June 04th, 2018

This past Friday, June 1st, was National Donut Day!  What a glorious Day!  I would have done this post on Friday so as to be more timely, but we didn't actually get around to celebrating it until the next day.

But celebrate we did!  And we didn't go to Dunkin' Donuts, for all that Tim really likes their coffee. And we didn't pick up Entemann's at the grocery store, although I do have a fondness for their chocolate covered ones as long as they are really cold (I don't know why but I only like them right outta the fridge).  And sadly, they weren't home made either.

Here in Venice we have a place called Yummies.  And it is one of the best donut shops ever created on this planet. Period.   They make every donut fresh and on site. Right there you have a novelty.  They aren't made elsewhere and shipped in.  They aren't packed with preservatives and artificial weird stuff that ultimately, I'm certain, is not good for us.  Just all the really bad-for-you in a normal way stuff like sugar and fat. Yummmmm  What an aptly named shop!

They also have an item called the "Sticky Pig".  They have a smoker out front in the parking lot which smelled way too good as it was cookin' up something which ultimately goes between the sliced halves of a glazed cinnamon roll donut Oh my gracious!  Decadence beyond measure.  I've never actually had it but the mere idea of it sends me into raptures.

The reason I make such a big deal about this is that I am afraid that the youngest generation here has no idea what a real donut tastes like anymore.  It's nigh on to impossible to find a real fresh donut these days!  And I find that ridiculous and more than a little shocking. Did you know that Dunkin' Donuts does not make their donuts on site anymore?  I was shocked!  They are too busy making specialty breakfast sandwiches and fancy-arsed coffees theses days.  Ahem. The name is Dunkin' Donuts people, not Dunkin' Fancy-Arsed Coffee!  Geez.

Now Krispy Kreme does make them in-house. Sadly, I don't much care for them.  The first time I ever had one was in Colorado.  I had as much fun as all the kids in the store watching the donuts go through the machinery. First as just raw dough all the way through the fryer and the waterfall of icing to the trays to the display case where they sit like glistening little jewels.  But, to my surprise, as Tim and I waited in the Very Long Line, a staff member came by and handed us each a free donut!  A still hot out of the fryer glazed donut.  It literally melted in my mouth.  How Very Nice!  But, but, but, I only just wanted the one.  Seriously. My plan was to order one glazed donut. And now I've had it. And it was free!  But we couldn't just leave, I would feel way too guilty.  So we ordered several other donuts and took them home intending to eat them later, perhaps for breakfast the next day.  Turns out, to us anyway, they only taste good hot and fresh.  Once they cooled off the taste was meh and they sat in our bellies like lead sinkers. Bah.

I suspect that the entire donut experience in general for me was ruined by my Nana.  She made donuts.  Fresh, hot home-made donuts  and oh my goodness they were so good.  She made them on a fairly regular basis too so to me it was a perfectly normal thing to have.  Once grown, Nana kindly shared her recipe with me and then I started making donuts.  With a house full of rambunctious boys and their friends there was no danger in having home made goodies all of the time in the house.  I rarely actually got to taste any of them.  I baked something nearly ever day back then.  Desserts? Sure. Breads of various kinds? Absolutely.  Muffins, Pastries and donuts?  Of course!  

I bake a lot less anymore.  There are far fewer people coming through our doors on a regular basis and the ones who do, like us, are watching their weight, their cholesterol, their gluten, their sugar...….       I haven't made donuts since we lived here. But every once in a long while, we just get that craving.   Gotta Hava Donut!!  And then we head to yummies where the worst part of the visit is deciding WHICH donut to have!  And then of course, working the extra calories off afterwards.  

Totally worth it.