Yesterday was Tłusty Czwartek, “Fat Thursday.” In Poland, it’s traditionally a time for pączki, doughnuts. “Ile pączków zjedliście?” asked a friend in Poland of his Facebook friends. How many doughnuts did we eat? On Thursday we ate none. Dunkin Dounuts and Krispy Kreme don’t count. They’re doughnuts, not pączki. Traditionally filled with rose petal jam, Polish pączki really look, smell, and taste nothing like what we usually get in the South.
And then K discovered that Publix — of all places — sells “Original Pączki.”
They’re filled with raspberry jam instead of the ineffably good rose jam, and there’s something not quite right about the consistency of the crust, but they’re an acceptable substitute for a mid-sized Southern town.
L had one for dinner. “It’s time she learned what ‘Fat Thursday’ is all about,” proclaimed K. For her part, L was less interested in the doughnut than the filling, which she fingered out and declared to be delicious.
… a u nas braklo juz w poludnie w polskim sklepie po drugiej stronie ulicy, do najlepszej polskiej piekarni w okolicy Piotrkek w tym roku nie zdazyl wiec caly dzien objadalismy sie domowymi goframi z dzemem malinowym (made in Germany) i prawdziwa bita smietana, dopiero wieczorem Piotrkek gdzies znalazl jakies resztki, tak wiec paczki w tym roku, moim zdaniem byly nieswieze z poprzedniego dnia, to chyba pierwsyz raz jak nie jedlismy pysznych , jeszcze cieplych paczkow
I think this firm is nationwide; I saw them in two different supermarket chains as well as Walmart last week. I steered clear and went to a bakery for donuts for Renata and the boys (actually Derek’s was symbolic – he is not ready for a paczek). I think I choose well, and Renata really appreciated the gesture. Of course nothing beats fresh paczki – the Chicago bakeries come damn close to Polska, but as Renata said nothing is better than paczki prosto z Polski…
Are you guys doing a basket this year? We talked to my Lutheran pastor and explained the tradition, and he happily blessed our basket last year. He also thought it might be a nice thing for other families to do…
Actually our parish priest loves the idea and has begun holding an annual basket blessing, even including it in parish announcements a couple of weeks beforehand. It’s still 99% Poles there (there are about 200 Poles living in the area), but a few non-Polish parishioners came last year. The priest loves it: he gets pictures with everyone and snoops around all the baskets before and after. He’s very amusing.