Say Goodbye to Krispy Kreme

Krispy Kreme in Medford, MA is closing.

Have you been? Lots of people went when it first opened, stood in line for 45 minutes and drove back to NH with 6 dozen donuts or more, ready to share the warm flaky pastry with the uninitiated.

They were such a desired treat that people would set up roadside displays of several boxes of donuts - just like you see people with the buckets of roses on the sides of roads, ready to make a tidy profit from passersby. Lots of people also used them for school fundraisers. They were hot sellers (pardon the pun)!

But now, the store is closing. Apparently there is one in Dedham, so if you really feel the need, you could go there, I suppose.

Have you tasted a Krispy Kreme? I am one of the few who really doesn't think they're that great (I can almost hear the gasps).

I had my first KK in Las Vegas. A jelly filled. Eh. I had dieted and exercised my ass off to look good in Vegas, and I decided to have the KK donut experience. It was SO not worth the calories and sugar. Blech.

Then I heard that the filled donuts weren't nearly as good as the plain glazed. I had been to the KK in Medford, didn't eat any. They had been brought into work, I didn't eat them. It wasn't until this year that someone brought in many dozens to the job I work at now that I tried one. So I ate one. It was good. Not great, I've had better foods than this, certainly. But people were falling over themselves to have another, to pass them to one another. It was a whole experience for them.

I entered my department and some looked at me expectantly, as if to gasp, "Did you try one??!!" I sat down, someone asked if I had one, I said yes. She waited for me to gush and fawn over a donut. I didn't. She told me the real secret to enjoying a KK donut is to heat it in the microwave for 10 seconds. Okay. I started to work. She insisted I try another one heated. The usual lines of defense for refusing food weren't working. She actually got up, went to the break room, heated one up, and brought it to my desk. Can you imagine?

It was still okay. I've made donuts before that frankly, tasted exactly the same way. And I didn't have to drive an hour to have one.

Maybe I'm a New England style donut liker. I read somewhere that New Englanders tend to like cake-like donuts as opposed to KK's yeast risen. And we like a little spice in them. Like nutmeg and cinnamon. If I'm going to have a donut, it'll be a Dunkin' Donut. Jelly or chocolate. And Munchkins! Yum!