August 02, 2009

Gotham bagel / farmers' market / blog issues

If you've been reading this blog for a while you may remember I've talked about our upcoming move to Seattle. My husband has a new job there, and I seem to be retired - for the moment, anyway. We're renting our house to visiting professors from Norway, and renting a house in Seattle, just to make sure we really want to stay there. (If we decide to come back, we want to come back to our house!) It's a continuing effort to sort through all our stuff and save only what we really need (or REALLY want) and clear out the house for the renters. It's horrible, really, and sometimes it feels like we'll never get done.

The date that we'll leave here is coming up fast, and there are so many people to spend one more hour with, and places to visit one more time. On a recent Saturday we went downtown to meet a friend at the Farmers Market, to shop and get something to eat at a favorite breakfast spot. Because of car trouble and then a traffic jam, the friend never made it, but my husband and I proceeded without her, grateful that she'd lured us out of the house.

One of our favorite places to eat breakfast is Gotham Bagel. It was started by a transplanted New Yorker who couldn't find a real East Coast bagel here in the Midwest. There are those that say New York bagels are the best because of the water, but NYC water was brought here and bagels made with it were compared to bagels made with local water to check that theory. Disproved! There are plenty of bagel shops here, but anyone looking for the dense, chewy bite of deliciousness that we East Coasters know as a genuine, hand-rolled, boiled bagel, were bound to be disappointed. And because Gotham Bagel's founder was strongly influenced by his veg aunt and uncle, he provides delicious vegan alternatives to the usual bagel toppings. There are three choices of vegan artisan cream cheese as well as various vegan salads. My favorite breakfast is the "V." I usually get it on pumpernickel bagel, but sometimes I go for sesame. It's a hard choice! The "V" I had recently (pictured above on sesame with a thin cinnamon-raisin bagel chip) contains scallion tofu cream cheese, roasted poblano peppers, tomato, arugula and avocado, and I never get tired of it. I've never even tried the other vegan breakfast. When we leave Madison, this is one of the places I'll miss.

Gotham Bagel is just a step away from the downtown Madison Farmers' Market so we visited out favorite farm stand, Harmony Valley Farm, just after we ate. Good timing, right?



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Blog goes berserk - attempts to dismantle computer

One of my wonderful readers has informed me that when she tries to leave this blog, dozens of windows start opening, and her Internet Explorer crashes! She uses a pc, and when I tried to reproduce this effect on my husband's pc, I was unable to do so. I've made blogger inquiries to see if there's some problem with my blog but so far no one has been able to view this phenomenon. It was suggested to me that she may have malware on her computer or may have a corrupted version of IE that needs replacement. Since this only happens with my blog, I'm not sure what to think. Is anyone experiencing a similar problem, or have insight as to why this is happening? If there's a problem on my end I certainly want to correct it. Can you help?

15 comments:

  1. I don't envy your stuff-sorting. I know it's a horrible task.

    The V bagel sounds incredible. I can see why it's your favorite.

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  2. Moving is awful--I am sorry! Good luck with all of the sorting and packing...just keep thinking how GOOD you will feel when it is all done and organized!

    Tofu scallion cream cheese?! YUM!

    Courtney

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  3. Well, Diann, I'm not enjoying it. It's hard to see progress at the moment.

    Thanks, Courtney. I just hope it WILL be done and organized. Tofu scallion, tofu vegetable, and tofu plain cream cheese!

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  4. the only time i have this problem is whenever i get on doghillkitchen.blogspot.com/. weird indeed! sorry i wish i knew why this happens also..

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  5. Pistachio'
    Thanks for answering. I went to the doghillkitchen blog and didn't have a problem! This is so puzzling.

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  6. It's all my fault! I started it :(

    But onto a nicer note, I am drooling over that bagel. I wish we had sandwich or bagel shops here with such an exciting array of toppings. Delicious!

    Hope you get through all that nasty packing soon! I do hope you are rewarding yourself with a glass of something nice at the end of the day :)

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  7. Jac,
    Pointing out a problem is not a "fault." I really do want to figure this out. It's so weird.

    I really appreciate that Gotham Bagel offers vegan alternatives as well as a full-range of "normal" stuff. I wish all restaurants did that!

    I'm afraid the days have been ending with me falling into bed, exhausted. I did have a former co-worker over for wine and snacks one day last week. That was nice.

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  8. I don't envy you moving house, Andrea! We've done it a few times over the years and you're right, it's no fun at all!
    Those bagels look so good! I'm going to try to replicate them very soon. When we have bagels we always have them with tofu cream cheese and separate spring onions (scallions). Very tasty!

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  9. Ah, the mixed blessings of an impending move. Will definitely have to try those bagels the next time I'm in the Madison area!!

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  10. Oh my, that bagel looks unreal, and vegan cream cheese? I am smitten with jealousy!

    I hope the move goes well. No problems with your blog here, but sometimes I do have trouble with blogspot blogs in general.

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  11. Thanks for the sympathy, Penny. And I hope you enjoy your bagels.

    You should definitely check out Gotham next time you're in town. In addition to the Mifflin St. shop, they have a branch on Park St. at St. Mary's new out-patient wing. The bagels are great!

    Alisa,
    Thanks for the blog feedback. And, yes, the cream cheese is so good that sometimes I can't believe it's vegan. Maybe there is soy creamer in it.

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  12. Sorry to hear you are leaving so soon after I've found your blog! I have a friend in Seattle whom I will be sure to turn onto your blog when you get there. Looking forward to it's continuation from Seattle.

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  13. I'll be it's the humidity level in the air in NYC. Sort of like trying to make san fran sourdough bread when you don't live there.

    that bagel combo sounds fantastic!

    I think we're on the same page. I quit my job in sept, and I've been trying to declutter my house and it just seems impossible. not fun at all.

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  14. Jennifer,
    I'm sorry to be leaving, too. And we may be back.

    Bethany,
    I don't know about the humidity theory. Gotham bagels taste great to me even when the humidity is low. :D

    Is it possible decluttering is overrated? It takes so much effort and is so hard to maintain.

    Mihl,
    Yeah, Gotham City is where Batman is from, but it's also a nickname for NYC, so it kind of makes sense to call a shop making NYC-style bagels by that name. Funny but cool. It used to be a nice quiet place to go, but once word leaked out that they baked real NY bagels there, it became a little crazy.

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  15. Best of luck with the move! Retirement doesn't sound half bad, actually! ;)

    Your description of bagels made me nostalgic for the old Montreal bagels I had as a kid. Mmm!

    I do have a similar issue, but not with your blog (I can't remember whose right now). But it only happens with that one blog, no other blogger blog. So I guess I'm no help!

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