Donut Discovery
I have a long and checkered past with donuts. Let’s just say for now that there were a couple of years in college, and probably a little while after graduation, when I would not even consider eating a donut. But I do love them.
Here in Albany, early on I was convinced there had to be a good place to get donuts, besides the omnipresent Dunkin’ Donuts.
Perhaps it is the rosy glow from my youth, but I remember Dunkin’ Donuts being better. At least in Miami when I was growing up, the donuts were made in the store where they were sold. These days the donuts are made in central kitchens and trucked out to the stores. Clearly someone in corporate headquarters doesn’t think it makes a heck of a lot of difference, but I steadfastly disagree.
Dunkin’ Donuts donuts are just not very good.
And as luck would have it, after a couple of years living in the region, the family and I finally stumbled upon our favorite donut maker, Bella Napoli in Troy. Still, as much as we loved their donuts, there was one critical flaw—their glaze is weak.
Chocolate Bliss
I love chocolate. Not like Mrs. Fussy loves chocolate, but I love it all the same. She loves chocolate in the way that I have to hide my chocolate from her. When the mood strikes, my better half can devour mass quantities of the stuff.
On the other hand, I prefer to savor it.
I’ll take a little nibble. I will let a morsel melt on my tongue. A good quality chocolate bar could last me weeks. Except for when it suddenly disappears from the drawer, and then I know that Mrs. Fussy has struck again.
It is amazing that I haven’t talked much about chocolate over the course of the past year. Sure, there was the post on chocolate malts, and around Halloween I talked about my favorite candy.
But since I recently started talking about my sweeter side, I knew that the deep well of chocolate love wasn’t far behind. When I made the Florentine cookies, one of the secret weapons for beating the bakers was a chocolate ganache filling. And I also realized that I had mentioned ganache in one of my very earliest posts on how I hate s’mores.
What I haven’t done is tell you how wonderful and easy it is to make the stuff.
Share the Love
I cannot believe it is Friday already. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you are trying to convince people to line up behind a slate of amazing local businesses for the designation of “Best of the Capital Region”.
Granted, not all of the businesses are local. And to be fair, there is still a chain or two on the list. But they are all there for good reasons.
The executive summary is:
1) We want to have a Wegmans and a Trader Joe’s.
2) The Best in the Capital Region should be The Best, not necessarily the most popular.
3) Restaurants that bring us sustainable, humanely raised meat should be rewarded.
As I have said before, this list isn’t just my personal opinion of what is best in the region. And I have made compromises, as I imagine will anyone who votes for the slate. But if we each just vote for the small local businesses that are our own personal favorites, the chains will win.
Subway is not our best sandwich shop, despite what the 2009 Times Union poll suggests.
You are still reading this. So hopefully you are at least partially convinced. Even if all my readers voted the full slate, this blog doesn’t reach nearly enough people to effect this change. Despite All Over Albany mentioning this effort earlier this week, and Albany Eats posting about the FUSSYlittleBALLOT in solidarity, this will fail without your involvement.
If you believe in what I am trying to accomplish, you need to help spread the word. Here is what I would like you to do. And it has nothing to do with Twitter or Facebook.
I Try To Be My Best
This week is all about the FUSSYlittleBALLOT.
Monday, I introduced the concept, and why it was important.
Tuesday, I revealed the slate.
Wednesday, I made the case for Wegmans and Trader Joe’s.
While there has been some great positive feedback about this effort to get big chains that are rife with mediocrity off our proud city’s Best of 2010 list, there has also been some constructive criticism.
But after reading through the comments, there are a few things I would like to explain.
Voting For a Change
By now hopefully you have checked out the FUSSYlittleBALLOT and the whole reason for this quixotic effort.
I think beck said it best:
I agree with the spirit of your ballot, even if I don’t necessarily agree with all the choices. For one, I once met Alan Chartock of WAMC and he was such a self-righteous ass I’d never listen to his radio station. I also don’t like Karavalli, despite what everyone keeps telling me about its deliciousness. And the Colonie Town Library is certainly not the best of our local libraries – not even its children’s room. I realize you’ve culled from multiple sources for this poll, and it’s not just your opinions, but I do object to those.
Yet I’m still going along with your dastardly scheme, because I, too, am tired of seeing Subway and Five Guys win categories in what’s supposed to be a local poll.
However, recapturing the “Best of the Capital Region” designation from the Times Union for local businesses is just one reason to participate. The ballot also represents an opportunity for voters to make a statement, showing certain out-of-state businesses they are welcome, and possibly tipping the scales for a local groundbreaking.
Vicki realized this and declared:
What a fabulous idea – I have hated those lists for years because they don’t reflect quality and taste. But I have submitted my first entry ever and am crossing my fingers!!! Anything for a Wegmans!!!!
The FUSSYlittleBALLOT was not created willy-nilly. A lot of thought went into every decision. Today I wanted to discuss the thought process that went into choosing some of the retailers and categories in the first section.
FUSSYlittleBALLOT
There is nothing little about the FUSSYlittleBALLOT. After some exhaustive research and cross-referencing of last year’s winners, Yelp, some of the more established local blogs, and even some newer ones, I have come up with a list for your consideration.
What list?
Why, a list of entries for the Times Union Best of the Capital Region 2010, of course.
Admittedly, there are a few entries that may seem a bit odd. Upon viewing them you may find yourself saying, “We don’t have a Wegman’s or a Trader Joe’s here. Why on Earth is Daniel B. suggesting I vote for them?”
Well, in the past these two highly desired businesses have received a smattering of write-in votes. However, wouldn’t it be fantastic if there were some organized campaign to get them to appear within the top three of an annual Times Union poll?
(Are there any community organizers out there? I know it’s a dirty word these days, but you are among friends.)
You will also notice that the ballot contains answers for almost all the categories, including those that extend far beyond my expertise. This is where my outside advisors were especially helpful. But the same logic holds here, for categories like Best Hardware Store, why should Lowe’s be voted our best when we have a fantastic local shop?
For those not prepared to vote for this slate without further conversation, over the next few days, I will be discussing some of my choices. And hopefully I can convince you to join the movement to bring The Best back to the “Best of”.
Now open this link in another window, and then all you have to do is copy and paste the entries below. It is as easy as pie. And if you find you are short of time, the boldfaced entries are the ones that are most important.
A Beacon on a Hill
One thing that really cooks my goose year after year is reading the “Best of the Capital District” lists from the local media.
Last year the Times Union poll awarded the following:
Best Sandwich Shop: Subway
Best Buffalo Wings: Wings Over Albany
Best Hamburger: Five Guys
Those are just a few. In a place that actually has several brilliant Italian delis and Buffalo wings are offered at every tavern and pizza parlor, to give these “best of” designations to big chains is just absurd. And while I love Five Guys for their famous burgers and fries, it is still inescapably a fast food burger.
Well, instead of complaining about it, I’ve decided to take action. Only it is taking a good bit longer than I initially thought.
Beating the Bakers
My father is a very competitive person. When I was younger, we would be out sailing in Biscayne Bay, and he would choose a boat off in the distance to race. Perhaps some of this comes from being a litigator. Maybe it is just his personality.
But you can’t grow up around that without at least a little bit wearing off.
So when the San Francisco outpost of Foote Cone & Belding (now unthinkably called Draft FCB) announced there would be a bake-off when it moved into its fancy new office, I started thinking about how to win. There was some stiff competition, especially from within my department. They were the bakers – let’s call them junior and senior.
The junior baker made the best snickerdoodles I have ever tasted. To call them cookies does them an injustice. Somehow I managed to get the recipe out of her, but only if I swore never to reveal it. So the only way to experience these cookies is to compel me to make up a batch.
The senior baker was crazy about pies and took classes on cake making. She once made this cake that was decorated with a beautiful lattice of icing, which looked like it was painstakingly hard to execute.
And then there was me, who made desserts but didn’t bake at all.
Double Golden Harvest Farms
A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned a sweet topic in a salty post. It involved our local distillery and the unconfirmed report that they received a big award.
The distillery is Harvest Spirits, which is conveniently located in part of a building at Golden Harvest Farms. The awarding body is the tenth annual San Francisco World Spirits Competition. The results have been officially released, and the awards are as follows:
Cornelius Applejack – Double Gold
PEAR Brandy – Gold
Core Vodka – Silver
With all the distilleries we have in the state of New York, this distillery was the only one that had the gumption to play with the big boys in the spirit world this year. And they were justifiably rewarded. Maybe next year Thomas Earl McKenzie, the distiller who makes an absolutely stunning rye, will get some of the recognition he deserves.
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