The Donut FeedBag

Hi! Welcome! Hello!

As I was stuffing my face with donuts the other day and trying to write overly detailed descriptions to friends, I had a thought. Wouldn’t it be nice to have my notes on donuts I’ve eaten so when I forget about them after a donut blackout I can reference them? It’s a shame going to a donut shop and not remembering what you’ve had before and felt about it so you don’t make that mistake again. I know it’s just a donut, but these are calories and sometimes a Brinks truck we’re talking about.

I tried to think of what kind of notebook layout would work best for this, or should it be digital? I like physically writing things, but my handwriting is trash, and also indexing is a little slower. Something digital would be good, and flexible for later additions, but– actually, I really don’t have any downsides to something like a spreadsheet, other than the fact I just don’t want to do it.

Enter the blog format. Now I get to yell into the internet and pretend people care! And I think I’m still grieving over the implosion of Deadspin and missing a similar format. I figure I can step up and be the hero the internet needs.

There are plenty of donut shops in the Metro Boston area, fancy and hole-in-the-wall, and Dunkin’. I’ve hit a bunch already, but never wrote detailed notes, so I gueesssss I’ll have to get back out there again. FOR YOU. You’re welcome.

And who knows, once I get going, I’ll probably branch out and cover other stuff. There are plenty of good bakeries and bad bakeries and weird pastry stuffs out there that I like eating and complaining about.

But, Travis, you ask, why are YOU writing this? While I’m not uniquely qualified, I’d like to think I’m semi-qualified. I’ve had a sourdough starter for a little over a year now and do a loaf once a week. While they’re not perfect, I appreciate the process and tinkering with recipes and processes. I feel that I can be a little more appreciative of bakery’s work put into their product, and whatever Dunkin’ does I guess. Hopefully this also gives be a better vocabulary bank to pull from when describing tastes and textures other than “it’s yum”.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

I’ve also tried my hand at fancy pastries and donuts! That never goes well! But I appreciate the process there as well and know how much work goes into creating something that’s high quality.

Or none of this qualifies me and I’m just spewing out nonsense. Either way: I’m achieving my goal of keeping my donut notes somewhere, and if these help someone somewhere once, then that’s a bonus! Don’t make bad donut choices!

Also as a bonus– if I feel like hustling more and get into a rhythm with this, I may have opportunities to create dumb videos around topics. I also have a penchant for dumb bracket competitions, so maybe even look at a staple(s) between most donut shops and have a FIGHT.

And as I eat my way through different shops and flavors, you can follow along as I try and stave off weight gain and diabetes, and see who I can get blocked by on Instagram (Blackbird once already– I dropped a hot take in a comment that a flavor was pretty bad).

First write up coming: PVD!