Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Why It's Called "Fat Tuesday"


Back in Southeast Michigan, today is Pączki Day. The long-time Polish community in Hamtramck section of Detroit has made its cultural tradition a regional gastro-phenomenon.

A pączki (pronounced poonch-key) is basically a big-ass doughnut of the gods. And as you may know, nobody likes doughnuts more than me.

My mouth is seriously wishing we were in Ann Arbor today. Perhaps Mrs F will attempt some homemade pączki?...One can dream...

photos purloined from Flickr

8 comments:

Noah said...

Interesting fact I learned today: Poonch-KEY is plural. Poonch-KA is singular. Just learned that. After 34 years in Michigan.

I had 3 today.

Mr Furious said...

When it comes to deep-fried pastries, I only deal in plurals.

steves said...

Don't feel bad Smitty, I have lived in Michigan for 36 years and had only heard of them for the last 10 or so. They don't have them in the UP, so I never really saw them until I lived down here.

Considering that one of them has like 55 grams of fat, it is probably good that they aren't a year round thing.

Rickey said...

Hot damn, those Michionians are good at packing delicious food into yet more delicious food. Be still, Rickey's palpitating heart.

Noah said...

They don't have them in the UP

Yoopers have pasties, though. And I likes me some pasties.

For non-Michiganians, the "a" in that word is the short a, like in "apple." Not the long a, like "made." The former is a food in the UP of Michigan. The latter is a nipple cover. Yoopers are very sensitive about this.

Mrs Furious said...

Smitty,
"The former is a food in the UP of Michigan. The latter is a nipple cover.'
LOL, I still remember being about 7 and having my mom explain to me how to pronounce it and why. It was kind of traumatizing and I never got it mixed up again.
When I was growing up you could even get pasties in rural Oakland county. Back when Oakland county had rural area.

steves said...

There used to be a few pastie shops in the mid-Michigan area, but they are closed now. You can get them at Meijers and a few other stores, but they aren't that great. I have made them a few times, but it is fairly labor intensive.

I still remember being about 7 and having my mom explain to me how to pronounce it and why. It was kind of traumatizing and I never got it mixed up again.

I recall the same correction, though I am not sure if it was my Mom or my Dad. I doubt my Mom is all that familiar with stripper accoutrements, so it was probably my Dad.

Yoopers also get annoyed at people that can't pronounce sauna.

Mrs Furious said...

Steves,
"Yoopers also get annoyed at people that can't pronounce sauna."

shit what's the wrong way?!