Degas

erinb,I really did grow up on PLENTY of great southern cooking and all the tasty foods which you listed.

Funny thing is, all the folks in the family lived until thier late 80's and none sufferred heart attacks. However, just to be on the safe side, I TRY to restrict most of the fried and sugar foods to the weekend and TRY to follow a low fat and low sugar regime the rest of the time. But its often just TOO MUCH TO ASK of a good ole boy to forgo homemade ice cream and hot peach pie!

I have many fond memories of having to sit in a rocking chair on the back porch and shell a big mess of field peas before Mother would put those wonderful pies in the oven!

BrimhamRocks

OK ya'll, I'm way over here in England, and ya'll are makin' me miss Arkansas more'n a hawg misses his mud bath. Just stop it, ya hear?

Giovanna

Erinb: How lucky you are to have mastered your grandma's cooking abilities. Sadly I was not. She was a pinch of this and handful of that, and to make matters worse lived most of her life in Denver, and the altitude fouled everything up in trying to duplicate the wonderful things she made.

No Southern Belle, so none of your favorites, but wonderful dumplings, tomato gravy and veal cutlets, pork roasts and sauerkraut, and bread dumplings in vegetable soup. She was Hungarian and my grandad Czech. What a joy to again savor all those wonderful tastes and combinations on our May trip to Prague, Vienna and Budapest.

We seem to have a lot in common in terms of still loving those foods we grew up with, but I staunchly refuse to change my stand on KKs. LOL

cami5

Feeling deprived on the West Coast of British Columbia as the first Canadian KK is opening in Eastern Canada. Got to love KK in Vegas (watching the waterfall of glaze) and San Francisco. I prefer mine cooled to room temperature so the glaze sets and cannot abide any but the plain glazed doughnut. Oh well, I'll have to wait for a couple of more years for our own outlet. Enjoy.

Kay_M

Yes, there was quite a media buzz when a Krispy Kreme opened in...was it Mississauga? Not sure if there's one in Toronto proper. I've never been too interested in them, but reading this thread has got me wondering. I'll have to look up the location.

Now, if I gain weight as a result of all this, do I just sue Krispy Kreme or can I sue Fodors as well?

BrimhamRocks

lol

AllyPally

Ok, here's what happened. We arrived at Harrods on Saturday evening. HUGE queue. The BF was not happy (Australian - doesn't understand doughnuts). I reasoned that the line would move quickly and it did. We only needed to wait about 15 minutes.

The aroma. It hit me in a vast wave of nostalgia. The smells of my childhood finally met me in Knightsbridge after all these years. Artificial? Yes. Oversweet? Definitely. The service? Unmistakably American - with a big smile and ummming and ahhhing cheerfully encouraged. I didn't want their pre-mixed box - oh no - I wanted the raspberry out and the blueberry in (i can get all manner of raspberry flavoured stuff here). Two extra cream filled (not boston cream). I could have bought a starter pack of 24 - 12 mixed and 12 glazed - but I declined. 12 was enough. Total cost: £6.95 for a dozen. Yes, that's right.

Hot doughnut. I didn't really understand the concept until now. And this was definitely something Dunkin Donuts never did!! BF and I shared one. I smiled at the drippy delight and light as air dough. Amazing. I'm sorry but i really, really enjoyed my hot doughnut. It was divine. Yes, it was diabetes sweet but washed down with a cup of coffee and suddenly i felt snug and secure. Sad, eh? But food has that effect on you. We had another one. Both free, I might add.

I ate a further 3 yesterday and I can feel it on my thighs. Ho hum. Definitely a price worth paying though. I don't think the British will get it somehow but KK is there as quick pick-me-up for when you're tired of the browsing and the shopping. Sometimes I don't want a glass of champagne or an oyster or tapas or a formal sit down tea when I'm at Harrods. Now I have a quick, yummy alternative!!

playlad

I'm sorry but I must warn you:

It's a little known fact that the glaze on the these Doughnuts can be scraped off and insufflated (snorted)
The dough 'can be' injected by, first, dissolving paste in hydrochloric acid and water, and then adding potassium salt. although it renders the mix unsmokeable.

THIS explains the cult.

BrimhamRocks

hoooo boy

MelJ

I KNEW you'd like em hot, Ally! AND washed down with coffee. I think you summed it up perfectly when you said this treat makes a nice break from shopping. Sometimes you just want a little comfort food!!

Kavey

Well darn, now it's on my wish list and I'll have to shift my fat a**e all the way down to Harrods.

AllyPally you write like a seasoned review writer - have you thought of writing for local press? Or maybe that's what you do already, of course. I have no idea!

ncgrrl

Durham, NC, USA is about 90 miles (150 k) from Krispy Kreme World Headquarters in Winston-Salem, NC. You would think Durham would be over run with 'hot donuts now'. But no, the company can open stores in England, Canada, Australia, but not 90 miles down the road. It's on the same interstate for crying out loud. You don't have to take a plane through several time zones.

Ah, guess I'll have to plan a vacation to London to get the hot donuts now.

Nothing like a sugar buzz from a KK.

crazymina

Ally Pally, glad to hear you enjoyed them. One has to indulge once in a while.

However, I must admit, I am with the camp that thinks those things are disgusting. Grease blobs that just melt in your mouth.

Giovanna

Yes me too. I'm glad Ally Pally liked her first taste, and subsequent three tastes. Isn't it funny that Grasshopper, Crazy Mina and myself find them so repulsive and we all come from the same general area?

crazymina

I don't know if geography has anything to do with it Giovanna, although you may be onto something. I know for me it was eating an entire donut (my first time trying it). It was about 7 bites too many, and I felt really nauseous. Never have eaten once since!

Degas

I bet you slick and slender gals just nibble on tiny little rice cakes and wear dress sizes 1,2 or 3. Get some meat on your bones - you never know when the USA may suffer from a severe famine! And don't tell me you are saving up your calories for french pasteries! Take your sugar when you can get it!

AllyPally

I have to admit that I have a mega sweet tooth. Always have. I just spent £3.50 on a box of imported Fruit Loops because every once in a while I need Fruit Loops. You Americans who live Stateside have no idea how much I miss the food over there. I have an aversion to European pastries now, can you believe? I now hate anything made with dark chocolate, I hate british milk chocolate (like Cadburys). I don't eat this stuff all the time but when I want to, bring on the following: Betty Crocker frosting (we can only get chocolate and vanilla here), Carvel ice cream (NO haagen daaz), B&R Pink Bubblegum ice cream, Cool Whip, Nibs, Swedish berries, Red licorice & Kraft dinner. Yes, I know, I'm sad. But what you don't understand is that we can't get that stuff here, not without doing a detailed search. I can't even get HOT BUTTERED POPCORN AT THE CINEMA. Can you imagine???? Every North American who moves here freaks out at that one.

I get my Fruit Loops from an Antipodean store because I've discovered that Australia, despite being an ex-colony, actually shares a lot of its eating habits with America.

KK is something I will visit very occasionally - when I want a taste of North America.

BrimhamRocks

Yes, the popcorn thing at the movies here in Europe and the UK freaked me out too. One can only get either salted, dry popcorn, or crystalized sugar coated popcorn. If you ask, they will mix it for you, so you get half dry salted and half crystalized sugar coated. But no hot, delicious, buttered popcorn to be had anywhere! Arrrgghhh!

Queenie

Hey Birmingham Rocks & Ally Pally -

You think you have it bad try Switzerland - we cant even get chocolate chips (and Nestle is BASED here!)

YOU have Peanut Butter (have smuggled it back many times, jelly beans, and bisquick. Bet you can even get pancakes.

What I would give for Twizzlers, Poptarts, Betty Crocker anything, Reeses, Drano (we smuggle from Germany)and any shampoo besides Pantene and Nivea! And try and buy clothes if you are above an American size 8...forget about it

AllyPally

The popcorn is a real problem. I never have the popcorn now when i go to the movies. I will not eat plain, "sweet", salty or caramel. I want butter. Back when I was a kid, it was "golden topping" and then they got real. But living over here, I'm in a place prior to when I was born. The movies just aren't the same!!

OK Queenie, you DO have it much worse. I'm so sorry. If I were you, I would leave immediately. What do you do for chocolate chips?? Don't tell me you cut a big slab of Swiss chocolate into pieces??

The slow-as- molasses trickle of North American foodstuffs onto the shelves of British supermarkets is so depressing. We do have Pop Tarts and Reeses though. I have introduced Reeses to the Australian BF and he is impressed. He is 39 years old and well travelled and has never had a Reeses cup. We also have Reese fingers and Reeces Pieces. American friends - have Reeces morphed into any other varities?? I'll bet you have 10.

Grrrrrr.

btw, BF is going to try Cracker Jack when we go to New York. He saw an ad for it in the New Yorker and now he wants some