So the place I was supposed to get my blood drawn at randomly decided to close with about an hour-in-advance email warning to let me know, which meant that I was never able to get my blood drawn as planned this morning. Regardless, I still decided I needed to have my bagel, so I went to the bagel spot I mapped out a couple blocks away to fulfill my craving… until I realized the second snafu of today: the bagel place had gone out of business. DAMNIT. Thanks, COVID!!!!!

I quickly looked up Yelp to find the closest bodega that would offer a reasonable quality bagel, and that took me about 15 blocks south in the theater district. Given that it was a Friday, I figured I could spare the time and get back to my computer a little later than I had planned, so I went. I got my BEC on an onion bagel (they ran out of everything bagel!), and it only cost $3.50! I took my bagel home and enjoyed it with my freshly made chai.

Honestly, the first three bites were very satisfying. But after that, the diminishing marginal utility started settling in. I realized this was because the bagel didn’t have that nice chewiness and denseness that I tend to associate with the best New York bagels. Regardless, I ate my BEC and returned to work.

At around lunch time, I decided I was still full, so instead of having a small lunch, I instead cut up a red grapefruit I got myself (Chris doesn’t eat grapefruit, so more for me). And if you can believe it or not, this grapefruit tasted like the best thing since… I don’t even know. I could not believe how happy I was eating this. This REALLY hit the spot!!!! This is shocking to write, but it even felt more satisfying than all the ataulfo mangoes I’d been eating daily for WEEKS! I couldn’t believe how insanely refreshing this was in my mouth. I ate half of it while on a Zoom call with a colleague, and I could not help but gorge on thick pieces of this juicy fruit.

So in an unplanned and unlikely battle, when it came to satisfying cravings, the grapefruit managed to kick the BEC bagel’s butt. Who would’ve guessed that?