Fleur de Lis at Hollywood Farmer's Market - Portland, OR

Team Bloughnut has been hibernating in the Bay Area, but our INTERNATIONAL correspondents have been busy. Here's the latest from our British Columbia Bureau, which had to cross a border to research this posting:

Down in Portland for a wedding, I swung by the Hollywood Farmer's Market this morning. I was surprised to see a stack of gorgeous doughnuts at the Fleur de Lis bakery stand. They specialize in French pastries of all stripes, but I took a chance on a cinnamon sugar doughnut. The yeast is the star here: this was a fluffy and flavorful raised doughnut with an appropriately spicy sugary coating. I don't know if there's anything French about it, but it's definitely tasty.

Thanks to Bloughnut contributor Kelly Mc. for the review.  Have a wondoughful day.

Mighty O at Stumptown Coffee - Seattle, WA

Team Bloughnut took a trip on an aeroplane to the Northwest, home of Filson, Boeing, and Seattle's Best Coffee (as if!).  We hoped to hit Top Pot as required by most Seattle sources but didn't make it.  What we could accomplish was stop for some of Portland's finest coffee in one of their Seattle cafes, where we were (sort of) pleased to find Seattle's vegan doughnut option, Mighty O.

These tasted a lot like a vegan doughnut I have sampled here in the Bay Area: just alright.  The flavors were a yawn (vanilla chocolate and a blueberry mini--75 cents a bite).  "Can they even make a vegan raised?" queries Team Bloughnut associate Hillary K.  That's a good question, with my limited vegan doughnut experience they are always cake.

Here's another question: Do blueberries and yellow cake doughnuts make green?

The final question I will pose to you is a territorial one:  Do you think, based on this neon sign (I love all the neon in the Northwest, by the way), that the Portland-based micro-roasting behemoth Stumptown is trying to represent a little bit of P-Town pride among their neighbors to the north?

These vegan cake doughnuts just don't do it for me. If someone has found a vegan maple bar, vegan chocolate old-fashioned, or a vegan apple fritter, please let me know!