Saturday, June 8, 2013

National Donut Day, did you celebrate it?

Yesterday the media was all over it.   Yes, it was National Donut Day and you'd have thought it was a major holiday.   The Today Show, GMA, CNN and other media outlets were all aflutter about donuts, with most of them featuring the trendy $5.00 cronut croissant donut which has them lined up at a New York bakery for hours.   The baker only makes 40 a day and refuses to make more or hire more help, so they sell on the black market for forty bucks a pastry.   Crazy!  It didn't even look that good to me and I've never met a donut I didn't like.

Which brings me to some donut trivia for today.
Have you ever seen the classic "It Happened One Night" with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert?   Well, there is a scene where he's dunking a donut in his coffee and she's looking at him like he has a third eye.   He explains what he's doing and has her dunk one, which she leaves in the coffee way too long and he patiently explains to her that dunking it too long gets it all soggy and it falls apart and is inedible.   Well, I guess that scene started the trend of dunking your donuts because it took off in the 1930's like wildfire.   Maybe it's a Hollywood myth, maybe fact,but I think it's a delightful story about the origins of dunking.

So while we're on the subject of donuts and pastries and bakeries, have you noticed the neighborhood  bakeries are becoming extinct?   They have either closed their doors or sold to someone who didn't carry on with their original recipes.   It seems that the small Mom and Pop shops can't compete with the larger grocery chains which have their own bakery goods of sickening sweet tasteless goo they call pastries.   They don't compare to the small bakeries which used the best, freshest ingredients.   Today, the sweets you buy in the grocery store bake shop all taste the same, bland cake, sugary icing with no hint of vanilla or chocolate, tasteless fruit filling and outrageous prices.   I'm sorry to see the privately owned bakeries closing and whenever I have the chance I buy from them.   I'd rather pay a little extra for a decadent Caramel cake form Angelica's or a cannoli filled buttercream birthday cake from the bakery my family has used for years.  So next time you need to pick up a dozen rolls or you need to order that special cake for a graduation or birthday, consider the neighborhood bakery instead of the grocery chains.   You won't be disappointed and you'll help them stay in business and that is what we need - to keep the small business owners thriving!  So, there!  I've said my peace.   Time for coffee and a cinnamon roll.


  







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