Three Beautiful Things 08-19-2025: Implant Finished, Superb Bagels, Beef and Mixed Vegetables Dinner

1. I had an upper molar on the left side of my mouth that was feeling flimsy so me. Back in January, I went to the dentist.  The dentist basically said, upon looking at the X-ray, and seeing how brittle and fractured the root was, said something like no wonder that tooth feels flimsy to you. I agreed to have the tooth extracted and replaced with an implant. 

Today, seven months later, almost to the day, the dentist wrapped up the implant process and the cavern I've been living with, that I haven't disturbed with chewing on that side of the mouth, and that I've treated every day by rinsing with salt water, is no longer a hole but has an implant there.

The left side of my mouth is functional again and I'm here to tell you that I enjoy it. 

2. Earlier in the day, I returned to Beach Bum Bakery. On Monday, Rebecca told me she'd have cinnamon raisin bagels available today, so I texted in an order for three of them. Once I arrived, I saw she only had two of these bagels left and I added them to my order. 

I returned home. I froze four of the bagels. 

I decided to give the one I didn't freeze a kind of pure taste test. 

I didn't toast the bagel.

I didn't put cream cheese on it. 

Eating this bagel was a perfect, you might say unadulterated, pleasure. 

The cinnamon and plentiful raisins complimented each other beautifully and, as always, this bagel, like all of Rebecca's bagels, was perfectly balanced between the firm exterior and the perfectly bread-y interior. 

I was thinking, as I enjoyed it, about how Debbie will be heading back to New York from Virginia some time next week and that while I pine for New York, miss New York, would love to be in New York, the one thing I don't have to long for is a New York bagel. 

Rebecca's bagels totally satisfy that longing. 

For me, they are that expertly formed and baked and that delicious. 

3. I had thawed a thick chunk of tri-tip beef and decided to cook it tonight for dinner. 

I covered both sides of the beef with a generous layer of Everything but the Bagel seasoning from Trader Joe's. 

While the beef cooked in the cast iron skillet, I stir fried a combination of white onion, green beans. mushrooms, and sweet pepper in the wok. 

I covered the meat with the vegetables and dug in. 

I was especially happy with the crust the Everything but the Bagel seasoning formed on the meat. 

This meal really worked.