A few years ago, the world was introduced to an amazing soda-dispensing device called the “Freestyle.”  A giant robot soda fountain with a single spout and a touch screen, the Freestyle was highly anticipated by soda lovers for its unparalleled selection of soda flavors - over 100 flavors!

I hate it.  HATE it.  It’s overcomplicated.  It’s slow.  I only wanted one flavor anyway - Coke.  I’ve never walked into a quick-serve food establishment pining for cinnamon-grape-Tab-Root Beer.  The touch screens - surprise! - seem to become less responsive when hundreds of patrons (back for refills after licking their fingers, perhaps?) have touched them.  I recently experienced one that had a stuck valve or something, giving me what I guessed to be grape Coke - NOT what I was hoping for.

Do we really need 100+ flavors of sugared carbonated beverage?  (I know, we don’t need ANY flavors of sugared carbonated beverage....) The Freestyle seems to me to be an extension of the kind of thinking that led us to touchless, automatic paper towel dispensers, water faucets, even toilets.  We take a simple device, maybe as simple as a box of paper towels, and we spend money, time and brainpower that could be better used to figure out how we’re all going to eat in 50 years, and we create an overcomplicated device that burns electricity to do something that we could do ourselves.  And we could do it faster.  And it would work every time.

As for the Freestyle, well, sure, it’s better than opening a two-liter bottle for yourself, but the existing multi-spout soda fountain seemed to work just fine.  And I didn’t have to touch a grimy, little-kid’s-snot-covered touch screen (RIGHT before I eat).  And I didn’t have to wait for the machine to decipher my inputs.  And I didn’t get grape-tainted Coke.

Boo, Freestyle.  Boo.

Those who know me know that if my sweet tooth can be tempted by anything, it’s a good donut.  Hell, even a bad donut is good.  Having lived in, and travelled to, a few places in the US (and beyond), I’ve sampled enough donuts to have formed an opinion on which ones are better than others.  Here, then, is my current Top Ten list of my favorite donuts, subject to change if I find something better. 

10- Apple Cider donut, Mercier Orchards, Ellijay, GA

    The Apple Cider donuts at Mercier Orchards are some of the most moist cake donuts I’ve ever tasted.  Available in plain and powdered sugar coated, they’re pretty darn good donuts.

9- Glazed donut, Wenchell's Donuts (various locations in the western US)

   I’ll be honest, when co-workers have brought Wenchell’s donuts to work, I haven’t been that impressed — until I tried the glazed donuts.  Best glazed donut I’ve tasted; really gummy, and the glaze didn’t crumble and end up all over me.

8- Beignets, Lucille's restaurant, Boulder/Denver/Longmont, CO

   Lucille’s menu is based on the cuisine of New Orleans, and is worth trying even if you don’t get the beignets (how can you NOT?!?).  The beignets themselves are steaming hot pillows of airy pastry covered in enough white powder to send Tony Montana into a killing spree.  You’re likely to inhale a little sugar when you eat them, but they’re so delicious it’s worth it.

7- Chocolate Frosted donut with Fruity Pebbles, King Soopers Grocery Stores (various locations in the western US)

   Boutique donut shops probably started the trend of putting kids’ breakfast cereals on top of frosted donuts, and I did say this is a grocery store, didn’t I?  King Soopers donuts are surprisingly good, and the chocolate frosted with Fruity Pebbles (my favorite cereal!) is sublime.  Just get there early in the morning for the best results.

6- Sour Cream donut, Tim Horton's (NE US and Canada)

  I have to admit, I’ve never even been to a Tim Horton’s. My friends lived in Buffalo and always told me how good Tim’s donuts are, and when they visited their family back east, they brought some back to me.  So, even 24 hours old, having sat in a bag on an airplane flying across the country, the sour cream donut blew me away.  If it was fresh, it would likely be higher up this list!

5- Chocolate frosted donut, The Donut Stop, Amarillo, TX

  Some donut shops have a lot of crazy flavors to make them stand out.  Some just make great donuts.  The Donut Stop in Amarillo falls into the latter group, and they make amazing donuts.  Made with potato flour, the donuts have a mouth feel like no donut you’ve ever tasted - gummy but soft, chewy but tender - they really are the best donut I’ve ever tasted!  Why only number five? Keep reading....

4- Vanilla Creme-filled donut, Dunkin' Donuts (all over the place)

  Growing up on the east coast, I have eaten Dunkin’ Donuts all my life. Their donuts are good - not great, but good - and their coffee is, of course, the best.  Among their donut selections, though, hides a really great one - the Vanilla Creme-filled donut.  Imagine a donut pastry filled with buttercream cake frosting and you’ll get the idea.  Yum.

3- Citrus (orange) frosted donut, Lamar's Donuts (various locations around the midwest US)

  Lamar’s Donuts are very, very good.  The Citrus frosted donut was a huge surprise when I had it for the first time, especially in Colorado (not exactly known for orange-flavored stuff).  Unfortunately, my local Lamar’s apparently isn’t bringing this flavor back this year - write your congressman!!!

2- Grape Ape, Voodoo Donuts, Denver, CO (via Portland, OR)

  Voodoo Donuts opened their Denver location amid great anticipation from those of us who had heard about this Portland, Oregon-based mad science lab of a donut shop.  Dozens of crazy flavors are presented, like Old Dirty Bastard (chocolate frosting, Oreos and peanut butter) and Tangfastic (vanilla frosting and Tang powder). Their Denver location is difficult to get to, nearly impossible to find parking for and the line is pretty much always ridiculous. Despite the challenge of getting one, the Grape Ape donut (vanilla frosting with grape Kool-Aid powder and sprinkles) gave me the best flavor pop from a donut I’ve had since I experienced my number one donut.  

1- Cherry Frosted donut, The Donut Stop, Amarillo, TX

   Folks, if you want to taste the best donut the world has to offer, you just have to get to Amarillo, Texas.  Rumor has it that both Krispy Kreme and Dunkin’ Donuts have failed to get a toehold in the city of 200,000 because of the dominance of The Donut Stop.  With seven Amarillo locations, The Donut Stop is a classic, simple donut shop, with pretty standard flavor offerings, made with the addition of potato flour to give that unique gummy-yet-soft bite.  But for me, there’s only one donut king, and that is the cherry frosted donut.  On top of that gummy-soft raised donut is an impossibly bright red cherry frosting that reminds me of cherry Kool-Aid.  Intensely flavored but not overpowering, it’s the tastiest donut I’ve ever had.  Road trip, anyone?

Record Doctor V dust covers

A few months ago, my friend Mike Thomas asked me to sew a dust cover for a machine he bought for cleaning his vinyl records, the Record Doctor V.  Once it was completed, he was kind enough to include the cover in his YouTube review of the record cleaner.

I've been contacted by a few people since then asking me to make covers for their Record Doctors.  I made a couple yesterday, and made a couple of changes to the original design.  I cut the main body as one piece (shaped like a cross) and just sewed the four "cross" pieces to make a box.  I also eliminated all of the grosgrain binding on the edges, instead using a seam that traps the raw edge inside.  I'm pretty happy with the result -

If you happen to own a Record Doctor V and need a cover for it, these are available for $30 plus shipping. Custom colors and other features are available.

I'm a bit of a stickler for correct grammar usage, and I once even had a small business doing proofreading and copy editing.  Sometimes I wonder why people are so bad at using English correctly, and then I think of things like the following:

When you have a number of distinct items (flowers, for example), and you take some of those items away, you have fewer items.

When you have a quantity of something (like water), you have less of that something.

So you have fewer flowers, and less water.

So, if you increase the number of flowers,  why don't you have manier flowers?!?

English is screwed up.

"The Perfect Mojito" recipe:

As seen on my Youtube video, "How to make a perfect Mojito," here is the perfect Mojito recipe.

For one Mojito:
12 large mint leaves
1 lime, washed, cut in half and one half cut into four pieces
2 oz. simple syrup
2.5 oz rum (I prefer Gold)
Club soda to top

Place the mint in a cocktail shaker.  Add the four small pieces of lime, squeezing their juice into the shaker before tossing them in.  Squeeze the juice from the other lime half into the shaker and discard the lime.
Add the simple syrup and rum.  Add ice cubes (about one cup), and vigorously shake in the cocktail shaker for 20-30 seconds.  Pour into a glass and top with club soda.  Sip through a straw and enjoy!