Creative Every Day: Quality Rules

We just got back from our favorite bagel shop in Portland, Oregon.

Actually, we just got back from the only place I know of in the entire state of Oregon that makes decent bagels.

Now you understand why we would drive twenty-thirty minutes on a Sunday morning just to eat a bagel with cream cheese. In fact we make the bagel shop a regular twice-a-month destination.

The reason is the quality of the product. If Kettleman’s Bagel shop was just cranking out the same pasty, puffy, generic rounds as the rest of the chain bagels nearby, then we would skip the whole trip.

But the fact is, we have to drive just as far to get the pasty, puffy generic bagels as we do to the crusty, kettle-boiled, perfect bagels we get at Kettleman’s. So we make the pilgrimage regularly because, and in case you didn’t know, we are bagelies.

Being a bagelie is like being a foodie, only with just the crusty, kettle-boiled, perfect bagels. We like food, too—I think that’s apparent.

But when it comes to bagels, forget about it. We don’t mess around.

I bring this tale of a Sunday morning up to make one point: quality rules. Anything less than quality, well, it can really leave a bad taste in your mouth. Kind of like a poorly-made, mass-produced, franchise bagel.

Poor quality bagels are not for us. We want the whole bagel experience. We want bagel heaven. And we won’t settle for less. How about you? Do you go for quality or something else?