In the summer, I like to get creative with meals, turning them into family projects. We choose a theme to help us create the menu, and one of our favorites is old-time New York-style food. My parents grew up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, with Guss’ Pickles around the corner, knish vendors down the street, a bakery with authentic bagels, and the ultimate dessert: the black and white cookie.
While I grew up in Brooklyn, I often visited my grandmother on Grand Street in Lower Manhattan, where I would nosh on these traditional New York-style foods. Also, many summers were spent in the Catskills, where my first stop in Woodbourne, New York, was always Mom’s Knishes, having been drawn by the heavenly aroma. I can still smell it when I close my eyes.
.. So get creative, get nostalgic, think back to those foods that take you back to wonderful summer memories, and recreate them at home.
I remember experimenting with bread and bagels during the in 2020. My sister-in-law Sara sent a photo to our family WhatsApp group of the gorgeous bagels she made at home. She raved about how easy they were to make and how perfectly delicious they were with their crusty exterior and soft, chewy interior.
Inspired, I caught the bagel bug and asked her for the recipe, which I tried immediately. My daughter and husband were ecstatic to have New York-style bagels with their choice of toppings. Now my daughter refuses to eat bagels anywhere else, insisting that mine are the best.
Honestly, I find mak.