Today is Ash Wednesday for all of you who are Christian, which means that yesterday was Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras as it is more commonly known (and today is the first day of Lent). As a result, yesterday, my sister and I decided to carry on a tradition from my childhood—making paczkis, or Polish doughnuts. This is a Polish tradition that many Polish Americans across the Midwest (including Wisconsin) have carried on and introduced to the United States. As you can probably tell from this, I am of Polish descent (as well as German) and so when I was growing up, on Fat Tuesday my mom, my grandma, my sister, and I would celebrate it by spending a few hours making these paczkis. The customary reason for making this treat stems from the need to use up all of the excess sugar, eggs, and other ingredients since they are technically prohibited during the fasting season of Lent.
Last year, I didn’t attempt to make these since I did not have the time (they take quite a few hours to make) nor did I have adequate kitchen space. The year before that, my freshman year, my sister and I attempted to make them, but they did not turn out as well as we had hoped. However this year, they turned out quite nicely, and deliciously. Just to show you just how much time and work go into these treats, here is a summarized and brief overview of the recipe. First, you have to make the dough by hand, which took approximately half an hour. Next, was to let the dough rise for an hour, beat it, and then let it rise again for another hour. Then, you must flatten the dough and cut out circular cuts of the dough and place them in the frying pot and cook them. Lastly, once they are done cooking them, you lightly coat them in sugar and let cool/ dry. Like I said, this is a very brief overview of the recipe and let me tell you, there are a lot of ingredients that went into them. While it took a while, it was fun to make them and even more fun to eat them. However, I think I ate too many by the end of the night, I could barely move. Now, every time I see someone, I am practically giving them away since I don’t think I can eat anymore. Thankfully, they are delicious, so people are gladly eating them. Here are some pictures of different intervals along the way:
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| before (in dough form) |
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| cooking |
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| after (so yummy) |
As for what I am giving up for Lent (another Christian tradition), I have decided, with the encouragement of one of my roommates, to give up procrastination. This will be probably the toughest thing that I could give, since it is engrained in every part of my being. I can’t help it, I’ve been a procrastinator ever since I can remember, probably since kindergarten if I’m honest. The reason this choice has been made with the encouragement of one of my roommates is because I always make her nervous when I procrastinate, even though it’s not her work that’s due. She feels the stress of the looming deadline instead of me. So, I have decided to do my best and not procrastinate, which in the end will probably benefit both of us in the long run.
P.S. today has an extra special component besides it being Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent, it’s my 21st birthday! I am looking forward to going out to dinner tonight with my sister and some friends to celebrate the occasion. More birthday fun: actually, I was typing this, I got a knock on my door and it was a flower delivery man; my parents sent me beautiful flowers for my birthday. They certainly brighten up my dorm room already. Here’s a picture:
Feel free to email me with any questions! cbgraf@gwmail.gwu.edu
-Christie
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