Doughnut

SOME MONTHS ago, a Krispy Kreme Doughnuts store opened near me and I discovered a way of life that has all but vanished from this country.At Krispy Kreme, nobody obsesses about calories or fat content or fitting into a size 8 cocktail dress.Nobody sits around swapping nutrition tips or discussing how their workout went at the gym that morning.At Krispy Kreme, if you brought up the subject of your latest cholesterol reading, someone at the next table would probably put down his chocolate iced doughnut and whack you over the head with a rolled-up newspaper and tell you to shut up.That's one reason why I love doughnut people.

NEW YORK -- The homonym was not lost on the Police Department: The man arrested Tuesday night in the robbery of eight Dunkin' Donuts shops in Manhattan over the last two months was named Douglas Duncan.Duncan was arrested as he and an accomplice tried to rob another Manhattan Dunkin' Donuts shop, said Detective Mark Patterson, a police spokesman. As Duncan pulled out a knife and announced a robbery, he was stopped by two officers, police said.Police took pains to point out that the arresting officers were staking out the doughnut shop in the hopes of preventing a robbery, not filling up on Boston Kremes.

WASHINGTON - When cultural historians reflect on Southern food, they think about grits and fried chicken and chitlins and, of course, Krispy Kreme doughnuts.From Biloxi, Miss., to Charlotte, N.C., and invading the Midwest as far north as Fort Wayne, Ind., these deep-fried sugar- and fat-filled miracles have defined breakfast for millions of Americans.Now, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History is honoring this culinary icon with an exhibit that illuminates its importance. In the age of the bagel, the old-fashioned donut - as American as peanut butter and jelly - is getting a nod.The museum last week accepted a donation of doughnut artifacts including equipment, memorabilia and documents from Krispy Kreme Doughnut Corp.

IT'S FUNNY how people get distracted from what is important. Take for example what happened a few weeks ago when I got that dreaded call from my home-security service that the alarm at my house had gone off and I needed to go there immediately.I called the hospital where my wife is a nurse to advise her of the potential calamity and ran to the parking deck to wake up Ol' Betsy, my 13-year-old vehicle of choice.Traveling moderately fast on the highway, not wanting to risk a speeding ticket from an unsympathetic traffic cop, I saw something that completely shifted my thoughts.

Police logHarper's Choice: 5400 block of Harpers Farm Road: A man threatened a Dunkin' Donuts employee and asked for a free doughnut about 9 p.m. Tuesday. The employee refused and the man took three doughnuts and ran.Harper's Choice: 11000 block of Willow Bottom Drive: Jewelry was stolen Tuesday from a house that was ransacked. Police found no signs of forced entry, but the back door was unlocked.River Hill: 7000 block of Best Times Path: An unlocked, unfinished house was vandalized Monday or Tuesday with paint and a truck parked outside the house was spray-painted.

In the Recipe Finder columns for March 13 and March 20, an incorrect amount of yeast was listed for Hunter's yeast doughnuts on the 13th and for Hutzler's cheese bread on the 20th. The correct amount of yeast in a package of dry yeast is 1/4 ounce.It was amazing to learn how many readers enjoy and know how to prepare this dirt and worms recipe.Susanne Grube of Hunt Valley asked for it. "Do you or one of your readers have a recipe for dirt or mud cups? I believe they're made with Oreo cookie crumbs, pudding and gummy worms," she wrote.

Some call it Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras, Fastnacht or Fat Tuesday.For Belair Road baker Charles Hergenroeder today is Doughnut Tuesday.And tomorrow, recognized by Christians as Ash Wednesday, is the day hot cross buns are popular."

25 Years Ago (week of March 29-April 4, 1970)* Doughnut Corporation of America (DCA) Food Industries broke ground at the site of its new, million-dollar facility in the Baltimore-Washington Industrial Park in Jessup.* Columbia's Village of Long Reach will be the site of a study aimed at developing new methods of erosion and sedimentation control.50 Years Ago (Week of April 1-7, 1945):* Twenty-one Ellicott City property owners were notified by the police of conditions on their property deemed health or fire hazards.

25 Years Ago (week of April 5-11, 1970)* The Howard County Council, sitting as the Board of License Commissioners, heard a petition for a Class A beer license for Joe Foder of Savage. It would be that town's first liquor license since the repeal of Prohibition.* Controversy raged in Oakland Mills over the proximity of a new coffee house, "It's Open," in the Oakland Mills Teen Center. Residents complained that programs inappropriate for young teens were being presented at the coffee house.

Dunkin' Donuts, the world's biggest doughnut chain, intends to add 172 locations in the Baltimore-Washington area as part of a push to open 776 new outlets across the country, the company said this week.The chain said it will recruit local franchisees for the operations, which are expected to open over the next three years. Eighty-three of the new locations, which will include stores and pushcarts, will be in the Baltimore area. Dunkin' has 86 outlets in Baltimore-Washington now.Adding new stores and pushcarts will give the company better )

Strait is country music's artist of the decade Singer George Strait will receive the Academy of Country Music's Artist of the Decade award in recognition of his nearly 25-year career. Only four others have received the distinction: Marty Robbins in 1969, Loretta Lynn in 1979, Alabama in 1988 and Garth Brooks in 1998. Strait's many hits include "Amarillo By Morning," "Check Yes or No" and "I Saw God Today." The ACM will tape a TV special in honor of Strait at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on April 6 to air at a later date.

Editor's note: Each Wednesday we'll bring you a Q&A with a Ravens player to help you learn a little more about the team. The second installment of this series is an interview with wide receiver Mark Clayton, whose 42-yard touchdown run during the first quarter of the Ravens' 17-10 victory against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 7 was the longest rush by a nonrunning back in team history. Clayton discusses expectations, a career outside football and one of his first jobs. What was your welcome-to-the-NFL moment?

Imagine one morning you're craving something sweet, so you stop by the corner doughnut shop. Turns out the wait is half an hour, the clerk is rude and, when you finally get it, the doughnut is stale. Would you buy doughnuts there again? Of course not. Yet, every day, millions of Americans put up with just that kind of service in their physicians' offices. And they keep going back. Anyone who has visited a primary care doctor lately knows the drill: You show up on time, only to wait 45 minutes or even an hour.

The heady aroma of fried dough seems to bring memories of sunburned days in Ocean City for customers of the Fractured Prune, the new doughnut shop in Columbia's Hickory Ridge Village Center. That is because, until recently, Fractured Prune doughnuts were available only in Ocean City. Now, franchises are popping up throughout Maryland and the East Coast, including two in Howard County. "We used to go the beach every year since I was a kid, and we would have a tradition of going to the Fractured Prune," said Les Wachterman, who lives in Columbia and recently purchased a chocolate-covered doughnut from the Columbia outlet.

Fractured Prune Dunkin' Donuts 840 Guilford Ave., Baltimore -- 410-332-4260 Hours --24 hours daily In and out in --2 minutes Here, we knew what we were in for. This doughnut, 75 cents, was covered in a thin, sweet glaze. But it tasted the least fresh of the four, and was drier than the others on the inside. Though acceptable in a pinch, we would definitely grab a doughnut from the others first. Know of a good carryout place? Let us hear about it. Write to sam.sessa@baltsun.com.

PSC chief to hold hearing on BGE rate The newly named chairman of the Public Service Commission announced yesterday that he would hold hearings on BGE'S proposed 50 percent rate increase to ensure that it is justified. Steven B. Larsen, Gov. Martin O'Malley's nominee for PSC chairman, said the hearings will begin next week, after he and fellow O'Malley appointee Susanne Brogan join the commission. While O'Malley was mayor of Baltimore and a candidate for governor last year, the city successfully sued the PSC for failing to hold a proper hearing on a proposed 72 percent BGE rate increase last year.

If your idea of good wintertime fun is sitting inside a house, sipping hot cocoa and looking at the pretty snow flurries outside, the very idea of sailing down a steep hill on an inflatable doughnut might not be for you. Stop reading this and turn on the TV. Now, if you don't mind the cold, if you have no fear of zipping down a slippery incline in the cold, if you aren't worried about breaking a leg while zipping down that slope in the cold, have I...

Dunkin' Donuts plans to double the number of doughnut and coffee shops it has in the Baltimore area during the next three years. The Canton, Mass.-based doughnut chain plans to open 91 stores in the area by 2010, or one Dunkin' Donuts for every 16,600 people. There are currently 76 stores. The expansion is part of a larger strategy by Dunkin' Donuts to create a 15,000-store operation by 2020. It now has about 4,400 franchises in 36 states. It is also targeting areas such as Washington, Charlotte, N.C., New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Nashville, Tenn.

Anna "Nancy" Penn, who had owned a chain of doughnut shops and video stores with her husband, died of cancer Tuesday at Charlestown Retirement Community in Catonsville. The former Ellicott City resident was 76. Anna Marie Bemkey was born in Baltimore and raised on Barre Street. She was a graduate of Seton High School and worked briefly as a secretary at Calvert Distillery in Relay. In 1951, she married Reynold J. Penn, a businessman who opened a Dunkin' Donuts shop on Frederick Road in the 1960s.

Reynold J. Penn, a retired Howard County businessman who had owned and operated a chain of doughnut shops and a video store, died of a heart attack Monday at his Ellicott City home. He was 78. Mr. Penn was born in Baltimore, raised in the Pigtown neighborhood and graduated from City College. He enlisted in the Army during World War II, serving in the Philippines and Japan, and attained the rank of sergeant. He was a graduate of the Baltimore College of Commerce and during the 1950s earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering from the University of Baltimore.