A Belated Happy Pączki Day! and Other Thoughts

[chris_gerrib]

Yesterday was Pączki day. For those not of Polish extraction, a pączki (pronounced, at least in Chicago, as "punch-key") is a dessert pastry served on the day before Ash Wednesday. (Apparently the Polish aren't as much into pre-Lent parties as the French are.) At any rate, my Rotary club paid our routine visit to a local nursing home - the seniors can't get out much, so any variety is welcome. We have lunch with the residents and they were having a pre-Lent Marti Gras celebration, with paczkis for dessert.

Now, to my eye and taste, a paczki bears more than a passing resemblance to the jelly-filled donut I grew up calling a Bismarck. Whatever you call them, they're delicious. We also had a pancake-tossing race (the Rotarians were the competitors) which, or so I'm told, is a tradition going back to 1445. You learn something every day.

After that, we had entertainment (paid for by the club) from a couple of singers on the nursing home circuit. "Nursing home circuit!" you say? Well, yes, Virginia, there is such a thing. It doesn't pay much (I think we pay around $100/show) but if you're a singer looking for a few extra bucks and have free time during the middle of the week, it's a gig. One of the guys on the circuit has a "day job" at a piano bar at a Wisconsin resort, and yesterday's entertainers were clearly retired themselves.

This morning, my club held a recognition breakfast for local high school students. I'll have a link up to the article about that when it appears. Now, back to the salt mines...

Comments

[daveon.livejournal.com]

Food notes:

What you call a Bizmark is what we call a Doughnut in the UK - they all used to be like that, although they'd be more usually coated in caster sugar (between granulated and confectioners sugar) than confectioners.

Yesterday was, of course, Pancake Day in the O'Neill household, and Pancakes in the British sense are more like french crepe than an American hotcake.

[jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com]

My mother (who grew up in a Polish-speaking household) pronounced them poonch-kee, with the short oo, as in "good" and refinements that I can't imitate. They were indeed big honking jelly doughnuts, and one was plenty. (Though somehow I could eat kolacki all day long...)

I often boggle that the Rotary and Lions aren't mentioned more in the media for this sort of work. You guys are saints in my book.

[chris-gerrib.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there was more than a bit of Old Country in that pronounciation, but my very Americanized tongue can't handle it.

Regarding Rotary and media - we do a HORRIBLE job of blowing our own horn. We're trying to get better at it.