Sorry for the lack of posts – I was in DC most of last week for real job stuff and then got distracted by a Clinic concert and a friend of a friend’s circus. Part of me had wanted to toss a plain glazed through the gates of the white house lawn just to see what would happen. Lights? Alarms? Armed secret service dudes, etc. But instead I ended up at Starbucks eating a fairly moist and sweet Chocolate Glazed from Top Pot with an iced coffee.

Top Pot is small Seattle chain and, along with The Doughnut Plant and Voodoo, is really one of the few Doughnut shops furthering Doughnut culture – as opposed to hanging on by a thread of yeast dough like so many indie Doughnut shops faced with DD and KK infiltration. Almost two years ago – is this blog that old? – Blognut field-correspondent Beta Blognut reported on Top Pot and dropped near perfect scores on their Pink Feather Boa and Double Trouble Chocolate Cake. This of course was back when we still used a Doughnut rating scale before realizing that really all Doughnuts are pretty good and nothing ever received a bad score. But rating scale or no rating scale TP Doughnuts are tops and I was happy to find them in a Portland, OR ‘bucks last year. I assumed this was just a regional North Western situation, but after the DC encounter I did some Google-ing and learned the partnership’s gone national.

Apparently as of of April 8th Top Pot has reached Starbucks in all 50 states, replacing the corporate coffee monster’s really fatty and really just-OK Doughnuts. And I’ve got so many questions. Did TP give up their recipe? Do they fry them in Seattle and Fed-Ex all over the country? Maybe use regional bakeries like ‘bucks does for certain products? I’m waiting to talk with the folks at Top Pot for the details so stay tuned. Here’s a shoddy camera phone pic:

While I’m in DC for a few days Field Correspondant Beta Blognut has left us with arguably the most unappetizing photo I’ve ever seen. And is that a horseshoe crab?

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My parents live in the country outside of Charlottesville, VA and there’s this situation where these cows graze on their property even though they don’t own any cows. Mom sometimes brings them celery but while visiting over the weekend it seemed like a good time to see if cows like Doughnuts. More specifically Spudnuts. Normally I wouldn’t waste my favorite all-time Doughnut on a cow but since a fresh dozen found its way into our hands while the remainder of the previous day’s batch sat neglected, I went for it. I’m hoping this is OK with PETA.

Here’s how it went down:

Cow approaches Spudnut.

Cow goes for it.

Spudnut in cow’s mouth.

Cow doesn’t like Spudnut and walks away!

Field Correspondant Beta Blognut returns with part two of his Asian Donut expose. Check out part one here, or just scroll down. And for those who’ve been asking, I’m in the process of updating my Donut Shop links and should get to all the recent Reader Suggestions shortly.

A line runs down the block at this famous soup dumpling shop in Shanghai and the kitchen is cramped full of cooks grabbing at a pink mountain of raw pork.

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I intended to post last night but instead ended up at the Handsome Furs show at The Bowery Ballroom, which was INSANELY good and Dan Boeckner can’t write a bad song. But thankfully Blognut field corresponent, Beta Blognut, has stepped in with Shanghai Surprise #1. And stay tuned for more of Beta’s Asian Donut reporting in the coming weeks.

Beta Blognut finds himself in the Olympic host city of Beijing. Almost the first thing you see coming from the airport is the vaguely donut-shaped Olympic Stadium, also known as the bird’s nest. Construction goes on at all hours of the night, and Beijing’s skyline is filled starbursts of experimental architecture, lording over where hutongs once huddled. Rem Koolhaas’ controversial CCTV building continues to garner press. The cantilevered, 230-meter towers have no right angles, the resulting structure instead that of a loop. Critics and proponents alike call it “The Twisted Doughnut.”

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I hadn’t been to Virginia Beach since high school when I used to play Pearl Jam songs on the street in exchange for quarters and the occasional complimentary Indian buffet. So on our recent visit to the area, when not downtown eating Ed La Dou’s original BBQ Chicken Pizza at the California Pizza Kitchen – 2 visits in 3 days! – I was desperately looking for Donuts that weren’t Dunkin’ or Krispy Kreme. Because unless my Internet-ing skills have dwindled, the expansions of Mass’s DD and Carolina’s KK seem to have collided somewhere along the shores of Virginia, effectively squashing the local Donut scene.

But like Illinois senator and unconfirmed Donut-lover Obama says, there’s still hope for change. In so many towns overtaken by suburbia’s franchised sprawl, the underground Donut movement refuses to die, smoldering until the public’s corporate frustration becomes so great it can only be pacified by a home-made fritter. And I wouldn’t be surprised if this is happening in VA Beach.

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Photo courtesy of the back wall at Yummies Donuts of Venice, Florida.

This morning I saw a guy pouring Splenda packets into his Tropicana orange juice. It really skeeved me out and now I’m having trouble thinking about Donuts because Donuts remind me of sugar and sugar reminds me of the Splenda situation. So I have to keep this short.

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Back from FLA with a slight sunburn and three new blisters courtesy of my annual round of golf with father-in-law Blognut and his friend Clyde. Number of Pars = 0. Bogies = 0. Double bogies = 2. Balls lost in Palmettos = at least 12.

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Off to Florida to see Mr. and Mrs. Blognut-in-law. Back Sunday with grouper sandwiches - hopefully fried - and tales from Yummies redux. And word has it there’s Cuban on the horizon.