Bagels and Cream Cheese

I'm going for the low hanging fruit while Kate's family's in town. I don't have a lot of time to devote to entry writing. So today I'm focusing on the breakfast food that brings more people together. A staple at any good brunch or morning get-together, the bagel. More specifically the bagel and its constant companion, cream cheese.

This breakfast pairing has been a favorite of mine ever since Sunday School when I'd sneak up to where the Coffee Klatch adults had their meetings and sold bagels and donuts and other breakfast foods and, when I had the cash, bought and egg bagel with cream cheese. It didn't happen frequently enough. I guess ten year-olds don't often have cash lying around. I think I must have made it a point to collect the $1.50 or whatever it was the Klatch charged whenever I could. It was the only thing that made Sunday School bearable. Other than that it was an eternal bore.

I think bagels are great because they're simple and, like sandwiches, can be eaten without a plate if necessary. They make good on the go breakfast food because of that (or lunch, or dinner). Plus the disparate textures and temperatures between the hot, crispy bagel and the chilled but melting cream cheese presses a primal food trigger in mammalian brains. Lox and onions are great additions, but aren't necessary. The cream cheese, however is a must have. Bagels with butter? Silly. With jelly? There'd better be peanut butter joining the party soon.

Like yesterday's entry, bagels and cream cheese are another natural pairing inextricable from each other. Praise be to the dairy and grains food groups.