Oh, how we love Garbage!

Doug and I have been watching a lot of The Office this summer. As a matter of fact, we have been watching all of The Office this summer. I think it was late last year, maybe last fall, that we watched the whole two seasons of the British Office, and we really, really liked it. We liked it so much that we weren't sure how we would react to the American version, which we had never, ever seen. We knew that it was a big hit show for NBC, but we just don't usually watch network television, unless, for some odd reason, we're watching American Idol, which we get sucked into each season. Anyway, this summer we decided to start watching it, so we started with season one. The first few episodes were tough and we thought we had been right - the British version was better. But once those first few episodes were over, which were so derivative, we were hooked. The characters took on their own look and feel, and we began to think of it as its own, unique vehicle. Currently we are on the second CD of season four, which means we may even be able to be all caught up by the time the new season starts this Thursday. It will be difficult for me, though, to watch just one show at a time. I tend to put in a DVD of The Office before bed and watch at least three, maybe four episodes at a time. For some reason I feel like the Dunder Mifflin team is real, is part of my life, and I get very involved in the story. I look forward to getting a new DVD on Netflix; lately it's like I've been living for The Office. Yes, I know, that's pretty sad, isn't it.

But I can't help but like this show, and I have to say that one of my favorite scenes of all seasons so far has to be the one that just happened on episode two, maybe episode three, of season four - when Angela's cat, Sprinkles, is sick and Dwight destroys (his own words) her. To try to make up with Angela, Dwight brings in Garbage, the feral barn cat, who is a useful cat - he's killed an entire family of raccoons. I don't know why but this scene was just way too funny for me, and for Doug, too, so now we make many, many references to Garbage. Tomorrow night is garbage night here in Dedham, so I'm sure the jokes will be flying. Oh, the fun we have!

Anyway, this weekend Doug and I discovered a new part of our neighborhood. We ventured not too far from our house into West Roxbury (we're in East Dedham, which is on the border of West Roxbury) to get a homemade donut from Anna's Donuts. They were very, very good. Not too sweet, not too big, not too fried but they had a slight crunchy crust to them, which I find Dunkin' Donuts lacks. We decided to go on this quest for homemade donuts after I spent some time on Friday researching the ingredients for a "regular donut" for someone at work. This was a request that I could really get excited about, and so I scoured the Internet and news articles for donut recipes. Commercial/industrial bakeries don't like to give away their recipes, for obvious reasons, so I couldn't find the proportions of ingredients for your average donut, but many do post their lists of ingredients online. Believe me, you don't want to know what goes into the average commercially-baked donut (but if you click here you can find out what goes into a Dunkin' Donuts glazed donut and probably never eat one again). Despite this, I developed a great desire for a donut on Friday, which stayed with me until Saturday morning when Doug and I decided to track down a local donut. This search led us to Anna's in West Roxbury, and I know that we'll be back. You'll see on the right here two examples of Anna's treats. And what makes these treats extra special is that they don't have any trans-fats now, since the city of Boston has banned their use. Yay! I won't call these little guys healthy, but at least I know that they could be worse for me. We got a half-dozen, and they're all gone! Good thing I have an appointment to join Curves on Tuesday... Doug will have to roll me there!