Ponch-Key?

I'm almost back to normal (such as it is.) I'm functioning at about 90% right now and actually woke up this morning feeling okay about being alive. The bad news, of course, is that Maryn has had the crud since Sunday and is suffering a lot. I wish there was more we could do for her. The bad thing about being a kid is that you don't even get the good medicine.
Today, Suzanne called and asked if I realized what day it is - Fat Tuesday. In Michigan and any other place with Polish people, that means it's also Paczki Day. For those of you not in the know, the great Internet god, Wikipedia answers all our questions:

"A pączek is a deep-fried piece of dough shaped into a flattened sphere and filled with confiture or other sweet filling. Pączki are usually covered with powdered sugar, icing or bits of dried orange zest.

Although they look like bismarcks or jelly doughnuts, pączki (pronounced ponchki but mistakenly pronounced poonchki or punchki)are made from especially rich dough containing eggs, fats, sugar and sometimes milk. They feature a variety of fruit and creme fillings and can be glazed, or covered with granulated or powdered sugar. Prunes and rose-petal jam[citation needed] are traditional fillings, but many others are used as well, including lemon, strawberry, Bavarian cream, blueberry, custard, raspberry and apple."


"In Poland, they are eaten especially on Fat Thursday (the last Thursday before Lent). Many Polish Americans celebrate Paczki Day on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday). Traditionally, the reason for making pączki was to use up all the lard, sugar, eggs and fruit in the house, which are forbidden during Lent.

In the large Polish community of Chicago, and other large cities across the Midwest, Paczki Day is also celebrated annually by immigrants and locals alike. In Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, Hamtramck, Windsor, Milwaukee,Pulaski and South Bend, Paczki Day is more commonly celebrated on Fat Tuesday instead of Fat Thursday. Chicago celebrated and Fat Tuesday, due to its sizable Polish population.

In Hamtramck, an enclave in Detroit, there is an annual Paczki Day (Fat Tuesday) Parade, and lines at bakeries can be seen up to 24 hours before the deep-fried delights go on sale Tuesday morning."

When Suzanne and I drove around last week and visited some neighboring towns, we spotted a small bakery in Spring Valley that advertised paczkis. So, in our never ending quest for better and more powerful carbohydrate and sugar combinations, we will go back out this afternoon with the girls in hopes of finding the paczki. Wish us luck.