Bagels for lunch

My sister inspired me to bake bagels.  As today was house work day (ugh), I thought it'd be a nice thing to do between mopping floors and dusting surfaces.  Unfortunately, all the online recipes seem to have been written by non-bread makers.  They barely allow time for their dough to rise and do not give consistent boiling and baking times and temperatures.  This meant my attempt today was a lot of guess work.  I've never made bagels before, how do I know what the boiling is going to do?  I have an inkling it helps the dough to rise.  I forgot to add sugar to the water which would've surely put the yeast into a spin of delight.   I'll have to give them a few more tries before I perfect them but today's attempts were chewy and delectable.  I had one with bacon and eggs. 

I guess I was spoiled by Julia Child's excellent teaching skills when I made those croissants last week.  Do any of you have any tips for me?  Or suggestions for what I should make next?