Craving Bagels

Bleeding Espresso is a blog I have come across, and I love love love reading it. Sognatrice is her name, Italy is her game, and she writes with a passion for that country that gives me goosebumps - like this recent one about Calabrian folk music.

It was this post that took my breath away, as it reminded me so much of my own post on the same subject. And here I am, thinking I'm all by myself in this life!

However, it was her bagel recipe that ensured her a spot in my heart. You see, bagels are pretty much non-existent here, and when you do find them, they tend to be very expensive and not really like you want them to be. But, as she says, sometimes you really crave something to smear cream cheese on - especially in Italy, where one can find the world's only real cream cheese.

Visiting friends from New York have known to not cross my threshold unless bearing at least six Ess-a-Bagels. I have taught my gay mafia about the joys of these plump little balls of doughy love, and they now crave them too. I am the devil.

My first experience with bagels on this side of the pond was in a coffee shop in London whose name I forget. I grabbed one before flying home to Montpel. It cost me more in sterling than my phone bill that month, but it was worth every chewy, doughy bite.

Next was The Bagel Shop in Barcelona. These are heavenly, and come with a variety of toppings. I eat a bagel every single morning I am in Barcelona, without fail. YUM.

Viola, the only girl I know in Italy and my former roommate, has a carrot cake obsession that has taken her to New York twice, and keeps her ever vigilant for this tasty treat. She breathlessly called me one day to report that not only had she found carrot cake - she had found bagels. In Rome. At the cleverly named Jospehine's Bakery, in the fittingly named Piazza del Paradiso. Their bagels are teensy tinsy, hellatiously expensive, and absolutely perfect.

Then - like manna from heaven - came the news that our very own patisserie here in Montpel - Louis, it's called - was carrying bagels. I immediately ran over, and sure enough - there they were, a gleaming fresh stack of bagel sandwiches. I breathlessly asked if I could buy a half dozen of the bagels plain, with nothing inside.

The girl looked at me like I had half a dozen heads. Then came the answer I have come to hear all too often in this ridiculous country: "C'est pas possible." This is not possible.

I said I could come back in the morning, before they made them into sandwiches. "C'est pas possible."

I suppose I could buy a sandwich, scrape the food off it and rebuild it with my own treats. But it's just not the same.