A Commuter's Dream (one cent)

If only every day could be the Friday before Labor Day. I drove through the park today. It was virtually empty. As was the office garage.

But enough of that.

Let's talk about breakfast.

As I was having a good bagel and a bad cup of coffee this morning, I wondered why Pumpernickel's couldn't serve the quality and variety of coffees served at Cafe de Francesco in Barcelona. Why is it that even coffee shops, like Starbucks or Caribou or whatever cannot match what the simplest shops sell to drink in Spain? Why do the exotic drinks here need to be so exotic? And so caloric? And so big?

Then, I realized that thinking along those lines would get me nowhere, so I reversed gears and wondered why Cafe de Francesco doesn't serve good (or any bagels)? What do you need for a bagel? You need flour (they have that), yeast (they have that), water (they have that) and toppings or flavorings (they have those). Then it occurred to me. The magic ingredient is butter. The bakers in Barcelona probably cannot conceive of baking without butter, just like the coffee brewers in the US cannot conceive of a drink that can't be sold in a 20 oz. cup.