A Sweet Surprise in Mount Vernon
Family Bakery and Mrs. Doughnut on Route One offers fresh, high-quality pastries.
"Life is short. Eat dessert first." The black-and-white sign is posted on a bare wall, above the small sitting area at Family Bakery & Mrs. Doughnut in Alexandria, Va. Strains of a Michael Jackson song blare as if it is coming from an overhead speaker. But in fact, the music comes from a retro 1980s silver boom box that sits on a green metal shelf between the refrigerators housing the soft drinks and the cake display. The small bakery is family-owned and family-run. The owners, Misen Nguyen and his wife, Lien Nguyen, both came to the United States as refugees during the Vietnam War. "When they came they didn't have anything with them," says Milian Nguyen, their 24-year old daughter. "The first jobs they had were at bakeries and …
