Good Morning Astoria

Living in New York City can be a rush. There is always something to do and some where to be.  It can be hard to remember that I am young and here to experience something new. Living in Astoria, Queens helps me slow down and enjoy what my area has to offer, not just get all caught up the Manhattan rush.

I like to take time to enjoy the best bagel I have every come across and it’s just up the street at Astoria Bagel shop and deli. When you enter into the open doors with the spring sun streaming in providing some of the only light in room, your nose is filled with the smell of fresh doughy bagels. The family who works here  is always kind and know who to move customer in and out quickly. I can’t count how many morning I have gone in to pick up breakfast for Brian and I and they are literary taking the bagels out of the oven and putting them into my bag.

While waiting for your coffee to get poured or bagel toasted try to catch a glimpse of the gentlemen in the back of the kitchen shaping bagels. He works with confidence and speed, its a beautiful thing. He starts with very larges batches of dough at a time on a  wooded table covered in flour. He gracefully cuts off the perfect portion  for each bagel and rolls it into a log. The log is twisted in to a circle and then with years of experience he slips his hand through the center of the round and give it one good roll to seal the seam together. It can be mesmerizing to watch someone work so hard at his craft.

Form the moment you walk in and are greeted “good morning, what can I get you” to when you are paying cash to a old non electric cash register they use you are reminded of where you are,Astoria. Not just a neighborhood that we live in because we can’t afford to live in Manhattan, but a community we have chosen.

The place where I get my favorit bagel in the morning helps to remind me not to get cought up in the rush of the city life. Weather its stoping by before my parents leave so they can stock up on real New York bagels or just getting one for breakfest. It will always remind me to slow down and enjoy where I am, not where I am going.