That taste so sweet (or, an evening with the miracle fruit)

What if there were a fruit that, when you eat it, changes the way you experience tastes. If makes lemons as sweet as an orange, and just as easy to eat. Well there is such a thing. And I have tried it. For you! Well, more accurately, I was at a party on Saturday night, and the host had bought a bag of Miracle Fruit. Whilst this might be a rather prosaic name, it does have the advantage of being accurate. The miracle fruit is a small red berry about the size of a fresh coffee bean, and is native to West Africa. It doesn’t actually taste of much itself, but contains protein molecules called miraculin (no, that doesn’t sound real to me, either, but there we go) that alter the way your taste buds react to sourness. You pop it in your mouth and hold it there for a few minutes (careful not to swallow the seed!), and then, well, the tasting begins!

Here are things we tried:

Lemons

We tried fresh sliced lemons. Almost all of the sourness is removed, and the lemon tastes a little like a really fresh sorbet, except more juicy than icy.

Fennel

The fennel retains its aniseed flavor, but another layer of sweetness is added, meaning that it tastes something like licorice, except a little sweeter. It’s actually pretty delicious.

Hot Sauce

Well, it still tastes hot! The miracle fruit     doesn’t effect the experience of spiciness, but it does smooth the sourness of the vinegar in the hot sauce, so it’s a lot like eating a candied chili pepper. If such a thing existed. A bit odd, this one.

Raw Ginger

A friend took a bite out of a ginger root and ran out to the kitchen to cool his mouth with water (which just tastes of water, incidentally). Something that I hadn’t realized was that the earthiness in root ginger must contain some sort of sourness, because it’s completely removed, and just tastes of sugar. Hot, spicy sugar.

Wheat Beer

You know that sweet smell that you get from bread, before it bakes, or that pervades a brewery (if you’ve never been to a brewery to see how beer is made, you should)? The subtleties are removed from the beer, but it does taste a little like drinking sweet, yeasty dough. Not an unpleasant sensation.

Wine (red and white)

Have you ever tried wine from Bulgaria? Whilst, I’m sure, they create many passable wines, I’m yet to have been able to find one. Every one I’ve had tastes sweet and a little bit musty. This seems to be the result of drinking wine after eating the miracle fruit. If you’re going to have a party, I’d recommend having beer with the tastings, rather than wine. Though, of course, it’s worth trying it, to see what works and doesn’t.

Sauerkraut

Well, it didn’t taste sauer any more, is for sure. Actually, it didn’t really taste of much at all, to me.

Durian Fruit

Not even the Miracle Fruit can make the durian taste edible. Like eating a mouthful of baby sick.

So, as I’m sure you can tell, there’s a pattern. Sweet things taste sweeter, sour things taste sweeter, and well, everything tastes sweeter. It is really interesting, though, to see the way that your expectations are defeated when you bite into something, and I’d recommend giving the miracle fruit a try.

Just don’t eat durian.

Mother's Day Breakfast Challenge!

Thinking about making Mother's Day special with a homemade breakfast? Sure you are! So why not combine it with a personal "are you a (wo)man, or are a (wo)mouse?" sort of challenge, just for kicks! Test your abilities and push the threshold of your skill set by trying to make her some of those oh! so elegant, ever so European morning emblems of simplicity and grace- the delicate crêpe! Crêpes are the epitome of elegant breakfast foods. They are delicate, lacey, uncomplicated and...dare I say, feminine? Voila! Your kitchen becomes an expansive (but, not necessarily expensive!) coquette's wardrobe, for you can dress up a crêpe with virtually anything! This is a dish of extreme versatility. You can start with the standby classic and my favorite- fresh lemon juice and sugar followed by a half fold and then a quarter fold to get that little triangle and from there, look into all of your other options with vegetables or fruits and don't forget the herbs!

While crêpes can be summed up as thin pancakes, and we all know how easy it is to make pancakes, crêpes are not as easy to pull off. In the most sexist terms possible- its the difference between seducing a man or a woman, into bed. Like an American pancake, your everyday man is ready to flip over on a moment's notice. While a woman, who is more like the finicky crêpe, requires all the trimmings first and then a little extra style and forethought to get her going. For starters, having the right exquipment on hand will help. Bad idea to show up empty handed and unprepared for the ritual of making it with a crêpe.

First, you need a crêpe pan, a regular old sauté pan just won't do. A crêpe pan is a very shallow frying pan only about an inch or two high and they come in a variety of sizes. Large or small, always remember to use lubrication so brush it with melted butter and a lot of love but, not too much! You can try spreading the melted butter with a folded square of papertowel if you don't have a pastry brush. Mix your batter; flour, eggs, cream, whole milk, and sugar if you want sweet crêpes and then strain though a fine sieve to remove all lumps. This is an important step. Don't skip it! Use cheesecloth if you don't have a very fine mesh strainer or sifter.

Then set the bowl of batter in the fridge for an hour of time out. Make sure you give your batter d'amore time to chill. Crêpes don't like to move too fast. They prefer to take it slow for maximum enjoyment, don't try to rush it, you both win big in the end! When the time is up, gently stir and then begin with a small ladle full of the batter in the heated pan. Swiftly swirl to the edges. Send the crêpe love and show it some finesse! Who's the hot cook in the kitchen, baby? You are! You are!

When you see the bubbles and a bit of color on the edges, flip it over! Make sure she is good and done but, not too done! You want her to be nice and soft for your tastebuds to enjoy and nothing can be delicate if its chewy! Sugar, cinnamon, fruit, whipped cream.... you'll be glad to have them on hand, when the time is right. Don't be afraid to experiment with fruit! And if its lunch time or brunch time, use those vegetables!

Have a Happy Mother's Day and feel good about yourself for having conquered the crêpe! Remember, if you want to go the extra mile- think about getting inventive with flowers, too!

How would your mom like a fresh strawberry filled crêpe with rose scented whipped cream and fragrant tea rose petals sprinkled all over? Just add a touch of essential rose oil to a bowl full of chilled heavy whipping cream a bit of sugar and mix away! Order the tea roses in advance at your local specialty flower shop! Color Magic and Moonstone are two very fragrant and beautiful, hybrid tea roses. The roses that you can buy in the grocery store, just won't do so don't even think about it. Tea roses offer a variety of exquisite, sumtuous fragrances and are well worth obtaining, especially for the purpose of sprinkling them on your breakfast masterpiece!

Or how about a lemon and sugar crêpe with a touch of flowering basil? Divine! Simple, invigorating, and garnished the herb of love! Or try a nice light crème fraîche filling with a dash of lavendar flowers and blueberries! Deeeelicious! Now that you've gone all the way with crêpes, don't be afraid to lavish them with garden delights! They will love it and so will you!


"Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon, or not at all."

-Harriet van Horne

The Socio-Cultural Implications of Peeps: Or, What to Do the Day After Easter

Easter is tomorrow. That means you've got two, maybe three days to hit the local markets and chain drug stores and make your annual Peeps score. You want all you can find, in all the colors. Don't let the orange or green bunnies freak you out; buy them. Don't worry about having to eat all of them; you won't. There's a lot more you can do with Peeps besides eating them. A lot more.

To begin with, Peeps are a fabulous semi-edible substitute for Legos. Peep dioramas are especially effective, so much so that the Washington Post has an annual Peeps Diorama Contest. You can see photos of last year's winner here. This year's winners are here. Not to be outdone, the Seattle Times also has a Peeps diorama contest, with pictures of last year's winners here. That said, I have to say my personal favorite is the Fellowship of the Peeps.

Since the very early science experiments with the effects of microwaves on Peeps, large numbers of Peeps have been tortured sacrifice consumed in the name of science. The essential resource organization and sponsored site is of course Peeps Research. I should note that while the hard sciences have been particularly active in Peeps research, the humanists have not been remiss; I especially recommend Peeps Jousting, a particularly fine example of the uses of historical re-enactment in research and education.

For those who actually like to ingest Peeps, there are numerous sites devoted to recipes and techniques for Cooking with Peeps. Don't forget to check the Official Peeps Site, which includes instructions for a variety of Peeps crafts, as well a a number of recipes for various culinary efforts involving Peeps.

Finally, for those who are intrigued by the socio-cultural aspects of Peeps in all their glory, I offer you the Big List of Peeps Links (some of which are likely not safe for work, or children, or, well, anyone with good taste).

Easter Egg Crack

I've posted elsewhere about high quality chocolate Easter candy. This post isn't nearly as concerned about quality, as it is about quantity. Now, while I'm an admitted chocolate snob, there's definitely a time and a place for your generic sugar high, and right now when the stores are loaded with Easter candy, your average blogger deserves a trip down the memory lane sugar high. In the interests of starting off the less experienced on an easy fix, I'll begin with the gateway drug candy, then move on to the hardcore stuff. The gateway drug is, of course, Cadbury's Mini Eggs. These are actually made of pretty good chocolate, in the form of a small marble-sized solid chocolate egg, in your choice of milk or dark chocolate, covered with a thin crunchy sugar shell. The shell gives you a quick buzz; the chocolate gets you addicted. These compulsively-consumable little balls of milk chocolate provide instant, easy, economical satisfaction in a candy-coated shell. Think M&Ms, only bigger and with even more chocolaty goodness.

Once you've mastered the mini-eggs, there are a couple of good options for chocolate sugar-buzz escalation. Most people quickly move up the chain to either the Crème eggs, or the Caramel eggs. These are roughly the size of a small chicken egg, made of hollow chocolate and filled with an incredibly sweet fondant filling, or a gooey thick caramel. Either of them provides a quick sugar boost and a pretty substantial calorie hit. Now some of us, including yours truly, have certain issues with the Crème eggs because they are very much designed to mimic a real egg, with the creme filling consisting of a white creme with a yellow "yolk" center. A single egg, according to the official nutritional breakdown, has 150 calories. A single Caramel filled egg has 170 calories, 80 of 'em from fat. What's not to love there? Now here's the surprising part; a "single serving" of the Cadbury's Mini Eggs (which, by the way, Cadbury thinks is a mere twelve eggs—please, let's try to be realistic? That's half a serving!) is 190 calories, 70 from fat.

Now, I know, you're looking at that and thinking "OK, tasty, but not a balanced diet." Fear not; I have that covered. That's why every blogger's Easter basket should include Jordan Almonds, sometimes called "sugared almonds." A nice, plump, roasted almond with a thin sugar shell, usually in pastel colors. It's sugar, it's nice and crunchy, and almonds are full of protein. A serving (a measly 15 pieces sugar-covered almonds) contains 180 calories, but also provides 3.0 grams of protein!

But wait! I have more nutritional goodness masquerading as high-sucrose Easter candy; I offer up for your gustatory attention Hershey's Robin Eggs. These are crisp little balls of malted milk covered with chocolate, at which point you might be thinking of Hershey's Whoppers, but Robin Eggs are then covered with a thin brightly colored sugar shell, slightly speckled to look like an egg. These are like crack for those of us susceptible to a sugar-high, though they are also sources of calcium. These were one of my very very favorites as a child, though I always tried to swap the pink ones because pink candy is nasty. Trust me on this.

Now then, let's not forget the rest of the required elements of any balanced sugar-buzz; man can't live by chocolate and its derivatives, alone; faux-fruits and vegetables are also important, and no Easter basket is complete without Jellybeans. If you look, you can find Jelly Belly beans; if you can't find them at your local chain, try Trader Joes, or an up-market grocery store. Jelly Belly beans are worth the extra effort. Besides, think of the nutrition of all those fruit flavors! You can even get jalapeño flavored jellybeans, which sound sort of gruesome but are oddly consumable.

That brings us to that ultimate Easter-candy buzz-provider, to top off your sugar experience; Peeps. Peeps are the ubiquitous Easter candy, made of sugar, and marshmallow, or, essentially, sugar and sugar. Initially only available as bright yellow chicks, they have since expanded so that now you can find the chicks in yellow, pink, green, blue, lavender and orange. Moreover, the chicks have been joined by bunnies, available in yellow, pink, lavender, blue and green. Each chick has 35 calories, and 0 grams of fat. Personally, of course, I don't actually eat Peeps; sometimes it's more fun to play with your food. Should you decide, however, to consume your peeps with glee, I can only advise care. More than twelve at a sitting are only recommended for professionals on a closed course.

Lest you think I'm just taunting you with gustatory delights you can't have, I want you to know that I have personally verified that all of these are currently available at local grocery stores and chain drugstores, and usually, a rock-bottom prices. And it that isn't enough to lure you out of the dark to make a quick little supply run right now, I want you to think about how you're helping the economy and stabilizing the nation's tax base by buying Easter crack candy. I'll close by letting you watch one of the best commercials ever; Cadbury's Clucking Bunny.

Microwave Coffee Mug Chocolate Cake

There are times in a writer's life, as well as in life in general, when you really really want something sweet, and chocolate, and hot, right now. For those moments, I bring you Chocolate cake in a coffee mug. It's a microwave recipe, it's easy, and it's surprisingly good. I suggest trying it with a scoop of ice cream. A few things to keep in mind: make sure your mug is microwave safe; this cake gets very hot, so no plastic, for instance, and stay away from metallic glazes, or delicate china. Also, like many microwave baked goods, eat this while it's fresh, or it's a bit rubbery.

Ingredients:

  • 4 Tablespoons cake flour
  • 4 Tablespoons sugar
  • 2 Tablespoons cocoa
  • 1 Egg
  • 3 Tablespoons milk
  • 3 Tablespoons oil
  • 1 large microwave-safe coffee mug (12oz)

Procedure:

  1. Thoroughly coat the inside of the mug with margarine, olive oil, or cooking spray.
  2. Mix flour, sugar and cocoa together. Make sure there are no lumps.
  3. Add egg, milk and oil, and mix well.
  4. Place the mug in the microwave on top of a paper towel.
  5. Set the microwave for 3 minutes on maximum power (roughly 1000 watts).
  6. The cake will rise, and may even flow over the edge of the mug. It will still be cooking for several seconds after the microwave has stopped. Wait until the cake sets in the mug.
  7. Tip the cake out of mug into a bowl, and enjoy. You want to eat this before it's completely cooled, but be careful; parts of it may be hotter than others.

There are a number of variations you can make to this basic recipe. Try using a better quality cocoa; a Ghiradelli, or Dagoba Xocolatl with chili and cinnamon, for instance. Add a few chocolate chips, or chopped nuts.

There are also a number of other recipes for other sorts of coffee mug microwave cakes. Here's a Lemon Glaze Coffee Mug Cake, made with yellow cake mix. It's also fairly easy to make your own single-serving microwave coffee mug cake mixes using cake mix and flavored instant pudding mix. Make a batch, buy some mugs, and use them as gifts.

In Praise of Simplicity

New foodies have something in common with aspiring poets. They become so thrilled with all the myriad possibilities of their preferred art that they end up overdoing everything. While it's true that there are enough herbs, spices and curious seasonings in the world to experiment for a lifetime without ever exhausting all the possibilities, that doesn't mean it's advisable to pile on the flavors in any given dish. Often times the true greatness of a food is apparent in its simplest iterations. Take steak, for instance. There are as many things one can do with a cut of beef as there are stars in the sky, but I challenge anyone, whether chef or lay-person, to prepare a steak dish that is superior to the pan-seared filet. I'm not even talking about those decadent, bacon-wrapped, garlic-butter-topped ornaments served in expensive restaurants. I'm referring to that steak made premium by its own inherent virtues. The filet is good not because it can be butterflied and drowned in Bearnaise sauce. It's good because it is naturally tender and it is perfectly marbled. It has a bare minimum of connective tissue and absolutely no bone with which to contend. All this cut of meat needs is salt, pepper and heat. In my opinion, doing anything else to it is needlessly fussy. The same can be said for salmon. It's fast becoming America's favorite fish and it's easy to see why. Salmon is flavorful, healthy and it carries a delightful color. I'm just beginning to discover the beauty of this swimmer, not out of willful ignorance, but unfortunate circumstance. I grew up in the Midwest where fresh fish is practically non-existent. When it comes to fish the difference between fresh and everything else is enough to turn someone off to the stuff for life. Those people fortunate enough to live near a significant amount of water have the option to embrace the culinary delights of fish at its full potential. Given a fresh catch, even the least skilled cook can make a restaurant-quality salmon filet given tin foil, butter, citrus and a grill or oven. The sauces, salsas and garnishes can stay in the Midwest where they're needed to cover up the unpleasant flavor of an old fish. Even vegetarian dishes benefit from simplicity. My favorite of them all is hummus. This lovely stuff can be found in practically every culture that touches the Mediterranean Sea and it's easier than pie to make. All it takes are some chickpeas, tahini and olive oil sharing space in a blender. It can be augmented with varying degrees of garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper and other spices, all to taste. Done right, the whole process takes less than five minutes and the result is a versatile spread that makes everything it touches taste better. So, while I can understand the appeal of complicated dishes with long lists of very particular ingredients, I don't really see them as being anything more than novelties of cuisine. Real lovers of food live by simplicity. If it needs something extra, it's probably not good enough to put on your plate.

Sick Day Foods: Sweet Tea

We've all had that feeling. That unpleasant, sinking realization that some inconvenient bug has gotten hold of us and now we're looking at a week of common illness. You know the old saying, "Starve a fever, feed a cold," but who feels like cooking when that dreaded cold actually shows up? Luckily, there are a few foods that can help ease the malady but don't take that much time and effort to make. The best part? They can all be made ahead of time when you're feeling your best. Today's recipe is one of my favorites. Let's get into it. Sweet Tea Tea is a healthy beverage on its own, even when it's not being used as a warm, soothing agent in natural medicine. But I think it can be taken to another level entirely by being made into that true southern delight, Sweet Tea. I grew up in Ohio, so I was always a couple states away from the real South. I had plenty of family in Georgia and Florida, so trips to the other side of the Mason-Dixon line were frequent for my family. When we hit central Tennessee, there was only one thing on my mind: Sweet Tea. There's more to Sweet Tea than just a bag of leaf and a packet of sugar. No, sir. True Sweet Tea is made with simple syrup. Start with 2 cups of water. Make sure the water starts cold in a pot then add three large bags of tea (whichever brand you like), the kind that are marketed as "family size" that usually make a full pitcher of tea. Bring the water to a boil. When it hits the boiling point, remove the pot from the heat altogether. Let that tea steep for about 15 minutes. When it's done, put it in a pitcher and fill the rest with water. As for the syrup, use two parts sugar for every one part of water. Just bring the water to a boil and dissolve the sugar while the water is still on the heat. Once the sugar has dissolved, remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool. Simply bottle the syrup and add it to taste with your tea. This works better than adding straight sugar to the tea because the granules won't dissolve completely. Simple syrup can last in the bottle for a couple months at least, just as long as you let it boil and not just caramelize. If you want to make it really authentic, here's a little secret to bring the sweet in your Sweet Tea to a new level. After you bring your tea-steeping water to a boil but before you add the bags, throw in a pinch of baking soda. This will do two things. First, it will naturally darken the tea so it will have that distinct Sweet Tea hue. More importantly, the baking soda will eliminate some of the bitterness that goes along with the natural flavor of tea. This opens the door for an extra balancing ingredient at the end. With your baking soda-augmented Sweet Tea ready to serve, a squirt of lemon juice will give some extra character to the drink, replacing the bitterness that would otherwise be there with a refreshing tang. On sick days, that lemon can have a soothing power for sore throats. Sweet Tea is good warm or on ice, in any season and during any period of ill or good health. It's easy enough to make that you won't strain yourself, plus you'll get the added benefit of some steam while you're boiling the water. Enjoy and feel better, readers!

DIY Bread

Bread prices have really gone through the roof lately. And as a home office worker, I eat at home for every meal. And as a bad cook, many of those meals are sandwiches. Furthermore, I am picky about bread, and usually buy the more expensive loaves. (My current favorite is the line of local Franz breads which do not use high fructose corn syrup.) I decided that it was time to invest in a breadmaker. I had tried making loaves of bread by hand in the past, but these efforts were… less than successful. (See note about bad cook above.) Since breadmakers are expensive, and I was not sure if I would like the results or keep at it, I decided to hit the local thrift store first. I scored a perfectly good breadmaker for only $7 at the Goodwill. Yay! If you go thrifting for a breadmaker, be sure that it has all its parts. It should have a removable bread dough pan, and a little paddle. Be sure that the bread pan fits in correctly, and that it isn't badly scratched. Thrift stores usually have a place where you can plug in electronics to verify that they work - be sure to do this! When you get home, run a Google search for "[manufacturer] [model number] breadmaker manual." For example, I searched for "Sunbeam 5833 breadmaker manual." Most manufacturers offer downloadable PDF versions of their user manuals online. Download the manual, and study it carefully. In the case of the Sunbeam 5833 manual, it included a lot of valuable troubleshooting information, basic breadmaking instructions, and an extensive collection of recipes. It's tempting to buy the boxes of pre-packaged breadmaker mix, but don't be fooled! These are practically as expensive as a store bought loaf of bread, and contain a lot of weird chemicals. It's not that hard to make breadmaker bread "from scratch," I promise. Your main ingredient is flour. Be sure to buy breadmaker flour, NOT "all purpose flour." I use Gold Medal Better For Bread, but that's just because it's the least expensive option at my local grocery store. Buy the smaller bag at first, because flour goes stale fairly quickly. If you end up making bread often enough, you can justify the purchase of a ten pound sack. Regardless of which size you buy, be sure to store it in an airtight container. I usually pour half of the flour into a plastic lidded container, then stuff the remaining sack into a large Ziplock bag to keep it fresh. Your breadmaker manual will have a ton of recipes in it. You can also search online for bread machine recipes. There are a ton! My current favorite recipe for basic white bread is here. (In fact, I'm baking a loaf right now!) It will take about three hours for your breadmaker to complete its cycle. After that, I like to let the loaf sit (not in the pan!) for at least 1-2 hours, in order to cool off. I store my loaves in a ziplock bag, so I want to be sure they are 100% cool before sticking them in there, lest they steam themselves to death.

Doughnuts. And Coffee

It's after ten at night. I've been writing pretty much all day. It snowed earlier, and it's still trying hard to do it some more. I've been out for short walks twice, in the trying-to-decide-if-it's going to snow or not weather. I want doughnuts. I want fresh, hot, crispy dense-crusted slightly-sweet buttermilk bars, and bismarks filled with bavarian cream.

Yes, yes, I am a doughnut addicted writer. Also coffee. Coffee and doughnuts, are sort of companion addictions. And I'm not alone in my habits; I note that almost every single Robert B. Parker Spenser novel I've ever read features the detective indulging in coffee and doughnuts. And while it's after ten at night, and my doughnut pusher of choice closes at four in the afternoon, I can't really stop thinking about the joys of a fresh bismark with bavarian cream. And cofee. Did I mention the coffee? And I gotta say, the idea of a glazed chocolate old-fashioned topped with melted Guitard chocolate that goes by a name like Death by Chocolate has definite appeal.

It's not like this is a new thing for me. I remember coffee hours after Sunday school as a thing of wonder because they featured doughnut holes. Those came from Young's Diner, which, years later in grad school, also provided endless urns of really good hot coffee with heavy cream and amazing breakfasts, all day long. But the bulk of my doughnut cravings until my college years were served by Dunkin' Doughnuts, where my particular favorite is the chocolate honey dipped crueller (now referred to a "glazed chocolate cake stick")—accompanied, naturally, by Dunkin's own coffee.

In California, Krispy Kreme is de rigeur, and I openly acknowledge a certain fondness for the fresh, warm, slightly crisp glaze of a Krispy Kreme Original glaze. I admit, my first impressions of Krispy Kreme were negative; I was fifteen then, visiting kin in South Carolina, who wanted me to know the joys of Krispy Kreme compared to Yankee desecrations served up by the likes of Dunkin' Doughnuts. My aunt, guided by my under-six-years-of-age cousins, brought home a dozen or so cake doughnuts covered with frosting, and, heaven save me, multi-colored sprinkles. They were unmentionably vile, and I think I managed to actually avoid ingesting any. But in later years, with the wisdom of age and a Krispy Kreme within walking distance, I learned the joys of a fresh Original Glaze, with hot just brewed coffee.

I should confess that, while I am fond of the Original Glaze when fresh, and of the Glazed Chocolate Cake, given a choice between Krispy Kreme in Westwood, home of UCLA and Stan's Doughnuts, Stan's will win hands down. It's the only place I've ever been able to find a cinnamon chocolate doughnut, or a chocolate jelly doughnut with raspberry filling, and they're made fresh, every day. I could order a dozen, online, and they'd FedEx them to me, overnight, but that seems a bit like overkill.

I suppose one of the reasons, aside from being tired and wanting the caffeine-sugar-fat buzz, is the weather. Were I still in New Hampshire, with this weather at this time of year (sleet mixed with rain, at present), we'd be contemplating sugaring, and that means fresh, hot-just-out-of-the-grease buttermilk doughnuts and endless cups of hot coffee so our hands and faces don't freeze right off while we're dumping the maple sap from sugar maples into vats on the back of a truck or wagon, to make maple syrup. Ever had hot maple syrup drizzled over a just-fried cake doughnut?

But I'm in Washington, not New Hampshire, and I'm still working on a piece I really want to finish. Tomorrow, though, tomorrow I'm off to Rocket Doughnuts, where there's a bismark and at least one buttermilk bar with my name on 'em. I want to at least try one of the lemon filled bismarks. And coffee.

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