This Must Be Why They Call It "Fat" Tuesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, which means that yesterday was Fat Tuesday. Now, I don't know how the rest of the nation celebrates (Not you NOLA, I am aware of how you celebrate) but in Chicago it is affectionately know as Pączki day.

Here is the Wikipedia definition:

A pączki is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing or bits of dried orange zest. A small amount of grain alcohol (traditionally, Spiritus) is added to the dough before cooking; as it evaporates, it prevents the absorption of oil deep into the dough.
Although they look like bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, pączki are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Powidła (stewed plum jam) and wild rose hip jam are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry and apple.

In a word...HEAVEN!!!! My favorite are the ones that are filled with fresh strawberries and whipped cream

You can only get them this week. But, to me you should only eat a pączki on Fat Tuesday.

At 7:50am, my phone rang with my mother on the other end. She got up early and got over to Dinkel's Bakery on Lincoln Ave and pick up some for me. (Thank God, because there was no way I was getting up early when the kids were both off of school.) I just needed to come and pick them up at her work.

I needed to do a few things, so after I went and talked to Vivi's teacher (I'm room mom today and last week they didn't get to have their Valentine's day party because of the snow. They only go to school on Mondays and Wednesdays, so they are having it today since Monday was President's day) I stopped off at Mom's work. There they were in their pretty pink and white box with the string tied around it. My mouth started to salivate with just the thought of those deep fried little devils!

Because I was already in the neighborhood, I decided to go over to Tony's Italian Deli to pick up Vivi her "meat" (Kraukus ham, she can't get enough. She'll eat it every meal if I let her) I also had to take Uncle Jim to work.

This meant that my Pączki-induced coma was going to be delayed a bit. I carefully put them in the backseat so they were out of my sight. I really didn't want someone to pull up next to me at a stoplight and look over at me with my head stuffed into a bakery box...again.

I walked into the house.

Me: "Happy Pączki DAY!!!! I have Pączkis!!!!"

Emerson: "What are those?"

I open the box to let them bask in the goodness.

Emerson: "They're doughnuts."

Vivi (looking in the other bag I brought in) "Mommy, you got me MEAT!!!!"

Me: "They're are not doughnuts, they're Pączkis. That's Polish for 'better that doughnuts'"

"I got Raspberry and Strawberry with whipped cream."

Emerson: "But, we don't like jelly filled doughnuts."

Vivi: "YUCK!!"

Me: "They're Pączki!!!!!"

Vivi: "Mommy, you make me a samich?"

Emerson (turning her nose up at the bakery box) "Yeah, me too."

Oh well, more for me.