We'll miss you Charlotte. Bon chance. Let us know where you are and what you're doing. As for the "bagels" -- sorry, not sorry. A non-chewy toroid may be a delicious piece of bread, but it is not a bagel. A classic bagel (and that's the only kind that should carry the name) is no more than 3 inches in diameter, crisp crust, chewy inside. As life's problems go, a bad bagel isn't even on the scale, but zeroing in on culinary woes, it's distressing to find all manner of toroidal bread around the country trying to get away with faking it. And a famous food writer, Mimi Sheraton, once wrote that if a bagel isn't hard as a rock by the end of a day, it's not a bagel.

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