1. If you've ever dropped in at Veera Donuts in Missoula, maybe you were curious. I know I was. After all, it's a vegan donut shop. I accidentally stumbled upon Veera the last time I was in Missoula in 2019 and I don't think, until that day, I'd ever seen the words "vegan" and "donut" side by side. I wondered what a donut not made with milk, eggs, butter, or any other products derived from animals would taste like.
The first thing I noticed when I walked in was that the donuts were, essentially, works of art, beautiful looking. I also noted that each donut cost more than I was used to paying for a donut at the Lane Community College cafeteria or at Yoke's or even at Krispy Kreme.
I don't remember which of the donuts I ordered that day, but I do remember being blown away by how sweet, flavorful, rich, and absolutely delicious the donut was. I'd never eaten a better donut. It was worth every penny and more.
So, fast forward to this week, late Thursday afternoon. Christy and Tracy returned from their Creative Rendezvous in Missoula. I had told Christy before she left that they might enjoy dropping in at Veera Donuts.
They did drop in.
Not only that, Christy brought two donuts in a take out box over to me here at the house.
One was a Creme Brûlée and the other a chocolate-y cake donut. Christy read from her phone what all this chocolate donut consisted of, but I can't remember it all.
I couldn't tear into these donuts right away, but once I'd eaten my dinner, I ate the divine Creme Brûlée and, once again, I couldn't believe that this sweet explosion of ecstatic taste was a donut. It paired perfectly with cold milk.
I saved the chocolate-y donut for this morning.
I brewed a cup of coffee and bit into this gorgeous cake donut. Immediately I realized that there was no way I could eat this donut in, say, a minute or two the way I can eat a Yoke's donut.
In fact, it was so intense that I didn't finish eating this donut until after 9:00 a.m. I took my first bite at 6:00 a.m. Keep in mind, this was not a large donut, but pretty thick. But it was jam-packed with sweetness and a variety of rich flavors and was so overwhelmingly intense that I could only eat it in small bites spaced out over about three hours.
I love donuts, but I am pretty strict with myself about eating them very often. I wasn't strict about eating them often when I taught at LCC. I ate about 40,000 donuts over the twenty-five years I worked there.
I thought about how, if I wanted to, I could easily eat one or two Yoke's donuts a day.
But could I eat a Veera donut daily?
No way!
I could imagine eating a Veera donut once a week. More likely once a month. Or maybe just six times a year.
For me, it's like steak.
Over the last several years, I've eaten no more than about four steaks in the course of a year. Lately, it's been two per year, both at the Wildhorse Resort.
Veera's products, for me, are like the ribeye or the New York strip steak of donuts.
2. Later in the day, I gathered myself for a walk to the high school and back home. The walk itself was enjoyable, but I significantly increased my pleasure my listening to a recent interview with the incomparable Richard Thompson on Fresh Air. Thompson's memoir, Beeswing, has just been published in paperback. Beeswing focuses on Richard Thompson's early years, his work with Fairport Convention, his early work as a solo artist, and his early years performing and recording with Linda Thompson. I loved hearing Richard Thompson talk about Fairport Convention's successful efforts to wed electric instruments and a rock/jazz rhythm section with traditional music of the United Kingdom. As I grow older, I appreciate this melding more and more and loved hearing the selections from Thompson's music making career that accompanied the interview.
It was more difficult listening to the stories of band members being killed, first in a vehicular accident and later, after she'd left the band, the fall down a flight of stairs that killed Sandy Denny. Thompson discussed these catastrophes insightfully and with the wisdom of a person now in his 70s. Knowing what he and his bandmates suffered through back in their much younger days was painful to hear about again (it wasn't news to me).
3. I had a container of the lemon and olive chicken dish I made for Mother's Day family dinner in the fridge and heated it up with rice I made several days ago and it made a great dinner. I didn't eat all of this food, so I have another serving left for a Saturday snack. I also have slices of pork leftover from the roast I prepared earlier in the week and I'll chop up those slices as protein too add to a curry sauce I'll make for dinner on Saturday. It's all coming back to me how, when I'm living alone, I always make too much food for a single meal and the benefit of my miscalculations is having several days of delicious leftovers!
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