Fat Tuesday

To me this holiday does not mean beads and getting drunk. It has nothing to do with the last hoorah before lent. To me it means pretty much one thing. It means PACZKIS. I have this need to go to my favorite bakery and pick up a bunch of paczkis and delivery them to those who I know would appreciate them as much as I do. Now I will sometimes try to be traditional and pick up a prune or a lemon one for myself but I absolutely have to get the non-traditional, (but traditional to me now) fresh strawberry paczkis. I could probably get a recipe and make them myself throughout the year, but what is the fun in that. I like having them only once a year.
I know you are wondering, 'how or why did Sarah get hooked on this Paczki day?' Well, it all started on my mission. This is the first time I saw anybody celebrating this holiday as anything besides Mardi Graz. In Austria they have a Fasching party where they dress up in crazy costumes and have Krapfen. They are paczkis, jelly donuts, berliners, whatever you want to call them. There the traditional flavor is apricot. So I began my love of the holiday there. Here I can't convince anybody to dress up in funny costumes and play silly games but there does seem to be a love of paczkis so that is how I celebrate now.
I wish you all lived near me so I could drop some by but maybe you can find a bakery that makes them and pick some up for yourself. I know our local grocery stores sell them, although they are not quite as yummy as the bakery I love, but I'm sure you can find a supplier somewhere near you. So don't forget this Tuesday to go out and treat yourself, and contrary to the title of the holiday, one paczki will not make you fat.