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I love a good bagel. A real bagel, chewy and soft, lightly toasted. Though the local supermarkets are full of bagel like substances, really large doughnut shaped dinner rolls, it is really hard to find a good bagel. I have been known to lose my mind over bagels I have bought that are bread through and through but being sold as a bagel.
In my quest to find a real Bagel in Halifax I happened upon one made by Spice of Life Artisan Foods at the Halifax Seaport Market. They have it spot on, nice and chewy, on the outside, soft on the inside and it toasts up beautifully. If you are a bagel lover you have to try this. They are affiliated with Rock Island Bistro and if you buy their delicious baked goods you get Bistro bucks that you can use toward a meal at the Bistrol. I will have to review them soon. Check out their facebook page.The bagels inspired me to create an all Nova Scotia Breakfast Sandwich. I used eggs and the amazing Berkshire pork bacon from Active Life Farms and Garlic Quark and medium cheddar cheese from Fox Hill Cheese House.
What is Quark you ask, well I just asked that question my self a week ago. Whitney, Fox Hill’s smiley, friendly and informative sales person (be careful she will bewitch you with free gelato samples), explained that it is German cream cheese like product. It is spreadable and rich in flavor, it is also lower in salt then standard creamed cheese. Click on this link and scroll down to the Quark section for more information.
To prepare my sandwich I cooked the bacon first on low heat to render off the fat then I drained the fat and turned up the heat to crisp it. This makes for more tender meaty bacon.
I selected 2 beautiful farm fresh eggs to poach. Notice in the picture the different colors, which occurs because the eggs are from different breeds of chicken. If you talk to Kevin and Heather from Active Life they can tell you which eggs come from which types of chickens. When I visited the farm I was impressed with how the chickens were treated, I even saw one of them jump into Kevin’s feed bucket, it was pretty cute. Free range eggs are the only eggs I want to eat, not only are the chickens treated better than egg factory chickens but the eggs are better for you. For information on this go to the Active Life Farms Egg Page and click on the hyper link for the specific nutritional benefits. In addition to this the eggs taste amazing and are not watery and runny like factory eggs.
To poach the eggs heat up some water to a simmer (not a rolling boil). Add in salt and 1 tsp of vinegar(I prefer rice wine vinegar). The vinegar will help to quickly set the egg whites. Poach the eggs until the egg yokes are just firm, you don’t want them runny, but you don’t want them dried out and bright yellow. When they are set allow them to drain on a plate.I then lightly toasted the bagel, spread it with quark, put the bacon on the bottom and added the eggs, which I sprinkled with black pepper and paprika. I then topped with Fox Hill Cheese Medium cheddar and enjoyed.
This is just an example of the kind of high quality, flavorful food you can have while eating local. It is good in so many ways but from a selfish perspective, it just tastes great. That is all the reason I need.
Tim's Kitchen Table 
>Local food makes for the best food, so much more flavourful and healthy too! I agree about the supermarket bagels. They're not local but have you tried the Montreal bagels Pete's gets in? The poppyseed are my favourite, those knots of dough are beautiful.
>Thanks for sharing this fabulous use of our quark and cheddar!
>You are welcome Amy, they are amazing products with many great uses. Joy, yes I have tried those bagels and they are good as well, a little smaller and more chewy than these but very good as well.