No matter how many times I circle round the sun… I feel a little differently about spring each year.

(I think the March weather is responsible)

I remember a year where I sat bundled up on the front porch at my girlfriend’s house watching the days get longer… and we confided that we weren’t ready for winter to end, for life to speed up. 

So much more is expected of us in the warmer months.

It might sound crazy for a non-skier, Upstate New Yorker to wish away the onset of spring, but sometimes I’m just not ready for things to change.

I finally settle into dark afternoons, sort out my winter wardrobe, find a pace that feels right, and suddenly, POOF! It’s time to re-arrange.

But this year… I’m done with cold, done with dark.  I’m welcoming spring with expectation, even she fights us like a hormonal teenager… I feel my bones aching to thaw, the deep warm sun whispering of picnics by the creek, wispy clothing, and a return to…

… there, I’m gonna say it…

Normalcy.

Or some workable version of it.

We can’t go back to the way things were, especially at our shop, because too much has shifted and morphed.

But we can… with the welcome of spring… bring back the yummiest parts.

Starting this week, we’re extending our weekday hours until noon, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

And since we’re opening up into the lunch hour…

We’ve brought back a couple of our favorite lunch sandwiches, and even created a new one!

Weather (pun intended) you’re ready and running into spring this year…

Or still hibernating and willing away hints of frenzy and full schedules.

A taste of our new Tuna Club and the Classic Deli Turkey or Ham and Cheese,

(Especially if you eat it on our porch, in the sun, for a work-week luncheon)

should help you welcome spring’s changes and new normals.

Can’t wait to share the changes with you!

If you’ve been to the Bagel Grove lately… you’ll have noticed we’re currently under construction.

Even if you haven’t been in since, I dunno, the middle of 2020, you’ll have noticed some changes in our layout.

Most notably… we don’t have indoor dining anymore.

Actually we DO have something new planned for the old dining room, hence the aforementioned construction. I’m gonna leave the plans for that new space as a surprise for later…

But anyway, I have put something new in our customer waiting area, and I’d like to formerly announce this to you here, now.

First a little back story…

My daughter has recently turned 14, which even though 13 is the technical year one becomes a teenager, I believe that age is still firmly in the “tween” category, and 14 is when things get a bit more serious.

For my daughter, this meant, for one, an update to her bedroom. She wants to get rid of the turquoise and purple walls. We’re in the midst of painting them a lovely color called “warm sand” (also known as tan… 🤷🏻‍♀️). Her room redo also included cleaning out her book shelf.

For a couple days I had a box in our hallway of elementary aged books and some craft kits that she no longer wants… And after staring at them every time I went up or down the stairs…

I got the idea!

Have you ever seen one of those little “free libraries” that are sometimes found in parks, on city streets, and in this case…

Inside Bagel Grove’s waiting area.

Our little free library currently features lots of YA fiction, picture books, craft books and a couple aforementioned crafting kits. But the idea is, you take a book or you give one… all for free!

So while you’re waiting for the unveiling of our new space… or for your bagel toasted with cream cheese… or your’e stopping off to pick up an online order, pop over and check out this little gem… who knows, your next cozy Sunday evening partner could be waiting in there for you!

And last before I go, I must tell you that my family (said teenager, plus her two brothers and my husband), are taking off for the week of February break so the Bagel Grove will be closed February 21- March 1. 

Place your bagel orders now so you have something good to eat when the kids are out of school!

When seventy-two perfectly browned, shiny on the outside, promising soft, steaming, chewy crumb on the inside, bagels arrive at the open door of our rotating bagel oven, 

It’s like winning a prize.

We pull ourselves out of bed at 1:30 and into a cold shop to bake the day’s bagels… Once the oven is full to capacity with boiled, bagel shaped lumps of dough (that’s 36 dozen), it’s finally time for the first bagels of the morning to start coming out. 

Look at these beauties!

Once that first shelf of bagels is out of the oven, every 3 minutes another batch of hot, browned bagels will arrive finished at the oven door. And it goes on like that for the next 2 hours. The task of baking bagels involves facing a 460 degree oven, keeping up the pace, and taking care not to under or over-bake, miss any seeds, or drop even one precious bagel. And when this hot and precise process is finished… breakfast is served!

Back in what I’ll call “the glory days” of Bagel Grove (was that just 2 months ago??!), we repeated the process that I just described, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year. We had a staff of 20 people taking the bagels from their humble beginnings as a bag of flour… to dressing them up with fancy cream cheese and farm fresh eggs.  But for now, access to these delectable bagels is pretty exclusive.

When you order, you’re getting bagels made the old fashioned way, baked in the wee hours of the morning, and delivered to your door only hours later.  But there’s more to it. When you get your dozen bagels delivered on a Friday or Saturday morning, you’re not only receiving an artisan, fresh product… You’re helping to preserve a tradition.

Thank you for supporting us through your orders, your kind feedback and your patience!