Not All Donuts Are Created Equal

This past weekend Michelle and I celebrated our 6th anniversary with a trip to San Francisco. There, an otherwise pleasant trip was almost marred on Saturday morning by one of my worst donut experiences of all time.

We'd planned breakfast with some friends at their apartment, and it fell on us to bring pastries. A friend of ours mentioned a local donut place in Menlo Park, "Sweet Amy's," though he couldn't necessarily vouch for its quality. In fact, the fact that it was a donut shop, a deli, a mexican restaurant, and a mini grocery store all in one was not a good sign. Still, I thought it was worth the chance. Donuts are almost always worth the chance.

What we got, though, were some of the most sub par donuts I've ever sampled. To begin with Sweet Amy's has a dismal pastry selection. And what's worse, the donuts were overcooked (likely left in the oil too long--an amateur mistake). Worse still, Sweet Amy charged me $8.75 for my dozen donuts, making them the most expensive donuts I'd ever purchased.

One may wonder why I bothered to purchase them at all, which is a good question. In my defense I can only say that: 1. By the time I knew the price of the donuts, they'd already been selected and packaged (and at the time I thought I either bought those donuts or no donuts at all--and even the worst donuts are usually better than no donuts at all, usually); and 2. I wasn't aware of just how poor a quality the donuts were until we were walking back to the car and I got to inspect them personally.

By the time we got to the car, I knew I'd been ripped off. [Tt's important to note that when I say "we" I'm referring to another friend of mine--Michelle was not with me at the time--if she had been the miracle that followed might never have been allowed to happen.] I didn't have the heart or the energy, though, to bring that to Sweet Amy's attention (I had certainly stopped calling her "Sweet"). It was only as we started to make our way to our friends' apartment in Mountain View that I remembered that I have a Krispy Kreme card that offers a free dozen glazed for every dozen purchased. As we made our way to Mountain View we spoke whistfully about how much more we would've enjoyed 2 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts (and for less money!) rather than these paltry pastries we'd just purchased.

It was then, as got off the freeway onto the Mountain View exit, that we knew there were forces at work larger than both of us. Right there, just off the freeway, was a sign welcoming us to a nearby Krispy Kreme.

The decision took less than a moment. Despite having already invested a previously unheard of amount of money on a dozen glorified biscuits, and despite the fact that our breakfast gathering only involved six people, it was clear we needed to invest in another two dozen Krispy Kremes.

So we did. (I'm just glad Michelle wasn't with us to provide any resistence).

Michelle took the news better than expected (in fact, my friend took most of the blame as an instigator!). And there were donuts. Yes, lots of donuts. In fact, I think before the clock struck noon I'd eaten close to six myself (which might explain why the some of those morning details are hazy--In fact, I probably shouldn't have been driving).

A good time (and a good donut) was had by all--no thanks to Sweet Amy.