I've never been a fan of frozen bagels. I don't care if you can toast them and they get all crunchy, I still like the bagels you get in the bread aisle, not frozen. They just taste better to me for some reason, and you can even eat them without toasting them.

So when I saw Kraft's new Bagel-fuls in the frozen food section, I was already thinking they might not be that great. But I bought them to see how they'd taste (for science and you readers, of course). First of all, if you store these bagel tubes filled with cream cheese in the freezer, you have to microwave them. You can't put them in the toaster unless they've already been thawed a bit, so if they're frozen you have to nuke them for 20 seconds.

How do they taste? They sorta taste like fried dough, not exactly bagel-ish. They're not bad, they'll do in a pinch I guess, but give me a regular bagel and I'll toast it and spread the cream cheese on myself.

This must be the weekend for creativity and innovation at home and in the kitchen. First there was the neat way to keep track of your freezer inventory, and now a good way from Flickr member pkwa to recycle those old CD spindles that you will never use again -- transport your bagel sandwich! Using the CD spindle helps keep all the layers in place, and the hard case keeps the bagel sandwich from getting squashed in your bag upon transport. Of course, this means you have to account for that hole in the middle when you're making the sandwich, but that's just a minor technicality.

The problem with drinking coffee to get your daily caffeine fix is that some people don't really care for the taste, even if it comes in the form of a sweet, milky mocha latte from the nearest coffee bar. Energy drinks partially solved the problem by adding more sugar (or artificial sweeteners) to cover up the taste, but a molecular scientist, Dr. Robert Bohannon, has come up with what he thinks is an even better way to catch a buzz. He has come up with a way to add caffeine to baked goods.

Buzz Donuts and Buzzed Bagels are the first of what will probably be many caffeinated pastries. Bohannon originally had some difficulty in disguising the taste of the caffeine, which has a very bitter flavor on its own, but once he got the flavoring under control, he was able to add quite a lot of caffeine to his products. Each one contains the equivalent of two cups of coffee, or about 100mg per pastry.

Bohannon has already approached Krispy Kreme, Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts about selling his pastries.

At That's Fit, they're always up on the latest dieting and health news, so it's no surprise that they were the first ones to mention that an ex-contestant from Donald Trump's The Apprentice is promoting a new all-bagel diet. Brent Buckman (not to be confused with Bren, from season 3) from season 5 says that he lost 110-lbs on his diet, which involved eating 4 bagels a day, each toasted and spread with low fat margarine, and a few slices of deli meat at dinner. Once a month, you are allowed to have a "cheat" day and eat non-bagel foods. Exercise is recommended, but optional

If you restrict your calorie intake, you can eat virtually anything you want and still lose weight. It might not be a healthy diet, but it will probably be a diet that works.

Brent is an attorney in Florida and you would think that he would, at some point, have been informed of the value of eating fruits and vegetables in addition to bagels. The daily calorie count on this diet is in the 1200-1800 range, but if you want to lose weight, there are far more interesting foods that you can eat than bagels alone.

The start of Hanukah is just under two weeks away and there are a lot of food traditions associated with it, as there are with most Jewish holidays. Any holiday that has a food tradition is worth taking note of as far as we're concerned, whether it is one you usually celebrate or not, if for no other reason than to expose yourself to some new food. In the case of A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking, the foods probably aren't all that "new" to most of us, but that only makes learning the history behind the recipes more interesting. The author discusses dietary laws, the symbolism of particular foods and how Jewish cooking has been influenced by other cultures. The recipes include NY Style Water Bagels, Traditional Friday Night Challah, Frozen Cheesecake and My Trademark, Most Requested, Absolutely Magnificent Caramel Matzoh Crunch. The instructions, even for the most complex breads and pastries, are easy enough for the the "baking challenged" to follow without problems

When I heard that Noah's Bagels and Einstein Bros. Bagels, which are owned by the same parent company, are introducing Candy Cane Bagels for the holidays, it didn't sound like an appealing concept. Cream cheese and peppermints? Not the best combination, especially not where breakfast food is concerned. Fortunately, the bagels are not mint-flavored at all, but merely shaped like candy canes. They are made of red and white potato doughs that are twisted together and bent into a hooked candy cane. They have a very light coating of powdered sugar, added partially for looks and partially to give it a little something to stand out from the ordinary bagels where flavor is concerned.

The company says that the bagels "taste as good as they look," but I'm not entirely sure that most bagel fans will like their look -- or the sugary coating -- when given the choice between one of these and a regular bagel. They are very cute, however, and would probably be well received at an office holiday party.

Earlier this week the Houston Chronicle's Drive-Thru Gourmet turned his attention to Dunkin' Donuts. Specifically, he sampled the chain's new French Toast Twist.

As most of you out there know America's No. 1 doughnut maker has been trying to recast its image all year. One of the ways it's cooked up to do this is taking a page from fast-food chains. Sounds like the French Toast Twist is squarely within this mold.

The author is quick to point out that the French Toast Twist falls outside Dunkin's bread-and-butter business of bagels, doughnuts and muffins. It's not really French toast either.

That said it sounds pretty good. What could be wrong with rolls of flaky pastry with French toast flavors baked in? Sure it sounds like a McGriddle, but at least there's no logo emblazoned on it. And they're available all day. Note to self: Visit Dunkin' for 2 p.m. hangover breakfast after attending Brewtopia tonight.

A bagel lover can spend days, even weeks, trying to find a toaster that will comfortably fit extra-wide bagel slices. With most toasters, you end up having to stuff a bagel half in a too-small slot, which inevitably results in a bagel that is burned on one side. And that's all after you contend with those plastic "bagel slicers" that squish the bagel more effectively than they cleave it. The Westinghouse ToasterSlicer both toast and slices - and it is designed specifically for bagels.

The bagel is loaded whole into the slot at the back and, after pushing the machine's "slice" button and closing the slot, the bagel pops out fully toasted (and sliced!) from the other end after a few minutes. It can also toast regular bread, but it is more of a single-purpose gadget. But if you eat a lot of bagels, it is a gadget that would certainly come in handy! It's $43 at Overstock.com.

There is not a decent bagel to be had in all of Portland, Ore. Yeah, that's right, I said it. I lived two blocks from a bagel shop and in the year and a half that I lived there, I went there once, and once only. They were ter.ri.ble. If it's not boiled, it's not a bagel. (Sorry Noah's.) I like dense, chewy bagels, not fluffy, cakey bagels. I know there are those that will say that there are no decent bagels to be had outside of  New York. If you live there, and eat bagels there, lucky you! (Try not to rub it in too much.)

Now that we are back in San Francisco, I woke up early this morning and headed to one of my favorite bagel places, House of Bagels on Geary. I bought a baker's dozen of assorted bagels for $6.75 and loaded up on whitefish salad (my fave), chopped liver with hard-boiled eggs, locally-made cream cheese, and lox. Then, I came home, made a pot of dark-roasted, Caffé Trieste coffee (San Francisco's own), and invited some friends over. One particularly great friend had the forethought to stop for champagne and O.J. along the way. A bagel and a mimosa later, we headed out for a walk.  Finally, a decent bagel. What a perfect way to start a sunny Sunday.

There was a time when I swore off bagels; it was shortly after college. I had gained a lot of weight in college, and determined to burn off that Freshman Fifteen (which was really Twenty), I swore off everything that I had eaten in college. Pizza, ramen, greasy Chinese food, hot dogs, and bagels. It had not yet occurred to me that it was eating these things in extreme excess that had made me fat, not the foods themselves. Nonetheless, I didn't touch a bagel for a number of years.

Needless to say, I wised up and realized the error of my crash dieting ways, and have come back to an occasional bagel. I don't eat them every day, nor do I pile them with half a brick of cream cheese. And one way I have made them healthier is by filling them with vegetables and egg-y preotein.

A Simple Stuffed Bagel

Slice a bagel of any flavor in half, and hollow out each half by pulling out the inside of each half in small pieces, leaving only the bagel “shells.” While toasting the bagel shells and pieces, saute tomatoes, peppers, onions and chopped garlic. Once the bagels are toasted, scramble a couple eggs with the toasted bagel pieces and vegetables. At the very end, stir in diced cream cheese, stuff it all into the bagel shells, hit those babies with salt and pepper, and deliver it to a deserving breakfast-in-bed mate.