Doughnut Day For Punches and Kicks

Rewards of Martial Arts: The Test Day (Sesame) Doughnut

Today is test day in martial arts where a kid displays what he has learned and moves to a higher belt or class. An inviolable and sacred tradition (except for the last time when I forced the daughter to have apple pie instead) is the in-gathering and consumption of the doughnuts -- a tradition probably dating back to the Qing Dynasty (1636-1911) or similar kung fu-y time.

Much in the way that the recent Israeli elections signaled to pundits a return to normalcy, so too does today's doughnut purchase mark a return to reason and sobriety: no more over-produced VooDoo frosting bombs, but rather the Sesame taste treat with ample, but not excessive, frosting options.

This morning the son and I reached accord on the number of doughnuts to be purchased, six. The first three are officially mandated by the household (Boston Cream, Apple Fritter, Jelly), while the son, as he was testing, would select another two (perhaps a bear claw?) and the daughter one.

LSS is going out tonight so we will have a 2:1 doughnut-to-person ratio.Other mandated actions include cutting each doughnut into four pieces. The kid testing then gets to choose the first piece as the platter gets passed around the table, each person taking one piece until he/she has six pieces on their plates.

Only after consumption of the initial round of doughnuts can negotiations begin on the remaining pieces.

To deviate from this form would be to invite a dangerous random element into an otherwise placid household that has not witnessed a meltdown for several hours.

Gan bei!