An Ode to the Paczki:
Today is Fat Tuesday. Paczki Day. If you are not from the Midwest or Polish you’ve probably got no idea what the deal is with these dough balls....but here is a description:
Basically paczkis are Polish pastries. Each one weighs about 17 pounds and were traditionally filled with marmalade made from fried rose buds, but nowadays can be filled with anything. Most Michiganders believe that
Jimmy Hoffa was jammed into one.
Few things are more popular in the Hamtramck/Detroit metro area. We are the devotees of I-Gotcher-Fat-Tuesday-Right-Here Debauchery, because what greater debauchery can there be than eating Polish doughnuts 'til you burst? We are the Chosen Ones that know the word "Paczki" is pronounced
"poonch-key"....though few know the singular, paczkek, because very few of us have enough self control to eat only one. Those who have not had the pleasure of gorging themselves have avoided suffering the dreaded "Paczki
Prostration"...but until you have experienced the sensation of huddling bug-eyed and near-comatose behind your desk with your pants undone after sampling every variety of paczki brought in by your coworkers before 10
a.m., you really haven't lived.
Paczki Prostration is alot like childbirth. Over time you forget about the pain...only the sheer joy of the experience remains, causing you to seek to repeat it. Therefore, every year on Fat Tuesday you can find huddled
masses of displaced Midwesterners Googling "paczkis delivered nationwide". Behold this pathetic wretch:
Yes, I'm one of those poor souls googling colorado+paczki. I did the same thing last year. Every year I search up and down for paczki's in Colorado but have found none to no avail. I'm making my own this year. Anyhow, as I was saying I was searching again and stumbled across your
blog and had to laugh. Thought you'd like to know I called every bakery I could find in Hamtramack to see if they ship but I was told "no" from each place I called. Please post if you find any place to mail order them.
Desparate in Colorado. - JR
Not to mention this poor soul, Jenny:
I found your blog by doing a Google search for Greenville and paczki. I moved here from Indiana but I never would have if I had known I would have to give up my paczkis! I discovered them in Indiana (happily) about five years ago and I've been looking everywhere.
Oh, the humanity. For unless you reside in or around Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, or a handful of other highly-evolved Midwestern cities, you are quite
Up A Creek Without A Paczki.
