I Love You All, Especially Mr. Dave

L’shana tova, baby.  For those who don’t follow, yesterday was Rosh Hashanah.  It’s the Jewish New Year.  Hopefully those of you who checked in on Thursday looking for a new post are back today.  I hate to disappoint readers of the Fussy Little Blog, especially when they kick so much ass.

Seriously.

I asked, and you delivered.  It’s not even like I asked nicely.  I was a whiney little snot.  And still, Phairhead, Leah the Nosher and StanfordSteph came back with all the details about what makes their preferred cider donut so wonderful.  Plus Jon in Albany clarified his position on what day of the week one is likely to get the best tasting donut from an orchard.  Sincerely, I thank you all.

Then there is Mr. Dave who wrote a stunningly great piece, which I am honored to have up on the FLB. He is a passionate man.  And while I agree with many of his sentiments, there are just a few points I’d like to address.

Fundamentally I disagree that “a cider donut is pretty much a cider donut.”  But I think that is part of my overall philosophy of approaching food.  I reject the notion of commodities, although I understand why they exist.  Still, one ear of corn is not as good as every other ear of corn.  The cider donuts I had at Indian Ladder Farms this past weekend (that started all of this) were far and away better than any I had previously had anywhere.  By the way, that includes last year’s specimens from Indian Ladder Farms!

But I absolutely agree with the notion that a cider donut is more than a cider donut.  For those who did not click through to read the full text of his comment, to me this was the most salient part:

A cider donut is really about being outside, in Upstate New York, at an Orchard, in fall, with your family, smelling the air, and being chilly for the first time all year.

Mr. Dave’s favorite cider donuts are the ones he has had every year since childhood.  The entire point of asking people about their favorites and why they were the favorites was not to debate whose donut was the best.  I’m not going to try and convince Mr. Dave that there is a better donut out there.  Because quite frankly, for him there simply isn’t.

Given my own set of criteria, I just wanted to assemble a short list of donuts to try.  And then, for those people who aren’t driven by things like nostalgia, provide some further thoughts on their comparative moistness, crumb, appley-ness, oiliness, sugar coating, et cetera.

Mr. Dave suggests that sometimes the food is secondary.  Or if the food isn’t secondary, perhaps it should be.  One’s wedding might be a good example.  But there are some of us to whom food is seldom secondary.  Sure, that might indicate some kind of neural or psychological imbalance.  But it is what it is.

And for those of us, our favorite upstate New York orchard may in fact be driven by who has the best donuts.  Or perhaps our favorite orchard is driven by the presence of a still.  More is the pity.

But I am also perfectly willing to believe that the great apple cider donut is completely an ephemeral thing.  Sometimes they just happen.  And they can happen anywhere.  You just need to be in the right place at the right time.  But it could be entirely unpredictable where and when this great cider donut will appear.

We’ll see how the tasting goes.

In the meantime to show my love for all of you, especially my frequent commenters who also write their own blogs, I have finally updated the blog roll.  It’s been a long time coming.  The new links include both food and non-food blogs.  Nestled among the familiar you will now see Capital Region Foodies, eat. read. repeat., Elizabeth Likes, Kimversations, North Country Rambler, Noshing Confessions, All This Happiness, Kim’s Happy Accidents, Windshield Diaries, and last but not least 12 Bottle Bar.

Thank you all for your continued participation.  And I wish everyone all the best in the new year.