Bagel Bread

     Page One Hundred Ninety-Eight.
     In this blog a few days ago, I mentioned Lax & Mandel Bakery on Taylor Road In Cleveland Heights. Here's another fun reminiscence about that place from the1970's.
     One of my high school jobs was working at a submarine sandwich shop. It was a local place that I can write about at length another time. In short though, it was a perfect place for a bunch of high school students to work. The sandwiches were good, it was minimum wage, everyone except for the old-lady owner went to the same school (Cleveland Heights High School) and it was low stress. The Subconscious Sandwich Shop was also two doors away from Lax & Mandel.
     Sometimes I was scheduled to work closing on Saturday nights. 6PM to 2AM Saturdays might seem like a completely disturbing shift but it really wasn't. Keep in mind that 17 year olds are vampires.They really are. You just know that I woke up at 2PM Saturday afternoon and I drank Coca Cola, so working into the wee hours was primarily a non-issue. Also, there was a wonderful advantage to working that shift: Lax & Mandel's bagel bread. So good it was proof of God.
     Jews celebrate Sabbath from Friday evening until Saturday evening. Orthodox Jews observe the Sabbath by not working, carrying money or conducting any form of business, among many other things. Therefore, the bakery closed on Friday afternoon and re-opened late Saturday night. They were then open all night Saturday to prepare for the Sunday morning rush. Their bagel bread came out of the oven at about 1.30 or so. I'd go over, purchase a ring and a package of cream cheese, bring it back over and chow down with my co-workers. while cleaning and closing.
     If you've never had bagel bread, let me give a quick explanation. Essentially, imagine a bagel about 8 or 9 inches across. That's it. Take your classic bundt cake ring, with a hole in the middle, but made with bagel dough. You tear of chunks, though I'm sure some heathens would use a knife, then apply desired toppings. When it's fresh and warm right from the oven?  Oh man. What a mouth sensation!
    And this was the 1970's, just prior to the national change in bagel dough. But that's a separate blog.

Walking Ayesha to Lax & Mandel

     Page One Hundred Ninety-Four.
     May I tell you about the very first time I ever bought food for a perfect stranger? Good. I didn't think you'd mind.
     It was 1980 or '81. I was either 18 or 19. I was in a habit of taking my dog for nightime walks many pleasant evenings around 9 or so. Ayesha was an auburn-furred German Shepherd. She was beautiful, well-tempered but protective, energetic, intelligent and a good sport. She'd always oblige me whenever I asked her if she wanted to take a walk.
     We got her some years earlier, when I was in the 6th grade. She was 4 years old I think. She'd been born in Israel and being auburn got the name Ayesha because Aish is Hebrew for fire. Hence: Ayesha = Fire Lady or Lady of Fire. She was an American soldier's pet while he was stationed in the middle-east. When he came home to Cleveland to attend college he had to get rid of her. (I honestly don't remember the exact story but it was something like that.) This soldier was subsequently the friend of a friend of a friend and we were looking for a dog, so viola! She really was the perfect kid's dog.
     Now, around '79 or so, I discovered Dobosh Torte. If you aren't familiar with this item, go to your closest Eastern-European style bakery and get some. Seriously. It's multiple thin layers of yellow cake, with light chocolate filling between each, then dark chocolate frosting on top. Or, some version of that. It definitely fills the hole in your soul when nothing else will do the job.

      There were a bunch of bakeries on Taylor Road, just 6 blocks from my street, that sold this stuff and one day I simply started eating it. (This part of town was heavily Jewish at the time, so these bakeries were a result of that demographic.) And somewhere along the way, I got into the habit  of going out in the evening with Ayesha, walking up to Taylor, getting a slice from Lax & Mandel Kosher Bakery, eating while walking home and continuing on about my life.
     Well, one brisk autumn's eve, I had a tag-a-long. I was a couple of blocks into my walk when a kid, 12 or 13 or so, happened to be walking by and inquired about me and Ayesha. I'd never seen this boy before, but there are well over 1 million people living in Greater Cleveland, so his unfamiliarity wasn't too surprising. He was talkative, charming and just walked right over and inquired about Ayesha's breed and so forth. Also, he thought I was in the military because I was wearing my favorite article of clothing, a WWII army dress jacket. (This was the early 80's. Reagan was all the rage and everything military was becoming extremely fashionable. My jacket was authentic, vintage and beautiful.) So this boy, who's name I uncharacteristically don't recall, let's call him PJ, strolled along with us to the bakery, chatting all the way.
     When we got to Lax & Mandel, I tied up Ayesha to the parking meter and PJ and I went inside. You already know how much he drooled while looking at all the pastries, cakes and cookies. You also already know how much money he had in his pocket. I knew what was going on so I told him to pick out anything and I'd treat him. Well, he thought I was just the greatest angel in the world.
     We talked and ate our respective empty calories, fat and sugar while walking back up Washington Blvd towards our starting point. It was a very pleasant 20 minutes, obviously or I wouldn't remember it so well. Right then and there is when I first learned how joyous it feels to unexpectedly give a stranger a gift.