Customers pick up to three flavors of ice cream (standards and specialties like coffee mud pie, dulce de leche and red velvet), the icing flavor (chocolate or vanilla) and the topping—many choices from M&Ms and sprinkles to gummi bears.

But you know how to slice a donut and scoop ice cream. Make your own!

Thanks so much to Jean-Philippe Garbi for taking this yummy photo. We could almost eat it—but instead, we’re heading down to Holey Donuts at lunch time.

MORE DONUT SANDWICHES

A little less appetizing, to our eye, are the nine donut sandwiches featured in Women’s Day magazine.

Take a look.
 
DONUT SANDWICH TRIVIA

Paula Deen is [in]famous for creating The Lady’s Brunch Burger: hamburger, bacon and a sunnyside-up fried egg sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme glazed donuts.

To add alarm, it is served with a side of cheesy fries.

We’ll stick with the ice cream donut—thank you very much.
 
  

Hungering for a salad dressing served at a local Asian restaurant, we made our own this weekend. It was so easy and delicious, we made up an extra-large batch to keep on hand for regular use.
 
For lunch we tossed it with a package of shredded cabbage, essentially creating Asian cole slaw to go with sandwiches. Delicious! That evening, we served it with a conventional romaine tossed salad, with bell peppers, cherry tomatoes and red onions (plus some dried cranberries and slivered almonds we wanted to use up).

This vinaigrette awaits everything from mesclun to Asian chicken salad, steamed vegetables to steamed rice.

RECIPE: ASIAN VINAIGRETTE

Ingredients For 1 Cup

We love the flavor of Asian dark sesame oil. It’s very strong, so you only need a touch. We mix a smaller proportion of it with a larger proportion canola oil; you can use your salad oil of choice.

Don’t try to solve the problem by purchasing light sesame oil: The ones we’ve had tend to be bland and don’t deliver delicious sesame flavor.

You can use olive oil instead of canola—but not your best EVOO, since the sesame flavor will cover up its flavor nuances.
 
Preparation

1. WHISK the ingredients together in a bowl (or use a blender). Let stand for 30 minutes or more to let the flavors meld.

2. WHISK again before serving.

There are rice bowls, wraps, salads and sides, using only farm-fresh vegetables; vegetarian and vegan options.

Everything is so delicious, we can easily skip the china, silverware and ambiance and dash in whenever we need a fix of flavorful Indian fare.

The vegetarian and non-vegetarian choices are in top form, representing both traditional dishes and street food (chaat). They include favorites such as:

 
There are meat and vegetarian samosas, daily specials, and absolutely celestial onion naan, hot from the tandoor oven.

Baluchi’s Fresh is located in Manhattan at 37 West 43rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. The hours are:

 
For more information and daily specials call 1.212.921.7979. The website is coming soon.

You can take out or eat in; delivery is in the works. Baluchi’s Fresh is a great addition to the neighborhood. We hope the concept spreads far and wide.

Here’s a quick demystification of the dishes served at Baluchi’s Fresh:

Now, head to Baluchi’s Fresh and try them all for yourself!