Tim Horton’s old-fashioned plain is — IMNSOHO — the world’s best widely available commercial doughnut. Flavoured with nutmeg, it has a slightly crisp crust and is not sickeningly sweet.

But the very best doughnuts I have ever eaten were made at an Ottawa diner (the Mirror Grill) and sold for a dime. A plate of them sat on the counter under a big glass dome. Also flavoured with nutmeg, those doughnuts were yeast-raised and deep-fried. The Mirror Grill disappeared in the early 1970s, about the time I joined the Forces — I came back from Cornwallis for Christmas, and there it was: gone. And its wonderful doughnuts with it. *Sob*