Breakfast of Champions

The Breakfast of Champions

I’m back in New Hampshire on vacation for a week and on my list of things that I really wanted to do while I’m here is something that probably wouldn’t fall on the list of very many people. Sure, I want to go to the beach, the lake and the mountains – everybody does. But for me, the one thing that I really wanted to do is, of course, food-related. I couldn’t wait to get to Dunkin’ Donuts. That’s right, Dunkin’ Donuts. Don’t talk to me about those air-filled Krispy Kreme donuts. I want a donut that it substantial and sits in your stomach like a stone for at least an hour or two. I wanted my Dunkin’ Donuts blueberry cake donut.

Having grown up in New Hampshire, all I knew was Dunkin’ Donuts and I thought there were Dunkin’ Donuts shops all over the world. Sadly, where I live now, there isn’t another Dunkin’ Donuts until you get to Seattle, I think,  a fact that I bemoan every time I see a Dunkin’ Donuts commercial on TV. I remember the original Dunkin’ Donuts commercials with the poor, overworked donut baker whose life revolved around making donuts in the early morning. “Time to make the donuts” he’d moan as he walked into the store in the early hours of the morning, day after day after day, his whole life a revolving door into the Dunkin’ Donuts shop. (There are many days when I feel like that at work, but that’s a whole different story.)

For those of you who haven’t had the luck to try a Dunkin’ Donuts donut, it’s really hard for me to describe why I have such a fondness for them. After all, a donut is a donut, right? Then there’s the famous Dunkin’ Donuts coffee. It’s nothing fancy, just good, strong coffee that tastes exactly like what it is – coffee. It was one of the happiest days of my life when my local Albertsons started carrying the Dunkin’ Donuts coffee beans. At least I could have a little piece of my fond memories in my own kitchen.

Today is actually Day One of my vacation in New Hampshire and I can already cross off my number one goal – I had breakfast at Dunkin’ Donuts. I think the donut gods were looking out for me, because there’s actually a Dunkin’ Donuts situated at the end of the street where my best friend Joanne lives. When I walked into the busy shop at 7:30am (5:30 am MST) I was greeted by a dizzying array of donuts and muffins and the smell of coffee. But things have changed a little since my last visit to Dunkin’ Donuts more than 20 years ago. They’ve now jumped on that “healthy” bandwagon and offer reduced fat muffins, flatbread and egg white breakfast sandwiches and other items that I personally feel have no place in such an establishment. Don’t get me wrong, I always strive to eat healthy but when I go to Dunkin’ Donuts, by God, I want my full calorie Boston Crème donut oozing with crème filling. After all, if I’m going to fall off the wagon, I want to do it in a big way.

The other thing I’d forgotten about Dunkin’ Donuts is they fix your coffee for you. None of this “do you want room for cream and sugar?” They ask you what you want in it and put it in for you so that my coffee with two creams and one sugar arrived that way to me in the cup. It was heaven.

I have to be careful though while I’m here because I might very well become so re-addicted to Dunkin’ Donuts that I might try to sneak a dozen home in my suitcase. I wonder if they could Fed-Ex them to me every morning….