I Dream of Cartems

I love donuts, OK, I said it. Who can resist deep fried dough drizzled with chocolate glaze, or dusted in cinnamon and sugar. Every major culture has their own version, from the Italian zeppole, to the French beignet. The Chinese even have different types, the savoury donut that is literally called an “oil stick”, or they have one similar to a cruller but puffy and round. As much as I love them, they are really just an occasional treat, unless it’s a donut from Cartems Donuterie. They take donuts to the next level.

The story of Cartems is the stuff of dreams, literally! Imagine you are in Korea teaching ESL, life is going along just fine and then one night you have a dream that you own a donut shop called Cartems. You wake up and you look up Cartems to see if it means anything, nope, nothing. But this dream sticks with you for a few years and one day you are back in your home country and what the heck, let’s make this dream a reality. This is what happened to the owner, Jordan, and now Cartems is a destination for visitors from around the world. With their use of local and organic ingredients and unique flavour combinations, they are considered to have the best donuts in Vancouver and we couldn’t agree more. Better yet, they have vegan, gluten free and baked donut options. How could you not like flavours such as Canadian Whiskey Bacon or Chocolate Pistachio Glaze? Check out Cartems’ story here:

{Kale} and I decided to focus on our favourite fall superfood, the pumpkin, for our next outing and showed up at Cartems with our fingers crossed that they would have a pumpkin donut. We were not disappointed. In fact their pumpkin donut, named Pumpkin Cheesecake, was truly inspired. It was filled with a pumpkin puree with cream cheese and then topped with a brown butter glaze and pecan crumble. The cream cheese they used wasn’t just any old cream cheese sold in foil bricks, it was a Neufchatel from Golden Ears, which is a local family owned artisanal cheese crafters. Oh boy was it scrumptious. The crunch of the crumble balanced nicely with the lusciousness of the filling. We were trying to describe our edible experience and agreed that eating the pumpkin donut was like eating a fluffy cloud! {Kale} and I practically inhaled our donuts, they were so good. We left Cartems with sharper eyesight and healthier skin from the antioxidants vitamin A, C and E, lutein and zeaxanthin from the pumpkin in the donut. What better way to nourish our bodies and our friendship than to spend a morning at Cartems!

May you all dream of donuts tonight. And, Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! – {Kake}