John’s Space Age Donuts

2013-08-16 01While visiting family in suburban Johnson County, Kansas, I decided to put my jet lag caused early awakening to good use and go buy some donuts. A few minutes of internet research later, I settled on John’s Space Age Donuts. Located in downtown Overland Park, John’s looks exactly as you would expect for a shop that’s been in business since 1967.

2013-08-16 02The dining room has a U-shaped counter with seating on the two legs and display cases across the front. With a large door between the kitchen and dining areas, the place reeks (in a good way) of oil and deep-fried dough. Service is brisk but friendly and the selection is broad, although they didn’t have the blueberry donuts that niece number two requested, so we settled for raspberry.

2013-08-16 03The donuts were still a warm and very surprisingly tasty. They are dense donuts, but neither soggy with oil nor undercooked and doughy. The apple fritter, pictured above, is a masterpiece with a crispy exterior, moist interior, and plenty of apples.

2013-08-16 04The cake donuts are nice, too, and the dough itself was flavorful. Even unglazed, these donuts would be a pleasure to eat. Unlike some donuts (think Krispy Kreme) that seem to expire within a few hours of baking, these were still fresh when we finished the remaining ones the next day. Must be some of that space age technology!

While I am not the biggest donut fan in the world, it is a sure bet that I will be back to John’s Space Age Donuts next time I am in Kansas City.

Los Angeles Farmers Market

Saturday morning we headed with our high school friends (who came down for the weekend to visit us) to the LA Farmers Market.  The market, located at Third and Fairfax near the CBS studios, dates to 1934.  This was my first visit and I was impressed with the range of different food stalls.  I didn’t look around the entire market, but my impression is that there aren’t really that many farmers offering their wares.  Here is a look at some of the food we tried.

P1130431

There are lots of seating areas, mostly in the shade.  You can order from different vendors and still sit at the same tables, which give you a lot of flexibility.  We were there by 10:00 Saturday morning and it wasn’t very busy, although by the time we left things were notably busier.

P1130452

Hard to tell the breakfast from the desserts!  Crepe with chocolate, strawberries, and bananas.

P1130453

Belgian waffle with whipped cream and fresh strawberries.  Someone’s husband didn’t wait until I took the pictures to begin

P1130443

Ran into a place called Moishe’s Village, which serves Middle Eastern food.  My attention was caught by the borekas, a flat bread with toppings cooked in a brick oven.  Basically, oblong pizzas without tomato sauce.

P1130437

Wide selection of borekas.

P1130446

I chose the sausage and egg and asked the lady to cut it into pieces.  She scolded me, saying that I should have ordered scrambled eggs so it would have cut more prettily.

P1130432

Another popular spot is Bob’s Coffee and Doughnuts.

P1130449

Yeast donuts.  Very tasty, although I’m not a huge fan of donuts.

P1130464

Tawn in his market gear.

P1130468

Loads of fresh fruits, especially the peaches, apricots, and nectarines.  Stone fruits are my favorite reason to come back to the US during the summer.

P1130470

Close up on the beautiful artichokes.

P1130475

Afterwards, one of my friends insisted that we must try Littlejohn’s English toffee. 

P1130472

The picture doesn’t do justice to the toffee, but it was pretty good.  Not as hard as a lot of toffee, so much easier on the teeth to eat.  Well, except for all the sugar.

We were going to go cherry picking afterwards but when we called ahead to the farm, we learned that thanks to the cool weather, cherries are coming in a few weeks late.  Sadly, no cherry picking this trip.