Do or ...donut! -- Day 579

When one spends a lot of time by oneself, one has ample opportunity for the contemplation of the deeper mysteries of life. Who am I? Why am I here? What is the purpose of all of this? Where can I get a really good donut? It is these important questions that drive us, and that give life meaning and color.

As I traverse this vast, sprawling Metroplex, I see many signs for little donut shops. I'm a huge fan of the small business models, and buying local. The excitement of finding a tiny, hole-in-the-wall donut shop with amazing products is the real American Dream. (All that stuff about getting married, buying a house, settling down? SECONDARY TO FINDING A GOOD DONUT SHOP)

Today, I am proud to announce that I have found the BEST donut I've ever tasted. But first, the runners up:

Krispy Kreme
5118 Greenville Ave, Dallas, TX 75206

Now, if you follow me on Twitter, you will know that I'm a huge fan of Krispy Kreme (and if you have never had the basic glazed donut while it's still hot, you have no grounds to argue against them.) But while KK does the simple donut really (REALLYREALLYREALLY) well, it goes against that hole-in-the-wall dream that I have. Still, I wanted to see what they could do with a personal favorite of mine, the classic Boston Creme. The donut was light and flaky, the creme filling was sweet and delicious -- if a little scant. The chocolate icing on top was a bit chalky, and flaked off in shingles. Honestly, I was a little disappointed. 4/10

Shin's Donuts
8251 N Belt Line Rd # 140, Irving, TX 75063


This is the AMERICAN DREAM donut shop. A very nondescript, unassuming, hole-in-the-wall, family-owned donut shop. And let me tell you this: they have the BEST kolaches EVER. More croissant than donut, they are warm with a hint of sweetness that perfectly accents the tangy sausage link in the middle. I would drive out of my way to stop here, but luckily they are less than a mile from my house! I gave them the Boston Creme donut test: the pastry was a little greasy on the palate, and a bit dry. Filling was flavorful, but there wasn't very much of it, and it was so off center that I had to bite twice to get any at all. Despite that, I give Shin's 6/10 and highly recommend that you go get kolaches. Thank me later.



Now, I want to tell you about this donut that haunts my dreams. When I picked it up from the box, the first thing that I noticed was its heft: this donut meant business. It was supple, but not falling apart; it reminded me of a fluffy down pillow. Sinking my teeth into the soft, perfectly cooked dough and being immediately greeted by the delicious Boston Creme, I was transported! The chocolate icing was perfectly sweet, and there was so much filing that it was spilling out onto my hand. THIS was what donuts were supposed to be like!

Where did I find this pastry marvel?

Dunkin' Donuts
14841 S Coit Rd, Dallas, TX 75248

Whyyyyy? This goes against everything that I wanted! Corporate giant, with relatively poor customer service, and the most fantastic donut experience I've had in a long while. I even got six different kinds, hoping that maybe the Boston Creme was a fluke? Nope. Bavarian Creme: delicious. Chocolate Creme: wonderful. Lemon filled: tangy, sweet goodness. Apple filled: better than homemade pie. Vanilla Creme: I'm going to die from a sugar overdose, but I will be smiling the whole time. I give them 9/10, missing the perfect score because the customer services was really poor.




So, there you have it. The Giant has slain David, not with sheer size, but with better skills. I'm just lucky it's so far away from my house, or I'd probably go broke and die in a Boston Creme coma.

Introspection sucks! -- Day 577

Introspection is not something that I'm very good at. Looking internally, while necessary for growth and maturity, is often messy and painful -- two things that I try to avoid as much as possible.  This blog has mostly been a chronicle of our external adventures, with a little bit of my own self-improvement journey mixed in. It's introspection lite -- call it a highlight reel.

Since we've been grounded, there are fewer external adventures to write about, and a lot more introspection going on. This is why the blog hasn't been updated much in the past few months. I was doing pretty well with a once-a-month posting, until the crushing weight of all that was going on in my head destroyed any desire I had to write about it. Add that to the fact that I don't think there is much audience for my own wallowing, and that explains the dearth of posts.

Coming out of the long, dark tea time of my soul, I thought I would write something, just to get back in the saddle.

The question is: What should I write about after such a long hiatus? What is going to garner the most attention and grow my audience? How can I keep my fans entertained?

The answer my friends, is that I don't care. I can't care. I can't think about you, and work on me. So I will write about whatever frivolous crap comes to mind, and if you enjoy it -- great. If not, well, there's a whole lot of other frivolous crap that you can find on the internet to entertain you.

This is a vintage throwback image circa 2010, meme created today :)

I've had a bunch of ideas over the past month and a half, but none of them seemed "worthy" of print. Now that I'm no longer concerned for the quality level of my content ("True fans will understand" ~ Brett Favre) I may just be able to scratch out some shit posts over the next week or so. 

Stay tuned!