The reviews that haven't been

I know I've been missing some reviews recently, but I have been trying! So this is a "tribute" to the reviews that haven't been because stores have crappy hours.

1. Randy's in West Lincoln. Only open till 10am and closed on Sundays. Not helpful. Tried going there at least twice now, I will make it at some point! When I'm up that early...

2. Flyboy's Donuts in Tea and Sioux Falls SD. Tea is a tiny town, so I guess I can excuse this one closing before 1pm on a Saturday. But Sioux Falls is the BIGGEST FREAKIN TOWN IN SOUTH DAKOTA and it had hours till 2pm on Saturday. So we bust our butt getting there through crappy crappy traffic and arrive at 1:55. Door locked. For anyone who was wondering how the clocks work in this world, 1:55 IS BEFORE 2PM. I hate hate hate it when business close minutes before the time on their door. If you want to class at 1:55, then set your hours till 1:55. Don't close five minutes early for the fun of it. Who knows if I'll ever be back in SD to try your donuts, but I probably won't just because now I hate you. Stupid Flyboys.

So those were my attempted donut places in the silence that this fall has been. Hopefully I find some new ones to review soon that are actually open and want to sell me delicious donuts!

Packing for cooking over a fire

The full kitchen box!

This past weekend I got to go camping in South Dakota which was awesome because 1. I'd never been to South Dakota and 2. It had been way too long since the last time I went camping. We rented a cabin in a state park just over the Nebraska boarder and it was AMAZING. But again, that's for another post. Notice I'm trying not to inundate all you readers with a ton of stories at once. This post will focus on packing a kitchen to go. I'm really proud of my packing job because there was only one thing that I was like, crap, I wish I had brought that. And we used almost everything in my kitchen box!




Items for two people for a two day camping trip:
1. 6 inch fry pan
2. 4 quart pot with lid that would also fit the fry pan if needed
3. Spatula/scrapper
4. Spatula/flipper

Cold breakfast the first morning before
we got firewood.

5. Two plastic cooking spoons
6. Two pot holders
7. Three tea towels
8. Collapsible bowl with lid
10. Two distinctly shaped sponges (so we could tell them apart if need be)
11. Small tupperware of dish soap (approximately 1/4 cup)
12. 2 8-in plates
13. 2 10-in plates
14. Cutting board
15. Sharp knife

Dinner the second night cooked
over the fire.

16. Metal pinchers
17. Utensils (assorted butter knives, forks and spoons)
18. Corkscrew/bottle opener
19. Can opener
20. Scissors
21. 4 bowls
22. 4 cups
23. Paper towels
24. Assorted ziplock baggies
25. Trash bags (large glad ones and some old grocery bags)
26. Tub of antibacterial wipes

Hot breakfast cooked over the fire.

Everything fit into a collapsible crate that I had from college that measured approximately 18x12x12. We didn't use everything, but the only thing I wanted and didn't have was some duct tape (although, not sure if that counts as part of the kitchen packing or not). If I go camping more in the future or for longer periods of time, a dish bin would be nice for doing dishes (the collapsible bowl worked fairly well, it had a lid which was nice, but it wasn't very big) and a kettle for warming up water on the fire.

Donut Review! -- The Doughnut Hole --

Where: 350 Canopy St, Suite 120, Lincoln
What: Maple Bacon long john and Chocolate Oreo cake donut
When: Tuesday, October 29th 2013
Website, Twitter

It had been awhile since I had actually gotten to a new donut place and I was going through some withdrawal. What is with all these donut places closing so early in the day? Like before noon sometimes! But that's for another post.

Today's doughnuts were wonderful. I'll spell it correctly since The Doughnut Hole does. But only for them. Also, before getting my doughnuts I did a pretty awesome parallel parking job. Anyways, off topic again.

The chocolate oreo was nice and moist with good flavor. It was also quite thick for a doughnut. The maple long john was I'd say at least 8 inches long. It fit a full strip of bacon across the top. I should have measured. The bacon was a good thickness and had some maple flavoring of it's own and the frosting was my favorite type of maple frosting with more of an artificial flavoring. I'd give both doughnuts a 5/5. Definitely will be going back, just not often because the total was $4.23 for two doughnuts...so like dessert/special treat doughnuts.

I've been so busy! :-(

So my sister and I tried to get to Randy's in West Lincoln and still didn't make it. So we went to LaMar's, which I feel I've talked about enough.

Then my boyfriend and I went to South Dakota and tried to go to two different outlets of Flyboy's Donuts and both were closed, including the second one that closed 5 minutes early. We just wanted some donuts! Another failure.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to go to a new donut place in the Haymarket area of Lincoln because I have some free time in the morning.

But, I also have a special treat for the blog! I can make a post about packing for a camping trip :-)

Yeah, I need to travel more...and possibly eat more donuts. Or at least more new donuts. Because today I had a glazed from Conroy's, which is quickly becoming my favorite donut place in Lincoln. Which is pretty awesome since it was one of the first places I went to in Lincoln :-)

Wawa

Where: 6500 S. Semaron Blvd, Orlando
What: Pumpkin Spice
When: Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Wawas have recently been popping up in Central Florida and it's kind of exciting. Since my sister moved to Philly, I began to understand the obsession my college roommates from New Jersey had with Wawa. The sandwiches are great and the stores are always well lit and super clean for gas station convenience stores. This particular Wawa is just north of Orlando International Airport and for the first couple weeks they were open they kept their gas at 2.99/gallon. Even more amazing when you compare that to the two other stations between them and the airport who regularly charge over $5/gallon to get all those tourists returning their rental cars. Such crap.

Anyways, DONUT REVIEW. Duh. I had the pumpkin spice on the way to the airport leaving Florida. I am so in love with fall and anything pumpkin flavored (or baked goods pumpkin flavored, pumpkin beer is not my favorite). However, the "spice" part of this donut was just too much. I felt like I was eating out of the jar of pumpkin pie spice. I couldn't finish it. The donut was moist and the glaze was nice, but just not a good flavor for me. 2/5. I hope fall has some better pumpkin donuts in store for me.

Publix Bakery

Where: 10615 Narcoossee Rd, Orlando FL
What: Mixed package
When: Saturday, August 31st, 2013

Sometimes I use donuts as a treat for myself. I know you aren't supposed to use food as a reward, but sometimes it makes crappy situations more bearable. I tried to find an actual donut place, but the one listed on Google Maps was no longer there. So Publix had to do.

Publix is the main grocery store chain in Florida, especially the Orlando area. We barely have any other stores. It kind of sucks for competition. Their subs are really good though. People rave about their bakery. I'm not the biggest fan. Probably because my mom really bakes. And my sister. I know what the good stuff tastes like. But I had to try them anyways. Mostly because I was already in the parking lot and I wanted a donut.

The selection was pretty slim. Nothing maple in the display case or the preboxed ones. They had boxes of a half dozen glazed or half dozen chocolate frosted for $2.99 but I went with the box of mixed fancies. Or fancy for a grocery store. There was an apple fritter, a cinnamon long john, a boston creme long john, and a cinnamon roll.

The boston creme was obviously my favorite and the rest were just eh. My family helped me eat them so they went pretty quickly, but I probably wouldn't go back. Florida, you have disappointed me again.

The Clarkson Bakery

Where: 113 Pine St, Clarkson, NE
What: Cherry Kolaches and a Peanut Butter frosted cinnamon roll
When: July 2012

There are certain places that are legendary in my family. The Clarkson Bakery is one of them. If we are up in the West Point area of Nebraska, someone has to go over to the bakery and get some kolacky (which is apparently both the single and plural form of the word according to dictionary.com). For those of you who are confused, kolacky are kind of like danishes without the extra sugar glaze and frosting. And the bakery isn't like just the next town over for all you urbanites. It's like a 30 mile drive down the road for these things. And then back.

So during the last reunion weekend, not only did we get kolacky from the bakery one day while at the hotel, but I actually got to go to the bakery for the first time! Think of the smallest downtown you can think of. That's bigger than Clarkson. The gas station across the street had two pumps that were the old fashioned kind. No awning. No digital screen.

Anyways, the bakery is tiny and doesn't actually have donuts, so I'm sorry if some of you thought this was going to be about donuts. I don't know what would have given you that idea :-) But the kolacky are really good (not super sweet, but good fruit flavor). The cinnamon roll was alright, I'd just stick with the kolacky next time we're in the area. Which will be for next years family reunion!

The Donut Professor

Where: 8410 S 73rd Plaza, Papillion NE
What: Maple raised donut
When: Saturday, August 24, 2013
website

This place is close to my aunt's house and I've driven past it probably a million times. But it was always closed. So last Saturday I hustled over there and barely made it before noon. The selection was probably what you'd expect for a place about to close. In maple my choices were raised or long john. I'm glad I went with raised, because the long john would have been even more of a waste of a donut.

The maple frosting was too sugary and the actual donut was ridiculously dry. It tasted like it had been out for a couple of days, not just hours. I understand a lot of places don't make the donuts in house, but I feel like they should still taste fresh to some degree! I'd say 0/5. Didn't even finish the donut. Attempted to eat just the frosting. You know that's bad when I'd rather just throw it away.

LaMar's, spoiler alert: 3rd time was NOT the charm

Where: 4240 S 48th St, Lincoln
What: Boston Creme
When: Thursday, August 8th, 2013

I had the opportunity to be over near the other LaMar's location in Lincoln a couple of weeks ago and decided I might as well try it. Maybe they have the maple the downtown location advertises BUT DOESN'T HAVE.

They didn't. So since I was there already I got a Boston Creme because I hadn't tried that yet and figured I had already stopped, might as well. Also, I should note that they shared the building with a Goodrich that wasn't in a Subway! Maybe I should have just gotten a malt instead. But it wasn't Monday, which is apparently Malt Day? I didn't ask about the specials. Maybe there'll have to be a 4th time...

The chocolate frosting was good, the creme was just eh. In fact, I'm not positive if it really was a Boston Creme for real, but maybe just a bavarian creme? It just didn't have a lot of flavor. It wasn't overly sugary, just almost like pudding that was made with too much milk or something. Also, it was almost $2. In Lincoln, that is too much for a donut. 2/5.

Sun Mart Foods

Where: 1340 West O St, Lincoln
What: Maple cups? It had a weird name...
When: Thursday, August 15, 2013

I've been very bad about posting reviews recently, mainly because I'm almost out of new places in Lincoln to review and I haven't had any trips recently either! But I think this is the first of three reviews I have waiting to go, so I'll try to be quicker with them!

I was actually trying to go to a place called Randy's Donuts this morning in northwest Lincoln, but it was closed. Not sure if it was permanently or because it was 11:30am already by the time I got there. So instead I went to the grocery store in the same parking lot since I didn't think I'd had one of their donuts before.

They only thing that they had that was maple was this huge looking donut pastry hybrid thing that was easily 6 inches in diameter and pushing 3 inches tall. (Quick! Calculate the volume based on a roughly cylindrical shape! Go!)

Anyways, the frosting was a little much. In volume that is. The flavor was perfect, but it was quick thick. The pastry part was really good, kind of like a croissant but not as buttery. It was $1.25, which was kind of pricey for me as most of you know. I forgot to even look at how much normal donuts cost. Man, I'm not good at this whole complete review thing...

But here are pictures to make up for it. I'd say 4/5, but don't eat it all in one sitting. This may last awhile...

Target

Where: 8201 S. 40th St, Lincoln
What: Glazed Old Fashioned
When: Sunday, August 4, 2013

First of all, I made the mistake of going to Target the week before school started here in Lincoln. When all the school supplies were majorly discounted. And every family in a 3 mile radius was back to school shopping. At the Super Target.

It was a little stressful. Especially since I don't know where everything is there yet and my list had some weird things on it (carpet cleaner...for that pack of chik fil a sauce I may have stepped on while cleaning the day before...)

So obviously, it was a donut day. Despite having a fairly large food and bakery section, the donut selection sucked. There may have been four varieties to choose from and none of them looked super appetizing. Perhaps because some of them had weird purple frosting on them. If you need fancy colors to draw attention to your donuts, you aren't making them right.

I went with the glazed old fashioned because it looked decent and simple enough. It was 89 cents if I recall correctly. And possibly the worst 89 cents I ever spent. It was too sugary on the outside and too doughy on the inside. Not a lot of flavor (besides Sugar, which should only be a flavor for cookies). 1/5.

My review of Krispy Kreme

So just like Dunkins, I've been to a lot of Krispy Kremes and sometimes they're good and sometimes they aren't.

They're very different than Dunkins so I won't go into which one I like better. It's like comparing apples to oranges, y'all.

I feel like Krispy Kreme is very decadent and more dessert like. There is a lot of sugar and a lot of butter in those things. My favorites are hot glazed, Boston Creme, or lemon filled. The lemon filling is very smooth and tart.

If you still haven't tried a Krispy Kreme donut and you see the hot donuts now sign lit up, you have to stop. The ones they sell in grocery stores are not anywhere close to the ones at the actual donut shops.

One thing I will say Krispy Kreme has on Dunkins is that most (all?) of the donut shops make the donuts there for real, in front of windows where you can watch them coming off the line.

And that's all I have to say on Krispy Kremes.

I guess I better mention Krispy Kreme at some point

Before a review, a story.

I got a text from my mother a couple of months ago, mid May I believe, that saddened me. She informed me that the Russel Stover Outlet in South Carolina that we often stopped at on road trips between Florida and the Northeast would be closing.

This was big news for our family.

I can't remember the last road trip I took with my mom were we DIDN'T stop at a Russel Stover store. At most major events, we had boxes of chocolates to share with relatives. Camping at Platte River State Park for my aunts' 40th and 50th birthdays? Giggling like 10 year olds with my aunts and cousins and throwing candy around the cabin while wearing the Russel Stover hats. Hanging out in the hotel after my brother's wedding in 2010? Eating chocolates and playing rummy. Heading into Omaha last October for my great aunt and uncle's 60th wedding anniversary? Gotta stop outside Kansas City for chocolates! BLT's can wait!

I know this is a donut blog, but I have to sometimes try to explain my insane family. And besides the Russel Stover obsession, we may have had a Krispy Kreme obsession. Not as hard core as RS, but it was there.

My parents, sister and I once took an impromptu road trip to South Carolina from Florida to try to see my bother while he was on tour with his band. This was in the age before cell phones and we had no way of contacting him to make sure they were still playing there (or even where they were playing) and to let him know we'd be there. You can probably guess how this ended, us hanging out in an internet cafe trying to find someone online who knew anything about the tour and then returning to the hotel defeated that we never found him. Turns out the show got cancelled and they weren't even in town that night.

But! The trip was not a total waste, because of course there was a Krispy Kreme practically across the street from our hotel to stop at in the morning. There is a Krispy Kreme in the greater Orlando area, but it's in Winter Park and we don't make it out there all that often. So it became a thing for a couple of years that any road trip we took had to include at least one Russel Stover stop and one Krispy Kreme stop. Sometimes we stopped at the same Krispy Kreme (NW corner of DC on the outer loop, open 24 hrs). Sometimes we had to call someone at a computer to find one for us (neither my parents nor I have a smart phone. The two oldest siblings have graduated to smart phones, but my next oldest sister and I are still holding out. For who knows what, but we're holding out!)

We still stop at a Krispy Kreme if we see one on our travels, but we haven't made any last minute calls for people to help us find one. You just can't ignore the "Hot Donuts" sign when you're on the road.

Hy-Vee Donuts

Where: 6001 Village Dr, Lincoln
What: Maple cake donut
When: Wednesday, July 24th, 2013

Hy-Vee is a huge grocery store chain in the midwest out of Iowa. There prices aren't as good as Super Saver's, but there selection is better. And they have a gas rewards program where certain items earn you 1-10 cents off per gallon of gas. You guys know I'm all about that (but I won't buy a product just to save on gas, I'm not that crazy. I have to actually need/want it). This week is bags of lettuce which is AWESOME because I've been eating lots of salads for lunch.

Oh yeah, the donut review. Sorry. I've had Hy-Vee donuts before, probably about 5 years ago in Omaha. But not the cake ones. So this one was my first maple cake from Hy-Vee.

There was a lot of frosting on the donut, filling the center hole, and the donut was dense but still moist. It was 89 cents and I'd say a 3/5. Nothing to write home about and not worth making a special trip for but probably good for office breakfast meetings.

Oh how I love the Onion...

Not-That-Important Employee Snatches Best Donut in Box

Best part: "Several employees told reporters that they were incensed at Schuler’s transgressive act, repeatedly noting that the “top-tier” donuts should be exclusively reserved for managers and the other more valuable members of the team."

I would like to know what the "top-tier" donuts would be. Can we make a list? Three best donut types. Everyone go! I'll post mine tomorrow, with a new review.

Also, ways to avoid this office blunder:
1. Make sure to get multiple maple cake donuts if you are the supplier.
2. Cut donuts in half! The frozen yogurt place I went to tonight had dividers for your cups so you could separate different flavors. Everyone loves to mix it up!
3. If you are the newbie, wait until only three donuts remain and then take whatever you want from those three. If people still complain, at that point it's their own fault for being so slow!

Family Reunion Food

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I'm in the middle of a move and the wireless at the new apartment is not the best...so I may be MIA for awhile...
But I thought I'd list all the food we had this past weekend! Because I like lists and food, obviously.

Friday:
LaCasa's pizza (hamburger & plain)
Salad
Chips
Chocolate Hy-Vee Cake that said "Halpenny Cuz Normal is Boring"
Vanilla Hy-Vee Cake that said "Halpenny When You Want the Very Best"
Mudslide Cake
Gluten Free brownies
Snickerdoodles
Chocolate chip cookies
Beer/wine/buzz balls/pop/water

Sunday:
Fried chicken
Ribs
Potato salad
Coleslaw
Chips
Baked beans with whole strips of bacon on top
Carrot/raisin/nut salad
Romona's coleslaw
PB M&M cookies
Chocolate Butterscotch Oatmeal cookies
Sugar cookies
Romona's lemon cake
Beer/wine/buzz balls/pop/water

I feel like I'm forgetting something...

Random stuff that comes in handy at family reunions

Painter's tape
packing tape
scissors
cheap pens
permanent markers
wet towel in a bag (again!)
tons of coolers and ice (more ice than you can ever think you'll need probably)
camp chairs
semi-disposable leftovers containers
trash bags
lighter

Family and Donuts

Since the beginning of my memories, Sundays were for mass, donuts, and brunch. Since most of my memories start in Texas, the donuts were mostly Shipleys.

Whenever we get donuts as a family, we each get to pick out what type we want. But that doesn't matter much, because almost like clockwork when we get home, a butter knife appears in the donut box and the donuts get cut into fourths as you want them. Everything is shared and everyone gets to try all the different types. Now, maybe we didn't do this when we were super young because I can't imagine four kids sharing very well. But that's how we eat donuts today.

And when I brought donuts to work one day after our annual review by the head haunchos, I made sure to bring a knife. Everyone had to try maple cake at least :-)

Photos by

Daniel Edelman

In honor of families...

Today begins my family reunion weekend on my dad's side. I barely remember the last one, it was probably 1989. My mom's side has had a couple recently, one in 2008 with just her siblings (10 plus her) and offspring and then one last summer with all her cousins (approximately 60 first cousins and all their children and grandchildren) on her dad's side. We like family in the midwest :-)

I will try to squeeze a donut run in sometime this weekend, especially since my brother in law (and more specifically, his amazing camara and photography skills) will be around, but I make no promises.

Instead, it's family story time! And tonight, we start with one of my favorite things about family gatherings...the coolers.

I noticed about 10 years ago that at any family function, people were arriving with coolers. This did not happen on my mom's side. It probably took me another couple of years to realize what was in the coolers.

Beer. Everyone brings their own. It isn't because we don't share. Because we totally share a ton. Nothing is really off limits at gatherings. I'm not even sure the exact reasoning behind it or when it started. Sometimes chairs are brought as well. But the coolers are my favorite. And no one is offended or looks at you funny when you show up with yours or pull a beer out of it halfway through the night. It's just par for the course.

Cheap Airfare

I recently got a roundtrip ticket from Omaha to Orlando for $125.

Seriously.

I've kind of become the cheap airfare specialist. And sometimes the family travel agent.

I figured I should share my secrets to scoring these awesome deals (and, no, I don't always get great deals. I've had to pay close to $400 for some tickets before, but sometimes I just get lucky!)

1. Sign up for your favorite airline's emails. Mine are Southwest and Jetblue, so I get notices of their sales constantly. With Jetblue, I'm actually signed up with two different email address and sometimes the offers are different. You never know. Also, if you're saying you don't have a favorite airline, I'm saying why not? It really does pay to sign up for a rewards program and start earning some loyalty points. So try to figure out which airline has the best prices generally for your most common routes and try to stick with them whenever possible. I can't even remember how many free flights I've gotten on Southwest and I've only been flying them for about 6 years.

2. Sign up for Travelzoo and Expedia emails too, sometimes they have interesting destinations that I wouldn't have thought of before.

3. I monitor my favorite routes anytime I'm bored to check for crazy cheap deals on Southwest. Jetblue doesn't actually fly out of Omaha, so they're on the back burner for a bit.

4. I earn Southwest Rapid Rewards points on airfare, by taking surveys online (E-Rewards), on certain hotel stays, even on filing my taxes this year. Sign up for a rewards program and keep checking into non-conventional ways to earn points.

5. When I'm shopping for a specific trip, I search on Kayak and then set up a price alert to let me know daily what the airfare is. Yeah, sometimes it's annoying to fill my inbox with this stuff, but when I get that email that says it dropped $100, I'm totally excited that I waited on purchasing the ticket!

6. Really, I cannot sing the praises of Southwest enough. They don't charge you to change your ticket, so if the price goes down you can get a voucher for the difference. Doesn't even have to be the same flight, could be one on a different day or at a different time. Jetblue used to do vouchers as well if the price went down, but it had to be for the exact same flight and you had to do it over the phone. It was still awesome they did this, but again I haven't flown them in awhile so I'm not sure if they still do this.

7. Check with your credit card company to see if they have travel deals. With my Chase card, I can buy airline tickets partially with points and partially on my card, so even if I haven't saved up enough points for a full ticket I can still use them to get a discount. Also, if you're thinking you don't get any points on your credit cards, I'm asking why not? Get a card that gets points! Pay it off every month and start earning that free money! (Seriously though, pay it off every month. I'm not tell you to go into debt to get the rewards. They aren't THAT great.)

8. It helps to be somewhat flexible. I know that's hard for a lot of people, but it really is more pricey to fly on Fridays and Sundays or during peak travel times like around Christmas. If you want to a take a weeks vacation, try a Thursday to Wednesday trip instead of a Friday to the following Sunday trip. I know it's two days less of a vacation, but the price may make it worth it.

9. Check alternate airports. When I lived in Boston, I would check flights out of Manchester, NH or Providence, RI and sometimes found they were worth it. I'd also check NYC and Philly and coordinate a trip to FL with a weekend with my sisters.

And now, I should probably pack for my next trip tomorrow...

"The worst donut ever"

In 2010 I went on a 30 day road trip with my parents. It was a lot of time in the car. More than probably advisable, but we had places to go and people to see!

During the first week of the trip my dad had some old caramel popcorn and got a piece stuck in his teeth somewhere. He was in a lot of pain. By the second day of it being stuck up there he could barely talk. Brushing and flossing didn't help.

On this particular day, we arrived in Milwaukee and Mom and I immediately saw a donut place along the way to wherever we were staying that night. There was a lot of random stops along the trip. It was awesome.

But back to this donut place. We all go in and Dad heads to the bathroom to try flossing one more time. Mom and I order some donuts and get Dad either a chocolate frosted or a Boston Creme. I can't remember for sure. I have no idea what we got. We sit at the counter and flip through the local paper, munching on our donuts.

Dad comes out of the bathroom and we give him his bag with the donut inside. He takes it out, takes one bite, declares it the worst donut he ever had, throws it back into the bag and tosses it into the trash before stalking out of the donut shop. Mom and I sat there in stunned silence for awhile and all I remember thinking is, I would have eaten it. They weren't that bad. We let Dad cool for a little bit, and then head back to the car and continue on our way.

Apparently he was unsuccessful with his flossing. Two days later we arrived at his brother's house, who convinces him to go see his dentist, and all returns to normal. Or as normal as life is when you're on a 30 day road trip with your parents through approximately 23 states.

Jelly Cafe

Where: 600 East 13th Ave, Denver CO
What: Assorted donut holes
When: June 2012
website

Last year I got an email from Jetblue about a secret offer. It was $20-$500 off the cost of a roundtrip flight and there was about a month window to take it during. I get these emails often. Always get the least amount off. Not this time. $500 off in one email account. $250 off in another. And for some reason my mom, who doesn't ever fly, got a $500 off email in her account.

$1250 to spend on a trip anywhere Jetblue flies. Amazing!

So my sisters and I took a weekend trip to Denver. Because we could. We stayed in an apartment we found on Airbnb. We rented bikes daily from B-Cycle. And we ate and played and hung out. There was a lot of food. And Jelly Cafe was one of our stops!

We're big brunch fans in my family so one of my sisters had figured out the three best places for brunch for us, and Jelly was the third one.

Despite no mention of donuts on their website, they have these little jelly filled donut holes that you can order with your breakfast and of course, we ordered them. There was slight confusion about the order, we wanted one order of each of the flavors they had that day, but we only got one donut hole of each flavor. Thankfully we're good at sharing and that just left more room for the actual breakfast we had ordered. The donuts were ok, nothing to write home about (but apparently enough to write a review about...I mean I do need to get a donut review in every state eventually!) 2/5

Also, despite having pictures of practically every other meal we ate that weekend, I have none from Jelly. Sadness. You'll have to go visit their website!

Winchell's, before noon

Where: 1515 Pine Lake Rd, Lincoln
What: Glazed raised donut
When: Saturday, July 13th, 2013
website

I finally made it to a Winchell's before noon and was very excited to have a fresher donut to test out. This Winchell's was in an Amigo's, so it really was just one small case of donuts. I guess that just means I'll still have to make it to the home base to try their donuts.

The glazed donut was really good though, very fluffy with a nice flavor. Maybe some vanilla in the glaze? I was definitely impressed and will go with glazed in the future, the chocolate just wasn't as good when I had tried that in the past. 4/5.

Moving

Today I started a move that will probably take about a week. Moving sucks. It's hot. I hate having my stuff all over the place in random boxes that I can't find or remember where they're at.

Moving isn't really traveling, but sometimes traveling is involved. So I'm going to use that weak connection to let me whine about moving on a donut and traveling blog. Or not really whine. But make a list. As I always do.


Top Moving Tips from the girl who has lived in five different states:

1. If you think you may be moving, stick to furniture that folds flat or easily comes apart. For example, my bookshelf kind of looks like this, and the four shelves come out and the sides fold flat into the middle. Super easy to slide into the back of SUV/minivan.

2. Always keep out important documents and all chargers (phone, computer, camera).

3. Speaking of camera, if you're renting a place, take tons of pics during the moving in. I didn't and it almost cost me $150 one time. I lucked out with that one, but never again.

4. Pack the power cord you use with your computer/printer set up, in the box with the computer or printer.

5. When moving an entire family, assign each person/room a number so that when you have to unpack, you just make the number with the room that the box goes in.

6. Don't buy knicknacks that don't serve any actual purpose. Who wants to move a box of fake apples from one state to another?

7. Make sure to properly compensate with beer, food, money, etc, anyone who helps you move. Lately, my go to has been the Valentino's Pizza Buffet. All you can eat pizza and pasta and whatever else they have out that day, including my personal favorite DESSERT PIZZA :-)

8. If you're going to be short on space for transporting your life's possessions, purge and divide what you think you can fit with you in half. Half may fit. You may have to purge again on moving day.

9. When packing linens, it really helped me to have a pack that had one of everything so that I could start with that the first night (instead of one box all of sheets, one all of towels, etc).

10. No tenth tonight. But I did have a donut today :-) Review tomorrow!

Still figuring out road trip necessities...

Tonight's tip is a short one, but important.
Make sure when you return from a road trip to remove everything road trip related from the car, including the wet towel in a bag.
Two weeks later it gets kinda gross...

My dream donut

There is a chain of donut places in the south (the real south, not Florida, sadly) called Shipley's. They have some of the best maple cake donuts I have every had.

It has been approximately three years since the last time I got Shipley's. But I still miss them.They spell donuts with a hyphen (do-nut). They have tons of locations throughout Texas and Mississippi and Arkansas. Maybe not that Nebraska got a Dunkin Donuts we'll get a Shipley's! Although, maybe it's a good thing that there aren't any locations close to me...

If anyone is traveling through the area, you have to have to have to go to Shipley's. I'm making it a homework assignment. Get excited, here's the menu. So many flavors!

Dunkin Donuts

I suppose I should write my thoughts on the biggest donut chain there is. One recently opened in Omaha and my aunt was asking me about it and didn't realize how much they have BESIDES donuts.

But first, the donut run down.
The raised donuts now seem dry compared to all the other donuts I've eaten for this blog.
Donut holes are good, they seem to stay more moist.
Boston Creme is my favorite normal (always available) donut.
Pumpkin cake is my favorite seasonal.
Others that I enjoy: obviously maple raised, this chocolate frosted chocolate filled one they had one valentines day. And that may be it. Real donut bakeries have ruined me from Dunkins!

Now the non donut run down.
I love sausage egg and cheese breakfast sandwiches on croissants. Soooooo good. But horrible for you. So only like twice a year. Special occasions only.
Coolattas. Amazing, with the right flavor combos. Love half strawberry half lemonade, can't stand full strawberry. Strawberry can also go with orange if they don't have lemonade. Just be ready for a sugar rush.

I have no idea what the coffee tastes like. I don't like coffee, not sure if I mentioned that before...just the donut please. Someone else will have to review the coffee, but I feel it's a love it or hate it thing.

Super Saver Bakery

Where: 2525 Pine Lake Road, Lincoln
What: Peanut Butter frosted cinnamon roll
When: Tuesday, July 9th, 2013
website

Today I had some errands to run after work so I figured it was time to try a Super Saver donut. I love Super Saver because the prices are really low. And not like fake low, but real low. Like $1.88 for shredded cheese low. Name brand shredded cheese. I'm sure my brother in law is laughing at me right now if he's reading this.  I didn't go to Younkers, so no shot.

Anyways, I went to the bakery case and for once, no maple donuts! I've checked out their donuts before and always restrained myself and the one time I'm ready to get one, nothing! Sadness :-(

I thought the cinnamon roll may have had maple frosting (like anything is labeled in a Super Saver bakery case. This is the no frills grocery store here. But not No Frills for real, which is a store in Omaha. Just to confuse you.) based on the color, but it turned out to be peanut butter. Or at least I thought it was.

Man, I get off topic easily!

Good frosting, medium pb flavoring. Bland cinnamon roll. 3/5. It was better warmed up, but still nothing I'd go back for. The roll was a little dry and didn't have much flavor.

Casey's General Store

Casey's is a huge chain of gas station/convenience stores throughout the midwest. Kind of like Wawa in the midatlantic. But with pizza instead of subs. And home made donuts. Supposedly. I think some aren't made in store, but most are. Some have big signs outside advertising their homemade donuts and pizza. I don't think it's the same dough.

One of my favorite thing about Casey's is that they always have maple something. And normally they have lots of maple somethings. Raised. Cake. Sprinkles. Chopping peanuts. Etc etc. They also in the fall have a pumpkin cake donut with frosting. I think it might be cream cheese-ish, but I'm not sure because they don't refrigerate them or anything. I'd give them a 3/5 maybe even a 3.5/5 just for consistency of selection. The pumpkin may be closer to 4/5, but I'll give the full review on that in the fall (along with a ton of other pumpkin or apple cider donuts, you guys may start to miss the maple donut obsession by the time November comes around!)

Casey's is also a great place for traveling because they have one in basically every little town (all along the Lincoln Highway!) and their bathrooms are always usable. Often times immaculate, but I don't want to make any promises. I could probably write a blog about finding good bathrooms while traveling as well, but that audience may not be who I'm aiming for.

An addendum to Road Trip Necessities

My family has added some things I forgot, mainly a pillow. However, the pillow was a recent addition. Growing up Mom always brought her pillow along because she has to have HER PILLOW at all times; the four of us didn't bring our pillows.

Which, btw, easy tip for never forgetting your pillow at a hotel: put it in a brightly colored pillowcase. Don't let it blend in with the white linens!

The one thing I wanted to add though was a tool kit and flashlight. There were many times camping we needed tools and the flashlight obviously came in handy for midnight bathroom runs. Lying awake in hotel rooms, Dad would always suddenly shine his halogen lantern into one of our faces and yell "Halogen!" and then go back to bed like nothing happened.

The toolkit came most in handy the year we were late getting into Omaha. It was probably one am and we were staying at my dad's dad's house. He had already gone to bed and we didn't want to wake him up. My dad noticed that the three diamond shaped decorative windows on his front door had the windows screwed into the door on the outside. So he pulled out the screwdriver, took them all off, reached in and unlocked the door, and we basically broke into my grandpa's house. I'm sure we were all relieved as it was probably at least 10 degrees in the middle of a Nebraska winter.

And, yes, Dad replaced all the window panes so that they were secured to the door from the inside so that no one else could follow in our B&E footsteps. So it was probably a good thing for Grandpa that we tested his security for him!

(the original necessity list, what do you guys always have in your car for trips?)

Winchell's

When I first started talking about moving to Lincoln and realized there weren't any Dunkin Donuts around (after 9 years of living in Boston, that was a tough realization), my mom told me I'd have to try Winchell's. She talked it up quite a bit, I did some internet research. Not a huge presence.

I get here and it turns out most of them are actually in Amigo's, a Taco Bell-ish fast food place (but better). So I try their donuts. Twice. And both times, I'm just like really? This kind of sucks. I wonder if they were good when they had their own establishments?

I got a chocolate frosted raised donut once in January and once sometime this spring. Both times the donuts were dry and the frosting and little chocolate flavor. 1/5.

Disclaimer: Both times I got donuts it was after 1pm. It is possible they are better fresh. I'd be willing to try them earlier if I ever make it to an Amigo's before 10am or so.

Food & Fireworks

For July 4th, I went with my mom's older sister to my cousin's house for food and fireworks. And there was a lot of both.

Have you ever heard of FHB? It stands for Family Hold Back and apparently is when, at a large event with food, the food supply starts to diminish a FHB situation is called and the host family stops eating to make sure all the guests get enough food. My sister heard about it from a friend of hers and my whole family was just like, what do you mean there isn't enough food at a family event??? That has NEVER happened to us, on either side of our families!

So, yeah, I guess we're a little food crazy. Here is a short list of the food available for the 4th (we had 18 people there I believe)

Layered Jello (welcome to the midwest, normally we have two, but my cousin ran out of time to make hers)

Four types of chips

Three types of dips for tortilla chips, plus layered chip dip with cheese and beans

Dip for veggies and potato chips

Baked beans

Oreo/cool whip dessert

PB rice crispie treats with chocolate frosting

Jello cake (I guess we did have two jello based dishes...)

Hot dogs

Hamburgers

Coleslaw

Garden Salad

Spicy dried beef roll ups

Giant bowl of olives (what, everyone doesn't have just a bowl of olives sitting around on the buffett table? I guess I'll excuse that, I don't even like them anyways but everyone else in my family does, it was the only empty dish by the end of the night)

Fruit pizza

Fruit salad

Chicken wings

Shrimp

We also spent about half the time there talking about the trip on the Lincoln Highway that my aunt and I took last weekend or the trip to the United Kingdom and Ireland that my uncle and aunts are planning for next month. 

So yeah, I guess traveling and talking about food are just in my genes! And blowing stuff up, I almost forgot the firework selection that we had!

Conroy's Bakery

Where: 4725 Prescott Ave, Lincoln
What: Maple cake donut
When: Tuesday, July 2nd, 2013.

You guys are probably like, why the crap does she keep getting maple cake donuts? We want to hear about other types of freakin donuts already!

1. It's my favorite.
2. I use it as my donut measuring stick.
3. Deal with it.

Tuesday my bosses had to take the day off for some appointments so the three employees ran the show. So I worked 9am-7pm. It was definitely a donut day. When one of the other employees went to the post office, he stopped for coffee on the way back and, since he knows me so well, brought back donuts for us as well. I didn't even have to tell him maple cake for me either.

The donut was pretty simple looking, but it was close to perfect. The cake was moist, the frosting perfectly flavored. Maybe it was also because the day was a little stressful, running the store on our own, but the donut was a 5/5. And the funny thing is, I'd been to Conroy's Bakery before, one of my first trips to Lincoln. But we got cookies to take to a family event, and I didn't know that a year later I'd be writing about donuts like it was my job and have to revisit the bakery (the cookies were just ok, if you were wondering).

Also, as a teaser for tomorrow, I'll post about the 4th and how conversations at a family gathering totally reminded me of how much my extended family has influenced me in my love of food and traveling. And I might talk about jello salad. And, while I'm slightly off topic, I found out recently that Internet Explorer sucked at displaying my blog and the white box was not appearing behind the text to make it legible. I hope that's fixed now, if not, let me know! Thanks! Happy Independence Day!

The Lincoln Highway

Everyone knows about Route 66, but I'm pretty sure unless you were the 10 yr old kid studying the Rand McNally in the back of the car, you have no idea what the Lincoln Highway was or that it was the nation's first transcontinental highway. Starting in New York City it went to San Francisco, going straight through Nebraska (well, mostly straight, or as straight as can be for a road that kind of asked towns along the way to build their own sections independent of one another because there was no federal funding back then). It has a fascinating history, including a bet and some help from the Boy Scouts of America. If you're looking for it now on your map, look for US 30 :-)

July 1, 2013 was the 100 year anniversary of the road and the Lincoln Highway Association hosted some pretty awesome events along the route for history buffs. I found out about it from my local paper the week before the tours were to end up in Kearney, Nebraska and didn't even immediately register that this was something I should be going to as someone who likes road trips and has more free time than the average Joe. But I got there, both in my mind and physically!

Saturday afternoon my aunt and I started out from Omaha on the search for the original brickwork that was supposed to be on the way to Elkhorn. The directions on the association's website were not the most helpful, especially since they included turning left off Dodge which is now an expressway in most of Omaha with exits and on-ramps, no left turns. But we found the road basically by accident and were able to drive down it and see the 500th historical marker in Nebraska, and meet some other road enthusiasts.

After the awesomely serendipitous start to our trip, it just got better from there. If you ever have a chance, I definitely recommend taking a trip on some part of the Lincoln Highway. Obviously, I've only been on one small part of the roughly 3000 mile road, but what I've seen is worth the trip. And I can only think of all the other small towns and historically significant sights on the rest of the highway! So here are the pictures you guys are all waiting for, and I'll stop babbling about history :-)

With my aunt at the new historical marker

Nailing a Lincoln penny into the centennial
bench between Omaha and Elkhorn.

Visitor's Center in Shelton, NE. It was
closed when we drove through.

My favorite signs along the highway

We played groupies in Grand Island and
stalked the tour participants to their dinner
site along the highway. This is an old
Tucker.

A car in the parade on Sunday in Kearney.
The sticker shows that it was part of the
tour that drove from one of the coasts
to Kearney over the course of 10 days.

Dough, a guest review

Where: Smorgasburg Food Fair

What: Lemon Poppy raised

When: Saturday, June 29th, 2013

website

In the heart of New York City’s Hipsterdom of Williamsburg, on a hot slab of concrete that is charitably named “East River State Park,” there is a weekly food fair dubbed “Smorgasburg” (Smorgasboard + Williamsburg and, trust me, it’s one of the least forced +”burg”s in use plus it’s actually accurate). Upwards of 100 vendors, all tucked under EZ-ups and barricaded in by their giant coolers, vie for attention from the hungry foodie masses. The choices run the gamut -- expected food fair fare (ice cream, burgers) to the strange and unexpected (sticky rice in a bamboo tube, artisan hash topped with a farm fresh egg). A mishmash of breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert, there’s not only something for every meal but something for every palette.

But we’re not here to talk about quinoa falafel sandwiches (which, btw, looked amazing but went untested in favor of the mouth-watering Choncho’s fish tacos). We’re here to talk donuts.

Dough, a brick-and-mortar shop out of Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, was the only donut stand at Smorgasburg, which is good because any other donut vendor would pale in comparison. Donuts as a artisan food are on the rise (har har) in NYC -- some might argue they’ve already peaked -- and it’s not unusual to pay $4 for a conservatively-sized donut with high-brow glaze like vanilla lavender or mocha green tea. While those fancy-pants circles of heaven have their place, I’ll take the generously portioned, $2.75 delectable Dough confection any day.

Their display and selection were impressive for a food stand -- 11 flavors in wooden trays behind real glass, including Hibiscus, Berry Mix, Chocolate with Salted Caramel, Plain Glazed, Dulce De Leche, Toasted Coconut, Passion Fruit with Cocoa Nibs, and Chocolate with Cocoa Nibs. It was the Lemon Poppy that caught my eye, perfect for hot summer day where any chocolate would melt right into your lap. The lemon glaze was lightly tart and not too heavy, perfectly balanced by the nuttiness of the poppy seeds. The dough was heavier than Krispy Kreme but lighter than Dunkin Donuts, which made it satisfying without being too guilty. The donut was big enough to share, allowing for multiple donuts to be bought and tasted, which I highly recommend. 5/5.

Thanks to my sister for her excellent guest review! I tried a new donut place today in Lincoln, so I'll review them for you guys tomorrow :-)