Happy PACZKI day

That's because you're not Polish

 

No, but I grew up in a Polish neighborhood. Well, my subdivision had a lot of Polish families, guess that doesn't really count as a "neighborhood" in that there weren't Polish bakeries or anything around, just houses.

Never mind.

 

I grew up in a Chicago Polish neighborhood, surrounded by Polish bakeries and restaurants and St. Stanislaus Church. I've heard of and eaten myriad Polish foods. And I've never heard of Paczkis.

 

I'm going to give up sacrifice for Lent.

 

Maybe it's a regional thing. We have a huge Polish population here in Toronto and you see them in just about every Polish bakery.

Maybe they just called them donuts.

 

I also grew up in a Chicago Polish neighborhood, surrounded by Polish bakeries and restaurants and Polish Catholic parishes and have eaten paczki all my life. Of course we're smarter people on the southside of town, as we know that last Thursday was Paczki Day in Poland (always the Thursday before Ash Wednesday) and Paczki Day in America is on always celebrated on Fat Tuesday. We also support the White Sox instead of that crappy team in Wrigleyville.

As far as paczki choices, last Thursday I had both the custard filled with powdered sugar and strawberry filled with powdered sugar from the Racine Bakery on S. Archer Avenue on the southwest side of Chicago. Both varieties were terrific. Today's paczek (singular - 1 is a paczek, 2 or more are paczki) was a custard filled with chocolate icing from Ingram's Busy Bee Bakery in Downers Grove. The paczki from the Racine Bakery were better than the paczek from Downers Grove.

 

Used to get great Paczki's in Toledo....yum....

 

Fair enough. They gave up on you opening night.

 

Ah, what a happy Fat Tuesday it was, even though I had to work and couldn't drink. I had one paczki with custard filling that was awesome. I think it was the real thing from Hamtramck, Mustang. And then the editor in chief's wife, who apparently is a New Orleans native, had ordered three King Cakes for the newsroom, delivered from a New Orleans bakery. They were tremendous. Good thing it's Lent tomorrow, I'm gonna need the cutoff!

 

Only thing I'm doing for Fat Tuesday is two free tacos from Jack in the Crack.

http://coupon.hangintherejack.com

 

It's gotta be better than Goatse Day.

 

OK, who here can properly pronounce Paczki?