The SUPER SECRET BIRTHDAY GIFT!

I forgot to take a picture of the finished thing, because I put it together early this morning, but here's what The Boy got for his birthday from me:

A basket wrapped in celophane and tied with a blue ribbon. In the basket was a box of blackberry jasmine tea, which he'll hopefully really like (since he's a tea drinker), and a bunch of bagels. HOME MADE BAGELS. And let me tell you, those bagels were a pain in the butt to make, but they're very yummy. Perhaps partially because they were made with love. ;)

So, I made a batch of cinnamon raisin bagels for him, which came out WONDERFULLY. The second batch was a combo of onion and poppyseed, but unfortunately the onion ones were undercooked, and the poppyseed ones came out very small. Probably because the recipe didn't have any sugar in it -- which yeast apparently needs to interact with in order to rise properly.

Well, despite the fact that he didn't notice the basket right off so that we ended up having some very yummy apple pancakes for breakfast, he did try one and apparently agrees that they came out wonderfully.

Hurrah for a thoughtful and appreciated gift. I'm glad he likes 'em. <3