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By PATRICIA A. PANDYA; Times Leader Staff Writer
Saturday, February 06, 1999     Page: 1C

DALLAS- They poked, pulled and pinched it.
   
Some tried to roll it. Others formed a circle around it and beat it in
rhythmic unison.
    Later, they’d taste it, too.
   
In all, 16 pair of little hands, some sporting pink, red- even blue- nail
polish, worked the sizable ball of bagel dough.
   
“Play-Doh with raisins,” was how Alyssa Cybulski described the massive
chunk of cold dough. She was one of the more than a dozen from Brownie Girl
Scout Troop 635 visiting Big Apple Bagels in Dallas on Saturday to earn “Food
Fun” and “Good Food” Try-It badges.
   
Just how many bagels would the mass of “cinnamon raisin PlayDoh” make?
   
“Fifteen,” guessed 8-year-old Melissa Allabaugh, a third-grade student at
Dallas Elementary School.
   
“One hundred,” said 7-year-old Brenda Niblick.
   
It was Sweet Valley resident Richard Chamberlain, a baker for Big Apple
Bagels, who supplied the correct response to this and other questions raised
in the course of the two-hour “hands-on” tour.
   
“About 20 dozen,” he said.
   
“Wow, that’s more than I thought,” said 8-year-old Jamie Neet, a
second-grade student at Westmoreland Elementary School.
   
At the far end of the kitchen, several other Brownies’ attentions were
focused on the chocolate chip-laden contents of a large, white bucket.
   
Other Girl Scouts were escorted into a walk-in refrigerator by 18-year-old
Shasta Souder, a senior at Lake-Lehman High School.
   
“Don’t close the door,” said 7-year-old Hillary Schaub, who thought the
refrigerator felt more like a freezer at “50 below.”
   
Throughout the morning, the Brownies took turns making bagels, muffins,
cookies and flavored cream cheese.
   
In the end, they walked away with a better understanding of what goes on
behind the scenes at a bagel store.
   
“You use that humongous giant machine to spin it,” said Rebecca Banks,
pointing to an industrial-size mixer used to blend caramel coloring through
the cinnamon raisin bagel dough. “And it makes it (the dough) look really
cool.”
   
For Dave Moran of Shavertown, having his 9-year-old daughter, Katlyn,
involved in the “day at the bagel shop” means more than having her walk away
with a goodie bag filled with a muffin, chocolate chip cookie and walnut
raisin cream cheese.
   
“We try to get the kids involved … prepare for adolescence. It keeps them
occupied,” he said. Moran added that his older daughter, Beth, an eight-year
Scouting veteran, finds it helps her “socialization, skill-building and
self-esteem.”
   
Big Apple Bagel store co-owner Ken Sanderson, a graduate of MidValley High
School and Penn State University, “runs the business” with his brother, James.
They’ve invited Daisies, Brownies and Girl Scouts to get a behind-the-scenes
look at their bagel operation.
   
In addition to visiting Big Apple Bagels, Troop Leader Margie Banks and her
21 Brownies have gone roller skating at Roller King in Kingston and hiking at
Frances Slocum State Park. The six-year Scouting leader, who was a Scout as a
child, is also looking forward to taking the girls for “a day at Camp Louise
in April.”
   
“In March, we’re going to do a service project,” she said. “We’re leaving
it up to the girls to decide to collect food and money for the SPCA or the
food bank,” adding that with the size of her troop they may decide to do both.
   
As for the day at the bagel shop, Brownie Jamie Neer walked away with the
perception that making hundreds and hundreds of bagels was child’s play.
   
“I thought we’d have to bend over and use our hands,” said the second-grade
Westmoreland Elementary School student, particularly impressed with the
machinery utilized in the bagel-making process.
   
“It was easier than I thought.”
   
For information on joining the Girl Scouts, contact the Penns Wood Girl
Scout Council at 829-2631.
   
The Times Leader/Pete G. Wilcox
   
Seven-year-old Amanda Banks takes a bite out of a plain bagel oozing with
cream cheese.
   
Jamie Neer, left, Brieann Bolton and Amelia Pietraccini help take
freshly-formed cinnamon raisin bagels from the machine and place them onto
sheets sprinkled with cornmeal.
   
Members of Brownie Girl Scout Troop 635 of Dallas poke, pull, pinch and
roll chunks of cinnamon raisin bagel dough on Saturday at Big Apple Bagels in
Dallas to earn `Food Fun’ and `Good Food’ Try-It badges. Standing clockwise,
from left are: Aarika Whittle, Meghan Pietraccini, Karen Pietraccini,
assistant troop leader; Rosemary Shaver, Jamie Neer, Alyssa Cybulski, Hillary
Schaub, Brieann Bolton, Richard Chamberlain, baker; Katlyn Moran, Brenda
Niblick, Melissa Allabaugh and Kaylie Lumley.
   
Kaylie Lumley, left, and Meghan Pietraccini, members of Brownie Girl Scout
Troop 635, hold trays of muffins ready to be popped into the oven.