My perfect Thursday

It's well past 3 a.m. and I'm feeling just as chipper and energetic as I was twelve hours ago. I had a perfect day today. Woke up at around 7:30, made a phenomenal omelet for breakfast, got free coffee from my pops, and watched my morning talk shows that I only get to watch on very rare occasions when I don't have morning classes. I also spent the evening catching up with my wonderful pal Victoria, whom I've known since the wee age of five. Aw. We paid a visit to the Jogasaki Truck and, while laughing hysterically at how we were wearing the exact same outfit, down to the striped shirt, and drive the exact same color Volkswagen Rabbit, we sipped our Thai iced tea and I had my Jogasaki #4A.

Yup.

While this sushi feast was wonderful, the food I created today was the true culinary highlight of this fine spring break Thursday.

I had a mission today--to finally make those damn asiago bagels I've been itching for months to make. So after The View, I paid a visit to Trader Joes and Ralphs for some vegan cream cheese (lactose intolerant!), rosemary asiago cheese (contradiction? yes...but imagine the effects of REAL cream cheese on top of that! *my oh my*), and bread flour.

Trader Joe's rosemary asiago

Fluff text aside, I'm going to jump right into the main point of this post: these bagels were perfect. 
I don't know what possessed the brilliant creator of THIS POST to be so bold as to modify a bagel recipe so many times to actually create a perfect one, but whatever power it was, I think I owe this woman my own weight in gold. I halved the recipe and followed the instructions to a "T" and it literally, in all seriousness, everything was perfect. But that's just my opinion.
Please, do yourself a favor and make these bagels. They are completely, absolutely worth the hours the take to make. Here's what you'll need:

Asiago Bagels (recipe by http://www.howsweeteats.com)

makes 12-15 bagels, but I halved this recipe and made 8.

• 10-12 ounces freshly grated asiago cheese
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 packets active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar (for the water bath)
• vegetable oil for brushing (I used EVOO spray)

Out of pure laziness, I'm only going to post pictures (and lots of them) with small captions--please refer to the original site of the recipe for full instructions!

Yeast + warm water, after sitting for 15 mins.

Add flour and salt to yeast mixture.

Form it into a ball.

Cover, place on top of heated oven, and let rest for an hour.

Once it's risen, punch it!

Cut it into equal pieces. Don't they look like beignets?

That's the size of mine! (Yup, who's a badass with a faded happy face tattoo on her pinky? Tha's righ...)

Cover the dough balls and let em rest again...

until they've grown a bit more.

I used a wooden spoon to poke holes in mine.

Boil in brown sugared water

and then roll them in your cheese or whatever toppings you want

This poor guy!

After baking for about 15 mins, I was concerned by how they looked! :(

I took em out, cleaned up the oil spills with paper towels, and crossed my fingers.

WHAT. OH MY GOD.

LOOK AT THESE BAGELS.

p.s. I scrapped that top left one...I accidentally left it in the water bath so it turned out soggy!

Not to toot my own horn or anything........but just..........

Crispy cheesy outside, light as air insides...

These bagels have rendered me speechless.

I left the house yesterday leaving five bagels in a bowl, and I woke up this morning to NONE left for me. Yup, in one night and morning, my parents ate all of them before I could even photograph one toasted and smothered with cream cheese! Gosh. I guess that's proof right there, though, that they had to have been at least acceptable, right? :)

Next time (which there definitely will be), I'll make mini bagels, including cinnamon raisin ones :)