It's Paczki Day! Yep... it's that time of the year when we go to our favorite Polish bakery on the West Side of Chicago and pick up way too many paczek for co-workers to celebrate this Paczki Day (Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday). Poland celebrates Paczki Day five days before us, which they call "Fat Thursday" - but Americans always have to do things different.For those of you that do not know what a paczki is, Wikipedia has a pretty good entry on it. Simply, it is a Polish jelly filled doughnut.
Growing up in suburbia Northern California I always knew of this day as something only my family did. We did not know any other Polish people around us, and since we did not have access to a Polish bakery we always went to the corner Winchell's and bought jelly filled doughnuts. That was fine with me, since I was just happy eating junk food before noon. Now living in Chicago I get to be spoiled with amazing Polish bakeries, and have the opportunity to share with my co-workers, and the coffee shop across the street, some of my family's culture.
Happy Paczki Day!
