Zombie Coffee and Donuts

What: Maple oreo, Chocolate caramel, Maple pecan

Where: 3100 14th St NW, Washington DC

When: Monday, April 4th 2016

website

My friend lives maybe two blocks from this place. I would be in so much trouble if I lived that close. It may be the best concept for donut places ever. You go in, they have some samples you can look at or choose from, but you get to order your donut by picking your frosting(s) and topping(s) and then they make it! Right there! Fresh! It's amazing. So amazing we may have gone twice.

The first time, I got a maple frosted donut with oreo crumbles. All their donuts are cake donuts and it was literally the best cake donut I had ever had. So unbelievably fluffy it almost tasted like a raised donut. And the frosting and toppings were perfect. I may have to give it a 6/5. I don't know if I've ever done that before.

Hubby got a chocolate frosted one with caramel stripes and a maple pecan. I wasn't fully paying attention during the ordering process because I only got one. But I got lots of pictures of the shop (which follow, you're welcome)! The chocolate frosting on his was delicious, almost the same taste as my mom's homemade chocolate fudge frosting. I'd give it a 5/5. I did not try the maple pecan because I don't believe in nuts in my baked goods. Nope nope nope.

Samples to give you ideas.

Fresh donuts waiting to be iced.

Icing state in the back.

Our selection for 4. I may have taken
mine out already.

Maple Oreo

Hubby's chocolate caramel
and maple pecan

Hubby trying to be a zombie. I assume

DC Zoo

The best thing about all the Smithsonian museums in DC is that they're free. It makes it so easy to go in and just focus on one part for a small time, instead of trying to spend the whole day there to get your "money's worth." And the zoo is included! So even though we only had about an hour and a half on the last morning we were in DC, we still got to go and check out some of the animals. Luckily this included the Giant Panda, which is apparently a prerequisite for even qualifying for consideration of Best Zoo in the Country.

Didn't even know sloth bears were a thing.

Some otters. Well, there were more
but they all ditched this one and
 ran away when I got out my camera.

One of these is not like the others...

Panda panda

The panda gets lots of attention

Lunch time.

So why bathe again?

Glad they didn't just call it elephant sex.

Krispy Kreme

What: Original Glazed, Chocolate Oreo

Where: Dupont Circle, Washington DC

When: Friday, April 1st 2016

Apparently the donut harvest in DC was ready on April 1st this year so Krispy Kreme was giving out free donuts to celebrate! And apparently they didn't have change for a $20 so we got both our donuts for free. Yummm!

The original glazed was advertised as hot and ready, and maybe this is because I've started to make my own hot and ready glazed donuts, but it was just ok. 3/5.

The Chocolate Oreo however, was delicious. It's so rare that I try anything else at Krispy Kreme but it was totally work it. 5/5.

The Nebraska Passport

For the past couple of summers, Nebraska has curated and published a list of 80 places in groups of 10 to visit throughout the state. They're restaurants, stores, parks, landmarks and other oddities to visit (include bakeries!). Last summer the hubby and I traveled so much but I kept forgetting about the Passport! We could have hit so many places!

So this year, we've already started the planning! The list has been released but booklets aren't out yet (or descriptions of the places...not sure what some even are!) Last weekend I combed the list to try to figure out which ones were closest to Omaha and Lincoln because my first goal was 10 sites (free tshirt!) but after making the list I think we could easily hit 20 and get a free mug. And we've been talking it up with all our friends and family so hopefully it will help create some fun day and weekend trips, starting with a trip to Minden, Nebraska on April 30th! It's almost summer!

(I will stop writing now so I stop with the exclamation points...)

District Doughnuts

What: Snickerdoodle,

Where: 749 8th St SE, Washington, DC

When: Saturday April 2nd and Sunday April 3rd, 2016.

website

I'm going to start this review with a story. About a comic. I don't remember actually reading the comic when I was younger because I think I was too young. But the gist of the comic is that someone wants to rent a car, the rental agent asks what kind of car, and the renter asks what kind of cars the agent has to rent.

One car. They have one car to rent.

Well, then why did you ask me what kind?

I was hoping you'd want that one car.

My older siblings will pull this dialogue out every so often, once notably when I went with my sister to test drive Subarus in Omaha. I don't remember which model it was, but they had one on the lot. Just one. So I test drove that one.

What does this have to do with District Doughnut? I'm so glad you asked. When we first walked into District Doughnut at approximately 3pm on Saturday, they had one little doughnut sitting on their counter with a stick in it labeling it a snickerdoodle. There were five of us and all I could think was, who gets the one doughnut they have left???

Thankfully, that was just their display and they had a few left so there wasn't any fighting. We even ended up with a free doughnut because we paid for two, they only gave us one, so she gave us two more in the bag. So many doughnuts suddenly!

The actual review: they really captured the flavor of a snickerdoodle cookie in a donut. Makes me wonder if there was cream of tarter in the dough. The cake doughnut was on the small side, but full of flavor and covered in a lovely cinnamon and sugar cobbler-type coating. I would give it a 4/5. Very solid doughnut.

(And yes, we went back the next day to check out their full variety of treats and may have gotten four more doughnuts to try...we really ate our way through DC!)

Campin' Food

Have you ever wanted to try hikers food? You know that freeze dried food in pouches that they sell at all the fancy outdoor stores? I have. I know, I'm crazy. But when I was at the REI flagship store while in Denver for Spring Break Part II, my hostess and writing-inspiring bff since 8th grade said she had always wanted to try them too. Instant dinner plans!

So we bought a "dinner" and a "dessert" and headed home. 

While the writer was working on a story, I started working on dinner. For the dinner you had to add 2 cups of boiling water to the pouch. They even had measuring guides on the side of the pouch incase you didn't have measuring cups. Of course, I was making it in a fully equipped kitchen so I didn't try out their method.

So here is our food process, from dry food to bowl-o-rice!

The dinner was a pineapple chicken rice dish and was fairly good but left both of us slightly hungry still. We voted that if you had hiked a whole day there was no way there was enough calories in a serving to fill you back up. Maybe if you ate the whole bag. The dish also had a weird peanut butter taste to it and the peas did not re-hydrate well.

On to dessert! Coconut Key Lime Pie, made with cold water. How do you get cold water while camping? Put it in the cooler ahead of time? I used the water out of the fridge water dispenser, which is cold but not super cold and the "pie" still set pretty well.

The smaller pouch near the top of the picture is the graham cracker crust.

There appears to be more graham cracker than really needed, but it was delicious. We definitely would buy this again.

So yeah, hiker food. Not that bad.

Harold's-Omaha Donut Shootout

Harold's may have been the one donut place at the Omaha Donut Shootout that I hadn't even heard of, let alone tried. They were very unique compared to the other donuts at the shootout, smaller in size and more of a spice flavor than a generic donut flavor.

Although the blue icing made me think that they made have had a blueberry flavor, it was not apparent when we tried them. Checking out Harold's in person is definitely on my summer to do list!

200!

Well, I made it to 200 posts. And have a dozen more scheduled or thought about, so there will definitely be more milestones to come but I'm super excited about 200!

I figured I would mark this milestone with a list, because you all know how much I love lists.

My Top 5 Posts:
1. What would your mom do?
2. Road Trip Necessities
3. Family Reunion Necessities
4. The Worst Donut Ever
5. Donut Art!


(none of these were reviews, kind of ironic?)


My Top 5 Future Post Ideas:
1. from my sister: my one neutral only packing guideline
2. donut reviews: the new Krispy Kreme in Lincoln
3. travels: Montana, my second new state of 2016!
4. day trips: Nebraska Passport attractions
5. Washington DC, future home?