Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Instant classic.

This is what my family all agreed after tasting the Friday special from RingO's Donuts: Peach-filled. I am salivating thinking about the fried fabulousness of the glazed delight. I cannot possibly explain how much I enjoy peaches, so I'll let Nicholas Cage do it for me. Sadly, it isn't Friday yet, so I'll have to report on the business instead (based on the evening's research).

With 27 varieties, even if you can't get there on Peach-filled Donut day, you'll have no trouble finding something you'll love, whether tried and true classics or new instant classics waiting to be discovered. My second favorite was the Honey Bun, which I devoured far too quickly to come up with anything clever to say about it. My parents and I also really enjoyed the Key Lime yeast doughnut that looks like a normal doughnut with its hole filled and topped with dollop of delicious key lime cream in the center. There is the Orange Juice cake doughnut, which is a cake doughnut with a distinctive taste of kiwi. [Editor's note: It doesn't taste like kiwi. Obviously, it tastes like joy.] And then, for those who follow the trends of haute cuisine, there is the Squealer, a maple bacon doughnut. Owner/chef, J. Kirk Ring, notes that "In Smithfield [home of world famous cured ham], you have to have something with a pork product."

But that's not the only way, RingO's appeals to local taste. Since opening in March 2009, the business has sold donuts to frequent sell outs, a wonderful success story for such a young business. I'm not sure I could join Ring in getting up at 3:30am six days a week to make donuts, but I would willingly stay up late enough to eat them!

(Thanks to The Daily Press and Eric Gillard for unknowingly contributing to this post by doing all the non-eating research. And thanks to this person who put the Nick Cage scene to music.)

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Free Ben & Jerry's: Take the dough out of politics!

Received this email:

"At Ben & Jerry's we're so fond of dough we invented Cookie Dough ice cream! But when it comes to politics, there's no place for "dough". So why are corporations allowed to spend as much money as they want to influence our elections? Join us to take back American democracy with a Constitutional Amendment that will keep corporate money out of our elections.

"To kick off this campaign, what better way to show our support of the people's right to have their voices heard than to give away free ice cream! On February 14th from 5pm - 8pm, visit a participating Scoop Shop to get a free scoop of Americone Dream. It's the flavor's 5th anniversary too!

"Take action at getthedoughout.org!"