National Doughnut Week: Sainsbury's Jam Ball Doughnuts x5

Sainsbury's turn today. I arrived at ten to nine in the morning and no doughnuts were on the shelf! I almost screamed in horror until a helpful stock assistant when to look for them, and found me not one but two packs, still warm. I restricted myself to just the one pack though.

At 65p for five these are cheaper than Co-op's. They're vegetarian too (though I forgot to check whether Co-op's are).

Louise

Golden, slightly crisp skin of the doughnut with just the right amount of greasiness. Soft but perfectly chewy and the best proportion of sugar – a lovely thick coating due to it syrupy nature. Lip-lickingly good, in fact. First bite reveals the tempting jam pool, second bite and it’s in my mouth. God I love these doughnuts. They’re a very good size but I could easily eat three in a row. I stopped at two though as I didn’t want to a spoil my appetite for lunch. Which, admittedly, was another doughnut.

9.5/10 (because nothing is ever perfect)

Lewis

You know when you're at the fair as a kid and you get fresh doughnuts, straight from the fryer? Well somehow that's how Sainbury's has managed to produce their off-the-shelf offering. Moist, chewy and, well, doughy (strangely enough), they are really rather good. The choice of sugar syrup, rather than granulated, might not be to everyone's taste, but it does ensure there is still a sugar coating on the doughnut (not the box) when you get to eat them. I hope National Doughnut Week hasn't peaked early...

9/10

Michelle

Today’s offering was less of a fail,

Significantly larger, slightly more pale,

The doughnut less firm to the touch; more aerated.

Using sugar syrup, not granulated.

Then we get to the important bit; inside The jam pool was imbalanced, too much on one side.

Once I found it though, it sure did taste good.

Leaving me craving more, like a doughnut should.

8/10

Michelle, as before, demonstrating some excellent poetic licence. A very popular doughnut, this one.

Tomorrow is Tesco!

National Doughnut Week: Co-op Jam Doughnuts 5pk

Tuesday's delicious doughnut is from the Co-op. At 85p for 5, it's good value. Plus, if you're bringing doughnuts in for your team, you can get two packs of five for just £1.20. Not such a good idea if you're going on a solo doughnut binge though.

The doughnuts were warm when I bought them this morning, which was exciting. I enjoy simple pleasures. Although, worryingly, the packaging states they have been prepared in an environment that handles celery, crustaceans, fish, lupin and molluscs. What is lupin? Wolf meat?!

Onto the reviews:

Louise

This is a good travel-sized doughnut, but possibly a bit small for a growling mid-morning stomach that hasn't had any breakfast. I could easily eat two. The dough is nice and firm and chewy, though the outside a little tough. I'm a fan of granulated sugar, so points for that. However, I didn't reach the all important "jam pool" until four bites, which is too long in my book. More of the sticky red stuff please.

7/10

Lewis  

Coop's 5-pack of small doughnuts is the first offering in our Doughnut Week reviewing task. They are certainly nearer the firmer and chewier end of the spectrum, perhaps a symptom of being designed to sit on a shelf for a while. There is a decent well of jam in the centre and, although tasty, I don't think that the WI will be awarding it prizes any time soon. By the time my chops get round it, most of the sugar has dropped off; but it does provide a decent-enough start to the week's reviewing.

5/10 

Michelle

Whilst my colleagues gulped theirs down, I deliberately waited, restraining myself, allowing anticipation to rise. My eyes danced around object in front of me. I noted the slightly disappointing size, a slightly irregular shape, and although my excitement waned slightly, my hunger remained.  I wrapped my hands around it, felt it firm and lifted it to meet my lips, running my tongue along its surface.

And then took a bite.

It was disappointing to be honest – the dough was too firm. Whilst there was sufficient jam, this is more a reflection of the size of the confectionary rather than the quantity of jam. The sugar was too coarse and unevenly spread across the surface, and as a whole I didn’t find the doughnut sweet enough nor suitably satisfying.

It gave me a sugar hit, and thus gains some points, but not many.

4/10

Looks like I'm more generuos with my marks than my colleagues, though perhaps it's because I love doughnuts so much. Tune in tomorrow for more in-depth reviews of doughnuts, this time from Sainsbury's.

National Doughnut Week

It's National Doughnut Week! What do you mean, you've never heard of it and this is just an excuse for you to talk even more about doughnuts? Okay, possibly. But it does exists and it's been set up by The Children's Trust, a national charity that provides specialist care and rehabilitation for children with multiple disabilities. Every doughnut sold in participating bakers raises money for this important organisation.

Now, I've oft wondered: which supermarket makes the best doughnut? Is the powdery sugar of Tesco greater than the tingly crunch of Co-op's granulating topping? There's only one way to find out, and that is this: EAT ALL THE DOUGHNUTS. or more specifically, eat one doughnut from a different supermarket every day this week.

I have enlisted two most excellent colleagues to help me with this task, and to ensure I don't waste any delicious treats (I have been known to eat four doughnuts in a row, but doing that every day might possibly be a little unhealthy). So Michelle (@MLBrook), Lewis (@LewisGDean) and myself (@lulucrumble) will be tasting and rating a doughnut a day until Friday, and posting our reviews on this blog and Twitter. Hashtag #luludonut.

We're starting on Tuesday as I was out of the office Monday. The four supermarkets are, in order: Co-Op, Sainsbury's, Tesco A (own brand) and Tesco B (Krispy Kreme). Okay okay, I know Krispy Kreme isn't a supermarket but the other two begged me.

Join in if you like and post your review below or on Twitter. Note: they all have to be jam donuts with no special topping.

Untitled

The many nightmares seem to have ended and by day
I am awaking from one long, hazy dream. I am going
backwards as the world thrusts forward, or so it seems;
but we are both wrong and only one of us is doing
anything to try and correct. On I go; or back.

...and it is here that I feel most truly alive,
back, back amongst the dead. For I was dead
once and yet to be, now living I am yet to be dead,
feeling so longing once more for life.

For even in the fields of the romances of both faint and flint-
hearted middle classes are their children growing
into desolation - nought to haven't, no food for
their minds, their souls withering.

Paul Maddocks
26 January 1969 - 19 April 2007

Present, tense

Oh poor he
that imbibes
pills, whisky
and survives.
Awakes in
unknown place,
gleaming white,
not heaven
but hell; race
through all thoughts
not dispelled.
Attempt to
end them all,
die, has failed.
Nurse glowers,
doctor rails.
Present tense,
past gone, no
future nailed.

Paul Maddocks
(1969-2007)

Nick Drake

Wikipedia is down, in protest against SOPA. Out of curiosity, I checked the app version on my phone, and it's still up. Their featured article of the day is about the tragic singer Nick Drake. Drake is one of those musical interests I picked up in my late teenage years, listened to obsessively and then dropped as I moved on to the next auditory addiction. So my interest was piqued.

I started reading about him and coincidence compelled me to read more. Drake killed himself aged 26. I am 26. Nothing in that really but just a chime. Drake killed himself with an overdose of amitriptyline - unknown to be accidental or otherwise. I dose myself with amitriptyline - though in my case, not for crippling depression but to prevent searing headaches and unbearable back pain.

But what struck me is the quote from Drake's sister about his death because it echoes so much what I feel about my brother's death, which was ruled an open verdict rather than suicide because the coroner could not determine if he intended to end his life or whether it was a horrible misjudgement:

"I'd rather he died because he wanted to end it than it to be the result of a tragic mistake. That would seem to be terrible..."

I'd rather Paul intended to die than had his life snatched away from him by a mistake. It just doesn't seem fair. But nothing is fair about what happened. I'll never know and that's something I have to live with.

Nick Drake's grave in Solihull, West Midlands. By Robpics69 on Wikipedia.

The Campaign Against Living Miserably

Suicide is the leading cause of death in men under 35 in recent years. Men are nearly three times more likely than women to take their own life. In men under 35, suicide is the second most common cause of death in England and Wales. In Scotland, more men between the ages of 15-35 kill themselves than die from any other cause.

I wish this wasn't the case. I wish that no one wanted to kill themselves. I wish my brother hadn't killed himself.

But life isn't like that. It's hard and it's unfair and some people are so stricken by mental health problems that death seems like the only possible way to cope. We must, together, look after these people and help them find a way out of the worst despair you can't imagine. We have to stop 4,500 people killing themselves (in just England and Wales) every year.

The Campaign Against Living Miserably, CALM, is a lifeline for people who desperately need this help. Originally set up to reduce the high suicide rate amongst young men, they run a free, confidential, anonymous helpline for anybody who needs advice or support. The helpline is open 5pm-midnight from Saturday to Tuesday. But it's not enough. CALM want to run the helpline every day of the week until 3am, but they can't. They are scraping together every penny to cover the existing monthly running costs of £6,400.

This is why Science Showoff, a gig I help to organise, is going to give CALM all its donations in January. The gig is on 12th January at the Wilmington Arms in Clerkenwell, London. Please come along and please, please give generously. We have to help stop the tragedy of suicide.