Bacon, Bialys and Bulkas, Oh My

One thing I know is that if my maternal grandfather sees this post, he'll be rolling over in his grave - and isn't that the silliest thing you ever heard? I mean, do bodies really roll over in their graves? I used to hear that saying whenever anything was done that was seemingly insulting to the old Russian guy. Although when he was alive, I do believe he enjoyed the stuff that was done and handled it with a wink and a shrug. And it was always he who was doing the rolling - never grandma, because she was, how shall I say this, a bit more Attila the Hun-ish. And everyone was scared of her, or at least I was. Hey, is this getting too dark?

Last Saturday night, as Significant Eater and I were coming home from dinner at a friend's apartment, I popped into Kossar's (which opens after the Sabbath ends on Saturday, or after sundown), the world-famous bialy bakery on Grand St. Kossar's sells a number of baked products, each delicious in it's own way. Of course, its world-famous bialy is the number one draw. In my opinion, a bialy is like a Jewish English muffin. What I mean by that is that it needs to be lightly toasted to bring out its deliciousness. Kossar's also bakes bulkas, pletzels, mini-bulkas, mini-pletzels, sesame sticks, mini sesame sticks and bagels. Bulkas are like mini-hero rolls - with the same oniony flavor as bialys and the addition of poppy seeds. Pletzels are onion boards, or big, flat cracker-like things, covered with onions and various seeds...think lavash, but crisper. They're all delish in their own way, and here's what the bulka and bialy look like...


So, there I was Sunday morning, with a stash of the above in our kitchen. And I thought, what better way to show off their deliciousness than to whip up some scrambled eggs, cook up a batch of Benton's bacon, crank up the toaster and go to town? I'm almost convinced that if grandpa could only have gotten over his kosher-ness, he might've even liked the combo. But then, Attila might have smacked him upside the head. And he would've just given me a wink and a shrug.

Significant Eater, of course, had no such reservations when breakfast was served. After all, and with apologies to any and all kosher folks, would you?