star dust donuts and searching for sea shells in imperial beach

star dust donuts and searching for sea shells in imperial beach

Jake and I have driven by Star Dust Donuts probably 3 or 4 times now and every time it was closed.

They have crazy inconsistent hours:

But one magical day in early December, Star Dust was open!

Jake, the kids and I were heading down to Imperial Beach to collect sea shells for a present Jake was making for his mom for Christmas. Since we were going right by, Jake suggested we check and see if Star Dust was open and when I saw that it was, I did a little happy dance in the car. Finally, we could try it!

There wasn’t a whole lot of donuts left… so I just got one of each.

They had: Buttermilk Twist (.94 cents), Old Fashioned (.94 cents), Carmel Pecan Rolls ($1.59), Chocolate Iced with Nuts (.94 cents), Chocolate Raised (.94 cents) and Cinnamon Rolls (.94 cents).

They cost a little more than what you’d get at a regular donut shop, aren’t really fancy looking and pretty basic.

But man oh man, were they good! The buttermilk bar and the old fashioned were probably my favorite of the bunch – just simple, crunchy, melt-in-your-mouth donut goodness. The donuts tasted fresh and perfectly crisp. Very yummy.

I don’t have any other photos of the donuts since my camera died later! Probably from all of the photo taking I did at the beach.

We went as far south as you can go – all the way to the end near the Tijuana Estuary.

The sun was still up while we went to collect shells. The beach was pretty empty and it was pretty chilly that night – but the sky was beautiful. Continue reading “star dust donuts and searching for sea shells in imperial beach”

kelly’s donuts and burgers / huntington beach – orange county, ca

Over Labor Day weekend this year, Jake, the kids and I headed up to Huntington Beach for the Civil War Reenactment that weekend. I got really interested in Civil War history after taking a few history classes in college at Boston University – I started liking history so much that it was my concentration (I was a little too lazy to actually minor in it though).

For the past two years, Jake and I have gone up to Calico for their Civil War weekend over President’s Day. I want to go to another one a little closer to home and this one was the winner.

Before we headed over to the camps though, we needed a little something to fill our bellies. We made a quick pit stop not too far from the Huntington Beach library to check out Kelly’s Donuts and Burgers.

[kind of empty looking donut case]

I started getting a little worried when we walked in and this was their donut selection.

All of the donuts mixed together just on a few trays. Say what? This was a donut shop wasn’t it?

[partial menu at kelly’s donuts and burgers]

Yes, it is definitely a donut shop but they also have other offerings for breakfast and lunch – including deli sandwiches and of course, burgers.

I put my skepticism aside as best I could after seeing the sad donut case. The kids and I each got a donut and Jake and I shared a breakfast burrito.

[polish sausage, egg, hash browns and cheese breakfast burrito – $3.75]

The burritos normally come with salsa, but I asked for it without since I don’t really like salsa inside of my food all that much.

[burrito closeup]

This was a fairly simple burrito. The polish sausage gave the burrito a good overall taste and the eggs were done well (maybe slightly overcooked but still solid). The hash browns were nice and crisp, too. I didn’t really taste a whole lot of cheese in it, so that could have been improved a little. Jake got a cup of salsa on the side and liked it better with some salsa. All in all it was a pretty decent breakfast burrito. Jake liked it a lot more than I did. The price sure is right though.

[donuts]

The kids were luckily able to easily pick out donuts for themselves, S. choosing the jelly donut and A. picking the chocolate and peanut cake donut. Jake skipped out on donuts while I got a blueberry donut.

Continue reading “kelly’s donuts and burgers / huntington beach – orange county, ca”