We made bagels tonight.

Andrew found some recipe months ago and has been drooling about it since. I finally remembered to ask around for some yeast (thank you, Sara) that wasn't Egyptian...because we tried Egyptian yeast and that failed. Miserably. He was very excited when he got home from school and took Rachel off to the kitchen.

I was watching Anna and the King. I saw that it was on this evening and I couldn't resist so I made Rachel suffer through half of it until her father rescued her. I've wanted to see it for about a decade now and I figure that if you have wanted something for a decade you should probably go ahead and do it, even if it means your baby spins around the whole time singing "Husha Husha" until you're afraid she's going to puke.

Don't worry. I said, "We all fall down," at random intervals so she'd stop spinning every once in a while.

Anyway, after the movie was over and we put Rachel to bed I helped Andrew with the remainder of the process. We found out that I am a much better dough-shaper than he is. But since he was the mastermind behind the whole thing, he can take the credit.

While we were water-bathing the bagels, Andrew asked if there was any kind of dough that you just boil until it cooks because, you know, we were starving and the bagels looked really yummy all glazed in sugar water. Tantalizing, truthfully.

"Yeah. They're called dumplings," I said.

"Really?" he asked, "You just boil the dough and it cooks and you can eat it, straight out of the water?"

"Yeah. I'll go look it up if you don't believe me."

So I looked it up.

"Yup, right here. And I quote: 'These are either "piece[s] of dough, sometimes filled, that are cooked in liquid such as water or soup.'"

I thought that sounded good. Dough cooked in soup. Yum.

And then I kept reading, which I shouldn't have done. Sometimes reading makes you feel smarter. Other times it makes you feel stupider...

Because do you know what other kinds of dough you can boil and then eat?

Gnocchi.

Perogies.

Tortellini.

All good answers. Here's the clincher: PASTA!

Yeah, pasta is dough that you boil and then eat...straight out of the water.

Sometimes we're so smart we're stupid.