Tastykakes

What: Tastykake Rich Chocolate Frosted Mini Donut

When: blocked the date from my memory

Where: My kitchen?

It's been a busy month. I totally forgot to start my receipt envelope for Christmas 2015 till maybe the 22nd. Hope everyone likes their gifts! No returns! Hahahaha.

Anyways, at one point I grabbed some Tastykakes at the grocery store. Tastykakes are like a regional form of Hostess or Little Debbie, normally only found in the northeast. My father-in-law is from Pennsylvania, so they remind him of home and he loves them. My husband kind of loves them, from the family connection. I ate my share in college (for some reason we had Tastykakes for breakfast on almost all of our band trips...) and am kind of over them.

But you gotta review all kinds of donuts if you review donuts, right?? Right. So I bought a pack. And ate half a donut. And took a picture and then passed them along to my husband to finish. Dry. Almost as dry as that vegan cookie I tried in the fall. No flavor. Can I give a negative score? This may be a -2/5. Next!

Great Western Bank

This elicited a lot of questions from my husband and I. What kind of donuts do you love? Do you give them out to customers?  Are they the "Free Present" for opening an account with you?

Best Western at Hunt's Landing

What: Cake donut, cinnamon sugar donut

Where: Best Western at Hunt's Landing, Matamoras, Pennsylvania

When: Friday, November 27th, 2015

As part of our crazy family holiday, we drove to see my brother, sister in law, and nephew and niece from Philadelphia. Five of us in one car, after eating a full Thanksgiving dinner and various desserts. But we made it, and I slept in the next morning. For sure. So I convinced the hubby to go get me the free breakfast to go so I didn't have to get up too early. He brought back some excellent eggs and potatoes, and some random donuts. 

Sometimes you have to eat the bad donuts to appreciate the good. These were definitely the bad. Once you have been writing a donut blog for as long as I have, I can definitely pass on some bad baked goods at this point and not even worry about temptation. I would give these 1/5, because there were edible. Just not enjoyable.

Making Donuts!

One of the ladies in my small group gave me a surprise present last week and I am so pumped about it. I just told the hubby that one of my resolutions for next year will be to try to make something out of the cookbook once a month. Not tooooo often, but I figured you guys would like to hear about the attempts and the hubby would like to eat the attempts. 

I've flipped through it and love how it is set up. The beginning of the book is a handful of different donut recipes, including ones that you fry, ones that you bake, and ones that you can use those tiny novelty donut fryers. Then there are some basic frosting and glaze recipes, and then they get into all the fun stuff you can do with the basic recipes. The book ends with a section on making masterpieces out of either homemade or store bought donuts.

Two of my favorite masterpieces are the step by step directions to making a tiered donut cake and the pinata cake. Sadly, we just took all the cake pedestals to my sister to use at her bakery, so I will have to figure out how to make it look awesome without a real pedestal. I will update you in January with my first attempt!

Gleaner's

What: Apple Cider Donut

Where: Gleaner's, Italian Market, Philadelphia PA

When: Wednesday, November 25th, 2015

If you're paying attention, you may be slightly confused since this is my second apple cider review for the same day. I did have two different apple cider donuts on the same day. Making up for lost time you could say. 

This one was definitely a cake donut, not the hybrid that the gluten free one was. The flavor was good, even after a couple days because we may have forgot about it in my purse. Hey, holidays in my family tend to be a little crazy. The hubby says he'd buy it again. So based on that, let's say 3.5/5.

Party Ball

For our one year anniversary this year, one of my husband's aunts got us the most adorable baby grill ever. I had seen her use one at the family July 4th bbq and it was just such a nice portable size. And she used instant light charcoal, which I had never used before. This post may end up focusing more on the instant light charcoal.



But first, the grill. Her's was a baby blue. She got us a classic black one. The legs fold up so it's fairly portable, but the handle is semi-permanent, which is my one grip with it so far. Once you screw the handle on, the lid no longer fits in with the bottom and it doesn't slide back into it's box. But otherwise, it's a great mini grill.

(Link for Target, I surprisingly did not find it on Amazon)

We set it up super fast before the Nebraska game we went to, so we didn't put everything together, or read the directions. Which means I didn't realize it had a removable dish/bowl to put the charcoal in for easy clean up. Or put the handle on the grill surface to move that easily. But I did get the vents on the bottom and the lid, and the handle on. The legs came already on.



Another nice feature was the clasps that connected the lid to the bottom for when we had to move the grill when it was time to go into the game. One not so nice feature is the height, if used on the ground it is not the easiest to cook on without hurting your back. But putting it on a picnic table at a camp ground takes care of this issue handily.

And back to the charcoal. This could almost be it's own entry, but I don't think anyone needs to read an entire post about charcoal. So I'll keep it brief: There are few things worth the extra money in my book (living the frugal life) but instant light charcoal is now on that list. It is definitely worth the extra money to not fight with lighter fluid and matches and blowing on the coals, and standing around waiting for them to turn white. We will now only buy instant light and our marriage will be stronger because of it. It's that awesome.

Dottie's Donuts

What: Apple Cider

Where: Grindcore Coffee, 4th and Cross, Philadelphia, PA

When: Wednesday, November 25th, 2015

This year I made it to Grindcore before they were sold out of Dottie's Donuts. I was excited to see what they had to offer, but I also got to experience the price first hand instead of my sisters' buying them for us. $3.50 a donut. Just for a special occasion, definitely not an every day purchase. 

I selected the apple cider, since, you know, fall. It was pretty good, so light and fluffy. For those of you in the know, Dottie's Donuts are vegan. This one was an interesting hyrbid of a raised donut and a cake donut. It was also the only apple cider donut I've gotten that was frosted. The apple flavor was excellent and the moisture was right on. I'd give it a 4/5, only losing points for price. 

Personal donut art

For Christmas last year I got a picture frame from my aunt that said "Hello Beautiful" at the bottom. It was green, which was awesome. But I didn't know if I should put a picture of myself in it? Maybe a wedding photo? My best friend? I was so unsure, the frame set empty for almost an entire year. Until Saturday. I finally figured it out, I'd put a scenery photo from the wedding in it. The lake was gorgeous, I'm sure I had a picture of it somewhere. So I started going through a pile of wedding photos and found something even better.

The donuts my sister made for us at the wedding. Homemade boston creme donuts. My father in law still talks about these donuts. They totally deserve "Hello Beautiful." And once they were in the frame, and I had opened and closed it 5 more times to get the same piece of dust off the mat after it kept sticking to a different part of the mat, I realized it would look perfect over my donut painting from June! We're getting quite the gallery going in our kitchen :-)

Donut earrings

My recent post about donut art inspired me to look again for cute donut earrings on Etsy. I had looked previously and was going to try to get a pair made by an artisan near me in Nebraska, but nothing ever came of it and I may just have to buy some soon because they are too cute for words!

Here are my favorites:

Krispy Kreme glazed:

Once bitten!

Scented studs

Green sprinkles

Church Donuts

What: Glazed donut

Where: St. Gerald's Church, Ralston NE

When: Sunday, November 15, 2015

This isn't going to be my best review, probably because I have no idea where these donuts came from. But sometimes it's nice to just sit and have an after mass donut. My husband and my aunt and I got to sit and people watch a little and enjoyed seeing one table of kids grow bigger and bigger with the parents hovering around. 

The donut was just eh. Maybe a 1/5. Nothing special and definitely not something I'd go back for.

Donut Art

I enjoy reading Mighty Girl, but I am so forgetful about actually going to the website to check for updates (don't even get me started on the hole google reader has left in my life and my inability to figure out another reader to use). But I'm so glad I checked recently because she had some donut art by April Walters featured!

I think my sister may have ordered me one of these prints last year, but I never thought to look for more! I could start a collection! There are also postcards and a calendar and coasters. Happy decorating!

Kimmel's Orchard

What: Apple Cider Donuts

Where: Kimmel's Orchard, Nebraska City

When: Sunday, September ??, 2015

Last year we may have slept in a little too much before heading to Nebraska City, which is about an hour drive from Lincoln. There were no apple cider donuts when we got there. I was heartbroken. While I love fall, I am kind of over the whole pick your own craze. Probably because Kimmel's is pretty expensive compared to what you can get at the grocery store.

This year, we made sure to get up and be there when they opened at 11am. I was not missing the apple cider donuts two years in a row! And it was well worth it. We got a warm one from the concession stand each, along with a deluxe apple cider float. Apple cider, ice cream, and caramel sauce. It was amazing. The warm donuts were fried perfectly, soft and doughy on the inside. 

After we enjoyed our two hot ones, we made sure to get a box to take home. Because two people definitely need a dozen apple cider donuts. But have no fear, I learned in June that donuts freeze fairly well so we froze them to save for later. A whole month of fresh apple cider donuts! I'd give them a 5/5 (and that deluxe apple cider float a 6/5!)

National Donut Day, in November???

Guys, I have to admit, I had no idea today was National Donut Day. I mean, to me, National Donut Day is the first Friday in June. And I totally celebrated my heart out this year. I don't know if my body can handle another donut day.

I did a quick google search, and am glad to report that this second donut day isn't very legit. It may have been made up by a guy who wanted to create a website with food holidays. I'm not even joking.

Huffington Post article.

I don't see any deals for it either. I call foul. National Donut Day is in June. Period.

October Food Day at work (La Mar's Donuts)

This year the teachers are aiming to do a "food day" once a month at school and so far, donuts have been a regular treat. October's theme was Halloween obviously, with a side of pumpkin. I grabbed a delicious pumpkin donut and then some peanut butter dip with graham crackers for my snack. 

What: Pumpkin cake donut

Where: La Mar's donuts at work

When: Friday, October 30th, 2015.

What I like about La Mar's pumpkin: it's lightly glazed and has a drizzle of cream cheese frosting on it. The donut is also light and fluffy for a cake donut, and held up well on a buffet table for 6 hours or so before I got to it. I give it a 5/5 and home to get another one before fall is over!

October Hiatus

I'm so sorry guys, I forgot to tell you I would be a little MIA in October this year before we actually got to October. Maybe I'll just make it a regular hiatus. October is my time off! Not always from eating donuts, but from updating.

A couple things I'll be catching up on:

The husband and I (and our families) had a big family reunion type celebration for our one year anniversary this year, hence the absence. Lots of planning and craziness. And donuts. And just food in general. Lots of leftovers.

Random free donuts in the teacher's lounge at work.

Not really donut and/or travel related, but working on some organization updates in the home, so there may be some product reviews coming up soon!

What have you guys been up to this month? How have you filled your own donut needs? :-)

Donuts in Nebraska!

Saw this great article, probably on Facebook. I've been to #2 (Conroy's Family Bakery, Conroy's part 2 and Conroy's part 3, I really like Conroy's...), #4 (Donut Haven), #5 (Donut Stop, no review yet), #6 (The Doughnut Hole), #10 (Olsen's Bake Shop, again no review yet!), #11 (Petit's and Petit's part two), #12 (Randy's and Randy's part 2) which is pretty good! I better get moving on the rest of them! And get some reviews in for The Donut Stop and Olsen's!

Article:
Donuts in Nebraska!

Simply

What: Lemon Drop Vegan Donut

Where: Haymarket Farmer's Market, Lincoln NE

When: Saturday, September 12th, 2015

This was the first donut I've ever not been able to finish. It was gluten free, but I feel like you can make good baked goods that don't have gluten in them. This was not one of them. My husband wasn't impressed either. It was super dry and had little flavor in it. The donut was also incredibly dense and didn't taste like it had been fried. 0/5.

Kolache Class

On Saturday, September 12th my aunt and I (and one of her friends) took a Kolache Making class at Southeast Community College. For those of you wondering what the crap a kolache is, it's a Czech and Bohemian specialty that is kind of like a danish, but not as sweet.

I had never taken a cooking class, but this one sounded really fun. I mean, it's kind of like making donuts. Without the frying. But anyways, on to the pictures!

While our dough was rising (mines the one in the silver bowl) our instructor showed us how she makes dumplings and then we got to sample them while she rolled out her dough.

She showed us how to make the dough into kolaches (you know, since that was the class) and then cinnamon rolls, poppy seed rolls, bread braid things, and garlic knots.

Then it was our turn. My kolaches didn't look the greatest, but they tasted delicious! I can't wait to try to make them again on my own!



My aunt made some dinner rolls (one batch of dough made so much!)



These better formed kolaches was the work of the woman across the table from me, but that is my garlic knot loaf thingy!



And here's my cinnamon braid with cherry topping and frosting. On the right is just a plain bread braid that I thought might be nice with salad or fancy olive oil or who knows. I was running out of room on my pans and things to make.



But I borrowed a pan to make this awesome jumbo kolache! Why I didn't take a picture of it with something in view for scale, who knows. It was about 6 inches in diameter.

First Pumpkin donut of the season!

Last week my awesome hubby brought me home a pumpkin donut. My first of the season! And it was pretty yummy I do have to say. You guys probably know how hot and cold I am with Lamar's, but this was definitely a 5/5. Happy Fall!

Tailgating and Donuts

I meant to post this yesterday, sorry it's belated!
For all those confused, this is one of my very best friends, with his box of $1 Krispy Kreme donuts from the promotion a couple weeks ago, tailgating with his brothers at an Orlando City soccer game. And I meant to post it yesterday, because it was his 30th birthday! And he spent it flying back from China where he came in 3rd place in the World Monopoly Tournament, but that's another store for another time. He has promised me a guest review in soon, got the pictures for it today and the donuts all look delicious! Can't wait to read about it!

Coleman Folding Double Wash Basin

Partially folded

Folded.

Happy Labor Day! We're up near South Dakota camping for the long weekend, but I wanted to tell you guys about my latest camping supply find. While in Cabella's recently, I spent a good amount of time in their camping section. You can buy almost anything you can think of for camping. I try not to go too crazy though and only buy what we absoluely need or what is something that is super cheap and fun. And then I saw this. The Coleman Folding Double Wash Basin. And I feel in love. It's compact. Plus. It's useful. Plus. And it was under $15. Plus, We bought it. Before, we were using multiple large plastic containers, but I always used the plastic containers for packing too. So then we had to empty them, do the dishes, dry everything off, and put it back in. I love that this folds and doesn't take up any space and we can use it almost exclusively for dishes.

I say almost exclusively because it also is great at the end of a camping trip for that one last bag of trash/recycling that seems to be leaking some brownish liquid. Put in the basin and your trunk carpeting stays sticky-mess-free.

I recommend this to anyone who tent camps. (Bonus: amazon link! Although Cabella's was cheaper...)

Unfolded and in use!

Glazed and Confused

What: Confuzed Somoa, G&C Plain Glazed, G&C Chocolate Glazed
Where: 5301 Leetsdale Dr, Denver CO 80246
When: Tuesday, July 28th 2015
website

While in Denver for maybe 12 hours, including sleeping, we asked some locals (and by locals, I mean the friends we had lunch with) their favorite donut place and were immediately told of the wonder that is Glazed and Confused. We got over there around 1pm, which isn't really prime donut time and their selection showed it. But I wanted everything in the case regardless. We settled on three to try and my husband chatted up the clerk while I used their facilities (thank you for actually having decent bathrooms btw, very much appreciated).


First, the Confuzed Somoa. Just look at this thing. It was massive and covered in toasted coconut. As the name suggests, it was a take on one of my favorite Girl Scout cookies. The caramel frosting was well hidden under all the coconut. I prefer more caramel than coconut, but it was still delicious. The donut batter for all three was fairly dense and almost like a sweet bread. Moist and springy, but not very airy like some donuts. 4/5

The plain glazed was not very plain as the glaze was vanilla bean with a brown butter reduction in it. I thought it was really good, very rich and complex flavor. 4.5/5

The chocolate was definitely more of a chocolate glaze than a chocolate frosting, which the husband did not care for (but he still helped me eat it!). The flavor was also more natural and therefore subdued than some as well. 4/5

The donuts themselves shone a lot brighter than their toppings. I would like to try some of their other offerings, including their grilled donuts and the Elvis Has Left (Nutter Butter fluff with chocolate covered bananas). I feel my sister may want to try their Root Beer Float donuts, which was recommended by our friends but they were out of when we got to the store. I will definitely be going back here.

Why I no longer use Hotwire

I've used Hotwire for years. When you don't care exactly where you stay, it offered some great deals on last minute hotel reservations. Got an awesome hotel on the beach in Dayton with a balcony one time.

And then I tried to use it for a hotel in Denver. Now getting a hotel can be stressful because there are just SO MANY CHOICES! How important is location? Amenities? Price? I had finally settled on the Hotwire deal that claimed it was about a $40 savings on a 2 star hotel that normally cost around $100. Two star hotels are normally those hotels between Super 8's and Hampton Inns. Maybe a Best Western. Something like that.

Nope, not this one. It was the cheaper sibling of an Extended Stay America and actually cost the same amount on the hotel's website as my "deal" for using Hotwire. Strike #1.

And then I started reading the hotel's reviews. I read a lot of reviews and I write a fair amount of them. This hotel had by far the worst reviews I had ever seen for a hotel. And pictures to back up the reviews! There were complaints of dirty sheets, piles of trash, drug deals in the parking lot. And on about half the reviews the management had posted a response. But the responses were all form responses that basically amounted to "Why didn't you call us, we would have fixed everything!" I feel with that many complaints, that wouldn't actually have been possible. Strike #2.

I contacted Hotwire. Repeatedly. Email. Facebook. And never got any conclusive response. I got form email after form email and promises to look into things, but no resolution. They didn't offer to switch my hotel. They didn't offer to let me rebook. They just kept saying to check in and call them. Our flight was to land at 1:30am, if it was on time. I wasn't calling them in the middle of the night to try to fix a problem that didn't really seem like they could fix it (what, were they going to tear down the hotel and rebuild it in a different, safer location?) Strike #3.

I will no longer be using Hotwire for my travels and I warn you guys to avoid it as well. Their facebook page is not full of compliments. I think they've lost their touch.

Finger's crossed Priceline still has it! They did not disappoint when I used them to help my parent's get a hotel in NYC.

Toulouse Petit

What: Toulouse Beignets

Where: 601 Queen Anne Ave North, Seattle WA 98109

When: Monday, July 27th, 2015

website

Beignets could be called French donuts, but they were probably around long before we had donuts. I had never tried them before, but got the chance to in Seattle of all places. A large group of us went out to Toulouse for their breakfast happy hour (M-F 8am-11am) and got a large order of beignets as our appetizer. Brunch can have appetizers, why not?

They were lightly fried dough triangles dusted with powdered sugar and served with one of the greatest dipping sauces I have ever had. The dough was pretty standard, but the sauce is what made them excellent. It had a coffee finish to it and was the perfect amount of sweet to pair with the beignets. I'd give them a 4.5/5, only losing half a point because they aren't true donuts (and I can't go back and get them constantly, which might be a good thing!)

50 States, 50 Donuts

While researching one of my donut stops in July, I found this lovely list by Zagat of one donut from each state. I love lists like this by state, and this one is especially nice because you can view it as a list and not a slide show! Woohoo!

From the list, I have gone/had donuts from:
Colorado's Glazed and Confused Donuts
Massachusette's Union Square Donuts
Minnesota's Glam Doll Donuts
North Carolina's Krispy Kreme (although probably not the flagship store since I've never been to Winston-Salem)
Oregon's Voodoo Donuts
Pennsylvania's Federal Donuts
Texas' Shipley Do-Nuts
Washington's Top Pot Hand-Forged Doughnuts

However, I've only had two of the actual donuts on the list (The Maple Bar at Voodoo and the Sticky Bun at Federal Donuts, which may be my husband's favorite donut ever)

Daily Dozen Donuts

What: Maple frosted, Chocolate frosted with sprinkles, hot cinnamon and sugar

Where: Pike's Place Market, Seattle WA

When: Monday, July 27th, 2015

website

While getting the grand Seattle Tour, we walked through Pike's Place Market because that's what you do. Once during the summer. And then never again. SO MANY PEOPLE. And no fish throwing. Apparently everyone just wants to watch the fish throwers, not actually buy anything to get them to throw said fish.

We did stop at a mini-donut place that fries them right in front of your eyes using a lovely automated thingy. The cinnamon and sugar donuts are served warm and freshly sprinkled, but be careful mixing the flavors because the warm donuts caused the frosting to melt off some of our other donuts.

The hot ones were super hot and melted in our mouths. The other ones were decent donuts, but got stale really fast. The smell was also intoxicating, but for over $5 we got 6 mini-donuts. We could get 6 full sized donuts at some other places for $5! I think I will stick to my full sized donuts elsewhere, but it is fun to watch them being made.

All varieties: 4/5