Skip to main content

The Donut Hamiltonian

After a false start, we finally held the Donut Hamiltonian today. This is a Hamiltonian path (if you have to ask, it isn't worth explaining) through the independent donut shops of Atlanta, with a nod to the chains. The rules were simple. Each participant ate two donuts at each stop: a control donut, a glazed donut; and a free choice donut. Throwing up was not allowed.

First stop was Sublime Donuts on Tenth Street. It did not disappoint. My free choice donut was a chocolate raised donut, which had chocolate dough and a chocolate icing. Both that one and the glazed donut lived up to the high standards that I expect of Sublime. We all enjoyed the handmade coffee as well.

Next stop was the Krispy Kreme mother ship (Gabe's term) on Ponce. My glazed donut was warm and that was enough to make it very tasty.


Third stop was Happy Donuts (every city has to have one), which is near Grant Park. The less said about this stop the better. I' showing you the empty containers of glaze they were selling ($2 each) to spare you the sight of the donuts. Our glazed donuts were stale. I decided to eat it as quickly as possible to get it over with. After this stop, the sugar started to hit me.

The fourth stop was Dandy Donuts in Chamblee. (Nate was out of the game at this point, not due to lack of bravery but due to another appointment.) This place was a solid contender, as I expected. My free choice donut was a chocolate iced donut, which was pretty good.

We had originally planned six stops but we decided to stop at four. The sugar was getting to all of us at that point. (I did eat my donuts the fastest, even though I was the oldest person there by a large margin.) Eating eight donuts in an hour an a half wasn't as bad as my Bell Labs experience of eating a 10-scoop sundae, but it did take a day or two off my life expectancy. Nonetheless, the quest has its own rewards.

Sub-Base Sandwich Shoppe/Dandy Donuts on Urbanspoon

Krispy Kreme on Urbanspoon

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Eating Around Georgia Tech: Ecco

Our Texas Instruments colleague Cathy Wicks was gracious enough to host several of us at Ecco tonight. This is one of those restaurants that has been on my list for a long time. Even though it is within easy walking distance of Georgia Tech, I hadn't made it there until tonight. The menu is a combination of Italian, Spanish, and French that make use of some local Georgia ingredients. The combination of those three countries is sometimes a little forced, although the georgia ingredients (fruit, cheese) were all great and perfectly appropriate. We started out with a meat and cheese board. This actually reverses the French tradition, where cheese usually follows the main course. Everything was excellent. The Georgia cheese was a big hit, as was the French cow/goat cheese. I thought the sauscisson was very subtle and very good. The waitress said that the roast pork pasta was their signature dish, so I had to try it. It had traditional broad pasta (fresh, of course) ...

DCA: Cava Mezze Grill

Cava is a DC area chain with light Mediterranean food. Saibal encouraged me to try lunch at their airport location and I was very happy with the experience. I ordered falafel on SuperSalad with assorted other toppings. The falafel was tasty. The SuperSalad was light, flavorful, and very easy to eat. Overall, a healthy and enjoyable lunch, something you can't always say about airport eating.

Pressure Cooker Candied Ginger

I made candied ginger a few years ago. It's not something I would do every day but I had a lot of fun doing it. I recently acquired a pressure cooker and it inspired an interesting idea to me: why not make candied ginger in the pressure cooker? It should be very soft and flavorful. Here is the result. I peeled two large ginger roots, cut them into small cubes, and put them in the pressure cooker with heavily sugared water. The traditional method first boils the ginger in plain water to soften it and then again in sugar water to candy it. The resulting candy was very tender but still with the characteristic ginger texture. It was also sweet without being overpowering. The traditional method leaves a lot of sugar crystallized around the ginger. The pressure cooker gives a much more subtle result. The ginger stays moist even after it cools but you can dry it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. That inspired me to dip it in chocolate. While I was in the b...