Does your city have an independent donut chain? Seattle does: Top Pot Doughnuts. They offer a couple dozen varieties and are sold throughout their chain of coffee shops (which are masterpieces of retro-hip design) and at plenty of other places in town.

I’ve grown pretty annoyed with Top Pot. Their prices have more than doubled since they opened in 2002, and now all glazed and filled donuts are $1.69. I’m certainly not averse to paying that much for a pastry, but it had better be special. The trouble is, the last couple of times I’ve gotten a Top Pot donut, it has been fried in insufficiently hot oil–the unmistakable symptoms are a soggy crust and greasy interior.

But I know how Top Pot can regain my trust. They can start making donut holes. Donut holes are always better than donuts. Everybody knows this. You can eat a bunch of different kinds without getting sick, and you can throw them at ornery coworkers.

On our recent Vancouver trip, Iris got a little grumpy after lunch one day, and the solution appeared before us like a sign from the Canadian version of God (aka Geddy Lee): Timbits. Timbits are the donut holes at Tim Hortons, and they come in no less than a dozen flavors, the best of which is sour cream. Since I don’t work in an office, feeding Timbits to Iris is the closest I get to throwing donut holes at ornery coworkers.

Anyway, Top Pot needs to roll out the donut holes ASAP. And I expect fanfare!