“People often belittle the place where they were born. But heaven can be found in the most unlikely

Of all the places I have travelled, none of them compare to home. Home is where I go when I need to find peace, it is where I go when life leaves me weary, and home is where I go to feel loved. There is something about home, whether this is where you grew up, or the one you made for yourself, home is a place that makes you feel all the feels. For me, home will always be the mountains of my childhood. I have wandered far in my life, and I have lived in many places, and still I wander. There is a part of me that can’t be still for long. It is a constant pressure in my bones to keep moving, a song playing on repeat, telling me to search out new sights, new adventures, and new souls. There has only ever been one place where the song grows silent and the pressure is lifted, if only for a moment. This place has always been my home, and no matter how far away I wander, it will always be the place I can go to find myself when I feel lost. Home is beautiful. Home is serene. Home is breathtaking. Home is, to stand a top a mountain and look out onto a world where the trees are endless and the clouds are woven from silk, to smell the lakes rising from the earth, and to hear the birds, whispering secrets of all that was and will be, to see the world from a top a mountain, this is home. Home is simple. Home is warm. Home is inviting. Home is, to walk through the door, and look at the smiling faces of the people who have always known you, and will forever be the only ones to really know you, to smell fresh bread baking in the oven, and to hear your mother humming a song, telling a story of what once was and what could be, to see life from your mother’s kitchen, this is home. People may belittle the place where they were born, but I was born in the mountains and I was raised in my mother’s kitchen, so there is nothing to belittle. We may not have had the perfect home, but we had a home full of love, so what else was needed? My home had music, laughter, games, sorrow, tears and fights. It was a home full of people that always had room for more. Everyone was welcome, everyone was loved and everyone was fed. There was always plenty to go around because my father was amazing and my mother still is. Today I was feeling a need for a little piece of home, so I decided to make NY style bagels. Bagels were always a big hit in my family, and they are tied to some of my favorite memories. So today here are some Tye-Dyed bagels to get my little slice of home. Tye-Dyed Bagels 2 tsps dry active yeast 1 ½ tbsps. Sugar 1 ¼ cups warm water (100 F) *You may need more 3 ½ cups bread flour 1 ½ tsps. Salt *In small soup bowl put ½ cup warm water, pour in sugar and yeast (do not mix). Let sit 5 minutes, and then stir mixture until sugar dissolves. * Mix flour in salt in stand mixer (use dough hook). *Make well in center. Pour in yeast mixture. *Pour in 1/3 cup warm water. *Mix on low or by hand. *Dough should be moist and firm. *Knead for 10 minutes on floured countertop. *lightly oil large bowl. Place Dough in bowl (turning to coat with oil) and place damp dish towel over. Let rise 1 hour. *Punch dough down. Let rest 10 minutes. Tye-dye look *separate dough into 8 even pieces. Wearing gloves, dab finger in food coloring (I use gel kind) and gently knead into the dough until it looks the way you want. *Form dough into ball and gently push a finger through the center and then form into bagel shape (make sure the center whole is about 1-2 inches wide). *Repeat for each piece of dough. *Place on greased pan, allow to rest under damp towel for 10 minutes. *Bring pot of water to boil. *Pre-heat oven to 425 F/220 C *Place 1-3 bagels in the boiling water. Allow bagel to rise to surface and let boil for 1 minute, flip and let boil for additional minute. *Remove bagels to greased pan (if you want to top the bagels with stuff do that now). *Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. *Baker’s Notes: This dough was difficult and did not come together as expected with the amount of water used. I had to add an extra ½ cup of water, and I ended up adding one egg to get the right consistency. So my bagels turned into tye-dyed egg bagels. When I kneaded the dough I rubbed it with a little water to help get the dough the correct amount of moisture. I was not consistent in the amount of dough (I did not separate into 8 even pieces), but overall they worked out fine. When you boil the dough, it may take a few seconds for it to rise to the top; the dough needs a minute to absorb some water before it will float. The bagels turned out good in the end, but the dough needed a little messing with. I will be trying these again with a little variation on the recipe, but these ones tasted like home so it was worth it. Plus they look cool. Maybe I will start a new trend. #tyedyebagels