Brownies and Bagels

I spent this past weekend far more affected by food than I anticipated. Brett and I went to a spa in Sandanski, a small town in the mountains of Southern Bulgaria. Strangely, we seemed to be almost the only customers. We soon learned that was because Greek farmers had shut down the Greek/Bulgarian border protesting their steady downward fall of income. Then, after a couple of days of relaxing, I tried to combine a pesto pasta, apple walnut salad, cosmopolitan, and creme brule at the spa restaurant. Sounds great, right? Well, it did, until it gave me food poisoning.

So now I'm home and I have a lovely new pedicure and a new long mileage in my training for a 15 K, but I'm only eating crackers, and I'm worried about the Greek farmers and the Bulgarian tourist industry. So I will have to rely on a couple of recipes I tried earlier this month from 17 and Baking for this post. It's a great site, and as bagels and brownies are few and far between in Bulgaria, I and my fellow international teachers enjoyed the results of both, hugely.

Recipe #1: Basic Bagels

To add toppings: drop the bagels in a bowl of cold water after boiling them and sprinkle on whatever you wish (rock salt, poppy seeds, sky's the limit) once you've set them on a baking sheet.

Recipe #2: Cold War Brownies

Perfect, as is. Be ready for a bit of heat in your chocolate.